Frameworks Episode 17 Recap: Mere Fitness: The Truth Beneath It All
Frameworks with Carl Hardwick | CoachRx Podcast Network
Today, we’re stepping back from the tactics of program design and nutrition to talk about something deeper, the foundation beneath it all. Inspired by C.S. Lewis’ Mere Christianity, this episode explores what I call Mere Fitness: the fundamental truths about health and fitness that every coach and client must recognize.
Because here’s the reality: you can’t talk about training cycles, macros, or recovery hacks until you acknowledge the ground all of it stands on.
Fitness isn’t about trends. It isn’t even about performance for performance’s sake.
At its core, fitness is about living in alignment with the truths of how the human body is designed to thrive. As coaches, our role is to help people align with those truths sustainably, consistently, and over years, not weeks.
The Frameworks of Mere Fitness
1. The Laws of Fitness
Certain things are non-negotiable. Sleep. Movement. Nourishment. Recovery. Connection.
You don’t get a vote on whether these matter. Ignore sleep, and you’ll pay for it. Ignore quality food, and you’ll pay for it. Ignore movement, and you’ll pay for it.
These are the “laws” of human health. They’re as constant as gravity. Coaching begins when we stop pretending we can outsmart them and start building on their foundation.
2. The Human as an Integrated System
A person isn’t a set of isolated body parts, macros, or scores. They are an integrated whole.
Strength, conditioning, nutrition, stress, relationships, each interacts with the others. Pull one lever, and the rest shift.
At OPEX, we teach this through the lens of Body, Move, Work, Lifestyle. If you only coach the squat, or only the food log, you’re missing the bigger picture. To coach well is to coach the whole human being.
3. Fitness as a Pursuit of Alignment, Not Achievement
Chasing PRs or VO₂ max is fine but progress isn’t defined by trophies or numbers.
True progress is about alignment: living in a way that honors the truths of health over a lifetime. Sometimes that means intensity. Sometimes it means restraint. Always, it means repeatability.
As coaches, we guide clients toward this pursuit, helping them adjust and course-correct without shame. The real “win” is a life lived with vitality and resilience, not a single whiteboard highlight.
Application for Coaches
Audit your programs. Do they stand on the non-negotiable laws of health, or are they built on sand?
Coach the whole person. Intake, assessment, and ongoing conversations should reflect that training is only one part of a much larger human system.
Redefine progress. Help clients move from short-term achievement to long-term alignment. Celebrate consistency, not just intensity.
Use tools like CoachRx to track not just sets and reps but also sleep, nutrition, and lifestyle factors that reveal whether a client is aligned.
The Close
Mere Fitness is about peeling back the layers and finding the truths beneath the noise.
When you strip it all down, fitness is this:
Live inside the non-negotiable laws of health.
Coach the human as an integrated whole.
Pursue alignment over a lifetime, not achievement in a moment.
Build on these foundations, and everything else makes sense. Ignore them, and eventually, it all falls apart. That’s Mere Fitness.
Listen to Episode 17 Now
▶️ Watch on YouTube
🎧 Listen on Spotify
📖 Catch up on past episodes + blog recaps
Have questions? DM Carl on Instagram @hardwickcarl
Frameworks is part of the CoachRx Podcast Network, your hub for principled, purpose-driven coaching conversations.
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