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That might sound a little boring, but we’re hoping that by the end of this video, you’ll appreciate the
simple power and beauty of fundamentals as much as we do.
You see, many people believe that in order to achieve deep health, they need complex, shiny,
cutting-edge nutrition and lifestyle strategies.
They don’t.
In reality, people can achieve most, if not all, of their health goals using pretty simple strategies,
practiced consistently.
Good coaches help their clients practice only what’s needed, with full effort and attention.
As a result, clients can channel all their energy into the best, most effective practices, and avoid
unnecessary complexity and wasted effort.
Kind of like how a driving instructor will show their students how to keep their hands at 10 and 2, or
shift gears, before they let them get on the Formula 1 racing circuit.
But just because fundamentals are simple, it doesn’t mean they’re easy.
In fact, you can spend your whole life refining fundamental skills.
Which is why, when we coach clients, we start them all out in the land of fundamentals.
Welcome.
Level 1 clients have a broad diversity of goals, knowledge, body compositions, and athletic abilities.
But none of these diverse features define them.
In other words, a client’s level is determined by what they can do, repeatedly and sustainably, in
their daily life.
And until they can practice their fundamentals consistently, it doesn’t make sense to add more
complexity and advance them to a place like Level 2.
Let’s go.
The land of Level 1 is made up of a core set of skills. Each skill is further divided into practices that
your client can refine over time. And each practice can be developed by doing specific actions.
Unless you know how to plan, prepare, and actually help yourself take action, you can’t do anything.
Or, you can’t do it for very long.
For instance, clients can’t eat lean protein if they haven’t shopped for and prepared it. And they can’t
shop for and prepare it if those activities aren’t priorities that they purposely make time for.
In other words, people need to know how to get things done, before they concern themselves with
what needs to get done.
● Making time, which involves implementing basic planning, prioritization, and preparation
techniques, as well as creating daily or weekly rituals to create efficiency.
● Taking a small action that moves a client towards their goals. This could be a teeny weeny
5-minute action that simply gets the ball rolling, or breaking down a larger goal into small,
strategic actions that can be practiced daily.
Whether your client just wants to be a little healthier, or if they want to develop a sophisticated
sensitivity to their bodies, regulating eating behaviors is an essential skill.
And regulating eating behaviors doesn’t just mean following an arbitrary, rigid set of rules about
what and when to eat. It means listening to the dynamic, internal cues of the body.
● Eating slowly and mindfully, which can be facilitated with the use of a meal timer, putting
the fork down between bites, removing all distractions while eating, or simply immersing
oneself fully into the sensual pleasures of eating. Yum.
We take in energy through food and drink, and we lose it through movement. Depending on what
someone’s goals are, it’s important to know how much to eat, and how much to move, to get them
to their goal.
This is an especially important skill for clients looking to make changes to body composition.
Clients can develop this practice by getting a general sense of the energy requirements for their
activity level and goals; by using a simple energy measurement tool like the PN hand portions; or by
drawing on appetite awareness to guide them in when and how much to eat.
Many clients look at foods with an “all-or-nothing” perspective; foods are either “bad” or “good”.
But in reality, foods, and health choices, exist on a general continuum of “worse” to “better”.
Help clients see all the choices available to them, and empower them to choose foods that are just a
little better.
● Establishing criteria for “better”, meaning that clients drop black-or-white food rules, and
aim to incrementally increase food quality, wherever they’re starting from.
● Eating less processed food. Clients can do this by squeezing out poorer quality foods in
favor of nutritious foods, and increasing awareness of trigger foods.
● Adding more whole, minimally processed foods, by trying out new, healthy foods, flavors,
recipes, or cooking techniques.
After generally choosing better quality foods, clients can learn how to build balanced meals. That is,
meals that meet macronutrient and micronutrient needs.
These practices can be built by learning how to plan and shop, or doing some basic tracking with the
help of PN’s hand portion tool.
Eventually, clients learn which foods are rich in macronutrients like proteins, fats, and healthy carbs,
as well as micronutrients like vitamins, minerals, and phytochemicals.
With this knowledge, clients no longer have to rely on someone else to tell them what to eat. They
know how to build their own nutritious meals, and they’re one step closer to being their own,
independent nutrition expert.
Our ancestors were basically doing Crossfit workouts every day, just as part of their regular lives.
Encouraging your clients to move regularly and well will probably be part of your job.
● Getting regular physical activity. In other words, simply building in movement as part of
daily life, whether that’s through scheduled workouts, or fitting in exercise wherever
possible, like walking to work, taking the stairs, or obnoxiously lunging your way to your next
meeting.
● Managing training loads. If a client is already exercising, choose actions that help them
perform even better, and recover well.
Taking action and facing challenges are core to making big life changes. But we also need to rest so
we can keep taking action and facing challenges.
Proper recovery helps our clients repair, rebuild, and rebalance after a challenge, whether that
challenge is physical--like a tough set of hill intervals—or psychological—like trying their first leafy
green vegetable since childhood.
● Improving sleep behaviors and environment, by creating sleep rituals, or improving their
sleep environment. May we recommend a bed canopy and whale sounds?
● Doing purposeful recovery, by improving nutrition, and reducing stress with mindfulness
or relaxation practices.
Some aspects of our environment are in our control. Like what Star Wars figurines we choose to
have on our mantlepiece. And some aspects of our environment aren’t in our control. Like whether it
rains on the day we planned to go for a hike in a white t-shirt.
As much as possible, help clients shape their environment to create desired actions.
The practice for Skill #8 is changing the environment to help meet goals. This might mean
stocking the kitchen with healthy foods so good stuff is on-hand and ready-to-eat when hunger hits,
or by surrounding oneself with encouraging people with similar goals.
Either way, the idea here is to make undesired habits inconvenient and unlikely, and desired
actions easy and nearly automatic.
Many Level 1 clients overeat for comfort, or to manage feelings like stress and fatigue. Other clients
may manage their emotions by controlling or restricting food.
Either way, food is being used as a coping mechanism to regulate emotions, rather than to provide
physical nourishment.
Using food to self-regulate only becomes a problem if we do it excessively, we feel out of control, we
start causing harm to ourselves, or if food is the only way we can manage our feelings.
● Identifying physical sensations, emotions, and thoughts, and their connections to food
and eating. This can be practiced by enhancing awareness through mind-body scan
exercises, or by keeping a journal to track and notice patterns around food and feelings.
● Separating urges from behaviors, simply by learning to sit with discomfort, or practicing
alternative self-soothing behaviors to eating.
As you help your Level 1 clients become more resourceful, well-nourished, and resilient, you’ll
inevitably hit a few… bumps. Or delays. Or roadblocks. Or full-on rolled-over, in-the-ditch situations.
Anticipate these as best you can, but also know: They’re all part of the natural process of change.
Respond to clients the same way you would to a baby who keeps falling as they learn to walk: Pick
them back up, comfort them if they’re upset, and help them get some momentum going again.
● Look for what’s already working, by calling out where your client is shining, strong, and
doing awesome;
● Review progress indicators and outcomes, so you ensure goals are still relevant,
important, and reasonable; and
The land of Level 1 is a mecca of healthy behaviors, and most people never have to leave. Nurture
your clients in this place until they know and navigate it masterfully.