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Simplicity

You might have noticed that my frequency of posting has diminished a bit recently.  There are various reasons -  busy work, other commitments - but one thing is a degree of realisation of how much we try to complicate things.  So much of exercise / health / fitness at root is pretty simple and straight forward. However we often seek novelty, look for the new secret exercise, protocol or diet that will transform us.  Basic persistence and patience on the fundamentals gets too boring.

There is a great value in Occam's Razor:


Plurality must never be posited without necessity  
or 
"Everything should be kept as simple as possible, but no simpler." (allegedly Einstein)

 This happens so much with exercise.  Making it complicated, using esoteric language, creating the secret gnostic priesthood who really understand and have the knowledge.  

 Lets keep it simple.

Comments

Anonymous said…
I really appreciate your honesty here, Chris. While I accept that research and inquiry will constantly be absolutely necessary, I believe we've reached a point in the history of the health sciences where we need more implementors and less repackaging of existing ideas. There's way too much of that going on.
October 28, 2012 at 6:58 AM
Bryce said…
Chris,

This is all well and good, but if we actually took a mnmlst approach to fitness, we'd have to spend our time reading books and building relationships, instead of reading blogs and building spreadsheets. Clearly you haven't thought it through!

Bryce
October 28, 2012 at 7:01 AM
Anonymous said…
you are right. big part of success in nutrition and exercise comes from basics.
but humans are curious creatures seeking always for new things. and some times some "clever" people try to sell old stuff in new packaging. Farid
October 28, 2012 at 9:06 AM
garymar said…
Like you, Chris, I've been reading the comments at BodyByScience too much lately!! But hearing from those RenEx people, plus Drew Baye, has helped me concentrate a lot more on intensity vs time/reps.
October 28, 2012 at 11:09 PM
Chris said…
garymar

Indeed. Drew Baye in particular is a great resource. He keeps it real and basic without some of the impenetrable musings and language that seem to creep in to some of the discussions.
October 29, 2012 at 12:18 AM
James Marshall said…
I couldn't agree more (I wrote something similar 2 years ago: http://www.excelsiorgroup.co.uk/blog/ockhams-razor-coaching-principle)

With so much information and research out there, it is easy to over clutter.
The same applies to economy of movement\ motion too.
October 29, 2012 at 8:52 AM
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