Have you ever heard of the 80/20 principle?
Its Pareto’s principle that states that 80% of your results come from 20% of your effort.
I remember first learning about this concept back in 2007 after reading Tim Ferriss 4 Hour Work Week. Fascinated by this concept I dived in and here is what I found…
- 80% of wealth is owned by 20% of people
- 80% of sales come from 20% of customers
- 80% of work is produced by 20% of your team
- 20% of staff cause 80% of the problems
- 20% of the clothes in your wardrobe are worn 80% of the time
The list goes on and it’s incredible how accurate it is.
Over the last 10 years I have been applying this principle to both my health and fitness and that of my Personal Training clients.
A little side note – Those that know me, know I am incredibly passionate about fitness, health and training but they also know that I am human. I love nothing more than an occasional beer with friends, red wine and chocolate and even fish and chips on the beach
Though I indulge and sometimes overindulge I am still able to maintain a healthy bodyfat percentage (apart from Christmas 🙂 a healthy blood pressure, normal ratios of triglycerides to HDL and LDL particle size, normalised fasting insulin levels, a low 50’s bpm resting heart rate and a normal urinary indican level (I breakdown protein well)
I can deadlift 160kg, squat 110kg, bench press over 100kg, hit 20 chin ups and I have run a double marathon on hills without any specific running training (admittedly it wasn’t fast and it almost killed me) all with just 3 short workouts a week.
Suffering on a 81k run
I tell you all of this not to impress you but rather impress upon you what’s possible with the 80/20 principle.
So here are some of my 20% examples I use for 80% results
Nutrition
20% – Keeping the carbohydrates down to less than 75 grams a day.
Reducing your carbohydrate intake lowers your insulin levels. Since insulin keeps fat locked into adipose tissue, lowering insulin can increase the amount of fat released to be burned for energy.
By keeping carbs down, generally you will
Keep the sugar down
Increase protein
Increase good fats
It’s simple and easy to follow
Health
20% – Go to bed before 10.
Not being well rested has many negative side effect.
You’re more likely to have an accident
Your cognitive function is diminished
Lack of sleep has been connected to heart disease, stroke, diabetes amongst others
It kills your sex drive
It can contribute to depression
It will lower your immune system
You will affect your hunger hormones and lead to sugar cravings
Exercise
20% – Use big bang for your buck exercises
Squats, deadlifts, lunges, push ups, pull ups. All these exercises use many muscles on one move. Compared to single joint exercises like bicep curls you will…
Burn more calories
Get your workouts completed faster
Increase your strength in your whole body
Build more lean muscle
So what can you do today for your 20%?
Let me know what your 20%- ers are, I would love to hear them.
- Paul ‘more with less’ & Krystie ‘less is more’ Miller
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