Should The Gangam Style Star Be Your Exercise Guru?

If you don't live on a desert island without electricity, chances are that you have heard of the video Gangnam Style. Released by South Korean pop star Psy in July 2012, the official Gangnam Style video has been viewed over 1.2 billion times and has become the topic of discussion in media as diverse as the Wall Street Journal and China People's Daily.

Gagnam Style has been played at weddings. It has become a craze in South Africa. And it's been used in dance classes in gyms. There is reason to doubt whether Psy intended to become an exercise guru, too, but his dance video illustrates five important principles of fitness for fighting fatness.

1. Fitness comes from focusing on performance, not end results.

Is there really any point to dancing in Gangnam Style? Does anyone really care? Gangam Style is just fun, and the most effective exercise is just fun, too.

This doesn't mean that you can fight fat or get fit without any goal at all. You should be able to recognize success when you have achieved it. That requires a firm, fixed goal for body transformation and weight loss (or weight gain, if that is what you need to achieve you goal). But just as a flight on an airline requires a departure time, a destination, and a plane, you should make your physical fitness and weight management goals just one part of your process. Focus on doing what you need to do rather than how you will look or how much you will be able to bench press or what you will weigh after a given number of days, weeks, or months on your program.

Especially if you have never been in shape before, you may simply not know how your body will respond to your exercise routine, supplements, or diet,. Deadlines can be incredibly motivating, but missing deadlines repeatedly can be incredibly discouraging. Focusing on the process, building your self-esteem by recognizing that you can stick to your program, builds confidence and gets results. Do the right things day after day, and the results will take care of themselves.

2. Ready! Fire! Aim!

When you start watching the Gangnam video, do you know where Psy is going? For that matter, during the filming of the video, did Psy know where Psy was going? Gangnam Style isn't about a specific destination, and fitness transformations aren't all about the destination, either.

If you approach body transformation with the attitude that you have to "aim" before you are ready to "fire," you can easily fall into the trap of "just one more thing." You need to eat just one more thing before you go on your diet. You need to buy just one more piece of equipment before you start your exercise routine. You need to read one more book, or surf the Internet one more time, or buy one supplement before you will take charge of your fitness, your weight, and your life.

In Gangnam Style, Psy is a person of action. He's in constant motion. And figuratively speaking, you should be, too. Don't get bogged down in specifying your accomplishments at the expense of going after them. Get started now.

Three More Insights From Gangnam Style

Psy teaches a lot about the psychology of successful fitness transformation. Here are three more insights into fitness from Gangnam Style.

3. Practice strategic attention.

In the Gangnam Style video, Psy starts off sunning while holding a cold beverage. Then he is seen walking through a stable and the video cuts back to the umbrella scene with a young boy doing the Gangnam dance.

As the video progresses, Psy dances with two women in a windstorm of confetti, dances by himself, dances with two women in what appears to be snowstorm, and leans on the shoulder of a less-than-fanatically-fit young man in a sauna.

Not once in the video does Gangnam update his Facebook status. He doesn't answer his smart phone. He doesn't wait for comments in an Internet forum before continues to dance, dance, dance.

British fitness guru Christian Finn advises his clients to follow a program of "strategic ignorance." If you don't use information, stop trying to acquire more. The key to success isn't knowing more about fitness and diet, it is doing more to move in the direction of fitness goals.

4. Make your main thing your main thing.

In Gangnam style, we see Psy resting, or dancing. He's either having a good time or recuperating from having a good time. We don't see Psy taking up ballet, or knitting, or making batch of kimchi to go with his bulgogi and rice. Psy sticks to main thing.

The same principle applies to fitness transformations. Most of us are plugged into a constant steam of information through email, Facebook, Twitter, newsletters, forums, classes, and meet-ups. Constant contact is distracting.

Don't try to do a little interval training here and a little yoga there and a high-protein diet on days you aren't carb loading to get ready for your cheat days. Stop. Pick one routine and settle in for at least 90 days. If after three months you can't see any desirable changes, then try something else, but choose one important goal. Then ask yourself, is what I'm doing now helping me reach my goal, or pushing me away from it.

5. Practice the Pareto Principle

Chances are that you have heard of the Pareto Principle, also known as the 80-20 rule. The Pareto Principle states that 80% of outcomes derive from 20% of efforts. For salespeople, 80% of sales are made with 20% of customers. Or 80% of weight loss occurs on 20% of diet days. Or 80% of muscle gain occurs after 20% of workouts. For Psy, 20% of dance routines seem to have resulted in 80% of his rejuvenating breaks.

But the principle is that you do some things on a routine basis without expecting immediate results. The way you reach your goals is not necessarily precisely predictable. There will always be a few simple things you have to get right and get right consistently to achieve good results. The thing is, you may not know what they are.

So be like Psy. Keep dancing. Take an occasional break, but then dance some more. Enjoy your company along the way, and achieve your goals the Gangnam way.