Reviewing many of the philosophies and concepts that I have settled on, I realized that I have adopted the ‘minimalist’ approach. Perform only the things that matter. Increasing health-span, longevity, and performance are important and using minimalistic ways to get there creates sustainable methods of doing so.
Here is a summary of the minimalist tools that I have ingrained in my lifestyle.
- Minimalist footwear. The barefoot movement, it started here for me. In the effort to better my running technique, I adopted the barefoot technique, to dampen the forces associated with running and become more efficient by utilizing the inherent stretch shortening cycle of the body. Over the years, literally starting with running on grass in bare feet, progressing to Vibram Five Fingers and now running most days, zero drop footwear is my go-to.
- Endurance Running itself is a minimalist activity. For the price of a pair of runners, or not, you can run in various forms every day, on different surfaces and at different locations for, in my mind, the best form of physical and mental training. However, you must become Musculo-skeletally resilient and learn how to not make running add or increase the stress response.
- Bodyweight, Calisthenics, Relative and Useful Strength. Loving the challenge of strengthening and getting my body to perform many and varied techniques, I realized gyms are for force production, specific to sports, developing specific strength and power. But you do not need them. Not for health, not for general strength and function, not even for body composition and aesthetics. Manipulating the body and training at mechanically disadvantageous positions, can increase the force demands on the muscle and movement necessary to increase strength, power and change body composition.
- Fasting, Ketogenic Diet, and Wholefoods. Changing our food environment and getting back to our evolutionary biology, eating like our ancestors, is a minimalist approach. Feast and famine cycles can be mimicked by Fasting and re-feeding. The Ketogenic Diet and Wholefoods are simple eating principles, requiring extraordinarily little food preparation. Fasting certainly does not require any preparation of food, and things like eggs, whole avocados, sardines and nuts require very little preparation. I have transformed my life, metabolism, endurance, and performance by changing my food.
Performing High Intensity Training (HIT) in mechanical aids (i.e. heavily supported shoes and orthotics), is masking issues in then body that should be remedied. When performed on an ultra-processed and pro-inflammatory diet can be dangerously unhealthy. Achieving excessive muscle mass or bodyweight is moving you away from your genetic setpoint and homeostasis, energetically costly and not conduce to efficiency over the lifespan. And training specifically for aesthetics doesn’t usually transfer to optimal levels of function.
Create optimal performance improvement strategies and more sustainable practices to improving your health and performance, via minimalistic approaches.