[This blog post has ZERO pictures.  Straight written word kids]

I’ve read a lot of books on health and wellness.

Nutrition, biomechanics, fat loss, athletic development, psychology of sport, anatomy and physiology, Orthopedic volumes and so many more.

I cruise through blogs that are maintained by some of the brightest and most innovative on the planet.

While I do feel that all of my reading has been for something, I also feel like at the end of the day… you’ve got to continue self-experimenting.

Some of the biggest names in the industry frown about self-experimentation, but I look at the concept as being no different from playing as kids.  You live, you experience,  you learn.

Obviously, don’t dabble around with something that could potential harm your life permanently, but don’t be afraid to… just… try stuff.

Try it.  See if it fits in your program.

The truth is that almost anything that you do exertion-wise is going to move you closer to your goals, especially if those goals are aesthetically based goals.

If you want to trim down, create less of a shadow, decrease your pant size, drop lb.’s on the scale, flatten that stomach, develop some muscular definition…

You’ve got to make an effort to progressively move more and eat with a sense of urgency.

Exercise is simple.  Start somewhere that fits your current strength and conditioning level and training know how, and begin climbing the staircase.  Stop over thinking it, just put on foot in front of the other and climb.  There are free resources all over the internet that can get you moving forward.

Progress yourself as quickly your body can tolerate over time.  Keep progressing.  The body is no different than the mind.  Imagine if you would have stopped learning mathematics at addition and subtraction.  Would you have understood Calculus?  No, you wouldn’t have.  You would have been lost like a puppy and miserable.  You’ve got to progress and build up to learning Calculus, at least most of us did.

Trust me on one quick thing here… you’re going to reach a point in your progressions where it feels like you’ve reached the top, but believe me, you can bust through that barrier.

There is another gear that you can drop in to.  Always another level of effort.

If you disagree with me, ask yourself if your body is holding you back, or if your MIND is holding you back.  You might be surprised at what you find here.  The mind is the command center of your universe… get it in check.

With eating, explore everything.  I am serious with this suggestion.

Buy something, cook it and eat it.  If you like the way it tasted, right down the recipe.  If you didn’t, find a new one.  Just because something doesn’t taste good the first time you try it, doesn’t mean that it will never taste good.  Give food another chance.  It’s not all vegetable’s fault that you don’t like eating it, it might be your desensitized palate.

If your diet primarily consists of processed foods, of course most veggies and fruits are going to taste like cardboard at first!

Everyone eats differently.  What I like to eat, and can tolerate eating on a daily basis is not the same as what you can tolerate eating on a daily basis.  This is just my guess.

If you don’t like boiled broccoli, sauté it.  If you don’t like either of those options, throw it on the grill.  If you still don’t like it, season it for heaven’s sake!  I don’t even think that plain broccoli is that appetizing.

If you hate broccoli, stop complaining about how much you hate broccoli and eat something else.  Find a substitute, an alternative.  There are thousands of foods on the planet.  Choose something else that provides a nutrient load that you body can use.

Seasoning can change a food, and to be quite honest, who cares if you add some salt to your food. Just don’t be a donkey and throw a pile of it on there.  Be sensible in your approach, a pinch is more than enough.  You season foods to enhance their flavor, not drown it out.

I’ve always wondered why people drown food in condiments.  Why eat something if you have to bury it in so much ketchup, BBQ sauce or some other condiment on it to the point that you don’t even taste the meal?  Not judging, just wondering why we do it.

Eating for performance is different from eating for aesthetics.  This might be getting a bit too detailed, but when I was eating to sustain my athletic performance, I didn’t have the greatest physique.  I was lean, but only because of my daily energy expenditure.  When I finished my athletic career, I cut out a few foods that I was initially led to believe that I “needed”.  Bread was one of them.

Thanks government created food pyramid for that load of B.S.

My abdominals popped through in less than 3 weeks.  Ironically, my performance didn’t suffer a bit.  I had no idea if this elimination would work, but it seemed logical.  Pure trial and error here.

Actually it was more like trial and success.

One thing that gets beaten like a dead horse is the concept of avoiding trying to out train your diet.

I should stop telling you not to try this, and let you try it for yourself.  Go ahead, workout like a maniac and eat whatever you please.  See what happens.  It’s an experiment right?  So, go ahead and experiment with it.  Challenge the thought.  If you’re an Ironman, I don’t want to hear a word from any of you, because you’re about the only category of human that can make this work.

Experiment and experience.

Guys and gals are writing books, shooting DVD’s and maintaining blogs (just like this one) that preach a certain way of doing things in order to get results.

But how about this… learn a little something, enough to get you started, and begin carving out your own path.  Nothing about fitness is the law.  There are theories that I would prefer to follow, but if you break them, who cares!

The more you do something, despite your knowledge, know-how or skill level, the more you learn.

You develop knowledge that sticks because you experienced it.  You didn’t read about it and do nothing, you experienced it first hand.  You became an eye-witness to what works well for you and what doesn’t.

It’s important to break out of your shell… practicing and experiencing things.  My suggestion, as I have learned in my own life, is to get out and practice as many things as you can.  You’ll develop likes and dislikes, and you’ll carve your own path.

I tried not to get too specific with anything here.  This is a thought process that applies to everything.

Trial and error, self-experimentation and experience are tremendously powerful methods for catapulting a person forward toward their goals.  If you have the conviction and dedication to follow through over the long-term, you’ll find methods that are the best fit for you.

Just remember, the grass isn’t always greener on the other side.  Trust yourself…

 

 

Cheers to trial and success!

 

 

KG