In search of perfect

I want to talk about perfection for a minute, because i get asked about it a lot, probably a couple of times a day; questions like, whats the perfect diet? whats the perfect exercise to tone this part of my body, or that one..

It's something I've had a wee bit of time to think on, and ponder and philosophise about. And you know what conclusion I've reached? I'm going to choose my words carefully here,

Fu*k. Perfect.

The quest for perfection is a fools errand, because what seems perfect now, might not be desirable to you in 6 months time. Or it might not even be possible for you to achieve.

There is no perfect exercise:
Any exercise can be performed in different ways to produce different results, and can and should be done differently at different stages of a training plan. There IS useful, but there is no perfect.

There is no perfect diet:
You will have different nutrition needs from day to day, week to week and year to year, depending on what's going on in your life. There are many different nutritional strategies that will be useful to meet the many different demands of life. However, the idea that there's a single diet(do you hate that 4 letter word as much as I do) that's perfect for everyone all the time is utter nonsense!

There IS however, a perfect time to take a small step in the right direction.
That time is Right now. Identify a single, small change you can make that will take you closer to your goal. For example, taking 1 less spoon of sugar per day will save 3 days worth of calories over the course of a year. It's these little things that add up over time. Putting on 1/2 lb of muscle will burn about 25,000 calories (or 10-15 days worth) over 12months.

Little changes deliver big results, it just takes a little time. Of course, it's possible to jump start things by taking some big steps, but that's a post for another day.