How To Get 2x The Results With Half The Effort
Truth bomb for you today…incoming, take cover!!….
There are way more bad trainers than good ones.
The bad ones tell you to train hard, train a lot, eat this (not that), and eat less. Then, when it doesn’t work, they just keep repeating the same stuff over and over, and - even worse - blame YOU for the lack of progress.
The trainers worth their salt help you figure out the one thing that matters more than anything else in this fitness game - leverage.
In other words, identifying and implementing the few key habits that require the least amount of time and energy to get to your goal.
Look at it like this:
v.s.
If I know you, you're short on time and energy. Life is busy, work is demanding, and you're too dang tired to overhaul your life.
The great news is, when you have leverage, you don't need to. You can achieve an eye-popping transformation with just a few hours of work per week, but only when you apply them in those high-leverage spots.
That’s what I did with Jay, a busy lawyer who just wrapped up a year with me and is down 30 - count em, 30! - pounds:
And Derek, who dropped ~10 pounds in 12 weeks during one of the most stressful periods of his life:
And Kalon, who lost 15 pounds in ~6 weeks, took a two week trip to Japan, and came back lighter.
And Pedro, who dropped 25 pounds in just 12 weeks:
I could go on and on.
I know what you’re thinking - “WTF. That’s awesome. How?”
I use my EBI method to identify their constraints, both physical and lifestyle, find the highest-leverage points in their system, and then walk them through implementation in a way that doesn’t, make them hate their life.
Guys, this fitness game is hard enough.
You have so many factors working against you: instincts shaped by millions of years of evolution to eat more and move less, an environment that reinforces those instincts at every turn, and the constant pull of a demanding job and a full social calendar.
Getting nowhere is frustrating. But working your butt off and still getting nowhere is soul-crushing, and that's what low-leverage effort does to you.
If that's you, help me help you.
I learned this from the legend Dr. Mike T. Nelson:
“Leverage = your body’s response x your ability to change it.”
AKA, the most effective changes you'll actually make. This is what so many coaches get wrong. They get a new client, maybe like you - tired, busy, stressed, working 50+ hours a week and giving whatever's left to their family - and week one, they bombard them with:
Detailed food tracking and macro targets
Five 60-90 min workouts a week
A daily step goal 5-10x higher than what they were doing before
Gut and hormone protocols
A full sleep hygiene overhaul
The client does 70% of the stuff the first week, then 40% the next, then ghosts because they feel like a failure.
This isn’t good coaching.
The Highest-Leverage Changes You Can Make
What if, instead, you started with 6 things you can actually do (and stick with) that get you noticeable results fast? I break it into three categories with my clients, then we zero in on one or two changes in each.
Some examples:
Environment
Set your kitchen up for success. Shop over the weekend before and pack your kitchen full of protein, fruits, veggies, whole grains, low cal snacks and beverages. If you must have treat foods around, keep them out of sight or in a different room.
Make workouts frictionless. The hardest part of a session is the ten minutes before it starts when your dumb brain tries to convince you to “do it tomorrow.” Make it as easy as possible to start. Pack your bag beforehand, have a routine ready to go, schedule it on your calendar like a meeting, pair it with something you enjoy and/or reward yourself afterward.
Biology
Protein at every meal and snack. 15-20g of protein at snacks, 30-50g of protein at meals. It will help you stay fuller for longer (and naturally snack/eat less). It will also help you get stronger faster and hold onto muscle as you lose fat.
2-3 short, high bang-for-your-buck strength sessions a week. Two or three focused 30-60 minute lifts/week. I promise you - doing these short workouts consistently for 12 weeks will get you way faster results than working out for 6 hours/week for 2 weeks then giving up for 2 years.
Identity
Write out your real "why." Not just lose fat or look better. Go deep on why this matters for your long term health, relationships, and self-worth. Think about how it will improve every other aspect of your life, and why you need to make the change now. Write it in your notes app or Google Doc and refer back to it often.
Aim for 80% consistency in month 1. Follow through on what you told yourself you'd do most of the time for four weeks in a row. Then, you start trusting yourself again, building self-belief, and developing a positive association with these healthy habits. That’s when you’ll be off and running.
That’s it? That’s it!
After you nail down these baseline habits for 3-6 months, you’ll be down ten pounds, feeling great, and raring for more. That’s when you take it to the next level (where we introduce more advanced progression techniques, training for performance, macro tracking, sleep hygiene, etc.)
TLDR - Put your limited time where the return is highest, skip the busywork that doesn’t move the needle, and let your efforts compound.
This is exactly what my online fat loss clients and I work on every single week. If you want a hand finding your own high-leverage spots without giving up good food, great times with the people you love, or, you know, your LIFE, you can apply for 1 on 1 coaching below:
VIP Fitness Coaching Application
Best,
John
P.S. Mabel got her summer cut and it really tuckered her out 😂
3 Steps You Can Take
Apply for coaching - If you’re ready to start, you can fill out a coaching application here (it takes 90 seconds or less). Best case, you change your life. Worst case, I’ll help you draw up a road map to get closer to your goals.
Sign up for my newsletter - If you’d like to hear more, sign up for my mailing list here.
Keep learning - You can check out my other articles here. Nobody asked me to, but I’ve spent a ton of time researching everything from artificial sweeteners to saturated fat to testosterone and more, so you don’t have to.
