If you have read anything that I have written in the past (and I hope you have) you know that I don’t have the highest opinion of my own industry.  In fact, to be blunt, my industry sucks.  Anybody who takes a weekend course and passes an open book multiple choice exam and then demonstrates that they know how to coach someone how to sit down and stand up gets a shiny piece of paper framed and can call themselves a certified personal trainer.

Now, let’s get some perspective here.  A massage therapist needs a minimum of two years of school and thousands of practice hours plus a rigorous examination process, and they massage people for a living (no offense to massage therapists of course).  A naturopathic doctor needs not only a bachelor’s degree with high marks, but also another 4-5 years of post-graduate training, and they consult with people about things like hormones, do food testing (often through labs) and perform skills like acupuncture.  Both of these things are something that requires a lot of knowledge and care.  Hell, it takes eight months of schooling to learn how to roll a cigar in Cuba so you can work in a factory.

So then why is it okay that a person with minimal education (often nothing beyond high school) and a weekend course under their belt can tell someone to get onto a treadmill and run until they throw up, or lift so much weight that they can be severely hurt?  Over my years as a trainer I have heard of (and witnessed directly) some of the most idiotic things that anyone could possibly do to someone, all in the name of “pushing through the limits” or “feeling the burn”.

There are many scary aspects about the fitness industry, but one of the most prevalent to me is that clients who hire trainers (especially at chain gyms, where trainers are often assigned by a salesperson who wants commission, not chosen due to qualifications) don’t do their due diligence, don’t bother to qualify the person they work with and just blindly trust that they are knowledgeable enough to not do anything stupid.

Here’s a quick clue:  it takes no skill at all to be able to turn someone into a quivering mess on the floor.  If I make someone lift enough weight, do it too fast, too soon and too often or put them on a treadmill and make them throw up a la The Biggest Loser this is not skill.  It is a person (who is being paid to care for another person’s body) treating you like a toy with no responsibility whatsoever.  Even better are the trainers who still believe in the “no pain, no gain” garbage mantra so if you aren’t sore (where they perceive you should be sore) they think they have done something horribly wrong and double the load during your next workout, crippling the poor person and ensuring that they won’t be able to work out for another week.  Great job.

Here’s a quick clue – your body is a lot smarter than that.  If you’re not sore, it doesn’t mean that nothing has happened to you and you aren’t going to get a benefit from it.  Anyone who thinks that not having DOMS means you haven’t worked a muscle is wrong.  Period.

So what does require real skill?  How about watching your client closely so that if their form goes off you can cue them back into proper movement?  How about stopping a set well before you need to so that they might be able to do a couple of more and learn a motor pattern without going into extreme fatigue?  How about progressing things carefully with loads specifically targeted to that person’s capacity on that day at that time, not necessarily what they should do based on a week ago?  How about when that person walks out the door, they feel better – not worse – than when they walked in because they are stimulated just enough to provide a good result without going over the edge?

It is not a badge of honour to not be able to walk up a flight of stairs after a leg workout or not lift your arms after an arm workout.  It is not a good thing to feel pain for three to four days (there is a big difference between pain and recovery).  It is not smart to give yourself goals that are potentially dangerous to achieve in a short time frame.  But these are things I see the fitness industry do almost every day.  And I would love that to change.

So if you’re a consumer reading this, please beware of my industry. That might sound strange, but it’s something I firmly believe in.  Do your due diligence and watch out for the uneducated and inexperienced trainer who is all about the intensity or creativeness and none of the skill.  I can guarantee you if you work out at a chain gym the personal training staff is probably 80% these types of people.

If you’re a trainer reading this, let’s all make a pledge to try to do better and use the skills that we have, or develop them if we don’t.  Honing a skill is something that takes years to do, and another person’s body, which you have now had the fortune (or misfortune) to be trusted with is in your hands.  It is a massive responsibility that you should never forget.

And, if you choose not to – you only need another 30 weeks of education to be able to roll cigars in Cuba.  You’re probably better off doing that anyway.

This week Lance Armstrong will go on television and finally admit that he used performance enhancing drugs in order to win cycling races.  This is nothing new to most of us who already have known for a long time that he doped and most other professional cyclists did as well.  He just did it better.  In Tyler Hamilton’s recent book he basically explains that to make it in the sport it was totally necessary, and I understand that.  If you’re in a situation where it is either cheat and excel or stay clean and not place, it is human nature to want the reward.  I was in that position myself years ago and decided to go one way, but often wonder about what might have happened if I went to the other.  If you think that your professional athletes in whatever major sport you follow haven’t done something technically illegal at some point, I’d wager a lot of money that you’re wrong.

In the Fitness industry, competitors in bodybuilding and fitness competitions take drugs as well.  In fact, it is pretty rare to find any competitors at the top end of the sport that haven’t done it at least one cycle or take things regularly when they are finishing show prep, even though many of them will protest to the end that they are “natural” just like Lance did for years.  I have one colleague who at least comes out and admits about his drug taking and makes sure that he only competes in non-natural shows, and there is even a whole major federation out there that basically says everyone is doing it so they just turn a blind eye and don’t bother testing.  There are ways around any drug tests and it is remarkably easy to do so.  As a new competitor the temptation to just do it is huge, especially when coaches and trainers encourage it and will readily find it for you because it means you will get better results (which for some reason is their doing, not the drugs).

Many people don’t think about the long term effects of these things.   The body is only meant to be pushed so far, and when unnatural means are used to push it further then it usually fights back.  It isn’t unusual to see former athletes a shell of themselves a decade after they retired with a host of major health issues.  So athletes need to ask themselves if it is worth possibly dying ten to twenty years earlier because they decided to excel for a couple of years.  If there is huge money involved, like in Lance Armstrong’s case then most people would say no question.  But for that bodybuilder or fitness model, the only thing they are going to get is a trophy, maybe some nice pictures and a line on a resume.  It almost doesn’t seem worth it, but for many people it definitely is, even if they only win one show or achieve a “pro card”.

So then we come down to the moral question.  Is it really cheating if everyone is doing it, it seems to be tolerated by the vast majority of an industry and they are only going to condemn you if you get caught?  The temptation is experienced by athletes in all sports, and starts as early as high school for many teenagers.  Many out there would say cheating is cheating – it doesn’t matter if everyone else is doing it or it is almost required as it is with most professional sports to achieve that level.  But for anyone who has reached for that brass ring and just barely missed, having the chance to have that big moment of victory is usually too much to bear and they will do anything to get it again.  Our society rewards the winners, not the participants.  So it is perfectly natural for us to say “everyone is doing it, so why don’t I?”  It is human nature to want the satisfaction without considering the long term consequences.  We see this in marriages with affairs, workplaces with stealing and things like starvation diets and medical weight loss programs.

I have no problem with Lance taking drugs.  He did what was necessary and I’m not condemning that.   If he had been the only one doing it then the story might change, but he basically had a level playing field and beat everyone anyway.  He trained very hard and busted his butt, just like many people do in my industry.  However, the penalty is now catching up with him.  What people have to ask themselves now is whether it is even worth it to level the playing field for what you want to do?  Be aware that if you are going to take the risk, you have to expect that at some point you’re going to have to deal with the consequences, which often come well after the reward has been and gone.  There are examples of that all around me and to this day I look back and know that I made the right choice – for myself.  I hope that you decide to as well and live well with whatever choice that you make.           

One of the more disturbing trends I have seen recently in the fitness world is the incredible over consumption of supplements.  As fitness people we hear trainers talk all of the time about the importance of proper nutrition in order to reach your fitness goals, but more often than not I still see people (mostly trainers and other fitness people just because that’s who I see all day) amping ourselves up with energy drinks, protein in the form of powder and sugar and various other types of concoctions that are supposed to help us get to our goals faster somehow.

You can’t open a magazine without hearing that one powder is infinitely more superior than another.  You have probably been approached recently by various people who claim that Vi Shakes, Herbalife, NutriSystem or Isagenix are the most amazing weight loss thing on the market right now.  The funny thing is that as our society degrades our food supply even further, the very people who are supposed to be keeping your health in mind are usually the ones telling you that it is okay to use these products (and imagine that, you can purchase them right off of your “trainer” too!).

When my clients ask me what they should eat, it is a pretty simple answer:  FOOD.  One of the best ways I ever heard it put during one of my nutrition courses was pretty simple – stuff that used to be alive in some way.  Did it come from the ground?  Was it born and raised somehow?  Did it breathe, provide oxygen or develop without being manufactured in a facility?  Let’s start there, shall we?  Last I checked, that protein powder wasn’t actually made from ground up chicken or cow.  The casein or whey inside it didn’t come from milk that was actually taken out of an animal.  Even my wife’s protein powder, which is vegetarian and GMO and soy free mostly gets it’s protein from Yellow Pea Protein Isolate, but I doubt if they actually ground up the yellow peas in a factory.

I read blogs time to time from various fitness competitors and bodybuilders, and most of the time when they eat a real meal they can’t help but brag about it like it is some magical thing and post pictures of it on the internet.  Or they post about how amazing their supplement shakes taste (this post sponsored by Nutrabolics!) or how amazing these things make them feel, without a second thought as to the chemical crap storm these things might be creating within their body long term.  Many “diets” that are posted by fitness competitors online always contain at least 2 or 3 protein shakes and other things supposedly designed to increase results.  Why couldn’t a competitor just eat a chicken breast instead?  Oh, your coach doesn’t sell chicken?  Whoops.

The fundamental truth is that if someone can make a profit off of selling people some product, whether it is good for them or not then they are going to do so, but I call this a severe lack of integrity as a fitness professional.  Then there are the people who take these things all of the time claiming that they have to due to time constraints or the fact they are “too busy”.  I always call BS on this because basically what it comes down to is poor time management skills.  I can create a healthy meal with stuff from my cupboards in 10-15 minutes that has all the major macronutrients (and often do when I get home).  If you have no time, then you simply aren’t managing it very well.  I’ll admit that time management is crucial for this type of thing, but putting eight chicken breasts in the oven instead of 1 just makes sense because then you have no excuse.  We use our slow cooker to make 3 days worth of meals at once and they are generally pretty healthy and easy.

If you’re driving around and get hungry, there is no need to stop at a drive through when grocery stores are now open 24 hours and are everywhere.  God forbid you actually have to get out of your car and walk into the store and take 10 minutes to buy something.  It doesn’t have to be expensive either.  Buy enough things to last you the day, not just a meal.  Keep non-perishable food in your car or office (there are lots of easy ways to do this).  It amazes me when people would rather go out and spend $30 at a restaurant at one meal when you can buy two days worth of groceries for the same amount, and these are the same people who say, “I can’t afford to eat healthy”.  Well, you also can’t afford to eat lazy.  There’s a reason your body isn’t very happy, and it’s probably because it is sick and tired of the crap you are putting into it.

Even if you can’t do this all of the time, please make sure that you do it more often than not.  The word “supplement” means just that – something intended to provide nutrients that may be missing or not consumed in sufficient quantities in a persons’ diet.  The main issue there being the diet itself.  There is no reason beyond allergies that you shouldn’t be able to eat the things that you need to when you really get down to it.  In the fish world alone there are about 50 different choices.  If your body doesn’t like it then it will tell you and then you just need to find something else.  But you do have to plan ahead.

So lets as a group start a new trend within the fitness world and beyond.  Ready?  Instead of reaching for a shake, eat something real.  Fuel your body with things that are designed by nature to provide energy, not get it in a chemical shot.  Stop buying things because it is more convenient or because you had some unethical idiot convince you that it is good for you.  Try it just for two weeks and see if your body responds in a positive way.  I’m pretty sure that it will and you will notice a huge difference.  Feel free to let me know what you think!

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.