I love minimalism. Less is more. Have less stuff. Embrace simplicity. So how do minimalists approach fitness?

Some people don’t want to think too hard about things. They want to get as much out of as little as possible, and I admire that. Work smarter, not harder. In fitness, there are some things that will yield greater results than others.

Let’s apply some lessons from minimalism to fitness. Here are 3 strategies to approach fitness as a minimalist.

Audit every exercise in your workout

Your body has a limited amount of resources to perform and recover from a workout. This is the basis of training economy. It bodes well to spend your time and energy intelligently.

The first thing you need to do is to establish some goals of your training. What are you trying to achieve with your program? Once you establish your goal, make sure that everything you do while you’re in the gym serves that goal and get rid of everything that doesn’t.

For example, if you are trying to increase your max squat, everything you do during a squat, lower body, or leg workout should somehow support your goal. Ask yourself if each of the exercises you do serves the goal of increasing your squat.

Will jumping and doing power exercises improve your squat? Yes. This stays.

Will squatting improve your squat? Yes, of course. This stays.

Will having a stronger posterior chain (low back, glutes, hamstrings) improve your squat? Yes. RDLs, back raises, good mornings, hip thrusts, glute ham raises, etc all stay.

Will having stronger quads improve the squat? Yes. Bulgarian split squats, lunges, step ups, etc all stay.

Will doing 20 sets of calf raises improve your squat? Probably not. Get rid of it. Plus, isolation work for the calf only improves aesthetics and not performance (unless it’s for rehab purposes).

Will doing those awkward glute kick backs in a leotard with 2 pound ankle weights while climbing up a stair master improve your squat? Nope. Get rid of it. But make sure you do it for the ‘Gram.

When you start auditing your training methods in this way, it’s easy to cut out a ton of useless fluff. Only the important things will remain.

Use the minimum effective dose

Louie Simmons always said it best. You don’t train minimally. You don’t train maximally. You train optimally.

May he lift in peace.

You should not be using absolute maximal intensities every training session. This will lead to burnout, overtraining, injuries, and just isn’t strategic and optimal.

The minimum effective dose is the least amount of exercise that is required to elicit a training effect. Any amount of stimulus under this will not elicit an adaptation or training effect. Any amount of stimulus past this may or may not elicit a greater training effect. There will be a point of diminishing returns for increasing your given intensity past the minimum effective dose.

All of this to say: don’t progress too quickly. If you’re squatting 225 for sets today, do 230 or 235 next time. Don’t make unnecessarily large jumps. Get as much out of 225, 230, and 235 as you can. You’ll be regretting that you didn’t when you inevitably hit a wall in a few weeks.

Many coaches will advocate for a slow but steady progression over the long term. This will not only help to minimize plateaus but ensure that you are getting the most out of any given combination of weight, sets, and reps.

Eliminate supplements and focus on eating real food

I’ve said this many times and I’ll say it again: Supplements don’t do jack s*** if you don’t have your basic nutrition dialed in.

Trying to make up for a bad diet with supplements is like using duct tape to save a sinking ship (Unless it’s that flex tape stuff. That stuff is magic).

Supplements should be accounting for less than 5% of your total progress coming from your diet. The other 95% comes from an educated approach to nutrition. Real food will always be superior to supplements, so put forth your effort into the items that are going to yield the majority of results and stop worrying about the rest. The supplement industry is honestly way too big for what it actually offers.

Let me repeat a sentence to make sure I made my point. Real food will ALWAYS be superior to supplements!

If you are adamant about having some supplements to either supplement your nutrition or to have a pre-training ritual, look into creatine, vitamin D, EPA/DHA, and good quality protein. The only supplement companies I really buy from these days are Thorne and Boba Tea Protein. Both companies are incredible.

Go forth and approach your fitness like a minimalist

Minimalism is all about cutting out the unnecessary fluff from your life. When you apply the three of these strategies, you are eliminating unnecessary exercises, volume, and supplements from your fitness journey. When you have less to distract you, you will be able to put forth your energy and effort into the things that truly yield the greatest results.

So here’s my permission for you to do less to get more.