I might have the goal of squatting 160kg by the end of the year.  Perhaps there is a particular competition that has 160kg as the necessary starting weight.  But if I naturally tend towards deadlifting every time I do my max effort lower body workout then I am unlikely to hit that goal.  If, on the other hand, I do a cost-benefit analysis on my max effort lower body workouts then I’ll quickly realise that my deadlifting mania isn’t helping my goals.  So I’ll start using exercises to build up my squat.

Similarly, I know some people who are still doing the same workout programme with the same weight as they were doing years ago.  Are those exercises really bringing any benefits?  Or does the cost of the time spent doing them now more than outweigh the non-existent benefits?

So a cost-benefit analysis on your workout programme could be worth a few minutes of your time.

But you can do the same analysis on your gym equipment, too.

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What equipment to buy - a cost-benefit analysis

I think it’s possible to talk in general terms about the cost-benefit of buying different pieces of equipment, if only because space and cash are both such overriding considerations for most of us.

• Footprint – how much space the equipment takes up is important.  It will count as a cost if a piece of kit occupies a lot of space (especially if you have a very small garage like I do).
• Multiple usage – being able to use the equipment for several purposes presents a benefit.
• Types of exercise – the type of exercise that the equipment allows you to do will be a benefit but the type of exercise you need will depend on you and your goals.
• Price – unless you are very wealthy and can do a bulk order at EliteFTS for whatever you feel like whenever the fancy takes you, cheaper equipment is likely to be a benefit.
• Quality- but you don’t want to be replacing it every other year or have it creak in pain every time your powerlifting buddies show up and start chucking weights around, so quality is a benefit.
• Homemade gym equipment - this depends a lot on you.  If you enjoy the making process and/or are a bit hard up, them homemade gym kit is brilliant.  If you hate getting your hands dirty, well, don’t bother.  So it could be a cost or a benefit!

So, for example, a power rack has some big benefits as it has almost infinite uses and takes up relatively little space when compared with the equivalent in machines.  On the other hand, it could set you back quite a bit of hard-earned cash.

A pull up bar, on the other hand, costs about as much as my weekend beer allowance and, while the exercises I can use it for are fairly limited, it does give me a lot of value for that minimal investment.

It all depends on your goals…

I believe that every decision you make can be made by using a cost-benefit analysis.

Wait!  Don’t run off just because I used a fancy financial term!  Financiers aren’t that bright, anyway.  I should know, I’ve been working with them for years.  Anything they can do, you can do too.

So why bother?  Well, doing a cost-benefit analysis on some or all of your decisions can make sure that you achieve your goals, whether you’ve got big life goals or big workout goals.

OK, I’m listening.  What is a cost-benefit analysis, anyway?

A cost-benefit analysis is where you try to note down all the costs and benefits of a particular course of action.  Then you add up all of the costs (negative) and the benefits (positive) and if you get a positive number then it’s a good idea. 

Accountants put a monetary value on everything to see whether a project makes money.  So a traditional cost-benefit analysis of building a power station would include the cost of building it (negative) and the costs of running it (negative) plus the benefits of selling the power (positive).  If the costs are less than the benefits then you’ll make money.  It’s a good project.

And if you want to compare two projects, you go through the same process for each one.  Whichever one gives you a bigger positive number is the one that will make you more money.

Sorry?  I thought this was a blog about lifting weights not finance?

It is.  Stop complaining.  I’m getting there.

We can use the same method of analysis in our day-to-day decisions and simply decide which points are more important than other.  Importance just takes the place of the moolah.

So we can establish whether an idea is a good one or not and we can decide which options are best depending on how big the positives are.

So, for example, I might be thinking about what to have for dinner.  I fancy a takeaway curry instead of making it myself. 

(Making the curry myself, with a large portion of cottage cheese.  What’s not to like?)

A simple cost-benefit analysis on having a takeaway curry might then look like this…

• Costs: expensive,  unhealthy, high-calorie, high-carb, leads to drinking beer
• Benefit: tastes nicer than anything I can make, saves time, I don’t have to cook, helps me relax

That’s the easy bit.  The hard bit is now, where you decide, depending on your personal circumstances, how much each of the items counts for.  If you are a bit hard-up and money is tight, then having “expensive” as a cost is a bit of a serious issue.

If you’re the CEO of a big company, then this might not be a concern at all.  In fact, the time-saving and relaxing benefits might be worth lots more to you than the cost of buying the food in.

And the key thing is that it works for goals, too.  If you have the goal of losing 5lbs this month then the high-calorie issue is a significant “cost” for you.  On the other hand, if you are looking to bulk up this winter then you won’t see that as a cost at all.

So I need to go through all this palaver just to decide what to eat?

Well, if you want to lose weight you might have to… but generally, no, of course not. 

But even without knowing what the terminology is, most people make their big, everday decisions using this method.  Big decisions, like buying a new car or moving house or getting a new job.  I’m not talking about emotional decisions, here.

For example, when we’re planning our holidays for the year, we think about how much money we have to spend and what we can do. 

(Hiking in the Alps.  Can’t beat it.)

A simple cost-benefit analysis for two different holiday options might then look like this:

Option one: one week of skiing or a long-haul, foreign holiday plus whatever else we can afford in the UK

• Costs: only one week of sunshine, only one chance so risky if we don’t enjoy it, could make it difficult to afford anything else in the year, long-haul plane travel can be a nightmare, we’ll need to fly from Gatwick or Heathrow a.k.a. Grotwick or Hellthrow
• Benefit: could be a once-in-a-lifetime experience, we can see the big sights of the world

Option two: several cheap breaks in Europe

• Costs: short-hop plane flights are sometimes as bad, we’ll see most of the same places again
• Benefit: we can fly from East Midlands (15mins from our house), if we don’t enjoy one break we get another chance, we can be more independent, less costly as we can camp or B&B easily, several doses of sunshine through the year

Again, that’s the easy bit.  The hard bit is deciding how much each of the items count for.

So again, which option will be more attractive to you will depend on your personality.  If you are risk-averse, then option two will seem more attractive to you.  If you have a real wanderlust and for you risks are necessary in order to really experience life then option one will feel more natural.

Similarly, it will depend on your goals.  You may have the goal of saving some money this year, in which case option two would give you the ability to reduce the expenditure a bit.

On the other hand, your personal circumstances might be changing and you may know that you won’t be able to do another big trip for a long time.  In which case, one last long-haul flight might be worth it.

Do a cost-benefit analysis on past choices to learn about other people and yourself

You can use the cost-benefit analysis on decisions people have already made to establish what they think is important and what they think is less important.

So if someone says to me that they don’t have time to lift weights but they can tell me what happened in the X Factor last night then I can do a cost-benefit analysis on that choice.  Quite easily, I can establish that they think relaxing in front of reality TV is more important than getting fitter, healthier and stronger.  Of course, they might not accept this if confronted with it but that’s a separate issue.

Which brings us to an interesting point… What you think about yourself and what your past decisions tell other people about you are not necessarily the same.  Josh has done a Seth Godin-esque post about this on World’s Strongest Librarian, where he says that if he were a fly on the wall near you in a typical day, he would know what your goals were by the end of the day.

I think I might be distracted by a 6 feet 7 inch bluebottle following me around but nevertheless…

The cost-benefit analysis drives you towards your goals

 Being human means that when we stop to analyse things we generally refer back to our goals rather than our personalities.

So if we do a cost-benefit analysis then we are more likely to take the course of action that supports our goals rather than the one that fits in with our natural priorities.

For example, I might have the goal of squatting 160kg by the end of the year so that I can enter a particular competition and hit the necessary starting weight.  But if I naturally tend towards deadlifting every time I do my max effort lower body workout then I am unlikely to hit that goal.  If, on the other hand, I do a cost-benefit analysis on my max effort lower body workouts then I’ll quickly realise that my deadlifting mania isn’t helping my goals.  So I’ll start using exercises to build up my squat.  It’s human nature.

Cost-benefit analysis and the Garage Gym

As you’ll have seen from that last example, I think that it’s possible to do a cost-benefit analysis on the equipment you need for your garage gym and the exercises that you do to get stronger.  But I’ll talk more about that until next week.

Hope you enjoyed the slightly off-the-wall topic this time.