The Principle of a Minimum Effective Workout (Blog Post)
There’s something in medicine called the “Minimum Effective Dose.” (shorthard: MED) That’s the smallest amount of a medicine that will produce an effect in the human body.
If I go to my doctor, and I say I have constant aches in my head, she’s not going to immediately say* “Okay, lets do brain surgery and fix that for you.”* That’s jumping into the deep end right away. If she’s a good doctor, she’ll prescribe an amount that’s enough to get the job done.
When I saw a doctor for my nerve pain, she prescribed me 2 tablets a day of a pill that helped me with it. But she also said,* “see how you respond, and if it improves, we may be able to reduce the dosage to 1 tablet.”* Now I understand that she was trying to find the minimum effective dose for me.
In practice, the minimum effective dose is different from person to person. So a good doctor knows more or less what works, but also how to tweak it for each patient.
Farnam Street Minimum Effective Dose
This idea is worth exploring when it comes to fitness.
As I’m trying to experiment on some fitness principles (link to previous post), I think this is something that applies not just to medicines but to exercises also.
Once upon a time, I would spend hours in the gym and on the track. (I used to be a college athlete.) And when you’re trying to be the best in your sport, go ahead and train your brains out.
Today, there are a lot of other things I’d like to do. I’d rather spend time woodworking or gardening. I just wanna get on with things.
So the question for me now is Then what’s the least I can get away with, and still get the benefits. What’s the smallest dose that can give me a biological response? What’s my minimum effective workout? (MEW?)
So for this, I dropped the blogs and those sources, they tend to focus on what’s faddy and new.
Sometimes the trouble with online is that there’s always some new workout that you have to be doing.
But in my quest for established concepts. And maybe more of principles than fads, here’s what I’m coming across.
Someone’s who’s well respected in the coaching circles. I’ve been reading some Dan John. He’s coached strength training to all sorts of people. It’s a bit different than the mobility and bodyweight things I’m currently doing.
But he used to be in Track and Field Which works for me. I used to do that too. (So I feel that connection)
In his work, Dan John talks about what he considers the five essential movements.
The Five Fundamental Human Movements Are
The Push, The Pull, The Hinge, The Squat, and The Loaded Carry.
I think I won’t get into the specifics of each these here. I can save that for a future discussion. Maybe deep dive into these one at a time.
As a quick overview though
The Push Starts with the planks Separating yourself from something
The Pull Pull ups Rows Batwings Using your rhomboids (your back)
Hinge Kettlebell is the most popular in this category It’s not a squat Bending down (knees straight) Deadlift
Squat
You squat between your legs Sink between your legs
Pavel “Hinge the hips (swings, jumps) means maximum hip movement, minimal knee movement Squats mean maximal hip movement, maximal knee movement”
Loaded Carry Different ways of carrying weight around Usually walking Carrying a bag in front of you
If you hit these, most movements will be some kind of composite of these movements.
How I can apply these principles.
If I’m looking at my own training then. And trying to link it back to the idea of the minimum effective workout. What I can do is check if I’m hitting each of these in some kind of way.
I can ask right now for each of them: What’s my push? or what’s my pull? at this moment.
I like this approach because it’s flexible and conceptual. I personally hate push ups. But with this framework, I can work around it and say “okay, what’s a push activity I can do that isn’t push ups, but still checks that push in the fundamental human movements of Dan John”
This gives me principles too so that I’m not attached them. When I get bored I can change it. and you can give it variation by What role does enjoyment have to do with working out?
Is there a kind of swing that would be fun to do? This gives me a key. So not what workout should I do? What kind of push can I try?