Science anyone? Fitness anyone? Are you a fan of science AND fitness?
Sometimes, for some of us, we want (or need) a little bit more.
When most of think of science applied to fitness, we think of giving muscle samples post-workout, experimenting with nutrition programs, running on a treadmill with a facemask that gathers “VO2 Max” data, donating blood, the list goes on…
That’s the only way science applies to fitness, right?!?!
What if I told you there is another kind of science?
Another science that is more accessible that doesn’t require scalpels and stool samples.
(It is more accessible than you may realize!)
Welcome Behavior Analysis.
One could say that behavior analysis is the “People’s Science”.
….if you smeeeeeellllllllll…….what BehaviorFit…..is cookin!!!!!” – The Rock
Behavior analysis is the science for us all! It can apply to anything, and of course, my flavor of this special sauce of a science is applying it to health and fitness.
We want to know IF something works.
Instagram models, super athletes, and sports stars show that YOU can become successful if you drink this protein shake, lift that weight, and wear these cleats. But how would you know?
At best, all we see are highlights reels of our favorite people posing with, eating, drinking, or wearing endorsed products.
Really? Brett Favre’s shoulder magically throws rocket balls with copper-infused elbow pads?
It has nothing to do with his 30 years playing football?
I’m a trained scientist. I need to see a little bit more.
If not magic elbow pads, then what else?
What we all need, given that most of us are not sponsored athletes and do not have access to a team of professional strength, conditioning, and nutrition coaches is a toolbelt, a system, a way to figure out our own fitness.
Science, when applied the right way, and with the correct tools makes fitness “your own”. It takes the guess work out of your gains.
[Play cheesy infomercial music]
Want to know the secret ingredient kids? Well, it’s portable, easy-to-carry, and smells like a Febreezed Florida Room after a rainstorm. Nope, that’s not it!
The real secret? Behavior analysis links your behavior and workout world to your fitness! And you don’t need a Hubble telescope or a genetics research lab to get started!
Sign up now for this science! It’s only been around for 80+ years and can be yours for 10 easy payments of $149.99!
[End cheesy infomercial music]
Of course, you can’t put a price on science. However, when put in the hands of a trained scientist-practitioner, the fitness train can take you places.
But, it’s not just any science…
My field, my science, is called applied behavior analysis (ABA). It is science-infused change by changing our fitness world.
*Important note: the applied part is meaningful too. We apply science to something that you care about. Something that you want to achieve. Not something that I want. You are in control.
In the case of health and fitness, the science is applied to an athletic or fitness target.
Losing weight, getting stronger and moving faster are the easy ones that come to mind.
Improving lifting form, decreasing resting heart rate and increasing daily steps counts are a more specific targets to that trained ABA scientist-practitioners like myself can address.
And how does that work?
The beautiful part of my science is that you can pick any fitness target and apply the principles of learning to evaluate how you can get there. The same strategies and tactics use with beginners apply to elite athletes.
Think of it like this:
Same toolbox. Different blueprints
Same refrigerator. Different recipe.
Same palette. Different “Happy Tree”.
The FREE secret!
The one principle to rule them all, the secret sauce, the tool, spice, and paint that all scientists should use: Positive Reinforcement!
When it comes to the world of ABA and fitness, we’re not just talking cookies and cash bonuses.
We do things because it makes our world better.
Losing weight helps us breathe easier, getting stronger let’s us rearrange the garage without throwing our back out, and yes, improving agility avoids a knockout punch in the octogon.
In a previous blog, (Are You Training With Purpose? 4 Steps To Evaluating Gains!), I scratched the surface. I used the acronym FOTT to outline how a behavior analyst like myself would approach health and fitness programming (or gains if you will). These steps are:
- Select your Fitness Outcomes
- Select your Training Targets
- Graph your Progress
- Evaluate Your Program
Those 4 steps are a brief primer on how to think about your health, fitness, or sport training scientifically.
As I reflect on that post, and write this one, steps 3 and 4 are what separates a scientist in this crazy, noisy world. There are a lot of amazing tools that collect fancy data, but few people carve out time to analyze the data on a regular basis to figure out what environmental changes are needed to impact training targets and fitness outcomes.
Ending on Science
I only keep saying science-based words because that’s the hidden ingredient that most of us are interested in whether we realize it or not.
Science. Sciency. Science-based. Science-practitioner. Science experiment.
Science is one way of knowing things. Guessing and making stuff up is another.
Join me in the scientific pursuit of knowing what is improving our health and fitness.
Keep moving,
Nick
