The lightbulb moment went off for me when I read Body By Science by Dr Doug McGuff and dived into the world of High Intensity Training (HIT)
Up until then I was devoting A LOT of time to the process of getting fit.
I thought it was the only way.
Not true.
The majority of us can get all the benefits we want from exercise (greater strength, cardiovascular health, body composition improvements etc) through much shorter bursts of hard work, intelligently applied to safe exercises, coupled with a determined pursuit of progress.
In fact the basic principles can be summed up in just a few sentences:
Perform brief workouts using simple, joint-friendly exercises
Perform each set to a really high degree of effort
Use a slow rep speed to eliminate momentum and increase safety
Allow plenty of rest between sessions (as this is when all the positive adaptations occur)
Each time you repeat a workout try to increase performance in at least one exercise
That's it.
Train briefly. Train safely. Train progressively. Then relax and get on with your life!
For those who want to stay strong and healthy with minimum fuss an approach like this is really all you need.