By Jules Delorme

Albert Einstein had a running argument with Niels Bohr, who was considered by many to be the father of Quantum theory. At one point Einstein, confronted with the idea of unpredictability in Quantum Mechanics famously said that “God does not play dice with the universe.”. What he probably meant was that, even if we cannot see a pattern, even if our minds were incapable of predicting the behaviour of a particle, it didn’t mean that a pattern didn’t exist. But even Einstein wasn’t able to see that one single answer. The danger of wanting to believe that we can “Know”, that we can be certain of the world that we live in, is that we end up cramming answers into places that they just don’t fit.       

This is just as true when it comes to training, nutrition and fitness as it is for physics. I’ve been around the fitness industry for long enough to have seen more than a few generations that thought they had the one and only answer to being in shape. The simple truth is that there are too many variables to the human condition for there to be one simple answer and that what is true for one person may not be true for the next.

The greatest personal trainer that I ever knew, Vince Gironda, said, and I repeat it often, “If nothing changes, then nothing changes.”. That statement has built into it the understanding that what worked for you in the past may not work for you in the present, because today is not yesterday, and tomorrow will not be today.

We all want things to be simple and predictable, but the real world, the real you, is not simple or predictable. And if you try to live your life as if it is simple and predictable, sooner or later you are going to be wrong.

You’re going to run into trainers, friends and fitness professionals that will tell you that they have the answer. And that answer may even work for you. For a while. But not forever. Your body is going to change. You’re going to change. Like it or not, it’s going to happen. And if you keep trying to apply the same answer, the same workout, the same diet that worked for you 10 years ago or even 5 years ago, chances are it’s not going to keep working.

We live in a Quantum universe. Even Einstein had a hard time accepting that. But, whether you accept that truth or not, it will still be the truth. Don’t settle for any single answer. And don’t trust anyone in the fitness industry who tries to sell you a single or simple answer. Even the smartest man on earth couldn’t give us that. What makes any of us think that we’re smarter than Einstein?

~ Jules Delorme is a Personal Trainer & MMA Coach,   julesfdelorme@gmail.com