Day of the Shred 2: What a Screwdriver Can Teach You About Fat loss and Fitness Goals

A lot of people don't remember too much about their earliest years of life on this earth, but whatever memories they can conjure up probably have some sort of sentimental meaning to them. 

Some memories might be of their first bike.

A memorable Christmas.

Trips to Disneyland. 

One of my earliest, and fondest memories, is wandering into the garage and seeing something completely captivating that can put me in a trance like state to this day:

My dad's toolboxes.  

There they were, those glistening candy apple red chests cascading across the wall.

My dad would reach into this box and magically pull out the tools necessary to fix anything, and I mean anything.  It was like he was reaching into some other dimension fully loaded with the coolest toys imaginable. 

My dad's always been a whiz with tools, and he has a collection of tools that compliment his skill.  

If something had to be fixed, he had the tool.  

For more difficult tasks it may have taken him a few tries to find the right tool for the job, but he always succeeded in using the right tool for the job and finishing the job.

All nostalgia aside, flash forward recently to this year:  I recently had a professor that would repeat at nausea-um, "I'm trying to get you all to use the proper tools in your tool box to get the best answer possible."

For most of the guys in my engineering classes, this metaphor was a stretch for them.    A lot of these guys are good with the mathematical concepts of the field but surprisingly don't know diddly about tools, so the looks on their faces when they heard him repeat this was one of all sorts of confusion.  

My sister knows more about tools than some of these fools.  But that's besides the point.  

Most of what I do every day is based on problem solving; trying to find the best way to produce the most optimal outcome for mechanical and dynamic systems. 


Actually, it's ALL I do everyday.

 This can be extrapolated to EVERYTHING you do in life.  

You always want the most 'bang for you buck', as the saying goes.  

And fat loss, gaining muscle, and fitness in general is no different.  

One of my favorite things this professor said was, "Understand the theories and methods we're going over, these are the tools you need; I'm providing you with the tools to solve a problem.  Here's an example of what I'm trying to say.  You have a screw you would like to unfasten and you have a few screwdrivers for the job, a phillips head and a flat head screwdrivers.  Upon inspection, you know the screw is a phillips head.  The easy option would be to use the phillips head screwdriver.  The proper tool requires the least amount of applied force to produce the most torque to easily unfasten the screw.  The same job COULD be accomplished with the flathead screwdriver, although it would require a lot more force, more torque, and a hell of a lot more effort to get the same job done. Both tools WORK. Your job is to use the one that works best." 

This whole spiel of his really resonated with me because it made so much sense, and I instantly thought of my dad and how he had a knack for always choosing the optimal tools. 

Immediately I transposed this into a model for fat loss and told a young lady I was working with exactly this:  
"The task at hand you're trying to accomplish is fat loss.  Compare that to the unfastening of the screw.  To accomplish this task, you want your tool at hand to be the most effect and efficient tool you have.   Let me list the tools available and you tell me which sounds best:
Tool 1: (The "conventtional" method most overweight individuals tend to seek out") - You could reduce your calories and restrict your food choices to essentially a handful of foods while doing steady state cardio 6 times a week (jogging, treadmill, eliptical etc) 

OR

Tool 2: Start lifting weights several times a week, track your caloric intake while making minimal adjustments without restricting certain foods.  

Both will get you to "lose weight".  Tool 1 will take more time and will take a lot more effort.   Tool 2 will require less actual workout time and less diet restriction.  

Upon inspection, the choice is obvious, isn't it.  

This isn't to say there's no use for our poor, misunderstood flat-head screwdriver and Tool 2 in the above scenario.  

There will come a time when you stumble upon a job that needs a flat head screwdriver, much like there may be a certain time to impliment steady state cardio while using caloric restriction.  

But for the tasks at hand, that's not what we need. 

Which Tools Are Necessary?
As long as there have been tools, there's been someone looking for that magical "one tool for every job".  

Sad to say, it doesn't exist, and probably never will.  

Same goes for fitness goals.  

People are always expecting some black and white, cookie cutter plan to help them lose body fat, gain muscle, lift a bunch of weight, cross fit to the moon, or whatever it is they wan to do.  

It doesn't exist.  

What does is exist, are certain methods that can help you achieve your goals if they're properly applied.  

Here's where we can make a major distiction in this tool analogy: The human body is a dynamic system which constantly changes and adapts to stresses and forces over time.  

Static parts like screws and bolts and such, don't deal with as much stress and dynamics as a human body.  

The tools needed to build the best body possible will always be changing.  

If you ask any successful fitness competitor or person in the business with a stellar physique, they'll tell you they haven't been doing the EXACT SAME THING for years.  They couldn't achieve their level of success had that been the case.  

In order to build this project (your fitness goal) you're going to have to apply multiple tools.  Maybe not a new one every day, every week, or every month for that matter, but 1 tool won't work forever.

I'll take 1 of each, please.

Let's Build a ToolBox
Like my dad always says, "You can never have too many tools."   

Walk into my room and you'll notice about a quarter of my living space is occupied by tools, so I've taken this saying to heart.  

But it aptly applies to fitness as well.  

You can approach fat loss and gaining muscle from all angles and perspectives, but it will always come down to 2 major components: 
Training and Nutrtion.  

This is where it gets tricky.  

When it comes to diets, some eating plans may be more sutiable for some people than others, depending on their goals.  

It's all about context.   

Without going into too much detail, here are some widely used and effective nutrtion methods used for fat loss and gaining muscle.

Think of these as your NUTRITION TOOLS:

• Flexible Dieting
• Low-Carb/Ketogenic Diets
• Low-Fat, Moderate/Higher Carb Diets
• "Clean" Eating

I'm not here to debate which ones work the best, because they all work on different levels through different mechanics,   It all comes down to your goals and which methods you find fit your training and more importantly, your lifestyle.  

And after a while of using one method, you may find it beneficial, or even neccessary to switch to another method.  

Have you been doing Low-carb for a while and miss eating sweets?  Then maybe a flexible diet method may suit you better for the time being so you can manage to treat yourself to a donut from time to time without being guilt ridden.  

Or maybe you've been a flexible dieter for the last 2 years and don't feel like you're as lean and dry as you could be, so maybe adapt more of a "clean" eating approach to your food choices.  

The point here is know what screw your trying to unfasten, and then apply the proper tool for the job.

Training Tools
When it comes to training options and programs, the choices are almost limitless.  The best thing you can do here, as I've said in a recent article is PICK A PROGRAM AND STICK WITH IT.  


But let me say, before you just pick some program all willy nilly, it's important that you directly identify the goal you're trying to accomplish.


Not your best friends goal.


Not what you think girls will like.


YOUR GOAL. What YOU want to achieve.


Once that's nailed down, go after it.  


Once gain, without much detail, here are some training styles that are popular because they work.

• Power Lifting Style Routines (Lower rep ranges, less volume)
• Bodybuilding Style Routines (Higher rep ranges, more volume)
• Crossfit (whatever it is they're doing that day)
• Kettlebell Routines
• Olympic Lifting
• Daily Exercising
• Hight Intensity Interval Training (sprints, aerobic bike sprints)

The Choices here are essentially limitless.  


Personally, I like to switch between powerlifting style programs and bodybuilding programs when I feel i need to either increase my strength, or increase muscle size and density.


They tend to compliment each other when used in appropriate phases.  


Hybrid powerlifting/bodybuilding programs are also effective to optimize the best of both worlds, so to speak.  


The point here is you can't expect one style of training to work forever.  believe it or not, programs plateau, routines get stale, you get bored, and you get burnt out.  


It happens.


So find a better tool for the job.

What Did We Learn

In case you didn't want to sift through this entire blog and you scrolled down to this portion to get the main points, here they are:

• To make progress with your fitness, it's imperative to implement different training and nutritional methods that are all goal dependent to optimize gains and reach those goals. 

That's it.  


Wow, seems like a lot of typing for such a simple point.  


But I was trying to illustrate a point, and I hope you all can see what it is.  


Know what the task at hand is.


Utilize every tool in your toolbox.  


The more tools you have, the easier the job can be. 


And if you're anything like me, you'll realize the beauty in tools and appreciate the usefulness and fun that comes with tools, whether they're actual wrenches or screwdrivers or metaphors for fitness; so GET TO WORK.