This is just another rant for the month of September.  Just this morning on one of the sites I contribute to I got into it with a “trainer” and called him out on the ridiculous claims that he made on his web site.  I’m not going to tell you which one because he’s all about marketing and spam (not reality) and he would love that he got any more attention, which unfortunately is far too common in my industry.  However, the claims that he made are things that I commonly see on many salesman trainer web sites:

“Build 15-20 pounds of lean muscle in a month!” (physiologically impossible and if this was so easy then most of us would be walking around looking like the Hulk).

“Burn 10 pounds of fat a week!” (ditto.  The Biggest Loser is to blame for this one, although it is possible if you’re willing to work out 6-8 hours a DAY like they actually do on the show).

“This person got ripped in record time using x supplement”.  (these pictures, popular among supplement advertisements are sometimes even taken on the same day, and heavily doctored or photoshopped – or they have used drugs).

“My secrets to a 6-pack!”.  (you can commonly find these “secrets” on several other web sites, but they will charge you $14.99 for the privilege of reading something that they copied off of somewhere else on the internet and call it an e-book).

“Only I have the patented system that is GUARANTEED” (if anyone in this industry tries to guarantee you anything please run in the other direction).

Here’s the simple truth:

If you want to change your body, then you have to prepare for a couple of things right off of the bat.  A lot of time and a lot of hard work.  Athletes at any level, fitness competitors and bodybuilders get a lot of respect from me simply because the vast majority of the time they are in the gym pretty much every day working out really, really hard and eating really, really clean.  Even the ones on drugs.  For some people who do high level endurance events and other competitive sports, they usually train 20-30 hours a week.  If you think for one second that you can get to that level without doing these things then you’re fooling yourself.  And if you think you can go from the couch to working out that much then you’re also fooling yourself.  Somebody else might tell you it’s possible in order to sell you something.  I won’t, in fact I’ll do the exact opposite, which is the point of this article.

So for the average gym goer who works out maybe 3-5 hours a week (if they are lucky), is getting results like these impossible?  No, of course not.  It just means that it will take a much longer period of time than it might for somebody who is training four times that much (and has been for many years longer).  When people come to me and want to run a marathon and don’t run, do you think I tell them that they can do it in six months?  I’d much rather keep my integrity and get real, valid results over time for people.  So many people are seduced by quick fix hype that they don’t bother to find out if the claim is actually valid or not.  However, if you put in the hours over time, you are guaranteed to continue to make progress.  One thing I always tell my clients is that the only way they are going to move backwards is if they stop moving forward.  That’s the truth.

There is a massive amount of dishonesty and garbage marketing in the fitness industry.  Just like anywhere else in life, if something sounds too good to be true, it likely is.  Please find someone that you can trust that will tell you the truth and get you going down the right path so that you don’t waste money and time not getting anywhere.  If you need it, get help from someone that you trust and has actual referrals from people that they have gotten results for over time.  Challenge your trainer to give you phone numbers or emails of actual people, not just lines on a web site.  People do this when they are redoing their floors, but they won’t take the time to do it when someone is affecting their physical well being.  They would rather believe a pipe dream that is unproven.  Just like the title says – please don’t fall for it.  I can give you clients from ten years ago that will back up the job that I did for them and that is why I continue to be able to work with great people every day.

Here’s the bottom line.  Work hard, eat well and treat your body with respect and it will change for the better.  How long it takes and how far it goes is entirely up to you – not me.  And that’s a guarantee you can print on any web site.