Engineering Your Happy Body: Fitness in Numbers

When it comes to your body, “engineering” is not a sexy word – images of robots, wires, calculations and equations come to mind. If we leave ourselves open to the forces of nature, we inevitably decline and decay. To alter this destiny, we must step up and have an active hand in engineering our future selves.

Where we live, in Silicon Valley, many people look to engineering as a path of knowing, controlling, and liberating themselves to create the bodies they want. When someone comes to the Happy Body wanting to improve, the engineer is who they meet first. There’s no judgment.

We photograph them and calculate their ideal weight, formulate clear goals, lay out a precise plan for how to get there with standards and measurements, and work with them to apply the plan effectively. Like scientists, we focus on what, when, how, and how much—which you can calculate and test.

When it comes to other fitness programs people can’t really blame themselves when they fail, because most fitness classes today have become pure entertainment. Clients are left with a sense of vagueness, confusion and opacity regarding how to improve, and they don’t. They lose themselves, and lose sight of the very thing they want from the activity. They might be having a good time but they’re not getting stronger, faster, or leaner. With passing time, they might just do the opposite—become stiffer, weaker, and slower–exactly what aging is.

If engineers aren’t mindful and focused on what they’re doing, the technology won’t work. The same principle applies to fitness and health: you have to start with clear goals and a sense of exactly who you want to become, formulate a plan, and work toward it mindfully and consistently. You’re not exercising to distract yourself or burn off irritation or calories—you’re mindfully engaging with the challenge. It’s this focus and this galvanizing process that makes us better.

We interact with many scientists and people who have intellectual professions. They have to theorize, innovate and improve, so they’re familiar with the struggle. They use their brains but they’re not using their bodies, so their exhaustion is purely mental, leaving them overwhelmed and overstimulated. Yet when they focus mindfully on the Happy Body workout, not using it as a distraction but as a practice and discipline, they can find release and renewal. Exercise as entertainment would not bring the same benefits, calming the mind while strengthening the body. The predictability of the Happy Body exercise program allows the mind to shift into another state. And by measuring improvement, everyone knows immediately if they’re progressing or not. They find themselves with the right attitude, achieving the desired outcome of the activity that they engaged with and pursued.