Ask yourself a very honest question: is what I'm doing working?

Is my training, my nutrition, all the things actually giving me the physique that I want, whether that's being lean and muscular or big and strong?

If you're like most people, you start with initial excitement and motivation, followed by hitting one roadblock after another, not quite getting what you want, eventually giving up and then hopping to the next thing.

Learn about the engineering concept of iterative design and how it can help you constantly improve and overcome the plateaus and roadblocks common to physique development.

Learn how to apply this systematic, data-driven method to your fitness journey over a two-year period to:

• Set realistic, measurable goals for your physique

• Create and refine your training and nutrition plans

• Use data to make informed decisions about your progress

• Overcome plateaus and setbacks

We walk through a real-world example of how to apply iterative design to lose fat and gain muscle.

Book a FREE 15-minute Rapid Nutrition Assessment, designed to fine-tune your strategy, identify your #1 roadblock, and give you a personalized 3-step action plan in a fast-paced 15 minutes. 

Main Takeaways:

• Iterative design is a powerful tool for long-term physique transformation that transforms setbacks into valuable data points for continuous improvement

• The six phases: design, implement, test, evaluate, refine, and repeat

• This approach leads to sustainable results by adapting to your body's changing needs

Episode summary:

Are you ready to revolutionize your fitness journey and achieve your dream physique? In the latest episode of Wits & Weights, we delve into the powerful concept of iterative design and how it can be applied to your training and nutrition strategies. Imagine treating your body like an engineering project, meticulously designed for optimal results. This approach can help you overcome common roadblocks and achieve consistent, measurable progress.

Iterative design is a principle-based methodology that involves six phases: design, execute, gather data, test, improve, and repeat. By following these phases, you can create a clear, adaptable framework to achieve your fitness goals, whether it be fat loss, muscle building, or body recomposition. The process is systematic and data-driven, allowing you to continuously evaluate and adjust your strategies based on your body's responses.

The episode begins by addressing a critical question: is your current approach to training and nutrition working for you? Many people start their fitness journey with initial excitement and motivation, only to face roadblocks that lead to frustration and eventually giving up. By applying a data-driven, systematic approach borrowed from engineering, you can avoid these pitfalls. The host, Philip Pape, introduces the six phases of iterative design and provides a detailed example using a hypothetical person, John Doe, who aims to lose 20 pounds over two years.

Phase one is the design phase, where you set a goal and create a plan. It's essential to understand that the plan will change as you go along, but you need to start somewhere and give yourself direction. For John, the initial plan involves a six-month iteration focused on fat loss. He tracks his food, steps, biofeedback, and measurements, and focuses on progressive overload in the gym.

Phase two is the implementation phase, where you execute the plan. John tracks his food intake, steps, biofeedback, and measurements daily. He focuses on progressive overload in the gym and ensures he gets enough sleep. It's important to note that John isn't trying to hit his targets perfectly; he's aiming to be in the ballpark and adjust as needed.

Phase three involves testing. By tracking various data points, John can measure the outcomes of his efforts. This includes body measurements, progress photos, strength progression, food intake, energy levels, mood, appetite, and more. This data allows him to evaluate whether his actions are producing the desired results.

Phase four is the evaluation phase, where you analyze the data collected. It's crucial to evaluate the data continuously, rather than waiting until the end of a set period. For example, John might look at his scale weight trend over three weeks to determine if he's losing weight at the desired rate. If not, he can adjust his calorie deficit or make other changes based on the data.

Phase five involves refining the plan based on the data. This might include adjusting calorie intake, modifying workout routines, or addressing other factors like sleep or hydration. The goal is to make incremental adjustments to optimize the plan continuously.

The final phase is to repeat the process. Iterative design is about continuous improvement, so you repeat the cycle of design, implementation, testing, evaluation, and refinement. Over time, this approach leads to sustainable results and a deep understanding of your body's responses to different strategies.

Throughout the episode, the importance of becoming the scientist of your own physique is emphasized. By understanding how your body responds to different strategies, you develop the skills to adapt and overcome obstacles. This mindset transforms how you view progress and setbacks, seeing them not as failures but as opportunities for improvement.

The episode also offers a free 15-minute rapid nutrition assessment call to help kickstart your journey with personalized steps and resources. This call is an excellent opportunity to map out your design, tailor it to your needs, and get the support you need to start implementing the iterative design process.

In summary, the iterative design approach to fitness is a powerful tool for long-term transformation. By following the six phases of design, implement, test, evaluate, refine, and repeat, you can create a clear, adaptable framework to achieve your fitness goals. This data-driven, systematic approach allows for continuous optimization, helping you overcome roadblocks and stay motivated on your fitness journey. Tune in to Wits and Weights and start engineering your dream physique today!

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Transcript

Philip Pape: 0:01

I want you to ask yourself a very honest question Is what I'm doing working? Is my training, my nutrition, all the things actually giving me the physique that I want, whether that's lean and muscular or big and strong, whatever it is? Because, if you're like most people, you have this typical trajectory. It starts with initial excitement and motivation, followed by hitting one roadblock after another, not quite getting what you want, eventually giving up and then hopping to the next thing. So today we wanna talk about a method that engineers use to create products that can be applied to your body transformation. To avoid these roadblocks along the way and get through them. The idea is to take a data-driven, systemic approach that evolves with you, so that you know exactly what to do and you have the clarity and confidence to get whatever result you're going for.

Philip Pape: 0:59

Welcome to Wits and Weights, the podcast that blends evidence and engineering to help you build smart, efficient systems to achieve your dream physique. I'm your host, philip Pape, and today we are talking about the bread and butter of engineering design. It's called iterative design and it can apply directly to your physique transformation. It is why I came up with the term physique engineering and exactly what most people are missing in terms of the process that they use. A lot of people just jump into a diet or jump into a training program. They follow a template, they try to execute something that is not necessarily right for them and, whether it is or isn't, they then fail to gather the data about whether it's working. They get frustrated because of a lack of results or because the results are taking too long to achieve, they give up and then they go to the next thing. That will result in the exact same failed outcome. And today I wanna give you this more results-driven, practical method that will prevent the stagnation, prevent you from spinning those wheels like you have been, and instead give you consistency, measurable progress, and we're going to take this over a two-year period. We're going to assume you're just starting with this.

Philip Pape: 2:12

I'm going to give you an example and I'm going to walk you through the six phases of what we call iterative design, and it's a very simple concept. It's just the idea that to create a complex system or complex product, like engineers do, we have to have a plan, we have to execute, we have to gather data and we have to test it, and then we repeat. But I'm going to break it down for you again with an example so that we can understand how you can apply it. You can apply it Now before I do just understand that there are a million different ways to apply this. That is the point.

Philip Pape: 2:48

This is a principle-based method, not a specific template or program, because everyone is different. Everyone has different hormones, you're at a different age, you have different training response, there are different foods that you like, you have a different schedule. I can go on and on about the ways that we are unique, even though we're human and biology still applies. So the principles will still work. And so if you want to take this data and apply it directly to you, the easiest, fastest way to do that is to schedule a 15 minute rapid nutrition assessment with me, totally free call. It is not a sales pitch. We're just going to jump on a call and say, hey, what is the thing that's stopping you from results right now and what are three steps you can take immediately to start getting results over the next 90 days?

Philip Pape: 3:33

So let's talk about the framework today iterative design. Iterative as in to iterate, to repeat over and over until you achieve close to perfection, or at least you continue to optimize. It's just a methodology for designing, testing, evaluating and refining a system through multiple iterations, and the core idea is that you start with some idea of where you want to go. You then do it, you then see with whether what you did produce the outcome you wanted, and then you improve and you repeat and it sounds simple, right? It's like, oh okay, that's all I have to do, but let's break it down and we'll see why most people don't necessarily do this. And what is the slight difference? We're not slight, a profound difference we're talking about today. So let's just create a person John Doe, right?

Philip Pape: 4:21

The classic, anonymous individual who is 200 pounds and, yes, this is a male. But again, this is just an example. It can apply to any level of scale, weight, any level of body fat, any goal whatsoever, but we're focused on body composition on this podcast. So assume he's 200 pounds, 25% body fat, so a bit overweight, a little bit of weight to lose, probably not as strong, yet probably wants to lean out a bit, and his goal is to reach 180 pounds, right? So he wants to lose 20 pounds of fat to get to something around 12% body fat over two years. Here's how we're going to apply iterative design. Okay, the six phases. Phase one is the design. This is where you set a goal, you create a plan. Just know that it's going to change as you go along. But you've got to start somewhere and give yourself direction. So for John, he sets up a six-month iteration at the beginning where he is going to lose fat, and so within that six months he figures okay to lose fat.

Philip Pape: 5:23

I first need to figure out what my maintenance calories are, so I'm going to track my food and then at some point I'm going to go in a calorie deficit. Not sure exactly how much yet. Maybe it's 500 calories. So I can lose a pound a week. But we'll see. It depends on how I'm feeling, it depends on where my starting point is right, depends, depends, depends once we get there. But we come out with a rough plan a calorie deficit, a certain duration, let's say 16 weeks. For that first one, we're going to go for a 16 pound drop and I'm going to keep training with my current four day upper lower split right, very simple. But there are a lot of details under that we're not going to go to on this podcast. The point is you have a plan, a direction, a single goal, and you're not going to deviate from that. You're going to make that work, but you are going to adjust as you go along so that you can adhere to it.

Philip Pape: 6:13

Phase two implement. So don't spend too long in phase one designing the plan. It's literally on a piece of paper, scratching it out in a half hour, right, and if you've done this many times before, it might take five minutes. If you've never done it before, this is where please reach out to me so I can help you put this together, cause this is the piece that people often get stuck with is phase one, the design. So phase two is implement. You execute the plan.

Philip Pape: 6:37

John goes ahead and he does the thing. He tracks his food, he tracks his steps, he tracks his biofeedback and his measurements, and he's focused on progressive overload in the gym. He's tracking his food meticulously. I say meticulously but I mean he's doing it daily. He's not trying to hit the targets perfectly. He's trying to be in the ballpark, trying to get enough sleep, and he's just doing the things. He's not sure whether the things are going to get him the result he wants, yet he's not even sure whether he's in the right deficit, yet right. He's just doing what he thinks he needs to do.

Philip Pape: 7:08

Then that brings us to phase three, which is testing. Because you're tracking all the things, because you're tracking enough data body measurements, progress photos, strength progression, food energy levels, mood, appetite, all your biofeedback, anything. You need to measure the outcome. Because he's doing that, oh, scale weight as well, right, because he's doing that, he is going to be able to look back after two months, four months, six months and know whether the choices that he made and the behaviors that he took produced the outcomes he wanted. Even if he's not perfect, even if he doesn't adhere all the time, he knows that that level of adherence, that level of imperfection, that level of consistency or lack thereof, is what led to the outcome. And that is just data. It is not failure, it is not anything other than information.

Philip Pape: 7:58

Step four is the evaluation phase. Well, now you get to analyze the data. Now, of course, you could wait till six months later and say, oh, did I lose the 16 pounds of fat? Or? What I would recommend is, as you go along every day, every week, every month, depends on the data you're talking about. You continue to look at it. You just look at the data and say where is this trending Right, from a scale weight perspective, for example, a good time period is roughly three weeks and if you're using an app like macro factor, that is the timeframe that it uses to say Hmm, are you actually trending downward or not?

Philip Pape: 8:30

And if you're not, do we need to adjust your calorie deficit? And along the way, you would say okay, I am, I'm losing weight at the clip that I want. I'm getting enough of my fiber, but I'm feeling fatigued. What is going on? Maybe I'm not getting enough sleep, maybe I'm missing some other nutrient in my diet. Maybe I'm not hydrated enough. Maybe I'm working out too frequently?

Philip Pape: 8:53

Right, you're able to take all the data and correlate it and identify the thing that potentially is causing friction or roadblocks along the way. Right, and usually the more data you have, the easier it is to identify. When I work with clients and they check in, they are providing me a ton of data. Now, a lot of that data is automatically collected with wearables and stuff like that, uh, but some of it is manually entered, like their food log, and if, for example, they hit a plateau if you hit a weight loss plateau I can pretty quickly see what the issue might be.

Philip Pape: 9:27

It might just be something as simple as well. You're not in the deficit we wanted to be in and therefore you're not losing as quickly. But it could be something else. It could be a reduction in activity, it could be higher stress. There's so many little things. But once you have all the data, you can correlate it.

Philip Pape: 9:40

And again, here's where, the more you do this, the more you learn about yourself. And also this is where you could always reach out to someone like me or join our Facebook group and ask a question along the way. Here's my data, here are my screenshots, here's my context. I am stuck. Help me out. And guess what? Because you have all that data, people are going to be able to jump in and say, oh, I see this, this and this, and they can start asking you questions How's your, you know, how's your sleep, how's your training, how's your this, how's your that? Right, and they can then figure out with you together, like a, like a detective, what could be causing the inability to get the result you want, if it is not already obvious from the data. So that's step four is evaluating the data.

Philip Pape: 10:25

Step five is now. You just refine, right the plan. You refine the plan based on the data, and so what that looks like is after four weeks. If you hit a weight loss plateau, you might simply drop calories. It might be as simple as that. Or if your fatigue is climbing, maybe you have an extra recovery day. So you make refinements as you go. You don't just throw the whole thing out the baby with the bathwater, as they say and hop to a completely different program or a completely different plan, because you have the information and the clarity and the data. Wtf, what is going on? You know, okay, there's this one thing over here that could be the issue. I'm going to focus on that. I'm going to tweak that. I'm going to collect data. I'm going to go through this again. Okay, that's fine. Now I'm going to go to this thing over here and repeat. And so that's. The last phase is to repeat, to repeat everything you're doing in iterations and think of them as like micro iterations, macro iterations, long-term iterations, it doesn't matter. Basically, all the things you're doing on a daily, weekly, monthly basis are iterating. Now, over the big term, over the long term.

Philip Pape: 11:32

This two-year period for John, who wants to go from 200 to 180, his first six months might be a fat loss phase to lose 16 pounds, which gets him close to his goal weight, but not necessarily his body fat goal, because you can't just lose weight and you're done so. Then he says, okay, the next nine months now I'm going to plan a muscle building phase. Right Now he's going to pack on some weight back to his body, but a lot of it is going to be lean tissue, lean muscle mass. And then he's like okay, now I'm 15 months in, I've got five months left in my two year plan. The last five months I've given me one more, say mini cut, and then going back to maintenance, and now I've hit my 20 pounds loss and I'm at my body fat goal.

Philip Pape: 12:11

Now, whether going from 25 to 12 is reasonable or not, this was just an example and at the end of the day it doesn't really matter, because these are just numbers to drive behaviors. The goal isn't necessarily hit the exact number all the time. It's to make significant progress toward it, and that is kind of the way to think about. This is personal growth, self-improvement, always iterating, growing, learning and becoming becoming that athlete that you were always meant to be, and that's it. That's how I work with clients. All the time it's we, you know, um.

Philip Pape: 12:42

One of my clients asked recently so what exactly do I get for the investment? And I said you know, what you get for the investment is not just a result. Yes, you will get a result, which a lot of people are just struggling to get. The result at all Like if you're struggling to lose that last 10 pounds of fat and you work with me, we will lose the 10 pounds of fat. So if that's what you're looking for and that's enough, that 10 pounds of fat so if that's what you're looking for and that's enough, that's worth the investment. But beyond that, at least for me and my coaching practices, you will learn so much education, both uh, both in the sphere of nutrition and training, but more importantly, about you, about yourself and how to do this. So you can fire me and do it yourself forever. And I had lots of clients that went on to become nutrition coaches because they're like Holy crap, I just learned so much that I never knew before and that you know. Basically, you would learn through a nutrition certification program or even a college level program, and now I can take that forward, not just for myself but to help others, and I love to see when that happens. So my point with all of this is the goal isn't to hit a number, the goal isn't to lose weight. The goal is to learn about yourself and have a process for getting to any goal whenever you want.

Philip Pape: 13:54

So iterative design is a methodology that's powerful. It's simple, but it's powerful. It's not necessarily easy to implement. It takes effort, right, it takes effort, you have to be committed to it, um, but it allows for continual optimization and you'll never get to optimal. Optimal is like some perfect, um, impossible point out there in infinity. But you'll always get toward optimization for you, for your goal, instead of stubbornly sticking to one approach. You consistently evaluate your progress, you make data-driven adjustments and then you turn potential plateaus into opportunities for improvement. And that is the essence of sustained progress, sustainability over the long term. And it makes this whole thing lots of fun, at least in my opinion. And if you take anything away from this episode is the power of this approach lies in its adaptability, in how it evolves with you Over the two years of John's plan.

Philip Pape: 14:52

He didn't just blindly follow the plan from day one. He continuously assessed, adjusted, improved his approach, and then everything that other people think of as a failure is actually just a data point, so it doesn't just transform your body, does it. It reshapes your relationship with the ideas of fitness and nutrition and training Things that you relish, that you look forward to, that are part of your life, that are ingrained. You become a scientist of your own physique. You gain a deep understanding of how your body responds to different strategies. And then you develop skills skills to adapt and overcome any obstacle in your journey. So let's just recap, just in case I overwhelmed you a bit with all the phases here.

Philip Pape: 15:37

Number one iterative design is a principle based, powerful tool for long-term physique transformation long-term transformation of anything, but in this case we're talking about your physique. Number two we. There are six phases that provide a framework for continuous improvement in your training and nutrition over months, over years, over the rest of your life, and they are design, implement, test, evaluate, refine and repeat. Number three this approach leads to sustainable results because you adapt to your body's changing needs, whatever it needs at any moment in time. And then, finally, this mindset transforms how you view progress and setbacks not as failures but as opportunities.

Philip Pape: 16:24

If anything is worthy of careful engineering, of careful attention, it is your body. It's a complex system. Approach it with the same patience and persistence that you would if you were to get involved in a very intricate project, maybe something you've done for work in the past, or a hobby or something that you are meticulous craftsman at, or a craftswoman right? Maybe you are a woodworker, maybe you build things. Think about the amount of discipline and patience not discipline, but the patience and persistence. It actually becomes something that is what you do and you get better and better at it, right? You systematically engineer your way to something very impressive and it doesn't take that long when you do it that way.

Philip Pape: 17:07

So, again, if you're ready to apply this iterative design process to your own fitness journey, I'm offering free 15 minute rapid nutrition assessment calls. During this call, we map out your design and we tailor it to you and we give you some steps to take to start implementing. So, those first few phases of this process, I will give you the kick in the butt you need and get you going. No sales pitch, none of that, it's just. Here's the information, here are some resources. Usually I send you a helpful video or guide or resource out of the call by email and then you're good to go and you feel free to ask me questions and have at it and do it all on your own, or some people end up coming back and saying, hey, help me implement this specific to me so that I can get that result much more efficiently and, in many cases, much more quickly than just trying to randomly go at it.

Philip Pape: 17:53

Sometimes the difference between spinning your wheels and making progress is just having that strategy in place. And so let's connect, let's make sure you're on the right path for whatever your transformation is Maybe it's a fat loss phase, building muscle, body recomp, whatever it is. Until next time, keep using your wits, lifting those weights, and remember that your dream physique is not built overnight. It is engineered one iteration at a time. This is Philip Pape, and you've been listening to Wits and Weights. Talk to you next time.