Some of the recommendations may indeed be at odds with advice that I would give to a competitive athlete. But it’s apples and oranges.
Complexity bias tricks us into thinking that complex training routines must be better. But embracing simplicity in your fitness routine may lead to much better results.
Get-Fit Guy is hosted by Kevin Don. A transcript is available at Simplecast.
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Welcome back to Get-Fit Guy, Coach Kevin Don here. This week, I’ll be touching on one of my favorite topics again… fallacious thinking and bias! You have no idea how many comments or emails I get about me being “wrong” or that I’m not diving deep enough into something. I’m very open to being wrong and in fact, I love when I’m challenged about a topic because this drives adaptive thinking. But before you email me, a quick reminder: if you are a competitive triathlete, ironman competitor, powerlifter, strongman (or woman), CrossFit athlete, or any other myriad of competitive sporting specialties, please remember that this podcast isn’t called the High Performance Sporting Guy podcast.
I have already defined the meaning of “getting fit” as pushing the needle from a position of sickness to wellness, with wellness or fitness being the absence of disease or injury in an organism. Sport-specific outcomes and wellness outcomes can often be mutually exclusive. This is because playing sport is a performance. Anytime you play a sport, you keep a score, a time, or a total of work done. This is then compared against past work done or against the score or times of others. In this scenario, you ignore signals from your body and push hard. You also develop a sport-specific physique and set of skills. Think about a rower. They work SOLELY in a single degree of freedom (surging front and back) out of six. So, their training is not a driver to wellness because it's limiting their natural human ability to fully interact with their environment.
I don’t care about sporting excellence. I admire it, I appreciate it, and I play sports myself; karate and judo mainly. But I also do things outside of those sports to work on a well rounded physical expression. THAT is my aim with this podcast—to bring people to a position of wellness through increased physical literacy. So, some of the recommendations may indeed be at odds with advice that I would give to a competitive athlete. But it’s apples and oranges.
The next thing is that this is a 9-12 minute podcast—it’s intended to provide some information in an efficient, easy-to-understand, and bite-sized manner. It’s NEVER going to be possible to cover every nuance of every aspect of a topic as it may pertain to every single individual outcome of every person listening. It’s general information. If you want an individualized training recommendation and would like a consultation about your training or to hire me as your coach, please email me. I would love to talk to y’all about your individual needs and help. But again, please don’t confuse a general recommendation aimed at thouands of listeners a week with your own individual needs. That can’t ever happen and thinking that it can… well, that’s above my paygrade.
Now, on to the meat of today’s episode: complexity bias. Complexity bias refers to the tendency of individuals to favor complex solutions or approaches over simpler ones, often assuming that more intricate methods are inherently more effective. In the realm of fitness training, this bias manifests when individuals are drawn towards complex workout routines, advanced equipment, or intricate dietary plans, believing that they will yield superior results. However, in reality, most people do not need the most complex solutions for successful fitness training.
Complexity bias stems from various cognitive factors, including the assumption that complexity equates to expertise or effectiveness. Humans are naturally inclined to associate complexity with sophistication, leading them to believe that intricate methods must be superior in some way.
I find that many fitness enthusiasts are attracted to complex training programs due to their perceived novelty, uniqueness, and promise of rapid progress. The desire for a quick fix or a shortcut can lead individuals to embrace complex solutions in the hope of achieving faster results. I see the same thing carrying over to coaches or gym owners, who, worried that clients may get bored and leave, embrace complexity bias to keep people “interested.”
This isn’t to say that sometimes, more complex training interventions aren’t required. But that only comes after someone has ceased to linearly progress doing the basic and simple. Everyone has heard the phrase “if it ain’t broken, don’t fix it.” You need to max out a novice linear progression before adding greater complexity, because complex movement is built upon foundational movement. More people should be thinking about what is sustainable and not what is exciting, but inherently unsustainable.
Another thing about complex training methods is that they generally take more time. A simple and effective squat program for MOST PEOPLE will be to perform 5 sets of 5 reps and just add 2.5-5 lbs a week. A 5x5 on the squat (after warm-up sets) may take 10-15 minutes. A more complex program will have single-leg variants, tempo options, isometric options, and so on. Complex programs eat up time that most people don’t have. The biggest obstacle for most people in getting fitter and stronger is making the time for it. So don't then fill your training time with super complex stuff that doesn't even have the same return on investment. In terms of strength training, there is literally nothing more impactful than a barbell. Simple is best.
Complex training plans and movements also make it harder to move well. I have been in gyms where one week people are doing a back squat and the next they are doing an overhead squat. If the stimulus keeps changing for the sake of variation, how do you ever develop virtuosity at any one thing? A trainee pianist doesn't jump onto the drums after a few weeks because they need to maintain interest levels. Sorry, but training can be boring! Looking for constant variation is exactly the kind of thing that kills progress. You need repeated exposure to the same external stresses to adapt. Adding load is all the variation you need.
Whilst at the gym myself, I often see people come in, look around the room, and get overwhelmed with the options. Leg press, leg extension, belt squat, leg curl, adductors, abductors, sissy squat machine. Which to do? They skip the barbell and do a few reps on a whole bunch of different machines and never really get anywhere. You meet them at the gym in 2023 and they are benching 225 and see them again in 2033 and they are still benching 225. Why? Decision fatigue. People get overwhelmed with all the options and information. This hinders progress because decision-making is a burden and in between training sessions, they uncover some new information and just hop from program to program without ever getting anywhere. Bear in mind: the best training program is the one you stick to. Having a simple, progressive overload of a few big impact movements will reduce decision fatigue and free you up to focus on executing your training plan effectively.
Complexity of training options also leads to an inability to fit training into some busy lifestyles. If you are training on a complex machine or specific piece of equipment and have to go travel for work or go on vacation, it’s unlikely the hotel gym, cruise ship, or local gym at your location will have the same equipment. So what do you do? Not train? Almost every gym on the planet will have a barbell, some dumbbells, and kettlebells. I have trained in Tokyo, Seoul, Hong Kong, New York, Dallas, LA, Reykjavik, Gothenburg Cape Town, and everywhere in between and I have never had to miss a training session because they don’t have some complex machine, because I don't use complex machines.
Complexity bias in fitness training often leads individuals to overlook the power of simplicity. By embracing simpler approaches, individuals can experience sustainable progress, enjoy improved adherence, minimize the risk of injury, and achieve their fitness goals effectively. Simplicity allows for a focus on fundamental principles, customization, and long-term integration, ensuring fitness becomes an enjoyable and rewarding part of everyday life.
I hope that has been useful for everyone and if you have any questions about training or coaching in general, email me at getfitguy@quickanddirtytips.com or check out the Get-Fit Guy Facebook page!