I’m sure a lot of you took economics back in the day – either in college or high school (or both).  I don’t know about you, but one concept that stuck in my mind – besides the fact that one of my professors was a ridiculously annoying Yankees fan – was that of opportunity cost.  Rather than define it myself and risk missing an important component, I’ll defer to Wikipedia:

“Opportunity cost or economic opportunity loss is the value of the next best alternative forgone as the result of making a decision. Opportunity cost analysis is an important part of a company’s decision-making processes but is not treated as an actual cost in any financial statement. The next best thing that a person can engage in is referred to as the opportunity cost of doing the best thing and ignoring the next best thing to be done.

“Opportunity cost is a key concept in economic because it implies the choice between desirable, yet mutually exclusive results. It is a calculating factor used in mixed markets which favour social change in favour of purely individualistic economics. It has been described as expressing ‘the basic relationship between scarcity and choice.’ The notion of opportunity cost plays a crucial part in ensuring that scarce resources are used efficiently. Thus, opportunity costs are not restricted to monetary or financial costs: the real cost of output forgone, lost time, swag, pleasure or any other benefit that provides utility should also be considered opportunity costs.”

I see opportunity cost all the time in the world of training – both in clients/athletes and their trainers/coaches.

On the fitness side of things, we know there are certainly exercise modalities that yield more effective results than others in the least amount of time.  In fact, this was the entire premise behind Alwyn Cosgrove’s Hierarchy of Fat Loss article.

If you want to get stronger, bigger, and more athletic, you’re better off doing squats than you are leg extensions.

If you only have an hour to exercise and your goal is to get stronger, drop body fat, and improve your overall fitness, then you’re probably better off skipping the Hip-Hop class and instead going to the gym to do:

5 minutes foam rolling

5 minutes mobility/activation drills
30 minutes strength training
15 minutes interval training

5 minutes post-exercise flexibility

All of these modalities can be individualized, whereas a group exercise class is more one-size-fits-all.  So, if you have imbalances or injury concerns, the individualization is a major benefit.

Plus, the added benefit is that you’re much less likely to get tortured on by your friends if you lift heavy stuff and push the sled than you are with Hip-Hop class. Just throwing it out there.  That’s just a purely hypothetical example, though…

You’ll see a lot of really business-savvy trainers who are always reading personal development books, but never actually pick up a book or attend a seminar to learn how to train people.  They are really just good salespeople in  revealing and/or tight workout clothes.  In fact, if you search Google Images for “personal trainer,” photos like this are just about all that you get!

The opportunity cost of their time is that they could have spent time becoming better trainers instead of just prioritizing something at which they’re already effective.  Or, perhaps they’re better off hiring a good trainer to take that duty over so that they can best leverage their selling.

Likewise, you’ll see some trainers who are great at assessment, programming, coaching, and getting results, but clueless on the business side of things.  These people need to be reading more business books and attending seminars on how to run a business effectively.  And, as with the previous case, they should consider collaborating with someone who has good business know-how so that they can leverage their strengths.  I actually do a lot of this myself at Cressey Performance; while I’m about 80/20 training/business, having Pete as our full-time business guy allows me to spend more time specializing in various contexts to expand our market segment.

Just some food for thought.  I’d encourage you to look at what you do on a daily basis, and consider the concept of opportunity cost as it relates to your fitness and professional development.  I know I do it all the time.

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Have a great week!

EC