How Optimisation ruins your health.

I was training my friend Jordan for his first Muay Thai fight. One week into the program, he cracked his rib.

I started freaking out about how I was going to train him. How would we continue with the program now? If he has a cracked rib, how can we build strength and then turn that into power as we get closer to his fight?

My colleague Alan said to me, "What power? What strength? He's a complete beginner in the gym. As long as you're helping him progress in some way, you're doing your job."

Jordan ended up fighting and nearly winning. He told me he'd never felt so fit in his entire life.

If I'd gotten so caught up in doing what was optimal, I wouldn't have been able to help Jordan step into the ring.

That moment stuck with me.

I was obsessing over optimization when what Jordan actually needed was simple: keep moving, build basic fitness, show up consistently. The perfect program would've been useless if it didn't account for his reality, a cracked rib and zero gym experience.

Here's what I see now: most people do the reverse.

They're beginners obsessing over advanced tactics, ice baths, supplements, perfect tempo, when they haven't nailed the basics: showing up 3 times a week, eating decent food, sleeping 7 hours.

They chase optimisation because it feels sexy. It feels like that one thing that's going to make a big change. When it's often the opposite.

Optimisation shows you what the ideal scenario is, often according to science. But it leaves out the human element. It forgets that you're not a robot.

You have a family, a job, expenses. Optimisation is always wake up at 5:30am, meditate, journal, cold shower, perfect macro split, ideal rep tempo. You don't need to do this to be healthy or progress your fitness.

It also creates standards that are so high that it's very easy not to meet them consistently. This can leave you feeling guilty and thinking, "Why even bother trying if I can't do it properly?"

I think that's what pisses me off most about "optimise everything" fitness culture, how it makes you believe that you have to do everything perfectly, and if you don't, you're a failure. Or how people get so hung up on small details. Things need to be done EXACTLY like this or that.

Ice baths are more exciting than going to bed on time. Researching supplements feels productive compared to just eating more vegetables. Perfecting rep tempo is more interesting than showing up consistently.

But if you're not sleeping, eating well, and training regularly, none of that other stuff matters.

Stop thinking about some expensive supplement you need when your screen time is 5 hours a day and you barely eat any vegetables.

Here's what actually matters:

Basics first: Sleep 7-8 hours. Eat healthy food 80% of the time. Be consistent with your training. Socialize instead of staring at a screen.

Then add complexity (if needed): Progressive overload, tracking, periodization.

Optimisation is the cherry on top: Ice baths, the most recent science-backed workout, new supplements, and all the other shite just makes minor improvements. Some of it doesn't make any difference at all.

Most people are obsessing over the cherry when they haven't baked the cake.

I spent years doing this myself.

Years and years obsessing over waking up early, eating perfectly, doing mobility, meditating, and doing loads of other things. I put so much pressure on myself to "lock in," as the kids say.

But now? I still don't do those things, and I'm doing just fine.

The optimal routine that people like Huberman and other health and fitness gurus try to sell does more harm than good. For me, I put so much pressure on myself to achieve a lifestyle the internet told me I needed in order to achieve my goals. It just wasn't true. And it added more stress because I felt guilty about not being disciplined or strong-willed enough to do it.

I make my clients' programs as simple as possible. A thousand exercises doesn't make any difference. It's consistency and intention that really matters. Not doing things perfectly. The 80-20 rule is how I approach this.

I can spend hours making a perfect program, and the client says, "I don't have this machine" or "I don't like this exercise." Not being tied to things helps.

Take my client Alex. She doesn't enjoy being in a gym environment. It makes her self-conscious and anxious. We train on Saturday mornings when the gym is usually very quiet. If there are people in, I try to find a quiet spot where there aren't many people. If there are people, I'll be cautious of the types of exercises I choose. She trains on her own from home twice a week.

I could have turned around and said, "No, you won't progress as fast if you don't go to the gym, that’s what’s optimal. You have more exercises and access to more suitable weights."

But she wouldn't have bought into that.

Every week Alex comes in and tells me how she feels more confident, can feel her muscles growing, or that she feels happier in day-to-day life.

I think most trainers believe they have to copy some influencer or parrot research. But every client is a unique human being. You have to coach them like that, otherwise it's not personal training. It's just you using blanket methods to train people the way you probably train yourself.

As long as someone is progressing, enjoying it, and buying into a healthy lifestyle, you're doing your job well.

If you focus on making your health and fitness convenient, you're removing willpower and motivation from the equation. You're making it easy.

It shouldn't be a daily struggle to be a healthy and fit person.

Once you accept you aren't going to be perfect, you'll probably make yourself even healthier, because you're reducing stress.

If you can't make it to the gym, train from home. If you can't commit to 60-minute sessions, train for 20. Something is better than nothing.

Everything is so optimized these days that it drags the fun out of it. The focus on perfect tempo, technique, rest times, nutrition intake. Should we listen to science? Absolutely. But exercise is supposed to be fun and reduce stress - not make you feel like a robot or that you aren't good enough because you can't do things a certain way.