#fitnessisconfusing

It’s been a long time since the last post.  This is really because I painted myself into a corner.  What do you say on your blog when your last post claimed that most of what you read about health and nutrition is highly suspect.  When you’ve just made the point that even seemingly scientific appearing studies, articles, and posts are often garbage it becomes a little difficult to add to the ever-growing stream of information/misinformation about fitness.  So what now?  It’s time for a “scorched-earth” policy on our fitness and nutrition information sources.  Burn it all to the ground and start from scratch.

A new beginning. A random image from the internet.

I suggest you take the list of people whose advice you see from day to day: trainers at your gym, other people at your gym, your friends, your family, people you follow on social media, and those who you encounter randomly here and there- set them aside.  You will not listen to them anymore until you’ve decided if they’re worth your time and attention. No more changing your diet and routine one day just because you saw something on Instagram.  No more information overload- at least when it comes to health and nutrition.

And no more being like the dog from UP! 

Now let’s go through who you’ve been listening to and see if they’re giving you any good information.  Once you’re convinced that the trainer from your gym, or the girl you follow from social media knows what they’re talking about then you can add them to the list of people you listen to about fitness.  You’re going to construct an inner circle of trusted advisers.  A trainers of the round table if you will.

“Sir Galahad no longer fits into hith armour- he is banished from the table until he can listeth to his own adviseth!”

How can you tell though?  How can you distinguish good advice from bad?  This isn’t easy but there are a few guidelines you can go by.  Here are a few that I use:

First some tools for the people you’ll encounter in real life.  Say you’re at the gym and someone starts giving you advice.  Should you listen to them? And even if you do listen to them, how much credence should you give them?  Here are some things to ask yourself about them while you consider this.

- Are they gimmicky? Does their advice sway back and forth with the wind like a well-lubricated weather-vane? Do you see them one day doing overhead presses on a Bosu ball and then the next telling everyone that they’re idiots for using a Bosu ball? If so, I’d avoid taking too much advice from them.  Someone like this is still figuring it out for themselves.  Maybe one day they’ll be a fantastic source of information but today they’re still in the oven.  Leave them there.

-Are they fit?  At least for their age?  A young trainer/advice giver that is super-ripped may still be a poor resource.  An older trainer/advice giver in great shape is almost always a great resource.  Someone who isn’t fit is almost always a poor resource.  By the way, the term “fit” as I use it is very much subjective.  You should seek advice from those who’ve attained the right “type of fit” for your goals.

I had an entire post about Dave Draper awhile back.  This is him in his 70s.  Someone this fit at that age has to know what they’re talking about.  A super-fit 20 something could be the result of hard-work and sound knowledge or could still be benefiting from their youth.  You don’t know which it is and they probably don’t either.  The moral here is- the chances are excellent that a very fit older trainer knows his or her stuff.  A very fit younger trainer can still be great but ask them a few more pointed questions at the beginning.

- If they are a trainer how do their clients look?  If you see that this trainer has had the same client for a year and this looks just as flabby as on day one maybe something is wrong with their advice.

Once you’ve evaluated all of those trainers, friends, family, and acquaintances on the quality of their fitness advice you can decide whether or not any of them deserve a spot in your inner circle of advice-givers.  If you have enough trustworthy people in your real life to form your inner circle I suggest you count yourself lucky and stay away from the internet and its considerable dungheap of crappy advice.  

I was just sitting in my vintage car browsing the #fitness posts on Instagram and this happened.

If you’re one of these lucky people you can stop reading right here.  But if you feel the need to seek help from the internet you can read on.

OK   so you’re not so lucky.  How can you find good fitness advice on the internet? Let’s start with fitness bloggers- How can you pick out the good from the bad?  Unfortunately, this means you have to read more blogs.  Take the bloggers you’ve followed in the past and look at a handful of their posts here are some things to watch out for.

- Do they blog so frequently it’s as if they’re inhaling oxygen and exhaling blog posts? This is often a red flag.  Look at how many posts they put up in a week and imagine yourself sitting down to your computer and doing the same.  How much time would this take you to do? Take that number and multiply it by 2 or 3 and this is the actual amount of time it tends to take.  Are you getting more than 20 hours a week?  This person is then a professional blogger.  It is possible for a professional blogger to give good advice but their motivations can be a bit confused.  Even with the best of intentions, the need to post frequently often leads to them posting crap.

I haven’t read this book so I don’t want to pass judgement.  But note it says “Make money while getting fit for life”.  The first motivation is money.  I don’t fault the authors for wanting to make a buck but you should definitely consider the motivations of anyone you’re taking advice from (fitness advice or any advice for that matter.)

- Do they use gimmicks to get more clicks? Do you see headlines like “Take THIS to build more muscle” and to find out what “THIS” is you have to click on the link.

I erased this blogger’s name.  He’s not a “bad” blogger in my opinion but he is definitely a professional blogger and he is also guilty of using gimmicky titles to get more clicks.  Please note this doesn’t mean he gives bad advice. It just points to his motivation- which is to earn a living.  This counts against him becoming one of those I’ll listen to regularly for advice.

- Does he or she plug for a supplement or a product company? They get money and perks to do this.  They may really believe in the products they’re plugging but you’ll never know.  

The many Instagram models that plug detox or weight-loss teas are a clear cut example of this.

Does this leave anyone for us to listen to on social media?  Very few.  Our scorched earth policy has really obliterated just about every jabbering blogger and fitness personality that was standing within 30 feet of a laptop or smartphone.  The ideal online fitness adviser is the one who does not post too frequently, who rarely or never uses gimmicks to get more clicks, never or rarely plugs supplements, and dispenses well-thought out articles with good advice.  The blog for such a person is really only for dispensing advice and isn’t a serious source of income for them.