80 Percent

I’ve been focusing a lot lately on the “80 percent rule.”

Doing the right things 80 percent of the time, and not beating myself up over the 20 percent of the time when I fall a little short.

This rule can be applied to your gym workouts when it comes to a term called RPE, or “rate of perceived exertion.” I’m a big believer in building up to about 80 percent of your max capacity in a given workout. 

Another way to look at that is to always leave 1-2 reps in the tank.

I have a fellow trainer friend who is fond of saying, “Nobody ever got hurt doing two less reps …”

The 80 Percent Rule can also be applied to your nutrition plan.

Those who stick to their plan about 80 percent of the time are actually going to have more success than those who try to adhere to the plan 100 percent of the time … because that’s just not realistic.

For most people, following our training program and nutrition principles 80 percent of the time will result in a major transformation in 6-12 months.

So just pick a couple of things you can easily do EVERY WEEK, and do those things EVERY WEEK. Then build from there. You'll be amazed ... less really IS more.