Are We Overcomplicating Fitness?

Written by Gerry Leanne | Evolve Studios Skegness

Health and fitness used to feel much simpler.

Now it can feel like a full-time admin job.

Steps. Sleep scores. Supplements. Cold plunges. Protein targets. Strength Training. Recovery trackers. Morning routines. Food Tracking. Mobility work.

One person thinks they need to run every day. Another thinks running is “bad for cortisol”. One person eats everything with a protein label. The next is worried about too much protein for their kidneys. Then it’s full fat, or no fat - the list goes on.

Everyone seems to be tracking something, optimising something or worrying about something.

And honestly, I think a lot of people are exhausted before they’ve even started.

The strange thing is, despite having more access to health and fitness information than ever before, people often seem less confident in what actually matters.

Sometimes it feels like the industry keeps adding layers to problems that were never supposed to become this complicated in the first place.

Most large-scale health research still points us back towards the same fundamentals:

Move regularly,

Sleep properly,

Manage stress levels, and

Eat mostly whole foods.

Which is interesting, because online wellness culture often makes health feel far more complicated than that.

Part of the problem is that people are searching for one perfect method in an area of life that’s deeply individual.

The “best” workout, routine or style of eating is never going to be universal - in the same way there’s no universally perfect song, food or film.

Different people respond to different things.

Different personalities enjoy different styles of training.

Different lifestyles need different levels of structure and flexibility.

Different bodies tolerate stress, intensity and recovery differently.

The contradiction in fitness advice doesn’t always exist because somebody is lying. Sometimes it exists because different things genuinely work for different people.

This means the odds are, there’s more information out there not for you, than there is for you.

But before unlimited information and social media algorithms, most people simply tried things.

If something improved their energy, helped their fitness, fit into their schedule or made them feel mentally better, they carried on.

If it didn’t, they adjusted.

Now people often feel like they need to research every possible option before they even begin.

And when every platform is filled with people claiming their method is “optimal” but not really clarifying who they’re talking to, it’s no surprise so many people end up paralysed by indecision.

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Interesting Insight

Researchers have even coined the term “orthosomnia” to describe people becoming overly fixated on achieving “perfect” sleep scores through wearable technology.

Just like “orthorexia” referring to those fixated on eating “perfectly”.

Not because tracking is bad - far from it. Tracking and data can be incredibly useful when used appropriately.

But it’s a reminder that tools are supposed to support body awareness, not replace it.

Leaning to listen to and understand your bodies signals in real time is far more important than a weekly scoreboard.

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We love good data. As coaches, it can be incredibly useful.

Tracking progress, monitoring training intensity and understanding patterns can genuinely help people train more effectively and build awareness around their habits.

But we also think there’s a difference between using data as a tool and becoming completely dependent on it.

Sometimes people become so focused on what a watch, app or tracker is telling them that they stop paying attention to what their own body is saying:

Low energy.

Poor sleep.

Constant soreness.

Feeling mentally drained.

Needing rest.

Not everything needs a score attached to it before it becomes valid.

We’ve genuinely had conversations in the studio where someone feels guilty for not lifting, running, swimming and stretching twice every week, hitting 10,000 steps a day, and tracking their sleep, whilst working full time and raising a young family. The most common question from those with these routines? “Will this £70 a month supplement that I can’t really afford help?” …

At some point, wellbeing starts creating stress instead of reducing it.

That doesn’t mean modern fitness trends are all nonsense. Some of them are genuinely useful. We’re not anti-data, anti-tracking or anti-performance.

There’s a lot of interesting research emerging around recovery, longevity and exercise science, and some people genuinely enjoy diving into those details.

We do too - which is why we created this space within the Evolve App to share interesting research, conversations and ideas in a way that feels realistic and genuinely useful.

But somewhere in the middle of all of all the information, many people have lost trust in their own judgement.

People now feel like they need the “perfect” workout plan before they begin. Or the perfect supplement stack. Or the perfect routine.

Meanwhile, the things that consistently make the biggest difference are usually far less dramatic.

Walking regularly.

Getting stronger over time.

Sleeping properly.

Finding movement you genuinely enjoy enough to repeat.

Having enough energy to function well during the day.

Feeling calmer.

Feeling more capable in your own body.

None of that is particularly flashy, which is probably why it doesn’t trend very often.

We see it all the time with clients in the studio. The people who tend to make the best long-term progress usually aren’t the ones chasing extremes.

It’s not about finding the perfect approach before you begin. It’s to begin, pay attention, learn more about yourself and discover what works best for you.

That often means mixing and matching your workouts to suit your week.

One week may be Strength Training and Boxing. The next may be a Spin class, Yoga, and a long walk.

It’s far more important to discover how you feel mentally and physically during and after different workouts, rather than force yourself through workouts you hate because social media told you they were “optimal”.

Progress you can see and feel in real life, looks less like doing more for the sake of it, and more like finally doing something that makes you feel better, which you then naturally want to do over and over again.

So maybe the problem isn’t simply that there’s too much information.

Maybe the problem is that people are searching for one universal answer in an area of life that has always been highly individual.

Come back to yourself, and look after yourself.

Everything will fall into place.