Jerry Seinfeld On Exercise

I just listened to the Tim Ferris podcast where he was interviewing the comedian Jerry Seinfeld.

Jerry was sharing his systems and process for writing and said during the interview that “my guiding rule is to systemise”. This reminded me of a great quote made by James Clear in his must-read book Atomic Habits where he said “you don’t rise to the level of your goals, you fall to the level of your systems.

When the topic of exercise came up, and Jerry started talking about his process for exercise, I was all ears.

He spoke about how the book, Body For Life by Bill Phillips changed the way he approached exercise. “He broke it down to here’s what we’re gonna do in minute one. Here’s what you’re gonna do in minute five, minute twelve, and this is gonna end in forty-five minutes, and every minute I know exactly what I’m doing. That turned the key for me and all of a sudden, I was getting in shape. I never had to ask what am I doing now? Or, what are we doing next? Jerry said.”

He went on to say, “you gotta treat your brain like a dog you just got. It’s stupid. The mind is infinite in wisdom; the brain is a stupid little dog that is easily trained. Do not confuse the mind with the brain. The brain is so easy to master. You just have to confine it; you confine it. And, that’s done through repetition and systemisation.”

Eighty per cent of Coached athletes report that training is more enjoyable after joining our programme. I suspect this has a lot to do systemisation.

Our athletes know what they are doing in each training cycle, day, and session. They schedule it, and there is nothing left to think about. All they have to do is execute.