Fitness Industry Deception

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ve seen it at one point or another in our health and fitness journey; the program or the trainer or the supplement company that boasts unbelievable success, and I admit it’s hard to ignore these claims when you are chasing a goal. As humans, we like to see proof of concept before we buy into something, but we can’t resist a great sales pitch with unbelievable results. We’ve been struggling with this goal for so long that it doesn’t take much to convince us; some pictures, a few well-written marketing pitches, some statistics, and a lot of “air” time. They convince us those products like juice fasts, wraps, and pills are quick and permanent solutions to our fitness problems, that these products or programs can make it easy and will get us what nothing else ever could. It’s sad that fitness preys on ignorance through flashy and sometimes dishonest marketing methods. The proof that calm our doubts and make us into believers can be manipulated to look better!

I’m not going to spend a lot of time discussing the hype marketing of the fitness industry, but I will say that as consumers, we need to ignore all the buzzwords. We’ve all been victim to the word game; we get drawn in and go further down the rabbit hole until we analyze the total package. Just a few buzzwords or phrases you see in fitness every day: Muscle Confusion, ROI, Effortless, Alpha, Super Secret, Revolutionary, Shortcut, and Ultimate. Of course, I have to mention the outcomes of these programs: Shredded, Jacked, Beast, Toned, and Ripped. These lists can go on and on. This is where your bullshit-o-meter comes in to play and can move you through the flashy, buzzword, speak.

Images are another element the fitness industry uses to lure you to listen to their sales pitch. They place oiled, tanned, beautiful people on the screen to sell the product.Seriously, when’s the last time you saw a normal person in clothes selling the newest fitness craze? I’m betting the only ones you remember are freakishly fit and wearing skin-tight clothes. Then they flash amazing transformation photos and have these amazing transformations speak about how easy it was. They fail to mention that most of these amazing changes took longer than the 12 weeks of the program. Other photos are less grandiose but never do you see the photo of the participant that lost less than 12 pounds in 12 weeks. It’s as if the average result is tucked away because the average truth doesn’t sell. While photos seem more reliable than marketing, multiple trainers have debunked the before and after photos by showing how to do it in under an hour. I’m not saying everybody does it, but be aware; it isn’t that hard to do. If you haven’t seen the before and after tricks, here are two sites to check out:
Mel V Fitness
Trainer Andrew Dixon

This is where you meet the hardest challenge, the numbers. If you don’t have an idea of what is realistic, you can get caught in the amazing numbers touted by programs. Most people don't want to think about the data and the fitness industry knows it. Programs tend to show their successes, and rarely, their total data including their failures. I’m naturally a skeptic, but when I see only positive data or data that nobody else can substatiate, I get a little worried. Some examples of claims that make me think hard:

Participant’s averaged 80% pure fat lost in the first two weeks.
Participant “X” lost 50 pounds in 12 weeks.
Participant “Y” gained 10 pounds of lean muscle in 12 weeks.
Participant “Z” improved their [choose a lift] by 50 pounds in 12 weeks.

All of these start my BS meter chirping because they are all things we want, but in over 15 years, I’ve learned these types of successes are the rarest exception and some, I have never seen verified, only estimated. I am not saying these numbers are impossible, but results like these are highly unlikely.

I’m going to take a realistic view, break down the examples, and explain where I have issues.

Participant’s averaged 80% pure fat lost in the first two weeks.

80% fat loss sounds really, really, good, right? The biggest problem I have is I want to see the bodyfat measurements, not an estimate or an average. Here’s my second problem; most people entering a diet knowingly or unknowingly restrict their carbohydrate intake. Carbs encourage your body to retain water, so cutting carbs results in lost glycogen and lost water weight. Some estimates say that for every gram of carbs cut from the diet, 3 grams of water weight will be lost. If we accept that it takes a ~3500-calorie deficit to burn a pound, that is a maximum of 125 grams of carbs being removed from a diet per day(I eat over 400 grams of carbs on a normal day, so it’s possible to remove that much). That would be 1500 grams lost between the carbs and the water in one day. That’s 3.3 pounds on day one of just carbs and water, not fat, not muscle! Say you run the same deficit for multiple days and your water loss slows and eventually stops after about a week. Assuming the 80% is truthful, that means you have to lose over 16 pounds just to match up with day one's 3.3 pound water loss. So that was an extreme, let's take a smaller number. A very low estimate of water loss for two weeks, 2 pounds (1 pound per week); that means losing 8 pounds of pure fat over two weeks (~14000 calories below TDEE per week). That doesn't include how much lean muscle would be lost as well to claim 80% pure fat. I can continue to scale the numbers to lower and lower weight loss per week, but you should be seeing the point by now.

Takeaway: If the claim doesn’t have verifiable bodyfat measurements, take any short-term fat-loss claims with a grain of salt.

Participant “X” lost 50 pounds in 12 weeks.
It troubles me with the lack of details because weight loss is a percentage thing to me. Safe weight loss per week is estimated at 1%. First thing I want to know is how overweight was the client? If the client was 400 pounds, this is possible, but if they are 250, not so much. For those of you that watch Extreme Weight Loss or The Biggest Loser, remember those clients are selected because they have over 75 or 100 pounds to lose!

Takeaway: If you have less than 200 pounds to lose and you’re doing it the healthy way, don’t expect to see 50 pounds of weight come off so quickly, and that’s including the water.

Participant “Y” gained 10 pounds of lean muscle in 12 weeks.
I only want to know a few things with this type of claim. First, what was the training age of the participant? A low training age allows for “newbie” gains, and those can be massive. Second, what was their diet? If they ate poorly, didn’t get enough protein, or just plain under-ate, they have room for growth. Third, what is their actual age? Younger, more active participants have the hormonal advantage that us older people don’t have. Finally, show me the bodyfat measurements. Anybody claiming pure fat lost or lean mass gained should have bodyfat measurements to back it up.

Takeaway: Research their “proof.” If it’s a supplement company, ask for a study to support their claims. If they can’t cite a complete study or the numbers don’t line up, chances are it’s a bogus claim.

Participant “Z” improved their [choose a lift] by 60 pounds in 12 weeks.
After 15 years, I know there are two truths to this: The participant was a new lifter with very low training age and was given an appropriate progression or the lifter fixed faulty technique. For people that have been training for years and training with progressive overload programs with solid technique, the chance of this happening because of the program is slim to none. The last piece I worry about is the change in bodyweight. Mass moves mass, so if I put on weight, I expect a jump in my lifts.

Takeaway: Check the background on their participants. Younger lifters and lifters that haven’t trained for long can make these gains easier. If they’re experienced, check the starting and finishing bodyweights. Finally, ask yourself if it’s a technique fix.

The big takeaway from all of this is to be skeptical of fitness industry claims that seem unbelievable. In the fitness world, we are all different, but when the claim seems unbelievable, lack concurrence, and have poorly administered studies or no data at all to back them up, it is probably the exception and not the rule. Do your research, take a moment to think about all of the information, and then make the decision and put 100% effort into it. Fitness is a journey, not a dash.

Does the Music Matter?

I don’t know about you, but for years, I have walked into the gym, plugged in my headphones, turned them up, and had music fueled training sessions.  I never thought much of it until I was in a gym and didn’t have my headphones.  The gym was playing smooth R&B songs.  The energy, the ability to ignore the discomfort, the ability to ignore how tired I was, shrank.  In fact, the music had the exact opposite effect on me.  Then it happened again, I forgot my music, but this gym was playing loud country music and I was still full of energy.  This made me wonder how the choice of music affects a workout.  I always thought the energy and focus I got from playing my music was because it was my music.  Is there something special about the music we select?

Studies have been done for years on heart and respiration rates based on music and many have found a correlation between the music and increased rate of breathing and heart rate.  One recent small population study (most fitness studies are) showed 93% of subjects experienced a slowing of their heart rate following a slow song and 100% experienced an increase following a fast song.1  Studies done as early as the 1940’s produced similar results2,3.  In 2012, BASES released their expert opinion on music’s effect on exercise, which correlated with previous studies that music has the ability to influence heart and respiration rate and produce positive effects during training4.

So what does this mean for us as we exercise?  The music we choose to listen to or is being played by the gym can have an impact on our training sessions.  The music can stabilize our heart rate, help us ignore the fatigue and discomfort from moderate and high intensity workouts and push us to go a little further.  Equally, a poor choice can lower our energy, allow us to acknowledge the discomfort, and hinder our attempts at progress.  Whatever your music preference, choosing the right songs can give you that extra edge you’re looking for.

Based on a study at Sheffield Hallam University, music that was upbeat (between 120 and 162 beats per minute) resulted in lower rates of perceived exertion and heart rates mimicking the BPM of the music.  So the next time you are setting up your playlist, for that long run or the heavy workout, take a moment to think about the songs you’re choosing and consider faster, more up-tempo songs for increased training results and leave the slower songs for the cool-down.

Try it and see if it doesn’t help you over the edge.

1. Agrawal, A., Makhijani, N., & Valentini,P.,The Effect of Music on Heart Rate, The Journal of Emerging Investigators, April 2013
2. Schullian D M., & Schoen M., Music and Medicine (1948). P. 1-499
3. Soibelman D., Thereputic and Industrial Use of Music. (1940). P. 103-108
4. Terry, PC., Lane, AM., Bishop, DT., & Priest, DL., The BASES Expert Statement on Use of Music in Exercises, Journal of Sport Sciences, 30(9): 953 - 956, May 2012
5. Hutson, M., The Effects of Preffered Upbeat Music on Rate of Perceived Exertion, Heart Rate and Lactic Acid Concentration at Moderate and High Intensity Exercise

Basics of a Good Training Program

Every day I see questions about how to design, manipulate, or modify a training program, and what I think of the program.  Every day there can be 1,000 different answers.  When examining a program, it is possible to over-analyze and over-complicate.  The important questions to ask yourself are 1) “does the program contain all the elements of a good program?” and 2) “does this program align with my goals?”  Today I’ll let you in on the big secret to examining a program… There is no secret, just a few basic principles.

Programs are broken down into two categories for the majority of people in the world, GPP or General Physical Preparedness and SPP or Specialized Physical Preparedness.  There is a third category for competitive athletes when they are competing.  The focus of this writing is the first category, the GPP.

GPP, or General Physical Preparedness is a stage of training designed to improve your total body performance to prepare you better for the next stage of training.  For some, GPP leads to SPP, where somebody may be looking for specific aesthetic, strength, or power goals.  For the majority of people, GPP is preparing them for the Activities for Daily Living (ADL), which includes things like going to work, playing with the kids, yard work, etc. 

The GPP programs usually have a lot of large movements and contain some form of weight training and cardiovascular training.  These programs tend to have a linear progression (adding or reps each week) and seem very minimalist at first glance.  With the idea of making generalized improvements, these programs do not contain the more focused training techniques and exercises for good reason.  For example, a GPP Program would contain squats and other general movement to assist in strengthening the leg, hip, and back muscles used in squatting.  The SPP Program would also squat, but then have other squat specific movements like pause squats which address weak points of the squat. 

When looking for a well-designed GPP program, there should be five types of identifiable movements as well as cardiovascular exercise implemented over the training week.
The movement patterns are:

• Push – the motion of moving a weight away from the body i.e. an overhead press
• Pull – the motion of moving the weight closer to the body i.e. a row
• Hinge – the motion of bending at the hips i.e. a Romanian Deadlift
• Squat – the basic movement pattern of sitting down and standing up
• Resisted Movement – moving a weight, like pushing a wheelbarrow or  carrying a child

Cardiovascular training can take the form of:

• Steady State
• Low Intensity, Long Duration – walking on a treadmill or around the community
• Medium Intensity, Medium Duration – jogging on a treadmill or around the community
• High Intensity, Short Duration – Running at a consistent fast pace for 15-20 minutes
• Interval Training
• High Intensity Interval – Interval Sprints, Tabata Bike Sprints, Hill Training
• Circuit Training – Weight training where super or giant sets are implemented with minimal rest between exercises
• Metabolic Conditioning – Interval style circuits of weightlifting moves done with no rest between sets and exercises

Now that we have defined the movement and cardiovascular styles we can move on to the “ideal” rep ranges.  I use quotation marks because every body responds differently to the stimulus placed on their body and set and rep schemes vary from program to program.  Traditionally, an individual training for GPP is looking for one of the following goals:  Fat Loss, Muscle Endurance, Hypertrophy, or Strength (move more weight).  These rep ranges have been found to work for the majority of people, but like I mentioned, not everything works the same way for everybody.

• Fat Loss – there is no ideal rep range for fat loss because all reps will cause muscle growth and stimulate the metabolism.  The primary tool for fat loss is diet.
• Muscle Endurance – higher reps (12+ with moderate load between 50% and 70% of max)
• Hypertrophy – medium reps (6-12 reps with moderately heavy load between 70% and 80% of max)
• Strength – low reps (1-5 reps with heavy load between 80% and 100% of max)

When analyzing your program, it is important to include both weight training and cardiovascular training.  A good program will include at least one of each movement pattern and one of each style of cardiovascular training at the minimum.  Again, with GPP it is important to make sure the entire body is being trained in GPP, even when it is something we don’t like.

A sample two-day per week plan can be found in the table below.

Day 1 – Upper Push / Lower Pull	Day 2 – Upper Pull / Lower Push
1a Romanian Deadlift 1b Overhead Press 2a Suitcase Deadlift 2b DB Bench Press 3a Hamstring Curl 3b Face Pull 4a Reverse Hyperextension 4b Tricep Extension 5   DB Farmer’s Walk Steady State Cardio: Jog for 30 minutes	1a Goblet Squats 1b Chin Ups 2a Split Squats 2b Barbell Rows 3a Leg Extension 3b Face Pull 4a Calf Raises 4b Bicep Curl Metabolic Circuit for time: Squat Jumps Med Ball Slams Push Ups V-Ups

Though the design of the sample is simple, the program has both pushing and pulling movements along with a squat pattern, a hip hinge pattern, and a resisted movement.  Included are an aerobic conditioning aspect with the jog and an anaerobic conditioning with the Metabolic Circuit.  More importantly, the program touches every major muscle group.

By asking yourself a few simple questions and then doing an examination for all of the elements of general fitness, you can decide if a program is a good program for you or if you need to choose a program that is more suitable for your goals.  Again, start with “Does this program have all of the elements of a well-designed program?” followed by “Does this program complement my goals?”  Be realistic with the answer because not all programs are created equal and not all programs will get you to your goals.

Til next time, train hard!

Is it Time to Make a Change

When people begin to make lifestyle changes, it normally happens with a goal in mind and I have pretty much heard them all, but three are very common: “I want to lose weight”, “I want to get stronger”, and “I want to get more defined.” After several months of doing the same program, consistently working, and seeing progress I am mystified every time I am asked “Should I change my program?” Everybody needs a little change every now and then, but constantly switching programs may be short-circuiting your progress.

Program hopping isn’t new, but it is being seen more and more with the increased publicity of fitness professionals and their revolutionary new training techniques. I blame Tony Horton for coining the term “muscle confusion” and helping generations of people believe they have to have constant variety to see progress. I blame Crossfit for popularizing the idea further with training programs that don’t demonstrate logical progression in any one particular aspect other than conditioning but attempt to train everything. There is benefit in these programs as it gets people off the couch and gets them active, and for many people struggling to get fit, that’s the biggest challenge to overcome. Think about it this way: for a plumber to be a great plumber they aren’t doing landscaping, cabinetry, painting, electrical, and plumbing; their doing plumbing. The training matches the goal and as long as the training is moving the plumber towards their goal, they continue doing it. Fitness is the same way.

I understand the “Grass is always greener” concept. I’ve been guilty of switching programs when I was still making progress and the result, slower and even stalled progress until I went back to what was working. The simple answer to “should I change programs?” is in two questions:

1. Have you changed your goal?
2. Are you still making progress towards your goal?

If you haven’t changed your goal and you’re still making progress, there isn’t a reason to change. Finding a program that allows for consistent progress is hard and if you have one that works, are you willing to make a change that could stop or even reverse your progress. If you’re bored with the current program, doing a few weeks of something new won’t destroy what you’ve done, but remember, it takes 8-12 weeks to see measurable progress. The only exception for seeing progress is with newer trainees, who have the potential to see progress every workout because of the adaptations the nervous system is making.

If you haven’t changed your goal and you’re progress has stalled, it may be time to consider a change. Sometimes you’ve reached the limit of the program and changing may get us going on the right path again. Sometimes we need a “reboot” of sorts, whether it’s backing the weights down by 10% or adding a little more to our daily diet. Remember, the body adapts to the imposed demands and eventually will reach homeostasis. In order to get passed that point, we will need to increase the intensity, volume, or nutrition in our program.

If you have changed your goal and this program doesn’t match the goal, it is time to change programs. There are no two ways about it. If the goal and the steps aren’t on the same path, the path has to change.

We all want to reach our goals fast, but fitness is not a sprint, it is a marathon that takes consistency and dedication. Everybody that trains for more than a few months will encounter a stall, but switching programs at the first sign of struggle is less than ideal when sometimes the stall can be attributed to poor sleep, poor diet, or life’s other stresses. Be patient, evaluate, and if it may be something other than the program, give it another week and then make a move.

Keep working hard and you can achieve those goals!

Find Your Why

This thought occurs to me everytime I watch somebody give up on their health and fitness goal. I know what it feels like to want something and then give up because you feel like you'll never make it. It seems like such a simple concept; find a goal, make a plan, work hard. Sadly, it's never that easy and so many people walk away after a short time. Is it because the goal was bad? Maybe it wasn't the right time? I know what you're thinking...this is about goals and goal setting for success, right? WRONG!. Everybody writes about goal setting and how it is essential to success. They write that goals should be small and incremental. Goals should be in arenas we can control. We all know that. After years of experience with making and missing goals I've found that goals are only a small part of the answer. Sure, I believe goals are good and are an essential part of the process, but no matter how carefully selected the goal and detailed the plan of action, a person will fail to achieve without one crucial piece. The bigger part to success, the part that keeps us going towards our goal is the WHY. I've written goals before, SMART goals and they got me nowhere, not because they were bad goals or the steps were wrong, but because the motivation was lacking. I can tell you the goal, the steps I took, and some excuse for why I failed, but that doesn't help get to the real issue. The real issue is what my failures taught me so I can help you find success. Right before someone gives up on a health goal, you can see it. They look depressed. They're asking for help. They can't seem to find motivation, won't train, and stray off their nutrition plan more frequently. I want to shake that person before they quit, to let them know if they just hold on and do a quick re-evaluation it can save them years of wondering "what if?" I want to tell them to train with me, to just take a chance, for two months, with me, and find out what they can really do. Sometimes it's something simple that you don't see when you're on the inside. The difference between most successes and failures in my experience has been finding the right reason to chase the goal through the good times and the bad. Most people I have worked with have their goal in mind. The statement of goal tends to be easy to come by; some goals are outrageous, some are realistic, and some are so small it is near impossible to fail, but they are goals nonetheless. However, when I ask the client why they want to accomplish the goal, it's a lot harder to get a real answer. I've heard a lot of reasons why they think they want to do it, but when the answer is shallow or the body language says something different, I understand why they're close to quitting. The hardest thing to do is find that reason why, but once you have that reason, it is never so hard to motivate yourself again. You can think I'm off base, but I've coached college athletes for nine years. Nine years of hearing "because I'm good at it" or "I love the game" or "I want to be great" and other variations of what they think their parents or I want to hear and very little reason to go through the battles and long days when they just don't want to do it. I've seen so many "great high school athletes" wash out after a challenge to their ego or a threat to their "free time." The crazy thing is, there's little difference between the college athlete and somebody chasing a fitness goal. For the health and fitness individual, it may be even tougher to find motivation; they face challenges without immediate feedback, challenges the ego, and disruption to the comfortable complacency they've been living in. When things are the hardest, that's when you need to have that why in your back pocket. Everybody has a WHY and for you, there is a why in there too. Sometimes it takes a little quiet reflection and a little soul searching, sometimes it takes an outsider to bounce ideas off of, but, once you remove all the bs and really think about why you want to accomplish the goal, you'll have the reason to push harder, fight the challenges, and a little extra kick to get it done... and if you don't, let me know, because I'm here and I want to see people succeed. Til next time... breath deep, squeeze tight, and keep fighting.