Everything You Need

For some people I know, they get excited and all revved up by watching videos of extremely fast & pricey cars.  I, unfortunately, am not one of these guys.  What really revs my engine and gets me all jazzed up is watching incredible athletes.  I've applauded Nike over and over for nailing the sporting culture, and once again, they got it right with the video below.  I dig it and think there is a greater message or importance to the video.  It got me thinking...

I know of people who would rather take two scoops of this, one scoop of "X" before the workout, and two scoops of "Y" after the workout and then an hour later follow all that up with three spoonfuls of "Z", and your good to go!  I love that the message in this video is, "Everything You Need, Is Already Inside".  The evolving science of sport is moving rapidly, but understand that there is beauty in simplicity.  You don't need a preworkout supplement.  You don't need need a postworkout supplement.  "Everything You Need, Is Already Inside".  Don't focus on spending your money on potentially dangerous supplements to 'potentially' improve performance by .1% when rather focusing on improving your recovery strategies, total body nutrition, sleep, workout regiment, and other factors have a much larger chance at improving your performance 100%.

The real lesson to this post is... Don't spend 80% of your time chasing for the 20% increase.  Find that 20% in your training system, that gives you the 80% increase.  Use your time wisely because I can tell you one thing.  There is no such thing as a quick fix.

The Vital Few

Fifteen years later, I believe this more than ever. The 80/20 rule runs the entire performance world.

Here is the 20 percent that drives 80 percent of results. Sleep seven to nine hours. Eat enough protein. Train consistently, three to five times per week. Manage your stress. Hydrate. That is the list. It is not sexy. It works every single time.

Now here is what most people do instead. They spend 80 percent of their energy chasing the marginal 20 percent: the perfect supplement stack, the optimal meal timing window, the newest recovery gadget, the exact percentage on their program. They major in the minors and wonder why nothing changes.

Chase clarity, not complexity. The best results come from simple systems executed with consistency. And buy-in. Lots of buy-in.

Supplements Are The Last 2 Percent

Let me be direct. If your sleep is broken, your nutrition is inconsistent, and you train whenever you feel like it, no supplement on earth will save you. Creatine is the most researched supplement in history, and it still does nothing for someone who does not train.

Supplements are the final 2 percent, and only after the 98 percent is handled. Protein powder is convenient food, not magic. Pre-workout is mostly caffeine and marketing. That "Z" you take an hour after training? Your dinner would have done more.

Everything you need is already inside. The video had it right. Your body, given sleep, food, progressive training, and time, is the most powerful performance technology ever built.

There Is No Quick Fix

I have watched two decades of quick fixes come and go. Every one of them promised the 20 percent without the 80 percent. Every one of them failed the people who believed.

Here is what actually works, and it has never changed: show up, do the work, eat like you mean it, sleep like it matters, and repeat for years. Boring. Unsexy. Undefeated.

Find the 20 percent in your training and your life that gives you the 80 percent return. Invest there relentlessly. Ignore everything else until those boxes are checked for months, not days.

Use your time wisely. There is no such thing as a quick fix, but there is such a thing as the right fix, done daily.