If you were conducting a scientific experiment, it would be in your best interest to control for as many variables as possible. This way, you could examine the effects of one variable with relative certainty that the result is not the outcome of some other variable. In this sense, then, a scientific experiment in which someone starts a new training program, but keeps their same poor sleeping habits, high-sugar diet, and generally sedentary lifestyle would be a “better” option than changing all of these variables.

But you’re not in a scientific experiment. You’re here because you’re interested in results. And while there is a definite art to introducing change in a manageable and sustainable way, there’s something to be said for stacking variables.

In our one-on-one intro session with new students, we talk about movement history, goals, athletic background, injuries, etc., and we also address the lifestyle elephant in the room. The idea is this: you’re here to make a change, and training is going to be a big step. But what about everything else? How can we stack the variables in your favor to feed the results even more?

If you add three hours of dedicated training every week to your variables, and stack that with cutting out sugar, eating more vegetables, getting an extra hour of sleep every night, hydrating better, moving more throughout the day, getting more sunshine, and dabbling in recovery methods like breathwork or cold exposure, you’re dumping a half-dozen different fuels on your fire, and you can guarantee that fire will burn bigger, brighter, and longer. Those three hours of training every week will be worth far more.

The more variables you stack, the greater the results will be. Don’t forget to look at the bigger picture if you want to make a bigger change.

- PS

3/29/19

• 5k run time trial