The 7 Ps: Proper Prior Planning Prevents Piss Poor Performance

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The 7 P's is a simple principle that can help you achieve your goals, whatever they may be. Most people fail not because they don’t have a solid plan. They “wing it” and hope to figure things out along the way.

The problem? Life is always happening. When you don’t plan, you default to your lowest level of preparation and that keeps you from reaching your goals.

Your goals are built on consistency. They aren’t one-time achievements. They require repeated effort, day after day.

• Want to lose weight? Eating well once won’t cut it. You need to do it 90% of the time.
• Want to hit a big barbell lift? You’ll need consistent work to build strength and skill.
• Want to feel and move better? That takes daily quality movement, good sleep, and nutrition that supports your body.

The goal isn’t just to get there once. It’s to get there and stay there. Losing 30 pounds once doesn’t matter if you put it all back on. Lifting a big weight once doesn’t matter if you never build the strength to maintain it. And feeling better isn’t a one-time accomplishment, it’s a lifestyle.

Applying the 7 Ps

Here are a few strategies to apply the 7 Ps to nutrition, training, and recovery.

Nutrition: Treat It Like Laundry

Here’s an analogy I use with our members: nutrition is like laundry.

• You don’t do laundry every single day as you need clothes.
• You also don’t buy new clothes every time you run out.
• Instead, you set aside time, do the laundry, put it away, and you’re set for the week.

Do the same with food.

You don’t need to cook every single meal from scratch. This becomes a time consuming task, even if you enjoy cooking. You also don’t want to rely on takeout, where the quality, portions, and nutrients are unpredictable. Instead, bulk cook your meals once or twice a week.

This saves you from falling back on bad decisions when you’re tired, hungry, or rushed. Cooking at home is also cheaper in the long run than paying for individual meals through delivery. With 3–4 hours of prep, you can cover your week instead of spending 45-90 minutes a day cooking.

Plan ahead once. Then just eat what you’ve already set up.

Fitness: Train More Often, Not Just Harder

When it comes to training, frequency matters. If you can work out 5–6 times a week, not every session needs to be max intensity, you’ll see more improvement than training only 2–3 days.

Many people online talk about training 2–3 days a week. That can work if you’re highly focused on one goal, like building muscle. But what about endurance, conditioning, or movement quality?

For general fitness, you need to touch all areas regularly:

• Strength (lifting heavy)
• Work capacity (moderate-to-high intensity training)
• Endurance (lower-intensity conditioning)

Bias your training toward your main goal by having 1-2 more training days oriented to what you want, but don’t neglect the others. Otherwise, you risk becoming the strong person who gets winded climbing stairs, or the endurance athlete who can’t squat their bodyweight.

Unless you’re training for a very specific event, you should aim for well-rounded fitness.

Recovery: Where Improvement Happens

You can’t out-train bad recovery. To keep up with consistent training, you need to prioritize recovery:

• Sleep: Go to bed on time, aim for enough hours, and make sure the quality is there.
• Movement quality: Focus on technique, not just weight on the bar. Use weight to challenge the technique. Moving well keeps you progressing longer.
• Body care: Pay attention to aches and pains. Do the mobility, stability, and soft tissue work you need. Pain and discomfort are information.

Recovery isn’t about one trick. It’s about stacking good habits together:

• Training consistently
• Eating to support training
• Sleeping well
• Addressing your body’s needs

Final Thoughts

The 7 Ps apply everywhere in life, but in fitness and nutrition they’re especially powerful. Proper planning gives you a system to fall back on, not just good intentions.

You can’t rely on motivation alone, it comes and goes, and figuring it out as you go is only wishful thinking. What carries you forward is the plan you’ve built, the consistency you’ve committed to, and the habits that keep stacking day after day.

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If you are curious about how we help members that want to change implement this approach, Schedule a No Sweat Intro and we can talk about your goals and walk through our Group Class and Personal Training options to see which is best for you.

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