Minimalist Fitness: Focus on What Matters, Skip the Rest
Mo Adly
Personal trainer
How to build muscles fast, the best running shoes, the best tracking app, the best smartwatch. Social media is a reflection of our consumerist societies: everything is about the best and what will get you the best results fast. But what about the normal people like us who just want to have good enough results and a good enough healthy lifestyle, not the best of the best? And not pay a fortune to get the best gym program just to build some muscles.
Minimalism and Consumerism
Minimalism is often about material things, reducing clutter, and focusing on essentials. Having less stuff at home can declutter your life and reduce stress, leaving only what you truly need.
I have to admit I’m not the most minimalistic person on the planet. I try to only have the stuff I need and get rid of the stuff I don’t need, but still, from time to time, I hoard stuff.
I made a promise to myself to not keep stuff that I haven’t been using for a year; that can be clothes or anything. I think it's a great way to avoid drowning in consumerism.
Applying Minimalism to Fitness
That said, no one really talks about applying minimalism to different parts of life. We are usually told that we need to get good running shoes to start running or that we need at least five gym outfits to go to the gym, or lifting shoes or a lifting belt. But do we really need that?
I have been applying minimalism to my fitness journey for years now, and I think it makes a lot of sense. Instead of overthinking about my gear, I focus more on the stuff that actually gets results, and that is the work itself, not the gear.
I’m basically 80/20ing this: the 20% is doing the work, not studying, not learning, not buying stuff. Learn the basics and get to applying. Learn on the job instead of just theoretically.
You can obsess about the best anything, but that doesn’t give you the result you actually want. My gym bag has five things, and nothing gets added unless I will be using it more than one time. I have a towel, a water bottle, lifting straps, a lock, and knee pads.
That’s all I need. It will look similar or different depending on what you are doing. Do I need $200 lifting shoes? It would be nice, but I don’t need them. I’m not a professional powerlifter, and I don’t have any issues with lifting barefoot.
Do I need a pre-workout? Not really. I have plenty of energy for my lifting sessions, even in my fat loss phases. I don’t really use it.
Focusing on Results
The goal here is to declutter your brain and force it to focus only on the work that will produce results, not the fancy gear that you don’t need.
You can decide what you need this way: do the work long enough until a problem shows itself. Look for an item that will fix that problem. Keep working until another problem surfaces. Rinse and repeat until you only have the items you really need.
Starting Simple
If you are a beginner and don’t know where to start, for example, if you want to start running, buy only one outfit and a mid-range running shoe. There is no point in buying the best because it might not be the best for you, so start with a decent one.
And you are good to go. Run for a month and assess your gear. If you have a problem, fix it with different gear; if not, then keep doing what you are doing.
Nutrition and Supplements
When it comes to health, you don’t need all the fancy supplements and the latest detox. All you need is to eat a balanced diet, get your fiber and protein in, and don’t worry about the rest. Your body is the greatest detox—you don’t need to take all the supplements known to man.
Yes, some supplements are useful, but only take stuff that will actually address a deficiency you have. Don’t take all the supplements just in case. It will just make your pee more expensive.
If you want to lose weight, you don’t need all bio-organic food. All you need is a calorie deficit. The Nutella jar in your storage or the peanut butter jar isn’t going to help with that. Declutter all of that.
Start with a basic low-calorie list of foods you like, and add stuff to it as you go. The simpler you start with your food menu, the more progress you can make because you will discover what you need and what you don’t need.
No, you don’t need the zero-calorie noodles or the zero-calorie syrup. All you need is a simple menu of the food you like. Keep adding stuff you need—the keyword here is NEED, not WANT—to that menu.
Don’t keep stuff you don’t need in your kitchen. That doesn’t mean don’t buy stuff you enjoy from time to time. Actually, you should do that, but buy the quantity you need for the cheat meal or whatever you are doing. Don’t buy in bulk. The few cents you will save isn’t worth risking your health over.
The Gym Essentials
If you want to go to the gym, the gym needs four things: a water bottle, a towel, a gym outfit, and a basic gym program. That’s it. You don’t need anything else to start.
If you don’t know which program to pick, just research for 1 or 2 hours and pick something—that’s it. Don’t overload your brain with too many decisions.
Conclusion
After your first month, you will figure out what you need—if you need to change something or you need some new equipment. You won’t know this unless you do the work first.
Overthinking and over-researching lead to procrastination. Don’t let your brain control you and stop you from doing what you really need to do. Start controlling your own brain.