RESULTS MATTER: METHODS DON’T

In writing this topic title I realize I’ve just re-written the phrase “the end justifies the means”, which, in turn, is referred to in pop-culture as “Machiavellianism”, which, in turn, saddens me, because Machiavelli expressed SO many more worthwhile ideas than that trite expression (of which I’ve discussed in previous blog posts, around 10 years ago, crazy as that seems), so I’m already off to a terrible start.  But actually, let me go ahead and explain how this is ever slightly so different from that idea, justifying myself to myself.  Both statements are primarily concerned with the end state of our activity: did we achieve our desired goal?  However, whereas “the end justifies the means” is more about expressing the idea that, as long as we achieve our goal, we can justify any atrocities committed along the path, what I hope to express here is more the notion that it does not matter if the method one employs is considered sub-optimal, improper, unscientific or just plain wrong: if the end result is meeting our goals, it is the RIGHT method.  At least, for us it is.  “The end justifies the means” tends to be more about granting ourselves forgiveness FOR using the most effective approach possible, as often effectiveness is in conflict with ethics and morality (the quickest “get rich quick” strategy is to steal from those that have the riches, compared to any method that involves legal acquisition), whereas here, it’s more a notion that, so long as our goal is getting met, it doesn’t matter how we got there.  Because results matter: methods don’t.

An instance where having no rules produced the most awesome 2 part comic ever

 

I see this in both spheres of physical transformation: training and nutrition.  On the training side, I’ve discussed this SO often (as is the case when you write once a week for over a decade: there’s only so many ideas out there), but since it keeps coming up, I can keep discussing it.  There’s a manifold manifestation of this.  The first is a trainee who expressed “I’ve been training for 6 months on this routine and I’m seeing awesome results.  Would someone mind critiquing my plan?”  For one, hyperbole is killing communication (future blog post!), but whenever I hear this I’ll tell the trainee “Dude, if you’re getting AWESOME results, change absolutely nothing!  Be covetous of those results.  Be jealous of them (not envious: learn the difference).  Keep doing WHATEVER it is you are doing to get those results, because getting awesome results is rare air, and to change anything at this point would be foolish!”  Inevitably, they counter with a desire to want to “optimize” their training, at which point my soul dies even more as I realize I’m dealing with “that trainee”.  If your method is getting you results, it doesn’t matter WHAT it is: it’s working.  Keep it up.

 

But “methods don’t matter” extends even further into the training realm of physical transformation, because, once again, in general, methods don’t matter when it comes to training.  They really really don’t.  Dan John said it best “EVERYTHING works…for about 6 weeks.”  Dan says this more to illustrate the fact that any yahoo can slap together a program and it will work for about 6 weeks, whereas a REAL coach can set you up with a multi-year, if not DECADE training protocol, but we can flip the script there and make it a statement of empowerment: everything WILL work.  Sure, the duration of it working may be short, but what amazing assurance to have: it will work!  If you’ve ever had an unreliable vehicle before, you understand the inherent uneasiness of not knowing if a thing will work: you go to turn on the engine and have no idea if it will actually start or not.  The “not knowing” is horrible, but KNOWING that everything WILL work: that is freedom!  In turn: yes, TRY out HIT, or Deep Water, or Dogg Crapp, or 5/3/1, or Juggernaut, of Jamie Lewis’ protocols, or SBS, or whatever the program du jour is, or your very own disaster that you constructed: it WILL work!  So long as you employ the principles of effort, consistency and time/patience, you WILL get results.  And as long as you’re getting results, the method DOES NOT MATTER.  And once the results stop, pick a NEW method that doesn’t matter and use THAT to get results.

I wish I could get these kind of results using a method that doesn't work...

 

And oh my goodness the nutrition sphere is SO up its own butt on this one that a mere blogpost can’t possibly cover the depths of this, and I write this as a person who has annoyed so many of you with my recent proselytizing of my own nutrition, but that verb could not be more perfect, because as much as we talk about the “camps” of training (Crossfit vs Starting Strength vs HIT vs High Volume, etc), nutrition is absolutely a religion, and many will engage in crusade to slaughter all the infidels and let the one true voice ring out.  SO many out there want to believe that nutrition is a machine, such that the pieces of it all have to fit together precisely in order for the mechanism to “work”.  “If I don’t eat the right macro balance, if I don’t eat the exact right amount of calories, if I don’t time my protein exactly right, if I don’t achieve ketosis, if I don’t eat ONLY the ‘right’ foods, my nutrition will fail.”  But how many people do you know that have their nutrition “dialed in” and still look like a melted candle?  And how many people do you know that live off a fast food meal a day and are jacked?  Life’s unfair: but if we TRULY believe that life IS unfair, isn’t that an acknowledgement that life is INDIVIDUAL in turn?  In order for there to BE unfairness, there needs to be inequality between at LEAST two entities, which is an open acknowledgement that, at SOME level, things between two (or more) people are different, and these individual differences can, in turn, manifest in the form of DIFFERING results despite SAME methods.

 

Which, in turn, means, when analyzing nutrition in the realm of physical transformation, one must analyze the RESULTS of the nutrition and not the method.  It does not matter how often you hear that carbohydrates are crucial for growing muscle due to their role in insulin manipulation and their protein sparing nature if YOU personally can forego them and still see results, in much the same way it does not matter how much literature says that one MUST consume .8g of protein per pound of lean bodyweight to grow muscle if you are growing just fine without it.  It does not matter if a certain amount of fat MUST be consumed while low carb in order to trigger ketosis IF you are STILL getting shredded while keeping fats low, nor does it matter what people say about vegan gaining if you’re gaining as a vegan!  There’s over 8 billion humans on the Earth: maybe you’re a mutant.  Maybe you can live off sunshine and happy thoughts.  As long as you are getting the results YOU want, how you are eating is working. 

No one is going to call out your eating when you are Bruce Goddamn Randall

 

People get mixed up because they SAY they want 1 result but actually desire another.  Think of how many trainees SAY they want to be big and strong, but as soon as a gallon of milk a day, or a dozen eggs and 1.5lbs of ground beef a day, or PBJs enter the equation they say “that’s not healthy!”  Suddenly our REAL goals reveal: we want to be healthy and would LIKE to be big and strong.  Herein we observe the REAL takeaway from this all: we must be authentic and true TO OURSELVES insofar as it relates to WHAT our goals are.  We experience anxiety and despair when we exist in a state of self-denial relating to our goals: SAYING we want one thing but ACTUALLY desiring another.  BUT, if our goal is true, and we are truly aligned to it, then the method does not matter: so long as we achieve that goal…well, we achieved our goal.  And with that, we achieve the satisfaction that comes with that achievement.