The More Things Change the More They Stay the Same
/The More Things Change the More They Stay the Same
I have been doing personal training for thirty years. As I reflect, I realize that I am battling the same myths and misinformation now as I was when I began my career. I really do not say this as a complaint. Ultimately, I’m happy to say I’ve been doing this for thirty years and when I began, I doubt I would have made that prediction. I’m simply noting this, and I find it interesting. People are people as they say.
Thirty years ago, people believed in spot reduction. Thirty years later, they still do. Thirty years ago, people were looking for the magic diet. This diet may have been disguised differently than it is now, but the belief in a magic diet carries on. Thirty years ago, people were looking for celebrities to lead them to fitness. They may not have realized that is what they were doing. But the celebrities that looked fit were suddenly experts on physical fitness. Thirty years later people are doing the same thing. Now they may be called influencers. But the concept is the same. People are looking for unqualified people to lead them simply because they may look good.
The health and fitness industry has changed in thirty years. We have more active professional organizations now such as the American College of Sports Medicine. Science is louder now. Professionalism is greater now. The qualifications, at least in the industry, are more valued now. Through this we have made some fabulous changes. One of the changes I have seen is physicians are far more involved in recommending exercise to their patients. And physicians are now selling their patients on strength training. The medical professionals and fitness professionals have closed a gap over the past thirty years. I have a few clients that are physicians that I know for sure are preaching the values of working out and lifestyle diet changes to their patients.
With these positive changes we still see that people believe the myths and look for an easier and softer way to become more physically fit. The only way to do it is hard work and discipline, but the grifters are still selling other ways (and they always will), but too many are still “buying it.” That thing you bought that melts the fat when you wear it seems too good to be true huh? Correct it is. The pill you can take that will burn off the meal you just ate seems just a touch hokey huh? Hey someone buys it. As long as people keep buying, the grifters will keep on selling. Committed exercise routines which take discipline is a hard sell, but it’s the only one with long-term pay offs. To me 1000% is worth it. Eating within your means is far harder than buying a new diet program but the long-term benefits pay 1000-fold. So many times, clients tell me that once they got the new (positive) habits going it really wasn’t that hard anymore. Getting people to that point seems to be the hard part. Less than 20% of the population is on an exercise program that they will stick to. That’s not enough. How can we change this? I do think people knowing the facts and the truth helps.
Working out with resistance two to three days per week really does work. Talk about a return on investment! For my business minded folks out there remember there is no wealth without health. Doing three to five days a week of aerobic exercise really does work. The two standards I just quoted have been tested and confirmed by the American College of Sports Medicine for decades. If someone is selling you a complicated exercise formula, they aren’t citing facts. We know that if we eat a moderate diet of just what we need and limit saturated fats and sugars, we are taking a huge step in improving our health. But the loudest and incorrect folks are selling special diet plans.
I don’t get discouraged when the masses still seem lost. I train my clients. I write my papers. I preach on my podcasts. I like to try to help people that ask me directly for help. I think of the Starfish story. A young person is on the beach throwing starfish back into the ocean. A person comes up and tells the young person that they can’t save them all. The young person responds with “but I can save this one” as they throw the starfish into the ocean. When a person comes to the gym and tells me that they saw on Instagram a super food to put in their smoothie that melts fat, I can simply explain to this person that that is simply false, and I typically suggest not follow those types.
That’s all I can do, right? That’s all we can do if we have the knowledge and passion to work in the health and fitness industry. There will always be people that really do want help. There will always be people that will seek out correct and trustworthy information. That will remain my focus. When the person is ready, I am also. I try to remain ready. As far as trying to change the culture and people in general, I am about as likely to carry that out as I am to change my mind.
As the Depeche Mode famously said: People are People so why would it be, that so many people want to work out with me. I think that’s what they said, right?
Coach Rob