This is Part 3 of a Series- if you haven’t yet read Part 1 or Part 2, I recommend you do so before diving into this article.

Without further ado…

We just discussed the overarching Philosophy of MetaPhysique Fitness-

It’s that we want to use fitness as a tool to improve our lives, and doing so will come down to focusing on 3 Main Areas- Longevity, Performance and Aesthetics.

Now that we’re clear on the overarching Philosophy, we can decide which principles uphold that Philosophy.

Here are my big three:

1. Know The Outcome That You’re Looking For

2. Use Data To Know What Moves The Needle

3. Allocate Your Resources Intelligently

Principle #1: Know the Outcome

I see people in fitness working hard for the sake of hard work…yet never directing that hard work to a specific outcome.

As a reminder- I hate random action.

I want any effort I expend to be directed at a specific outcome.

“Get in shape” is not an outcome.

Improving my 5K time is an outcome.  

Looking better is not an outcome.  

Increasing muscle mass is an outcome.

The point there is that lack of specificity about what we’re training for leads to a lack of specificity in the workouts themselves- and as a result-

Spending more energy with less results.

Ewww. Gross. I’m not about that.

It’s worth noting though, that just because I like to be specific on the outcome, does NOT mean we need to be hyper focused on the TIMELINE.

Here’s what happens when we get caught up in timelines-

Rather than “improve 5K time” it becomes “shave 5 minutes off my 5K time by my X,Y,Z date.”

There are two problems with being overly specific on the goal date:

It creates a Pass/Fail binary.  If you only shave 4:58 of your time, technically you failed to achieve your goal.  Instead of seeing your progress, and learning the lesson that your process actually worked, you’ll learn the wrong lesson (that this process didn’t work).

It’ll set you up to burn out.  I play a long game with all of this.  Adding arbitrary time frames to achieve arbitrary goals will result in increased pressure, stress and hating the training process.  This will lead to injury, burn out, or both

So let’s reframe the typical “goal oriented” approach by asking an important question:

Did I move in the right direction?

See, if we know that a process moves us in the right direction, and we know that we can stick to that process for a long period of time (because we enjoy it, it fits our lives, etc) then we know that our success is only a matter of time.

There will be seasons when we have to take our foot of the gas, and seasons where we can go all in, which will slow down or speed up the rate at which we move in the right direction.

But slamming on the gas, without knowing if you’re moving in the right direction leads to wasting a lot of energy with nothing to show for it.

You get the point.  Don’t do random shit.

Here’s a final note on outcome- sometimes…we do shit just because it’s fun. 

I am all for it. 

It’s similar to passion projects we may have in our business. 

It may not produce revenue, but it keeps us sane. 

There’s something to be said for that.  We just need to

1. Understand that Fun is the outcome itself and 

2.  Make sure that the fun activity doesn’t pull us off target of our bigger picture goals.

Principle #2: Use Data to Measure Progress

Once we have clarity around the outcomes that we’re training for, we then have to ask ourselves…

How can I make sure that I’m moving in the right direction?

This is where data is our friend.  In regards to our outcomes- what KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) do I need to track?

Once I know my KPIs, I can get a baseline for where I’m at, and I can assess my progress at any given interval.

Think of this like a business.  You know your metrics.  There are a handful of things that need to go right in order for you to be successful.  Keep an eye on those metrics.

Some general KPIs:

Physique

• Measurements (specifically, shoulder to waist ratio)

• Pictures

• Bodyweight (I use my 7 day average as my main KPI)

• DEXA scan to see your Body Composition

Strength

• Doing more weight with the same reps (usually in the 1-5 rep range)

• Doing more reps with the same weight

• Testing 3RM- 5RM

• Max Push Up Test (either one set or timed)

• Max Pull-up test

Endurance

• Resting Heart rate

• 30 min base run (Distance covered with nasal breathing only)

• 1 Mile Time

• 5K Time

The point here is simply this- find a way to quantify your progress. Doing so allows you to verify that your program is working, or make course corrections when it’s not.

Principle #3: Allocate Resources Intelligently

Once we know our intended outcomes, and what moves the needle toward those outcomes, we have to ask ourselves:

How can I best allocate my resources to driving these KPIs?

First, you have to take inventory of your resources.  Time is obviously a precious resource, but most folks completely overlook:

Mental Bandwidth

Emotional Energy

Recovery Capacity 

Attention/Focus

It gets a little messy here, because we can’t measure these resources like you can with money or fuel.  You can’t login in online  to your Mental Bandwidth account to check your balance.  There is no gauge to tell you how much Emotional Energy is left in the tank.  You have to feel it out.  

That being said, awareness goes a long way.

If you’re spending a lot of time learning and piecing together complex solutions at work, you may not have a ton of mental bandwidth to think through an overly complicated workout program.

If you deal with other people's emotions, or a high amount of stress in your day to day job, you won’t have the emotional energy left over to hit a really challenging workout everyday.

If your attention is scattered, you’ve got to keep your workouts short and with as few moving parts as possible.

The point here is this…when looking at a plan on paper, pay attention to your gut reaction.  If it seems overly complicated or difficult, scale it back so that it looks easy.

It’s better to start small, with a buffer of resources, and add time/difficulty/complexity later on, if it’s warranted.  The alternative is to go all in, with no margin, burn yourself out and feel like a failure.

Strategy

Pretty much every strategy works if it adheres to the principles, and no strategy will work if it violates your principles.

At this level, we’re choosing the broad approach—what are the major categories of training we're going to use to feed our overarching Philosophy of improging Longevity, Performance and Aesthetics?

I break mine into three umbrellas:

1. Lifting
   We can focus our lifting in 2 Primary Directions:

   
   Building Muscle- which not only improves our aesthetics, but our longevity as well.

   Building Strength- a key component in both Performance and Longevity.
   

2. Endurance
   We’ll use endurance work as Primarily a driver of Performance and Longevity. We’ll look to improve cardiovascular health, recovery capacity, and work output.
   

3. Athleticism
   When I think Athleticism, I think movement quality, coordination, mobility, and explosiveness. Training to move like an athlete goes beyond the obvious benefits of Performance- this is a major to key to Longevity- namely- being able to continue participating in all the activities you want to for decades to come.

You don’t need to train all three equally at all times. The key is knowing which one is your current priority and making sure you’re not neglecting the others.

Tactics

Tactics are how we execute the strategy in practice. They’re the weekly structure, the training splits, the set and rep schemes, the cardio schedule, and the nutrition setup.

The tactics are adjustable—but they should always tie back to the strategy and respect your available resources.

Tools

Tools are the specific things you use to execute your tactics: kettlebells, meal-prep apps, WHOOP bands, creatine, MyFitnessPal, incline treadmills, ruck plates, etc.

The golden rule of tools:
Don’t start with the tools.

Too many people do this backwards. They buy supplements, gadgets, or fancy apps before they know what they’re trying to do with them.

But once you’ve got your strategy and tactics dialed in, tools can absolutely help streamline and enhance your efforts.

To sum it up—

• Philosophy is the why

• Principles are the guardrails

• Strategy is the big-picture plan

• Tactics are the week-to-week game plan

• Tools are the gear you bring along

When all five are aligned, fitness becomes a force multiplier in your life—not a drain on it.

Just Get Moving

Hopefully you’ve found this series thorough and a good starting point to really understand training

With that being said, don’t think you have to have this manifesto memorized in order to get started. 

You can’t mess this up.  Just start executing, and ask questions or refer back to the material as you go.

The rest will take care of itself.

Welcome to MetaPhysique.  Glad to be on this ride with you.