Not All Free Information is Good Information

Seems like an obvious statement, but for the fitness newcomer there is so much information out there that it's hard to decipher what's good and what's guru. Over the last few weeks, I have read, heard, and seen some terrible advice given to fitness novices as they try to learn about training, develop technique, and improve themselves. I'm not talking about "bad information" that says there is only one way to build arms. I'm talking about legitimately dangerous information. Some bad information comes from forums, some from the local broscientist at the gym, and some from well-meaning but ill-informed novices that perpetuate myths. Regardless of where it originates, somebody without knowledge or a bs-o-meter for fitness is at risk.

I won't be the first to say it, but there is more than one way to accomplish any fitness related goal, and while the paths may be more or less efficient, given the correct information, they will lead to the ultimate goal. So, the goal of this post is to help you learn to identify good and useful information while discarding (and maybe even battling) the bad information while increasing your own knowledge. I'm not talking about controversial or less than optimal information; I'm talking about blatantly wrong information.

As an example, a gentleman is seeking advice on his deadlift technique, so he posts a video to be checked. Despite glaring technique issues, he gets the thumbs up and a host of "attaboys" just because he pulled more weight than the people watching the video.

 Another example is a lady asking a diet / nutrition based question as she has not been able to lose weight for several months despite her high 4 days of activity and her low calorie diet. Instead of relevant and educated responses, she receives "cut your calories" and "add HIIT to your training" as advice.

These ignorant responses lead people into potentially dangerous situations where they risk injury or other health problems. With more and more people turning to forums for advice, form checks, programming and nutrition advice, it's hard to know who is and who isn't giving you qualified advice.

Some of you may be wondering what's wrong with the answers. In the first example, a knowledgeable lifter sees poor technique despite the made lift and provides critical feedback while others convince the lifter he's doing it right. If the poster chooses to accept the compliments of the masses over the criticisms, he runs the risk of injury as the weight increases. With the second case, the lady is already under-eating for her activity levels. If she chose to follow the standard advice of "eat less, do more," she will most definitely tank her metabolism, which we all know is worse than gaining a few pounds over time to improve her metabolism.

While forums and social media provide us fast access to free advice, the fast and free advice can also be one of the worst parts. Before the explosion of fitness forums, you had to know somebody, pay somebody, or spend hours experiencing in order to find the answer to fitness questions. Because the community was so small, it was easy to identify who was providing legitimate information and who was not. With large internet forums and the "community" of social networks, Brosef is now out in full force, providing information read in some rag, heard in some rumor mill, or picked up at a Holiday Inn Express. This isn't to say all information in these forums are bad, but being able to sniff out crap makes them much more useful.

This brings me to the heart of this post, identifying good information versus bad information and how to filter what you need. Some will say only coaches and certified trainers should be giving advice. I've even seen a person claim you should listen to them solely because they are "certified." Bull! I've seen my fair share of ignorant coaches and certified trainers giving bad advice online and doing stupid stuff in the gym. The certificate doesn't mean you're good; it means you passed a test. I learned more from training with non-certified people that had years of experience than I did by reading the book for the CPT test.

The first rule, and this one trumps them all, if they demand you listen to them because of their piece of paper, move along to somebody with less fake alpha-ness.  The truly knowledgeable will always put the information out there with their rationale when the fakers just tell you to do it and resort to some form of "because I said."

If the information giver passes the first test, there are a few more steps you can use to sort the useful from the bad:

1. Know who and where you're getting advice from.
• Experience is king, everything else is second (certifications, degrees, staying at a Holiday Inn Express).
• Check the content on the site you're using. If a site caters to bodybuilding, asking questions about triathlons may result in horrible information.
• If you're on a site related to infomercial products (Beach Body, the Wraps, Detoxes), find at least 2 more sites with no ties to those products before accepting the information.
2. Ask yourself if the answer makes sense.
• If you're doing an exercise and it hurts but somebody is telling you it's perfect form, clearly, it's not perfect.
• If you already exercise hard and don't eat a lot but aren't losing weight, it makes no sense to eat less and train more.
• If the answer applies to a different situation than yours, disregard the response because they couldn't even take the time to answer your specific question.
3. Research your question and whatever answers you're considering for some form of consensus before accepting the advice.
• If you're looking for technique, there are a lot of youtube videos out there for instruction of movements.  Video yourself and compare the two. If you're computer savvy, you can use kinovea to do side by side analysis.
• If you're looking for programming or diet advice, stay away from popular mags (Men's Health, Women's Health, Oxygen, etc) because while they may provide some good information, often times they provide partial solutions.
• If the article is trying to sell you a product, re-read the article without the product. If the answer still makes sense, use it, if not, move along.

The next time you're looking for fitness advice, take a moment to analyze what you're seeing, reading, and hearing. Consider asking for resources to help you learn because while it's easy to just ask and accept, it is far better to learn and know. Anybody giving solid advice will be more than happy to point you in the right direction.

To your education!