You can access our newsletter for this week here. Read TJ’s blog below.

I think we get confused.

At least I do.

It just happened to me a few weeks ago.

I brought Hollis in to get a new iPhone. Her screen was shattered, and the fix was in the hundreds of dollars.

I asked the guy how much my phone was worth if I were to trade it in. He said I could get a couple hundred bucks for it. Woohoo! That made a new phone for me only $600.

Mine was a few years old and slowing way down.

Boom. New phone. I felt like I was now a member of the cool kids group.

I’m a true believer of throttling.

I know Apple intentionally compromises battery life to make customers buy a new phone.

I also know that the cost to fix a slow battery is roughly half the cost of a new phone.

While complaining about this, I was introduced to the term “Planned Obsolescence” by my client Bob.

There’s nothing better than having super-intelligent clients and members.

P.O. is the intentional practice by businesses to produce a product that has an expiration date that is known to them but not to the consumer.

It’s built into the product, and in some cases, it’s built into the entire business model.

Apple could build a twenty-year computer. But why would they?

Same with phones.

Companies that build cars, homes, breast implants, and clothing, as well as thousands of other products, know exactly what they are doing.

The interesting part is that because of this model, they unintentionally created a psychology around Planned Obsolescence, called “Perceived Obsolescence.”

If you plan to make a product that becomes obsolete, it can’t be crap.

It has to have value and, if possible, it has to create an emotional response.

A sense of need and desire. A feeling of vanity, if you will.

That is what Perceived Obsolescence is.

The feeling of wanting.

Convincing yourself that something is “out of fashion” or telling yourself that it’s “lost its function” or it is no longer “aesthetically pleasing.”

All of this is emotional, and man do these companies have us figured out.

Like lambs to slaughter, we race to the mall or Amazon to upgrade our lives, because we have been fed the slop of sugary sweetness that tells us we are not enough.

I couldn’t help but attach these concepts to the fitness industry.

I have a pretty straightforward approach: To help people get from A to B in the shortest, straightest line possible, by using empirical data with a sprinkling of empathy and motivation.

That is NOT the goal of the fitness industry, though.

The industry believes that you are weak-minded and will chase whatever dopamine rush comes along, hopping from fitness lily pad to lily pad with little to no thought.

There’s a reason they think this. That reason is because it’s true.

All data points to these facts.

Consumers of fitness are fickle. They bail.

They’re the least consistent consumer of all goods and services.

My intent is not to hurt your feelings but just state the facts.

The thing about consistent functional fitness is that you can actually see it.

Someone who consistently squats, bends, pushes, and pulls substantial weight at varying intensities just looks different.

Someone who has a drawer filled with t-shirts from the the last decade’s worth of fitness fads, does not.

Someone who has a small waist, no signs of a double chin, and defined arms has likely been consistent with a low-calorie nutrition program.

We know what nutritionally inconsistent people look like.

My point is that deeming your fitness routine obsolete because it gives you results but you aren’t interested in doing it anymore needs to be recognized and defined.

It’s like saying “I want to have money , but not THAT much money.”

There’s nothing wrong with this sentiment. Until there is.

Like not having enough money for an emergency, or not being strong enough to handle certain unforseen events.

Next week, I will dig into the deeper meaning of where our perceived obsolescence in fitness comes from and what we can do to make it more useful to us, rather than less.

Have a great week!

~TJ