Mindset Training:
How deductive reasoning will keep you from achieving your goals.
by
Coach Lance
“A Doctor is your best consultant.
You are your best physician.”
-Dr. Bruce Rind
In order to explain how deductive reasoning can mislead you and keep you from achieving your goals, we first need to define the terms.
Deductive reasoning is relied upon because it is linear, and is built upon the “if/than” premises. An example might be:
A= People who lift heavy weights are strong
B= John lifts heavy weights
C= Therefore John is strong
Since A=B, and B=C, then A=C
Aristotle = Deductive Reasoning
Holmes = Inductive Reasoning
Deductive reasoning can also be wrong, though.
A= John drinks coffee
B= Coffee is black
C= John drinks black coffee
But does he?
Some more examples of both correct and incorrect deductive reasoning can be found HERE & HERE.
In the end, everything about deductive reasoning makes sense. It’s a very simple way to look at the world, and how to obtain results in training and nutrition should you apply it there. However, it simply isn’t the whole picture, and isn’t how the living organism actually works, which is vastly more complex and comes with more variables as a result. And this is one of the flaws of deductive reasoning. It operates off the premise that everything it is applied to happens in a vacuum. And we all know it doesn’t, yet we train like it does.
Let me give you two examples.
A = Jim has a 500# Squat
B = Jim Followed Program “X”
C = Following program X will get you a 500# Squat.
Let’s expound here with yet another example:
A=
John has a:
500# Squat
Snatches 225# for reps
Does 30 muscle ups unbroken.
B =
Follows one of these: CompTrain, Invictus, MisFit, EverPRVN programming, etc… (fill in the blank).
C=
Following one of these will get you where you want to get to.
All the proof is right there. Seems right? Why wouldn’t it work? Look at the results… Except that that’s not how it works. Because life is way more dynamic and unpredictable. We’ll come back to this example.
While we’re on this example train, we might as well keep riding it hard. So let’s go a little bit deeper. But first let’s switch gears, and talk about something totally different, and use a different example.
A = Julia Child wrote a book.
B = I bought said book.
C = I can now cook just like Julia Child.
That conclusion is arrogant and flies in the face of every single sacrifice that woman ever made to learn the subtle art of mastering her craft. I can’t make my food taste like hers. I can maybe get close, but in a blind test, she’ll have that “something” that I can’t get just from reading her book. But according to deductive reasoning, this shouldn’t be the case. Yet it is.
Now let’s switch back to John. This guy seems like a beast. He also has chiseled abs, follows a nutrition plan, and has his own coach. So looking at him, you may find yourself having a conversation with yourself that might sound something like this:
“Self, let’s get on the same program he is, and follow it to the T for a year and see where it gets me. It’ll get me so much better. Obviously this program has what it takes to get me to where I want to go.”
But then you do it and somehow when you finish the last rep of this program… you still don’t look like his person OR even perform like them. It promised so much!
But why? If we use deductive reasoning, it just makes sense. But why isn’t it working?
And the answer is quite simply that it’s NOT that simple. The more complex the living organism or system, the less such simple reasoning can be applied, and in the end, deductive reasoning’s best use is advertising. Yes, it is usually used to get you to buy things.
So how do you get what John has in the example above? How do I cook like Julia Child? If you’re tired of all the click bait, here it is: As Julien Pineau of StrongFit said, “You have to BECOME that person”. Not literally, but very damn close. I have to make sacrifices, lifestyle changes, mental changes, do the extra work, etc… that got them there, and that goes way beyond just following a program and showing up for a participation trophy. You have to let the person you are now, die, and then you have to grow into the role of someone who can do all those things. You have to CHANGE AS A PERSON. And that is something you CAN NOT buy, and this is why it will never be marketable. Everyone wants a simple fix, a pill, a map, a program, etc… But that’s never the answer. The only answer is changing as a whole person, committing to and loving the process.
Why don’t you have the chiseled abs, can string 15 muscles up, squat 400, etc…? Because you haven’t changed as a person yet. You’re still holding onto the older version of yourself. Change hurts, but it’s the only way to get what you want.
You could give me Jimi Hendricks’s guitar, but there’s no way I’m going to ever have a shot in hell at playing like him unless I do everything he did. And that is respecting the process and the effort it takes to achieve what some have. I mean seriously, do you really think you can just follow a program or read a book and in the end have what that person who wrote it does? Cause you are seriously mislead if you do, and don’t yet respect what is required to master something. Programs and books are just a piece of the proverbial puzzle, but not the magic pill.
So where does this leave us? Your coaches, whether they specialize in CF or Nutrition, are not miracle workers. We’ve just made a million mistakes along our journey, largely so we can help you not make them. It’s up to you if you’re ready to learn from what we want to give you or not. We can show you all the doors, but it’s up to you to walk through them.
As a coaches, whether it be CF or Nutrition, we are actually life coaches disguised by our emphasis. We help you change as a person, through the medium we are specialized in. And we’ll take you as far as you’re willing to go (read: change).
If you’re ready for a change, and find out what’s holding you back, I’m right here waiting to help.
Next Month we’ll talk about INDUCTIVE reasoning, how it makes the journey of getting to where you want to go so much funner, and how it’s the mindset required to learn and ultimately CHANGE.
You’ve been training like Aristotle. How would Holmes train?
