Sunday 11.25.12

Simple is better

With our nutrition challenge starting in the beginning of 2013, here's a book some of you may find interesting and just released this last week.  I haven't bought the book yet, but I have read other stuff from Tim Ferriss (The 4-Hour Body) and just recently heard him on the radio talking about this book.  I drive around the corn fields for 10-12 hours a night, so I have to listen to my radio filled with conspiracy theories, alien abductions, and, once in a while, nutrition and fitness related stuff.

Tim Ferriss's big thing is trying to simplify what we do so we can get the most out of life.  In The 4-Hour Chef, his “cookbook for people who don’t buy cookbooks” is a guide to mastering cooking and life, he says.  The key is, learning simple basics and mastering them.

For any nutrition challenge, eating in and preparing your own food is generally the best way to succeed.  But if you don't know what or how to cook, it can seem daunting.   The 4-Hour Chef talks about some of the easiest recipes expert chefs make and then charge you huge amounts for.  And 90% of his recipes are Paleo naturally, even though he doesn't necessarily eat Paleo.

But he also discusses other simple things that can be learned, and it goes along with what we try to teach at The Compound, master the basics.  Here's some examples:

Fitness:
People think we do crazy stuff at The Compound.  They think CrossFit is just a new crazy workout fad and it will be gone as quickly as it appeared.  CrossFit can be extremely difficult, if you make it that way.  But it can also be very simple (notice I did not say easy...simple).  Here's some examples:

Out of the hundreds of movements we perform, it could be easy to loose track of what is what and how to perform each one expertly.  But, if you remember one thing, Core Stability, than all the movements are safe to perform and simple.  CrossFit Santa Cruz put out a video series called "The Position" and stated that if you knew how to perform "The Position" (basically a Hollow Body no matter if you are standing, laying, upside down, etc) then you can perform most movements efficiently and safely.  Simple, but the trick is trying to find that position 20 minutes into Filthy 50's!

This is a preview of the video.  For the entire series, sign up for the CrossFit Journal.  It's only $25 a year and the best information you will find on working out and nutrition

Nutrition:
The concept doesn't have to be hard.  It doesn't have to be Paleo, Weight Watchers, Zone, cleanses and all the little rules you have to follow to be a pure follower of any of those.  It's extremely simple, just eat real food:

The concept is simple.  If its a meat, veggie, or fruit, then eat it and you will be healthy.  If it isn't, you probably don't need it. The difficulty is not getting side tracked with all the chocolate, fried foods and other items that get in the way!

Life:
Tim Ferriss's book also talks about using his simple rules for cooking, to conquer life.  He mentioned trying for years to learn to play guitar.  Then he heard these guys:

After he learned the 4 chords, he was easily able to "fool" his friends into thinking he could play.  And he says he has since learned to play even better.

Again, I haven't read the book.....yet.....but I have tried to learn many new things in my life and usually starting out is the hardest part.  As Tim points out, most of the time the task isn't as difficult as it originally seems once you master the basics.