The Non-Fitness Lifestyle: A Radical New Approach To Fitness That Will Change Your Life

The fitness industry has changed a lot over the past few years.

Not so much the info about training and dieting itself, but more so the culture and mindset of those who workout and diet.

Everyone these days is apparently “bout that life” (the fuck does that even mean)?

If you don’t squat and deadlift, you might as well not workout.

If you don’t track your macros down to the exact gram, then you’re an idiot (because tracking macros is life).

And it’s getting weirder too.

The other day I saw 2 guys at my gym wear sleeveless hoodies.

I’m not one to judge others about their fashion choices and gym apparel, but the sleeveless hoodie is the most illogical piece of clothing ever invented. Someone please explain this to me.

The traditional fitness lifestyle is just too much

Take a look at the following questions and I want you to answer yes or no:

• When you’re not at the gym, do you constantly think about your next gym session?
• Do you constantly compare your physique to other people’s on Youtube, Facebook, or Instagram?
• Do all your conversations and thoughts revolve around pre-workout supplements, squat form, and arguing whether or not someone/something is “alpha” or not?
• Do you constantly day dream about how you’ll look in the future if your arms were maybe 2 inches bigger or if you were 5-10 pounds leaner?
• Are you that guy who brings his own homemade salad dressing (which I can only assume is just vinegar and corn starch) to restaurants in a little plastic tupperware container because theirs is too high calorie?

If you answered “yes” to any of these questions then there’s a chance that you’re living the traditional fitness lifestyle.

And if you answered yes to the last question, I automatically think less of you as a human being.

This is what I’m trying my best to avoid and help others avoid as well.

I don’t want people to live a life where all they care about is fitness. That shouldn’t be the goal of fitness in the first place.

Working out hard and eating healthy should enhance your life, not consume it.

The hardcore, extreme culture that has taken over the fitness industry is just too much and I believe it’s doing more harm than good.

This is where the non-fitness lifestyle comes in.

Introducing the non-fitness lifestyle: Your ticket to freedom

The non-fitness lifestyle is a movement and the new official mission statement for FitMole.

To those who’ve been following FitMole for a while, a lot of the stuff below might seem familiar but with the non-fitness lifestyle, I finally have a name behind my mission.

Here’s a quick summary of what it means to live the non-fitness lifestyle:

The non-fitness lifestyle is 10% diet, 10% training, 80% mindset

Everyone wants hidden “hacks” to boost your metabolism and “1 weird exercise” to burn 78.912% more body fat but you want to know the real secret to getting the body of your dreams and actually maintaining it for years to come?

Your mindset.

Yeah it’s unsexy as fuck.

It’s probably not what you want to hear.

But for 99% of people out there, it’s what you need to hear.

Why do you think that no matter how well-structured a diet or workout program is, most people fail?

Why do you think no matter how good a personal trainer is, clients typically don’t see any long lasting results?

It’s never the tricks or tactics that produce results, but the person’s mindset and how they decide to execute on the advice they’re given.

The non-fitness lifestyle focuses on the climb, not the end destination

Let’s say I was a hardcore mountain climber (I’m not BTW…not a fan of heights, plus you know, Yetis and goats) and one of my big life goals is to climb Mount Everest.

But what if scientists one day develop a machine that can teleport anyone to the top of Mount Everest in the blink of an eye.

Boom!

All of a sudden, I don’t even need to practice climbing or risk my life to get to the top of Everest.

But would I do it?

Look, I don’t know any hardcore mountain climbers, but I’m guessing most people who want to climb Everest don’t do it just to see the top.

They do it for the journey.

They do it for the struggle and the massive sense of accomplishment.

They do it for the climb.

The same goes for fitness.

In the age of 30 day quick fixes, no one talks about “the climb.”

Everyone is focused on the end results (e.g. that ripped six pack).

The non-fitness lifestyle is all about the climb whereas the traditional fitness lifestyle is all about the end result.

While the end result is great, it’s the climb where you truly grow.

It’s the climb where you learn about what motivates you and where you develop a state of mindfulness. By mindfulness, I mean being fully aware of yourself and your emotions in the present.

I find this to be absolutely critical as too many people dwell too much on past and future events and don’t focus enough on what’s happening in their lives right now.

The non-fitness lifestyle teaches Macro FLEX Tracking (MFT)

Flexible dieting or IIFYM (if it fits your macros) has gotten extremely popular over the past few years.

But its gotten a bit too popular for its own good.

For those that don’t know, the basic premise behind IIFYM is that you’re given a macronutrient (proteins, carbs, fats) target to hit every day, and as long as you hit it, it doesn’t really matter what foods you eat.

In theory, this gives you more “freedom” as to how you approach your diet.

But what I find happens for a lot of people is that they become obsessively anal about hitting their macros exactly “on the dot.”

For example, if someone is told to get 300 grams of carbs for the day, a lot of people who follow IIFYM will stress over getting exactly 300 grams of carbs.

They’ll start eating 1/10th of a rice cake or eat 1/2 a teaspoon of ice cream to finish off their macros.

IIFYM became popular because people viewed it as a way to reduce dieting stress and have more “fun” foods in their diet.

But tracking 3 separate macro variables and making sure everything lines up is the exact opposite of reducing stress.

Most guys just can’t do it without driving themselves insane.

This is why I’m starting to recommend what I like to call macro flex tracking (MFT), which is the even more flexible version of IIFYM.

With MFT, you’re just tracking overall calories and protein while “eyeballing” carbs and fats.

I’ll detail this more in an upcoming article.

The non-fitness lifestyle teaches Minimalist Adaptive Training (MAT)

The Bruce Lee quote sums up Minimalist Adaptive Training (MAT) pretty well.

It’s a more contextual approach to minimalist training.

Most minimalist training programs tell someone to simply to 3 sets of deadlifts plus maybe 2 sets of lunges and call it a day.

But the big BIG problem with this is that you’re not taking into account that person’s goals, experience level, and unique attributes.

A beginner might do fine on a simple minimalist program but an intermediate or advanced lifter will likely struggle progressing on the same program.

More experienced lifters will likely need to throw in more volume and exercise variation to have a well-rounded program suited to their needs.

And just because the routine has more volume or movements, doesn’t make it any less “minimalist.”

This is where I feel the whole minimalist workout trend falls flat.

What’s “minimalist” to one person, might not be considered minimalist to another.

This is why you need to adapt your minimalist training to suit your needs, hence the birth of MAT.

MAT follows the structure of traditional minimalist training (doing what’s needed and throwing out all unnecessary crap) but at the same time, it evolves with person as they become more advanced and their goals change.

UPDATE: Check out this post which covers MAT in more detail.

The non-fitness lifestyle teaches you there’s more to life than being really really really ridiculously good looking

Looks matter.

That’s a fact of life.

If you know nothing about a person, the only thing you can judge them on is there looks. Someone who’s ripped at 8% body fat is going to be treated quite differently than someone who’s 50 pounds overweight.

And while the goal of the non-fitness lifestyle is to make you really really really ridiculously good looking, I don’t want the goal of of achieving perfect aesthetics to take over your life.

I know guys who’ve gone from looking like a Golden Corral cover model to looking insanely ripped and now all they care about is fitness.

They carry gallon jugs of water around everywhere they go, stay in the gym for 2+ hours just to “hang out,” and I’m pretty sure one of them wore a sleeveless hoodie to a funeral.

Point is, don’t let fitness take over your life.

Yes, looking good and being healthy is great but the moment you start living your life just to be fit, is the moment you lose at life.

The non-fitness lifestyle lets you be fit, look amazing, but instead of letting fitness consume you, use fitness to enhance all other aspects of your life.

Start playing a sport, pick up a hobby, spend more time with your family and friends.

Just chill the fuck out.

Let’s rock the non-fitness lifestyle

Look, I’m not bashing on those guys who are super hardcore and passionate about fitness. If that’s you, awesome! Do what you love.

But, if you want a balanced, flexible, no BS approach to fitness…

Or if you’re struggling right now because you stress out too much because of fitness…

Then the non-fitness lifestyle is for you.

I’ll be putting out a lot more articles in the coming weeks on the non-fitness lifestyle, Macro FLEX Tracking, and Minimalist Adaptive Training in the future.

Also be on the lookout for the release of Superhero Shredding 2.0 (an update to Superhero Shredding which is out right now) which will incorporate all these different principles to create the ultimate workout/diet program.

Are you guys ready to start living the non-fitness lifestyle? Or are you already living it?

Let me know in the comments below.