Saturday 11 September 2010

Personal Trainers & Fitness: Not What You Think!

The Fitness Industry caters to a massive market! Around 2/3rds of Australians are obese, overweight and unfit. They need to get fit AND they need to lose weight (fat). The issue is: fitness has virtually nothing to do with fat loss!

Despite their target market being so big, the Fitness Industry is happy to profit from the misconception that ‘fitness’ actually means a 'good body'. As such, they promote heavily to people who are already 'fit'. Fortunately for the Fitness Industry, the misinterpretation of what 'fit' means goes so deep that they do not even need to hide what they are really about. Just check out these commercials for Fitness Australia on YouTube..

One of the ads shows a girl bragging about how she can paint a wall - yes, paint a wall - because she jogs in the park with a Personal Trainer! Another shows a lady bragging about being able to cruise through a park on a bike because she does gym classes. This is what ‘fit’ really means. Its not about looking good or becoming athletic. It is about having the lowest level of physical ability necessary for a normal human existence. It is about being the least you could possibly be. Even the Fitness Industry itself advertises as such. Unfortunately, most people still think 'fit' means looking good. It simply does not!

Personal Trainers prescribe exercises to make people ‘fit’ to perform the simplest human functions - like painting a wall. Mostly they are the exact same activities that teachers give 6 year olds for Physical Education classes and Physiotherapists give to rehabilitation patients. They throw balls in the park, do burpees and sit-ups, run on treadmills, balance on bosu balls, do twisty things with giant rubber-bands, squat with a ball against the wall etc etc. If you can throw a ball and squat your own weight then you are ‘fit’ and your Personal Trainer has delivered what they should have promised. If they promised more, then they misled you.

None of the exercises you see Personal Trainers doing with their clients in parks or gyms is designed to make a persons body look better. Ball skills, stretching and balance are completely irrelevant to substantial changes in body composition. And 'burning calories' is something every mammal does simply as a function of living. So do not believe any person who is qualified in 'Fitness' and suggests that 'fitness' training is going to result in a better-than-average body. Also, there is no skill or valuable 'expertise' behind any 'weight loss' regime based on less food and more exercise. Any schmuck can design such a plan.

The truth is, 'Fitness' is mediocrity. If you are unfit - like 2/3rds of the country is - you DO need to get fit! But 'fitness' will happen as a result of body recompositioning exercise anyway. Very little body recompositioning (fat loss and muscle gain) will result from 'fitness' exercise.

And if you are already ‘average’ there is no more ‘getting fit’; you already are. So if you want better than average, do not hire a Personal Fitness Trainer. They are not qualified to help you. If you want a good or great body, you need to find a Body Recompositioning specialist and/or a Strength Coach; like Biologic Labs!

PS:
If Biologic Labs is not an option, look for a Trainer or Strength Coach who:
1) looks the part
2) writes detailed, personalised diets and
3) trains their clients exactly as they train themselves!

That third point is critical! Many trainers tell their clients to train in a manner they would never waste their time on themselves. Do not let them scam you too. As with Fitness Trainers: KNOW WHAT YOU ARE REALLY BUYING!!!

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