Looks like I’ve been rumbled:
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Good email Phil!
I recognise that guy!
And yes it had made me more profitable.
Much like your training plans, I have cut back business activities and costs to the basics which can be sustained and daisy chained at 80% – the margin has improved..
I am now applying your philosophy to our household routing and planning and am teaching the children the 80/20 rule as an axiom for sustainable planning in all things.
Truly, your silver era secrets has made an immense impact on my life and I am now a year on still following it – proof of its efficacy!
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Seems I was right about the profitability of proper application of “80% days”.
What’s interesting about this though, is that my erstwhile student has mentioned another foundational principle of my way of training that brings manifold and wonderful benefits to your life that have nothing to do with getting strong and in shape: The so-called “80/20 Rule” which is also known as the “Pareto Principle”.
For the uninitiated, this is an immutable law of the universe whose discovery is attributed to Italian polymath, Vifredo Pareto.
A proper explanation of the rule is beyond my understanding (my mathematical ability is so poor I have to get Jess to carefully check even basic additions and subtractions that I include in my books, marketing materials, newsletters, and so on), but it can be pretty well summed up by the words of mid-20th century engineer, Joseph Juran, as “the vital few and the useful many”.
The vital few being those 20% of inputs that deliver 80% of the output and the useful many being the 80% of inputs that deliver the remaining 20% of the output (that is to say, those inputs you should never discount unthinkingly despite their limited potential, as many internet HustleBros advocate).
Insofar as training is concerned, the Pareto Principle applies mostly to exercise selection. Here, mastering the basics (barbell squats, presses, and pulls) is plenty sufficient to get you most of the way to where you need to go.
Moreover, one of the top reasons I see people NOT going anywhere is that they try to pack their training with too much variety either on a macro scale (“switching it up” every few weeks), a micro scale (workouts featuring eleventy-billion different exercises per bodypart), or both.
I mean, what’s the point in doing leg presses, front squats, leg presses, leg curls, Bulgarian split-squats, and hip thrusters when you can’t complete a quality set of eight to twelve barbell back squats with 1.25-1.5x your bodyweight?
Answer:
There isn’t one.
Likewise cardio. You don’t need to worry about tempo runs, HIIT, Fartlek, or lactic threshold training when you can’t yet crack out a 5-10km run on command.
None of this is to say all the things I’ve just mentioned have no place prior to those standards being met. They are, after all, examples of the “useful few” that only a numpty would dismiss out of hand.
The key lies in identifying which of the useful few are actually useful in your situation. “Your” being the operative word, meaning that what helped me, or your friend, or that guy with a million Instagram followers might not necessarily help you and vice versa. Which unfortunately means engaging in a process of trial and error wherein you carefully try different things, measure what worked and do more of that thing while ditching whatever didn’t.
Although I will say it’s a process you can shorten considerably with the right information and advice.
On that note, the “Silver Era Secrets” programme my former client mentioned is not currently for sale as I am in the process of revising and adding to the material with a view to re-launching it later in the year.
However.
My equally excellent muscle building course, “The Greek Physique” IS open to new recruits for the next couple of days.
It’s £1000 for six months 1-1 with me (and only me – I don’t farm clients out to other PTs). Not a sum to be sniffed at, but fair when you consider its explicit purpose is to equip you with everything you need to continue progressing for many years and maybe even decades after we’ve parted ways.
Go here to learn more about it:
https://philtyreman.co.uk/course/
Thank you,
Phil Tyreman