Dig deep, the foundation matters

I lived most of the last decade in North Brooklyn, NY. A place in constant flux. Inevitable change. There’s no room to build out so we build up. As I would walk through my neighborhood and see the old warehouses and brownstones torn down to be replaced by boutique elevator buildings I get a first hand view of construction from start to finish.

Months, in some cases more than a year is spent prepping the site and digging the foundation. The bigger the building, the deeper the foundation.

So what the hell does this have to do with nutrition and fitness? So often we want to build the tallest spire on Earth yet try to skip the important step of digging the foundation. We want to design the cabinetry, pick out the appliances, and design window treatments yet we haven’t even drawn up plans for the building.

So what is the foundation of your fitness and/or nutrition? A plan forms the base. We can’t do anything without blueprints. Sleep, stress mitigation, rest and recovery are the pylons that hold everything together. Your macro and micronutrient counts and basic movement patterns and cardiorespiratory training are the poured concrete.

IF, nutrient timing, supplements, metcons, body part splits; these things are all accoutrements. They will complete the look but don’t matter without a strong foundation.

Sometimes we build a solid foundation and construction is way ahead of schedule. We start building and our plans didn’t account for how many units we sold. So we want to build higher. Well, unfortunately we can only build to our foundation.

In fat loss, building too high too fast is when we see great results and need to pump the breaks. We need to step back and make sure we’ve built a strong foundation. This is our maintenance phases. These phases practice the skills needed to keep that building standing when winds blow or the earth quakes under us. Many times great fat loss is a shaky proposition. We need that foundation of maintenance to ensure stability.

It’s not sexy. It’s not the most fun. Hell, you can’t even see it if you don’t know what you’re looking for. But you can’t build a lasting structure without a strong foundation.