Many fitness experts often talk about how “there are no short cuts” in fitness.
I know what they mean, but I disagree with the idea that there are no short cuts. I firmly believe there are short cuts in fitness and you should seek to utilize them whenever possible.
The more you fight the idea of short cuts the more you’re making things harder than they need to be. Sure, you do have to put in the work, and it’s not always easy, but there are a million ways you can use a short cut to make doing that work much easier and more efficient.
Rather than fighting the short cuts I say avoid the detours which are really the true problem.
Think about it; all of those magic pills, “secrets” and “weird tricks” are just distractions from the few rules that are really important.
Here’s a example of what I mean:
Let’s say you’re looking to lose weight. The root cause of which is causing more calories to go out of your body than go into it. Anything that makes it easier to tip that calorie balance towards the negative side will be a short cut.
Here are some examples of weight loss “short cuts”:
– Instead of relying on a costly gym membership or home fitness equipment, dust off your bicycle that’s been collecting dust in your garage and aim to ride it a total of 6 hours a week.
– Rather than fighting cravings and binges from trigger foods, make it a point to keep them out of your home and office environment.
– Stock your home with foods you would like to eat more of and have them ready to consume. Eg. The stop light diet I talk about.
– Download a simple pedometer app on your phone to track how much you move throughout the day and aim to increase it by 10%.
– Log your diet for the next week. Take pics on your phone to get an idea of how much you’re really eating.
– Use calorie hacking methods that don’t cost you a dime and actually save you time and money.
– Make as much of your own food as possible to take control of your daily diet.
These are just a few of the short cuts you can take that make it easier to control both your calorie intake and expenditure. They all save you time and energy and make it easier to do the necessary work to lose weight.
Now let’s look at some of the potential detours:
– Read a book about how eating after 10 am and no later than 6 pm is important.
– Head to the local supplement store and buy anything in a bottle or box that promises fat loss.
– Become convinced that if you workout in a very specific and detailed routine then the weight will fall right off of your body.
These are all just a distraction to what’s really important. It happens every day when people rely on the idea that they will lose weight if they just don’t eat bread or make sure they have the correct protein and carbohydrate ratio. It causes your focus to shift from what’s most important (calorie balance) and places it on something that has limited influence on your weight.
Distractions and detours are ever present and they are the real issue because they hold false promises and pull your attention from what’s most important. Once you bring your attention back on the most direct path to results you’ll find the progress is much quicker and easier.
If that isn’t a short cut I don’t know what is.
