Reduction is dangerous

Reduction of anything can come in many forms. Some religions in the world have sects that reduce that religion's views even farther. It is an attempt to get back to the fundamentals of something. Some believe that the more we think and reduce, the better. 99.9% of the general public will look at a cult and think that they are insane. Cults have widdled down the normal thought process of religion and faith and tried to make it into a more tangible practice. People have a basic hunger for understanding. When a cult might set a date for the Messiah to come, they are setting a tangible and numerical date because it cancels out uncertainty about things. We want to know and we want to know now. Doing that also rationalizes even further their beliefs and reduces their "religion" even further down to dates and times.As we have seen time  and time again, this can be a dangerous practice.

How does this relate to fitness?

Too many people today use reduction as a basis of working out. For example, most guys in the gym practice a certain degree of bodybuilder volume training. They believe that if you want a certain muscle to grow, we must hit that individual muscle with every ounce of strength in the hope that it might grow 1/2 inch in 2 months. We have reduced the body down into certain body parts hoping that we will look lean and cut. There is no thought given to how it actually moves. Guys that practice workouts that are in magazines or that their friends gave them feed into an OCD complex. If I don't finish that last set, my arms won't fill out that graphic tee when I go out tonight! We keep seeing pictures  of guys on steroids on the cover of magazines that say "six pack workout" next to them. Subconsciously we have equated a flat muscular stomach with the workout in the magazine even though that fitness model probably has great eating habits and is on steroids. We have simply reduced strength training to have a flat stomach and big arms.

Where we get too much information from

Another example is people who practice long distance cardio. They believe that running is the bestest and most greatest thing to ever hit the planet! I am going to run 12 miles today and burn a million calories and then fall over because my knee is so sore from running but that is good because being sore means I worked hard and accomplished something! Was that a run on sentence? People that run that much honestly believe that they are doing their body good. They have reduced their physical activity to running and think that running a lot of miles is the pinnacle of a "fit" person. They give no thought as to how the body moves and a how a good strength and conditioning program can decrease injury and make them look and feel more "fit". They come at it from one angle.

Workout equipment is another example. The Swiss (or stability or exercise) Ball is a great example of using equipment to dictate a whole workout program. It can be a great tool for some exercises, but it should not dictate the program. People latch onto certain machines, workouts, and exercises thinking that they are the next best thing. They have reduced human movement to equipment. If we take a step back and stop reducing, do you really think that one piece of equipment is going to be the savior or your workout program? Does that sound logical at all?

The Swiss Ball being taken horribly out of context

The most widely reduced concept in fitness is nutrition. We are constantly bombarded with new diets, meal plans, and supplements. Is one product or diet really going to change our body composition? A great example is the Atkins diet. While we are currently shifting our dietary recommendations to a lower carb and more natural way of eating through the new food pyramid, the Atkins diet was marketed as a cure all weight loss program. You will lose weight if you follow the recommendations for the first month. It will be a miserable first month as your blood sugar will be at a constant low. Since the brain relies on blood sugar to function, we will be sent warning messages from our brain in the form of "where is my damn bread, soda, and chips that I love". The body has a wonderful way of adapting back to homeostasis (in this case normal blood sugar) and we will soon give in to our carb cravings and look for the next great diet plan. The word diet has a bad connotation with Jenny Craig commercials and stupid books like the South Beach diet. Some components of well thought out nutritional programs are excellent habits to form. Following a blanket recommendation that includes their own products and cult like following is plain stupid. Again, take a step back and look at what these people are trying to do. It is more about a lifestyle change rather  than going on and off diets for that quick weight loss goal. When we get too specific and reduce a science down to gimmicks, we are set up to fail.

 Eating a block of cheese with a Porterhouse will not get you skinny either

Balance is the key term in all of this. Running will not kill you, but you would be much better off adding some strength and conditioning to your runs. The Atkins diet will not kill you, but don't take it out of context and deprive your body of the carbs it needs. We all want to look and feel great but quick fixes and gimmicks will not get us there. You did not get fat in 4 weeks. It takes months and years to get into an obese lifestyle and bad habits. Sometimes we were simply raised that way and don't know any better. Being active is a great lifestyle change, but shortcuts are just that. Short lived.