In this episode of the Kraken Power Podcast, Josko and Brandon break down the bare minimum plan — the chaos-proof system Kraken’s coaches use to keep clients consistent when life throws everything at them.
Why People Fall Off When Life Gets Busy
Most people don’t quit fitness because they’re lazy. They quit because they have an all-or-nothing mindset — and when life disrupts the “all,” they default to “nothing.”
Josko sees this pattern constantly at Kraken Fitness in Burnaby. Clients are experts at staying on track when everything is going well. Perfect week? Five workouts, 10,000 steps, protein at every meal. But the second life throws a wrench — work stress, sick kids, a bad week — everything collapses.
The 80-20 rule is part of the problem. People think they’re following it — 80% dialed in, 20% relaxed. But as Josko puts it, “Nature respects the 80-20 rule more than your mind does.” What feels like 80-20 is often closer to 50-50 or 30-70. The “relaxed” portion expands without anyone noticing.
The fix isn’t trying harder during the good weeks. It’s having a plan for the bad ones.
The Bare Minimum Plan: Sleep, Nutrition, and Movement
The bare minimum plan is Kraken’s framework for chaotic seasons. Instead of abandoning your routine when life gets busy, you dial it back to a sustainable floor — the smallest version of your plan that still keeps you moving forward.
Three pillars. Each one has a bare minimum. Hit those minimums and you’ll maintain your results, stay in the habit, and bounce back fast when things calm down. Skip them and you’re pushing a dead car uphill.
This isn’t settling for less. It’s the strategy that prevents starting over. Kraken’s coaches in Burnaby build bare minimum plans into every client’s program because everyone hits rough patches — the question is whether you have a system for them or not.
Sleep: The Non-Negotiable Floor
Seven hours. That’s the bare minimum for sleep, no matter what’s happening in your life. Kraken’s coaches treat sleep as the foundation everything else is built on — and it’s the first thing that falls apart when life gets stressful.
Brandon explains the biology: restful sleep regulates your emotions, helps you recover, and makes the next day genuinely easier. Cutting sleep to four or five hours doesn’t help you grieve, hustle through a crisis, or solve problems faster. It just makes you feel worse on top of whatever you’re already dealing with.
Josko puts it more directly: “Don’t feel so bad for yourself to the point where you’re sleeping three or four hours a day. Reality is you’re just going to feel worse.”
If you’re a Burnaby professional juggling kids, work, and stress — sleep is the last thing you should sacrifice. It’s the one lever that makes everything else work. This is why Kraken’s coaches start with sleep before touching nutrition or training. The Kraken Power Podcast talks about sleep so often that Josko and Brandon jokingly call it “the Vancouver sleep podcast.”
Nutrition: Protein First, Everything Else Second
When life gets chaotic, don’t try to track macros or follow a detailed meal plan. Just focus on protein. That’s the bare minimum nutrition strategy Kraken’s coaches recommend.
Brandon’s guideline is simple: make sure most of your plate is protein. Going to a restaurant? Pick the option with protein. Grabbing something convenient? Make sure it has protein. You don’t need to weigh food, count calories, or meal prep — just keep protein at the center of every meal.
This works because protein is the nutrient that preserves muscle, keeps you full, and prevents the worst damage during off weeks. If you’re eating 180 grams of protein normally and life gets hectic, dropping to 150 grams with protein-focused meals is fine. That’s still enough to maintain your results.
Josko also addresses comfort eating — because that’s what actually happens when things go wrong. People reach for pizza, poutine, ice cream. His advice isn’t to stop seeking comfort food. It’s to find a better version: frozen yogurt instead of ice cream, a balanced meal instead of takeout. “Don’t have the entire bucket. Just have a few scoops and then move on with life.”
The key: you don’t need the perfect diet during a hard week. You need enough protein to keep the wheels turning.
Fitness: Just Keep Moving
If you can’t get to the gym, walk. That’s the bare minimum for fitness when life is at its most chaotic, and Kraken’s trainers in Burnaby recommend it without hesitation.
A 30-minute walk before anyone else wakes up. A 10-minute walk during your lunch break. A walk after the kids go to bed. It doesn’t matter when — it matters that it happens.
Josko is clear about the science: “You’re not going to lose all of your muscle within a few weeks of not exercising.” What you will lose is the habit. And rebuilding a habit from zero takes far more energy than maintaining one at a lower intensity.
So instead of five workouts a week, do three. Instead of 10,000 steps, do 7,000. Instead of an hour at the gym, walk for 15 minutes. The consistency matters more than the volume.
Brandon adds a practical tip: walks fit anywhere in your day. Take a meeting on the phone while walking. Walk with a co-worker instead of sitting in the break room. It’s the easiest exercise to sandwich into a busy schedule, which is exactly why it works as the bare minimum.
The person who does 10 minutes of movement every day will see better results than the person who does a two-hour workout followed by six days of shame and guilt. Kraken’s coaches build this principle into every program — because eventually, every client hits a stretch where the gym isn’t possible. The question is whether they keep moving or stop completely.
The Car-Pushing Analogy
Brandon uses an analogy that sticks with Kraken’s clients: pushing a stalled car.
If your car breaks down and comes to a complete stop, getting it moving again takes massive effort. You’re pushing against inertia, straining, barely budging. But if you keep it rolling — even slowly — it takes almost nothing to maintain that momentum and eventually get it started again.
Fitness works the same way. Coming to a full stop — no workouts, no walks, no attention to food — means starting from zero. And starting from zero is where most people give up entirely. The bare minimum plan exists to prevent that dead stop.
“Keeping momentum trumps perfection every damn time,” Brandon says. Ten minutes of movement beats zero minutes plus guilt. 150 grams of protein beats zero attention to food. Seven hours of sleep beats five hours plus caffeine dependence.
The goal isn’t to be perfect during a hard stretch. The goal is to never let the car stop moving.
How to Build Your Own Bare Minimum Plan
Write it down before you need it. That’s the key — create the plan when things are calm so it’s ready when things aren’t.
Brandon recommends breaking it into the three pillars:
- Sleep: What’s your minimum? Seven hours is Kraken’s recommendation. Set a non-negotiable bedtime for chaotic periods.
- Nutrition: What’s your protein floor? Identify 3-5 easy, high-protein meals you can default to when cooking isn’t happening.
- Fitness: What’s the smallest movement you’ll commit to? A 10-minute walk? Three workouts instead of five? Pick something you’ll actually do.
Write it in a note on your phone. When life hits, open the note and switch to the plan — like switching to rest mode on an Oura Ring after a bad night of sleep. No decision fatigue, no guilt, no “I’ll get back on track Monday.” Just switch to the bare minimum and keep moving.
Kraken’s coaches in the Burnaby and Metrotown area build this into onboarding because they know it’s coming. Every client hits a rough patch. The ones who have a written bare minimum plan bounce back in days. The ones who don’t often disappear for months.
FAQ
How long can you stay on a bare minimum fitness plan?
As long as you need to. The bare minimum plan isn’t a deadline — it’s a safety net. Kraken’s coaches have seen clients use it for a week during a family crisis and for a month during a career transition. The point is maintaining momentum until you’re ready to ramp back up.
Will I lose muscle if I stop going to the gym for a few weeks?
No. Research shows meaningful muscle loss doesn’t start until 3-4 weeks of complete inactivity. If you’re walking, eating protein, and sleeping well during that time, you’ll maintain most of your progress. The bigger risk is losing the habit, not the muscle.
What should I eat when I’m stressed and craving junk food?
Kraken’s coaches don’t say “stop eating comfort food.” They say find a better version. Frozen yogurt instead of ice cream, a protein-heavy meal instead of pure takeout. Have a few scoops, not the entire bucket. The goal is to not let one bad meal turn into a bad week.
Is walking really enough exercise during a busy period?
Yes. Walking maintains your movement habit, supports fat loss, improves sleep quality, and reduces stress. Kraken’s trainers in Burnaby recommend a 10-30 minute dedicated walk daily as the fitness bare minimum. It’s not optimal — it’s sustainable, and sustainable beats optimal every time.
How do I get back to my full plan after a rough stretch?
If you stayed on the bare minimum, getting back is easy — you never fully stopped. Add one thing back at a time: return to your normal workout frequency first, then tighten nutrition, then push step count back up. Kraken’s coaches call this “ramping up” and it typically takes one to two weeks.
Ready to Start?
If you’ve been stuck in the start-stop cycle and want a coach who builds plans for real life — not just perfect weeks — Kraken offers a free trial week at their private gym in Burnaby. No commitment, no pressure. Just show up and see if it fits.
Listen and Watch
YouTube: https://youtu.be/2NPjZYwg-yc
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/0IyN6VnPJacyWLlMpwefAH
Catch the full conversation on the Kraken Power Podcast — available on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and all major podcast platforms.
[Josko]
Welcome back to the Kraken Power Podcast. We’re your hosts Yoshko and Brandon and today we’re going to be going over the chaos proof fitness plan. How to maintain or even build your best body when life is throwing everything at you.
Let’s dive in. Welcome back to the Kraken Power Podcast.
[Brandon]
When you’re looking to make progress and improvements in the gym and in your health, everyone wants to think that progress is going to be extremely linear. Like if you looked at it on a chart, it’s just going to be a straight line up. But if you’ve lived life on this earth for numerous amounts of years, you know your life can get a little bit chaotic.
There can be some wrenches thrown in your plan. So hopefully in today’s episode, what we’re going to do is give you some actual practical outcomes for you to be able to overcome these obstacles. But just to kind of start off with, why do you think that people often fall off when life gets hectic?
[Josko]
So I think one of the biggest reasons why people fall off is because of an all or nothing attitude and just not understanding the reality of the 80-20 rule. So a lot of people, they understand that there’s this rule called the 80-20 rule, which means like 80% of the time, I can be like totally focused on my diet or my fitness and whatever. And then 20% of the time, I can go off the rails, which isn’t true.
Like the 80-20 rule doesn’t respect nature. Oh, sorry. Nature respects the 80-20 rule more than your mind does.
So whatever you think is the 80-20 rule, there could be like a totally different 80-20 rule. Does that make sense? Like you think that you’re like still staying within the boundaries of that 80-20, but it’s actually like way too off the rails.
And it ends up being like 50-50 or something, you know, or like 30-70.
[Brandon]
Yeah, exactly.
[Josko]
So like you think you’re so dialed in, but you’re not that dialed in. And then you have the 20% where you’re just like totally messed up. But you have to realize that you have to still be able to stay on top of your diet and on your fitness plan even when things aren’t going well for you.
A lot of people, they’re experts at staying on top of their diet or on top of their fitness plan when everything is going well. But as soon as life throws a wrench in your plan, everything goes to shit. So understanding like what is the bare minimum that I have to do in order for me to still maintain my results and also bounce back very quickly from the times where life gets tough.
[Brandon]
I think that’s a really good strategy because even though it may seem like you’re taking a little bit off the gas, like you mentioned, it’s a lot easier for you to bounce back into your full plan as long as you kind of keep the wheels turning just a little bit. And so what would be part of this bare minimum plan?
[Josko]
So in my mind, the best thing that you can do is just maintain your like the essentials, you know. So you have sleep, nutrition, and fitness. And with each one, there is like the bare minimum.
So for example, with sleep, it’s like maintaining at least seven hours of sleep. Let’s say your dog died, okay? Yeah, you’re stressed out.
You had to take your dog to the vet or whatever it was. It was a tough time. You’re crying and whatever, right?
But you still have to go and sleep seven hours because that’s what your dog would have wanted you to do, you know?
[Brandon]
And biologically, you getting more restful sleep is going to help regulate your emotions the next day and help you recover and bounce back and live your best life kind of after. Yeah, exactly.
[Josko]
And then also I would say, you know, focus on the sleep, making sure that you’re still getting at least something, not like feeling so bad for yourself to the point where you’re, you know, sleeping like three, four hours a day because reality is you’re just going to feel worse, right? And it’s not helping you mourn or it’s not helping you recover or anything, right? So the next thing is your nutrition.
So a lot of people, what ends up happening is like they’ll – something bad happens in their life and they like start seeking comfort food, right? Well, instead of seeking – you can seek comfort food. That’s totally fine because food does make you feel good, right?
But seek healthier forms of that comfort food. Instead of just reaching out and just like eating poutine or ordering pizza or something, you can have a more balanced life meal or like let’s say you’re craving ice cream. Instead of getting a regular ice cream, you can get a frozen yogurt or something, right?
Like you still have to keep the bare minimum and also understand that don’t go completely off the rail. Like don’t have like the entire bucket. Just have like a few scoops and then feel better and then move on with life, you know?
[Brandon]
And this doesn’t have to be when something like bad happens in your life. For most people, what happens is their life just gets chaotic. Like they have like kids.
They have bills to pay. Maybe work stress is going through the roof. So in regards to maintaining a really good diet, one kind of guideline that I give my clients, just make sure you’re focusing on your protein.
And so if you have a meal, make sure most of that plate is filled with protein. If you’re going to go to a restaurant or have something a little bit more convenient, make sure it has protein. And it’s kind of very protein-focused.
So that way you don’t have to be in the nitty-gritty of tracking like you may be when you’re on point. But at least you’re still, again, have those wheels turning where it’s really easy for you to maintain your progress as well as maybe even improve.
[Josko]
Yeah, because the truth is that the most important thing is to stay consistent. And that consistency doesn’t mean that you are like maintaining 5 workouts a week, walking 10,000 steps. It just means that you’re staying consistent on the plan.
So that means maybe you might have to dial it back a little bit and do instead of 5 workouts a week, you’re doing 3 workouts a week for a bit. Or maybe instead of 10,000 steps every single day, you’re doing 7,000 steps every single day. But maintaining that consistency is going to be the most important thing.
And, of course, that goes along with your protein as well. If you’re eating 180 grams protein, try to like still have protein-dense meals and all of that, right?
[Brandon]
Totally. So what do you think would be a bare minimum version of fitness like you kind of mentioned?
[Josko]
So bare minimum version of fitness for me is just focusing on step count. Like if you can’t hit your workouts, if life is so hectic to the point where you can’t go to the gym or anything, at least go for a walk. Wake up a little bit earlier to be able to just go for like a 30-minute walk before anybody else is up or in the evening go for a walk after everybody else is winding down.
You don’t even have to work out. Like you’re not going to like lose all of your muscle within a few weeks of not exercising, you know? But at least you can maintain some sort of habit of exercise which could be as simple as walking.
[Brandon]
And you mentioned that you kind of wake up earlier, add it to the end of the day. A walk is something that you could easily throw in the middle of your day too, especially when life is super busy. You could take a 10-15-minute break, do a meeting on the phone or a meeting with a co-worker.
This is something that you could just easily sandwich in the middle of your day but still maintain that routine. Yeah, the key is just still maintaining your routines.
[Josko]
Don’t just completely – like make it easier for yourself. Make it even significantly easier for yourself but don’t lose the routines.
[Brandon]
I think a really good analogy of this would be kind of like pushing a car. Like if you ever had your car break down and your car is at a complete dead stop, it takes a lot of energy to get that car kind of moving. But if you’re able to kind of slowly push it and keep it going and then eventually have it start, like it’s going to carry on forward rather than coming to a stop, start it up again, come to a stop, and start it up again.
If you can keep those wheels turning, you’re going to be able to make more progress and go in the direction that you want to go.
[Josko]
Yeah, exactly. So yeah, the key is just to never let it stop moving in the first place. So always keep it rolling and it’s going to be so much easier for you to just see progress in the end.
Like somebody who is maintaining that consistent progress versus somebody who just does like these bursts where they’re like working out for like two hours in one day and then like not at all for the entire week is going to see better progress. The person who’s staying consistent throughout the entire week is going to see better progress than the person who just does these small little bursts.
[Brandon]
Everyone has to realize that doing the bare minimum isn’t settling for less. It’s actually the key to never stopping. And keeping momentum trumps perfection every damn time.
[Josko]
Yeah, to be completely honest with you, I would way rather you do just like 10 minutes of exercise every single day than do two hours of exercise followed by six days of just like shame and guilt, you know? So you’d see way better results that way and it’s just the best way to go about it. Just like do a little bit as much as you can.
And even if that means just like a few minutes a day or just like with your diet, right? Like let’s say instead of having your typical 180 grams of protein, you have 150 grams of protein, you know? Wow.
[Brandon]
You really wheel back the time with that.
[Josko]
But yeah, just like dialing it back a little bit and just seeing like, okay, what’s the absolute bare minimum that I can do while still like maintaining some of my routines and lifestyle? Okay, so how would you implement this into your life? Like next time something – life throws a wrench in your plan, like how would you go about it?
[Brandon]
I think it would be a good idea to write down what you’re going to do as a bare minimum strategy. And break it down even further into the three pillars like we talked about today. What are we going to do nutrition-wise?
What are we going to do fitness-wise? And what are we going to do sleep-wise, right? We already kind of give you recommendations of what you should be doing for bare minimums like sleep seven hours, protein focus, and what you want to do for exercise.
But that’s going to be specified to you. We think that these three things are going to be what we recommended today. But that’s going to be individualized to what you can actually achieve and maintain consistent throughout whatever your goals are.
[Josko]
Honestly, like I use ChatGBT all the time as like my advisor when it comes to health. Yeah. So what I’ll do is like I would describe to ChatGBT my situation.
And I would say like for my three pillars, fitness, nutrition, and sleep, like what is the bare minimum that I could focus on to still maintain my goals and my health? And like what is the bare minimum? And then ChatGBT will print you out a plan instead of you just counting on you writing it down.
But that is the best way to write it down, to write down exactly what you can do.
[Brandon]
Exactly. And then when time gets tough, you open that note up on your phone and you’re like, okay, we’re switching to this. It’s kind of like if you ever had an aura ring and you’ve had a really bad night’s of sleep and it says, do you want to switch to rest mode?
You’re just switching to your bare minimum plan.
[Josko]
Exactly, yeah.
[Brandon]
All right. Well, hopefully you guys learned something from this episode. We enjoyed talking about this and we’ll see you in the next one.