The sooner you grasp this simple concept, the sooner you’ll be on your way to having the body composition you want.

Energy can not be created or destroyed, but only transferred.

Body composition (muscle mass and fat mass) will always be altered by the interplay between energy consumed and energy expended, based on our physiological make up and evolutionary patterns.

You have the ability to either control the energy consumed, or transfer that consumed energy through the application of strength and conditioning practices.

In simple terms, control how much you eat or control how much energy you expend. 

Time is not a measure of energy, which means 1 hour on the treadmill is not equal to 1 hour of squatting or deadlifting.

Likewise, squatting is not always equal and can not be compared to squatting.

The only measure that will stay constant is the “Total Work Capacity’ , measured with mechanical tension created in your body.

Mechanical tension can be measured in the form of ‘Newtons x time under tension’. 

Which takes into account (mass x moment arm x time under tension).

The higher this number, the more your work output will be, which means the more energy you’ll expend.

If your goal is to decrease fat mass or increase lean muscle mass, then your goal should be to increase total work capacity, not increase time of working out.

(However, time of working out may also increase as a result of progressively overloading the stimulus).

Tip #1. Slow down your training and make it as hard as possible. Which goes against the grain of being a human, however, I highly suggest trying it for 1 hour a day. Get comfortable with the uncomfortable.

Tip #2. Increase range of motion. This falls under the category of “increasing the moment arm” a physics terminology relating to how far something is from the fulcrum. Newtons are measured by kg (mass) x moment arm (mm).

Hence why a 10kg weight will feel a lot heavier when held out at full stretch compared to holding it next to your hips.

Tip #3. Control your calories. If you aren’t one of us “fitness freaks” and you know you don’t like the uncomfortable feeling of straining your body until your eyes pop, then don’t eat so much shit.

While the application of our engineering and program design may change over time, there are timeless principles which are here to stay.

The combination of physics and physiology are and always will be here to stay, so we should approach strength and conditioning with that in mind.

People need to stop trying to reinvent the laws oh physics and physiology, yet focus on the fine tuning and evolving the timeless practices.