Artificial Limitations

Too Much

Most of the planet lives in an era of abundance of choices, thousands and thousands movies, books, accessories to buy from from, endless snacks, meals, beverages, social media content to consume; everyday there is a new diet a new exercise to follow to “unlock” your true “potential”.

But there is a catch, with so many options you don’t get better results or a more enjoyable experience, you just get decision paralysis. Paradoxically, you end up buying and consuming even more of the things you already know because there is too much uncertainty about the new things. The rate at which new things are generated is higher than you will ever be able to taste, let alone actually developing a preference for a new product over the one you already know. Even though new products are crafter with the intention of being better, it takes too long to find a better version of what you already like because you won’t change for a 5% better taste, let alone try 100 new products for a 10% better output; you just don’t have the time for it.

The Pizza Effect

The base has to be rock solid, all the pizzas have the same base, dough, tomato sauce and mozzarella. There is no way around it. Yet no one gets tired of it and, increasingly, everyone wants more and more.

There is a reason for which every pizzeria in the world has the “Pizza Margherita” on their menu, it’s predictable, it’s tasty and you know you will like it, no matter where in the world you eat it. Also there is a reason why almost no pizzeria has “Pizza with burgers, extra fries and melted cheese” and that’ s because it’s too much

The practice is the for the fitness world what the “Pizza Margherita” is for the food world, it has few ingredients, limited choices to choose from yet somehow you can enjoy it everyday and benefits of its lasting results. Compare the simplicity of the practice with the complex fitness plan that has to be followed down to the letter, it changes every month because somehow “your body has adjusted to the exercises” yet the strongmen of the world all they ever do is to bench press and deadlift.

The kettlebell does the same thing to the expensive fitness equipment. The space needed to store a kettlebell, to use a kettlebell is almost nothing compared to the space needed for minimal gym equipment setup; and if we discuss the prices and the maintenance required, the kettlebell wins by a landslide.

Monotony

On the other side of the spectrum, if you goo too far, you can get bored of having not enough options to keep your interest in the subject. Eventually you will have to boil it down until it becomes boring and start adding things back up to the point in which predictable but also enjoyable.

In the kettlebell world, on one end of the spectrum we have the most boiled down programs are about a month long in time and two to three exercises repeated over and over which is like being on a diet, works for a while but you won’t be able to sustain in for a lifetime unless some exceptional case in which your life depends on it. On the other end of the spectrum we have the most varied, hundreds of exercises and variations of the same exercises which resemble a circus more than an exercises to build a stronger version of you.

Balance

Somewhere in the middle lives the approach I’m advocating for, the basic exercises like the swing, the press, the squat, the clean, the snatch, the get up and the push up; rotated so that there is enough variation but also there is a flow to the practice; a flexible weekly plan and open ended long term plans.

This approach has worked wonders and continues to provide results for me; it is also the only approach I managed to stick to for 3 years now because the practice puts one self in charge to dictate what, when and how to do it.

Limit the ingredients, not the combinations.