David Brailsford was the greatest thing to ever happen to British cycling.
Before he became Performance Director of British Cycling in 2003, GB had won a grand total of 0 Tours de France, and 1 Olympic Gold Medal in their history.
In the decade between 2007 and 2017, British cyclists won 178 World Championships, 66 Olympic or Paralympic gold medals, and 5 Tour de France wins.
It was an unprecedented change in fortunes based on his simple but stunningly effective philosophy of "the aggregation of marginal gains".
From the moment he was appointed, the team he worked in worked relentlessly towards the pursuit of every tiny improvement possible in every single thing that they did.
The concept being if you can improve every single facet of a bike, the rider, and the training by just 1%, you will get a significant increase when they are all combined together.
His philosophy and this concept was overwhelmingly proven to be correct.
The Manner of Progress
The common mistake people make when making a change to their fitness or lifestyle is that they think that any changes they make need to be immediate, and big.
Just today I saw an Instagram motivational meme saying "the new life you seek will cost you your old one", hinting towards huge, wholesale changes.
Thoughts like this lead to big, sweeping and often unsustainable routine and lifestyle changes that quickly become unsustainable, and any big quick progress you do make isn't maintained.
In fact, studies have shown that 95% of diets fail, largely for these reasons. They work in the short term, 8, 12, 16 weeks, then we fall back into old habits and regress to our previous strength, fitness and body composition levels.
To beat the statistics, be part of the remaining 5% for whom a diet will work, and ultimately become a physically exceptional over 30, you need to approach things differently.
The Aggregation of Marginal Gains
The brilliance of focussing on marginal but impactful gains is that any one change, tweak or action you take does not seem too big in the moment. Nothing is big and arduous. Nothing is overwhelming.
In the context of British Cycling, things like making the seat comfier, the helmet more aerodynamic, the shorts better for heating up the muscles are all small tasks.
Nothing is being revolutionised, just improved by 1%. That 1% is then joined by additional 1%'s from elsewhere, and then they all compound, much like interest on your savings account.
Think of the big, wholesale changes being the equivalent of chucking your whole pay-check into your savings account, only having to gradually withdraw it back into your current account as the bills inevitably come in.
Think of the marginal gains being the 1% of your income successful put aside each week that stays in the account, and grows with additional interest.
One is so small that you barely notice it, but it works. The other too noticeable and uncomfortable to pull off.
Important Fitness Marginal Gains
With that concept in mind, lets cover some examples of marginal gains that you can find in your training and nutrition.
The simple, small, but hugely effective things that add up and compound over time to make huge changes when given the time to accumulate.
1) Fractional Plates
When it comes to progressing your lifts in the gym, people like to think in multiples of 10kg.
In-fact, people are experts in moving the goalposts when it comes to hitting new targets. Once 50kg is hit, their mind immediately shifts to 60kg. 100kg get hit, and the brain automatically shifts to 120kg.
But the way to get there is using the 1.25kg and 2.5kg fractional plates you'll find hidden behind the 20 and 25kg plates in the gym.
These are the simplest and most common example of a marginal gain in the gym, and they help you overload your lifts by the smallest but most realistic increment possible.
Make the fractional plates your best friend in the gym.
2) Higher Protein Diet
I've spoken at length about a higher protein diet being essential when it comes to hitting your strength and body composition goals.
It will play a huge role in helping you build and maintain muscle mass, feel full when consuming lower calorie meals, and provide essential vitamins and minerals in bulk.
But protein also contains an extra hidden marginal gain.
You may have read about the calorie density of the 3 main main macro-nutrients in our diets.
Carbs and Proteins being 4 calories per gram, and fats being 9 calories per gram.
But, the thermic effect of consuming a gram of protein is higher than that of consuming a gram of carbohydrate or fat.
In fact, 20-30% of the energy contained in a gram of protein is burned in its consumption, compared to 5-10% in carbohydrates, and 0-3% in fats, meaning 1g of protein is actually more equal to around 3.2 calories.
This is a marginal gain in your calorie deficit which will accumulate over time that isn't accounted for in your regualar food tracking apps like My Fitness Pal and Nutrachecks.
3) Muscle Mass and RMR
Around 80% of your resting metabolic rate (RMR - aka metabolism), is explained by the amount of lean muscle you have.
There aren't many other things that positively impact your resting metabolic rate more when it comes to losing body-fat.
for every 1lb (~0.5kg) of lean muscle, you gain and extra 6-10 calories burned per day, which doesn't sound much, but is the definition of a marginal gain.
Add that up for a single pound or half a kilo of muscle over a year, and that could be over 1 pound or half a kilo of body-fat gone.
Gain 3 kilos of lean muscle, and you're looking at 3lb of body-fat potentially being burned with everything else being equal.
A marginal gain you shouldn't overlook.
Applying Marginal Gains
The best way to implement marginal gains yourself is to never overlook the small wins you make.
It is very easy to fall short of a big goal, or repeating a big action, and feeling deflated.
It is very easy to fall into perfectionism, and allow anything short of that throw us off track.
Use marginal gains to keep yourself in the game for longer. Long enough to start to see the huge benefits that these marginal gains can give you given the chance.
It's not about perfection, it's about imperfect action. And the more imperfect actions you do that move you forwards just 1%, the sooner you'll achieve things you didn't realise could be so easy.
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