I’ve found myself recently on the hunt for the perfect chocolate chip cookie…the one with that perfect amount of crunch on the outside but chewy center. In terms of taste, I like it to be really chocolatey, almost to the point that the chocolate overpowers the rest of its flavor. To me, this is the PERFECT chocolate chip cookie.
But here’s the thing, not everyone would agree with me! To some, the perfect cookie is crunchy throughout. To others, they might enjoy it so chewy that it crumbles on the first bite. A buttery flavor (especially brown butter) is popular to many, with a sparse amount of chocolate chips. And if you’re anything like my husband, you won’t enjoy the most out of a chocolate chip cookie unless it’s packed with nuts (especially pecans).
So, where am I going with all of these mouth-watering descriptors on one of the world’s most famous type of cookie and how does this compare to our fitness? Well, the analogy I’m about to make is a good one, and one I’m hoping you don’t forget the next time you are on the search for that tasty cookie!
You see, both your fitness and a chocolate chip cookie, can be manipulated just by changing a few simple ingredients. That’s because they are both comprised of simple ingredients in the first place.
Take the chocolate chip cookie for example. Regardless of what kind you like, it’s made from the same, basic ingredients – butter, sugar, baking soda, eggs, vanilla, flour and chocolate chips (mostly). I mean, we can always carefully substitute these ingredients or add a few additional ones, but these are the staple ingredients.
Our fitness, on the other hand, is similar. The foundation of good fitness can be boiled down to a few basics – solid goals, discipline, great nutrition, a fitness plan that incorporates both cardiovascular and strength training, recovery techniques and consistent practice of these things. Like the chocolate chip cookie, we can substitute or add a few additional things, but these are the tried-and-true, basics of a successful fitness program.
So, let me ask you something…what happens when we try to change too many things about the simple chocolate chip cookie? You guessed it! It becomes something that’s too far from the original thing and doesn’t produce those mouth-watering, chocolate chip cookie results. It is now something that we can’t even call the chocolate chip cookie, so we might as well give it another name. And, it wouldn’t be everyone’s classic favorite and perhaps our kids wouldn’t even eat it. There’s a lot to be said about keeping things simple and original. And, there’s even more to be said about what can be produced if we do something simple, really well!
There’s a lot to be said about keeping things simple and original. And, there’s even more to be said about what can be produced if we do something simple, really well!
Our fitness can be the same way…the better we get at doing the simple things really well, the better our results can be. When we try and add or substitute too many things, we get too far from the basic things that can give us our greatest results when it comes to our fitness goals.
So, how do we avoid our temptations to change the original ingredients of our fitness programs to try and see better results? The answer lies in knowing how to maximize the simple ingredients that makes up a solid program. (See my YouTube video on “What Makes Up a Stellar Fitness Program”: https://youtu.be/SzoxltLUuJE ?si=pFazljxgA7ALl2Z8). Just as we can create an even better chocolate chip cookie by understanding the various ways we could boost the simple ingredients that creates one.
Let’s say we want to make a thinner chocolate chip cookie…well, we would add more liquid to thin out the dough. Our analogy to fitness would be that if we wanted to lose body fat, we would add more of a calorie deficit in our diet or movements to accomplish that. For a thicker chocolate chip cookie, we would do the opposite and add more dry ingredients to thicken the dough. Analogously, with our fitness, in order to add muscle and bulk, this would be best done with an increase of calories with our diets.
Bakers understand the depth that browning butter can make, to establish a nutty flavor that adds to the cookie’s basic butterscotch flavor with the combination of the sugar and butter. To make the analogy to our fitness, those familiar to resistance training can understand the depth we can contribute to our muscle composition over time and how we can sculpt our bodies as women, by practicing it consistently to our fitness programs.
You see, there’s so much we can do in order to amplify the original chocolate chip cookie, just by perfecting the simple ingredients. The same goes with our fitness, by consistently practicing the same, simple ingredients and doing them well, we can achieve better results.
We can’t be afraid of simplicity when it comes to creating something really magical. After all, if we were, the chocolate chip cookie wouldn’t exist!
If we complicate the simple things too much, we risk producing great results. We get caught up thinking that we will, because ultimately, we don’t take the time to appreciate how far we can go with just the basics. We don’t appreciate the fact that if we understand the simple ingredients really well, we can ultimately achieve the results we want without all of the fancy substitutions and add-ons.
If we complicate the simple things too much, we risk producing great results.
I can tell you from personal experience, that adding a bunch of fancy ingredients to a fitness program won’t give you better results than just sticking to the basics. I’ve competed for many years in Bodybuilding, and to build a better body composition over time that continues to stay competitive, it boils down to just doing the simple things really well.
So, if you don’t think keeping things simple is true, try asking a few people how they would describe their favorite chocolate chip cookie. Their answers would all come down to a simple manipulation of the same, basic ingredients that we should all appreciate, that make up the famous and nostalgic cookie that we all know and love.
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