Just for the record though, on paleo and clean eating and so forth

Different things will work for different people. On a psychological level. Something like a paleo diet for example, if it results in a total calorie intake more suited to maintain your goal body condition and fuel your activity level, you'll be successful. Of course, that's not guaranteed... and if your progress does stall you're going to have to figure out whether you're still at an excessive intake or whether you are in fact at an insufficient intake to allow continued progress.

The issue with these diets though, is that they're rarely promoted in terms of "here's a healthy diet based on sensible choices that should result in a suitable intake without the need to track calories". They're promoted in terms of fear mongering about the foods that are excluded from the diet, and there's also an implication of moral or intellectual superiority over those who still indulge in more... well, more indulgent choices that aren't considered "clean" or whatever.

So. Some people are good at following a strict diet and will do just fine with this approach. But they are not "better" than other people who require a more flexible approach. Results come simply from appropriate intake relative to the type and amount of activity you participate in, not from some karmic system where you're rewarded with a "good body" for being a good person who eats good food, while all the shit people eating shit food get nothing. Right?

It should be enough to say "I like doing it this way, and it works for me", without needing to feel that it is also the ONLY way to do things, or the moral judgement as if anyone who does it another way is cheating the system somehow and doesn't really deserve whatever success they've managed to claw out for themselves.

The other issue here is that while it is possible and perhaps you could argue it is quite likely to achieve a suitable total intake on these more strict diets without tracking calories, it is far from a guaranteed outcome. This can be very problematic. As an example, an insufficient total intake will prevent further progress just as an excessive total intake will. A person who has stopped seeing results from training due to an insufficient total intake, but is lead to believe that their lack of progress is due to failing to adhere to the strict requirements of their dieting protocol 100% of the time, because they're "not a good enough person with willpower and dedication" is... well... you guys know I do a lot of work with eating disorder recovery, right? This is where a lot of the trouble starts.

So the issue is with the idea that nothing else will work, and 100% adherence is required. The issue is with the idea that achieving a suitable energy balance is not important, and the (entirely imaginary) moral quality of your food choices is. The issue is that some people have more trouble than others in sticking to a strict plan, and some people have issues with food and simply cannot eat the way they are told to. Those people then are effectively... no, they're quite literally told that there is no hope for them and they don't deserve good health or happiness.

BTW the 100% adherence idea is "orthorexia" and pushing it upon other, vulnerable people who just want to be healthy and happy and confident in their appearance makes you a shit human being. The people I described with limited food choices may or may not be effected by "Avoidant / Restrictive Food Intake Disorder". Consider this before your next ignorant "why can't they just grow up and eat clean real food" rant on facebook, dickheads.

I can not emphasise this point enough. The very simple truth is that your weight is determined by total calorie intake. For those who deny this, how do you explain why there are so many successful IIFYMers and Flexible Dieters out there? Certainly many people have also failed to achieve or maintain results via calorie counting, but this is due to either having inappropriate targets or simply by losing motivation. Even with an Avoidant / Restrictive Intake problem, you can certainly try to make the best choices that are acceptable to you, and include those in a plan to meet your total energy requirements.

Everyone has the same potential to succeed providing they follow the approach that is best suited to them as an individual. If a more strict approach choosing unprocessed, clean, paleo, whole foods works for you then by all means go for it. But it doesn't make you better than anyone else.

Not being a cunt, and being happy to see other people succeed even if they do so with a different approach to your own is what will make you a better person.

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The Art Of War On Weight Problems

In his famous book of strategy, Sun Tzu said:

• If you know your enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles.
• If you know yourself but not your enemy, for every victory gained you will also know defeat.
• If you know neither the enemy or yourself, you will sucumb to every battle.

We can apply this lesson to our weight loss and body conditioning goals, as follows:

If you know yourself and know your enemy.

In this case you could consider "your enemy" to refer either to your current body condition that you wish to change, or to the course of action required to achieve this result.

First, you must know yourself. What is your current condition, for example your starting weight? Now what is a suitable goal weight, that is neither unrealistic, unhealthy, and not too pessimistic either. A suitable weight one might expect an active, healthy person of your height, age and gender to be.

Now, what is the most suitable course of action for you to achieve this result? This would include a suitable activity, exercise or training plan, and suitable nutritional requirements. Simply put; how many calories to support this goal weight & enable adequate results from training?

If you know all of this, you'll find that what's required is quite simple and easy to adhere to. Even for more advanced or more ambitious goals, I believe that the effort to reward ratio is always proportionate. That is to say, so long as this is actually what you want, it is never more effort than it is worth. When your heart is not it in, it may be a different story.

If you know yourself but not your enemy.

OK, so you know where you are at, and where you'd like to get to. That's a start, but if you don't know how to get there... your chances are hit and miss at best. If you're not making progress, you can only guess at why and your guess is likely to be wrong.

Particularly in terms of intake levels, my observation is that people guess wrong consistently. Following misguided advice, they are likely to stress themselves out attempting to stick to restrictions that aren't even helpful or necessary, while oblivious to the much simpler actions that would ensure success.

If you know neither your self nor your enemy.

You don't really know where you're at, or where you want to be. You have not identified your goal, nor do you know what is required to get there. In this situation people are just doing some random activity, hoping that it will produce some result, and hoping that this result will make them happier.

To my mind, and example of this would be joining the gym just do do an hour on the Cross Trainer machine a few nights a week. Since you don't really know what you want, this seems as good an option as any, and hopefully it'll make some difference that you'll be satisfied with. Unfortunately, this won't happen.

Let's finish on a positive note though.

Back to the first point. If you know your goal, know that you have a suitable training program to achieve that goal, and know the nutritional guidelines required to enable that result, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles.

You are absolutely assured of success.

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Let's talk about training effectively.

My clients follow different versions of the same movement based program. There are certain movements that we want to cover, but the choice of exercise can vary depending on what equipment is available, or the client's confidence & ability level.

The way I've designed the program and the way I have set it up to be so versatile and customisable is a bit unique. But at the same time, it is just one example of how a competent and knowledgeable training might design an effective program.

There are probably unlimited options for designing an effective resistance training program, but for the most part they'll all have certain movements in common. Specifically we're talking about heavy ass compound lifts, and a suitable balance to recruit and exhaust all of the major muscle groups.

In addition to those, I like to include what I describe as "precision" movements that might target a more specific, smaller muscle, or which might be like an extra coat of polish after we've done the more utilitarian type stuff like grunting neanderthals.

Sometimes there are other movements that we might incorporate for very specific reason, for example to recruit and activate a very specific supporting muscle that doesn't seem to be doing it's job effectively while performing those major compound movements. These exercises aren't really going to make much of a difference to your body composition, but a trainer with a good eye and a good understanding of movement and anatomy will utilise them for the purpose of better preparing you for safe & effective execution of the important stuff that really does make a difference.

Now... click through pinterest for a while and have a look at some of these "cellulite banishing butt and thigh workouts" posted up, for example. What you'll find is a lot of very elegant and dignified looking calisthenic type exercises, precise movements that may target a specific muscle. You'll feel a burn while performing them, possibly some Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness the next day... but does this mean it is an effective training program consisting of suitable exercises to delivered the desired result? 

Nope.

You'll feel a burn because you're recruiting a small muscle in isolation, in a way that it is not used to being activated. This is something that a good trainer might proscribe to address an imbalance they perceive in your movement patterns, for example. Addressing that imbalance will allow you to perform the compound movements that will really change the shape of your body more safely and more effectively... but only performing these exercises while omitting the "big" stuff that really makes a difference will be mostly inconsequential.

If you want to change the shape of your body, you need to target the muscles that make up the greater part of it. Not just the smaller ones that are actually hidden deep within your anatomy.

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