… The first step is to make small, easy changes, one at a time.
In 2003, Sir Dave Brailsford took over the British Cycling Team. He wasn’t a professional coach, and he’d only been an amateur cyclist.
Instead of trying to rebuild the perennially weak cycling team from scratch, Brailsford implemented a business strategy called the aggregation of marginal gains. He simply tried to improve every aspect of the cyclists’ lives—training, nutrition, sleep, and equipment—by 1%.
He didn’t go out looking for new sponsors; some bike companies even refused to sell to the team because they were so bad. Instead, he first improved their seats to make them more comfortable. And he didn’t implement a radical diet change or workout regime; he simply improved each by 1% at a time. When a new tiny gain had been realized, he asked himself, “How do I improve this feature by 1% NOW?”
In 2008, the British Cycling team won 8 gold medals, 4 silver, and 2 bronze: More medals than in its entire history combined. Then Sir Bradley Wiggins and Chris Froome, two members of the team, won the Tour de France four times combined over the next decade.
A collection of small wins WORKS.
You don’t need a radical new Paleo diet. You don’t need a “detox” (most don't work anyway). You don’t need to start going to the gym 6 days a week. You just need to take one small step.
My training has been very focused on improving my Squat for the last 12 months, and I’m training HARD. But my mobility sucks: Years of poor posture, hours and hours of sitting, and not listening to my body regarding the need for stretching and improving my movement. I was always more focused on the “number”. Ive tried many things on my own but nothing really worked. SO I did the smart thing, I met with a professional (Authentic Self Physical Therapy), to assess the problems. We then started with a couple of basic exercises that only took 10 minutes a day.
Over time, my squat and overall movement started to improve. More importantly, I've been injury free for 12 months (lower back injuries). I rely on another professional to help me. We continue to assess and improve.
I love having a coach, someone to take the decision out of my hands (Read about Decision Fatigue). I just have to show up, and it's already planned out for me. Maybe that’s your first small step:
Sign up for a free No-Sweat Intro and let Dee or Steve tell you what you should do first.
Or just do one squat and start tracking your food. After 365 days, if you improve by 1% each day, you’ll be over 30 TIMES more fit!
- The Crew at Aero Health and Fitness
Inspiration provided by Chris Cooper at Catalystgym.com.
