Is This the Most Important Improvement I Can Make?

There are many ways to improve your health and fitness. From workout routines to nutritional suppliments the options seem limitless. Many of them promise to be the secret that we have all been looking for – something unique that only the producer has known and is now willing to share with you. With so many great products and a jumble of information it’s critical to ask yourself: is this the most important improvement I can make? I’d like to illustrate how I decide what the most important improvements are for my clients and myself.

There is a philsophy out there that I have encountered from a varitety of sources which says that the most important thing you can do to improve your fitness is not to add an ‘improvement’, but to take away a limitation.  For example, many of the people I work with have very poor hip and shoulder mobility. So rather than trying to get them to do exercises that I think are great, I try to get rid of the problems they present. After all, if you cannot squat or deadlift (two movements which are known to be extremely effective when utilized correctly) what seems like a better improvement: buying yourself a TRX for a new specialized form of training or fixing your hips so you can do two of the most basic movements of the human body? The same goes for shoulders. Many people have a shoulder issue of some kind which limits their upper body activities to some degree.  Rather than fixing the problem they work around it, denying themselves the benefits of simple exercises that they could be doing.

Nutrition is another area where this philosophy makes so much sense. There are lots of great suppliments to be had and I think that some of them can truly be useful.  However, most people (including myself) would do much better to improve their current eating habits rather than to add a supplement. Supplements after all should do just that – supplement your existing diet. Before you opt for protein shakes, weight gainers, pre-workout supplements or whatever else you might be thinking about, ask yourself if you could manage to get in an extra healthy meal or if you could remove a bad habit that is slowing down your progress. Most people can find at least one thing without much hassle.

What I am really trying to say is often, the biggest advancements you can make in fitness are by making the most basic adjustments. The trouble is you have to know what those adjustments are. Improving hip or shoulder mobility requires you to know what good hip and shoulder mobility looks like. Improving Nutrition requires you to have some basic knowledge about smart eating (although that one isn’t nearly as tough, but that’s another subject). So, rather than buying the next great product on the market ask yourself if maybe there are some basic things that could be done to your existing fitness routine. This will save you wasted time and money. If you can, get yourself a trainer who knows how to find these things and how to coach you through them. After all, no athlete becomes great without a bit of good coaching.