Stop doing this before you work out!

Do you need to spend time working on mobility? Short answer is probably not. What is mobility anyway? It’s the ability to move! Flexibility is just passive stretching. Flexibility tells us how much can we passively stretch tissues like muscles, ligaments, and tendons. Mobility is the capacity to produce meaningful force throughout a joint’s range of motion. In other words, it’s not merely the ability to passively stretch but to actually move and do something with that range of motion. Flexibility is passive. Mobility is active.

Example: Consider an athlete who does the 100m hurdles. Clearing a hurdle at full speed demands excellent mobility in the hamstrings, and they are producing a ton of force to propel them down the track. Now consider someone who’s doing a simple sit-and-reach test. This is just a test to see how much you can passively stretch the hamstrings, with no force and no movement. Similar stretch and similar range of motion, but one is active, one is passive.

Mobility is a product of two things: Genetics and your lifestyle habits. Let’s bust a couple of common myths:

1. Myth number 1. Everyone needs to spend time working on mobility even if they don’t have any restrictions.
2. Myth number 2. Mobility is easy to influence. If you have a mobility restriction it can be easily fixed in a few weeks, with a handful of drills.

False. And. False.

Let’s start with that first one. No everyone does not need to devote some time to working on mobility. Do you play a sport where certain body positions are required, such as Olympic weightlifting, gymnastics, wrestling, etc… ?? And getting into those positions is literally integral to the sport itself? If so, and your coach has identified a specific restriction, then you should definitely devote some time to mobility work, because A: you have a specific restriction, and B: you have a compelling reason to fix it.

The takeaway here is that unless you have a specific restriction that is preventing you from doing something that you enjoy doing, or something that is interfering with your livelihood or daily living, then why waste time on it? Mobility for it’s own sake does not do anything meaningful for you. It may give you the illusion that you’re doing something productive but the odds are it’s just taking time away from something else that would be better.

And no it’s not mandatory to engage in a whole range of bizarre specific drills prior to lifting. You don’t need to massage yourself half to death with the vibrating massage gun, you don’t need to foam roll, or do the mobility “workout of the day.” All that stuff falls under the umbrella of “hey look at me I’m stalling and avoiding the hard work.” Look I’ve done all this stuff myself! That was me with the foam rolls and bands etc… So I know what this is all about. Hey maybe YOU are different. Maybe YOU really need this stuff or you just cannot perform. If so ok you go ahead. But I doubt it. So ….JUST WARM UP and get to it!

Ok let’s look at that second myth: No mobility is not easy to fix. It’s one of the most difficult things you can undertake. Progress will be very slow and some things just can’t be “fixed.” Your body is not a car. It’s also not made of silly putty that can be easily molded. With that being said, Are there some drills you can do to GRADUALLY and INCREMENTALLY improve mobility? Sure, but the changes are very slow in coming and it may take many months or years, and in some cases, it just ain’t happening. What’s more, in many cases, it just doesn’t need to happen, because there is no compelling reason to worry about it.

For example way back in the day when I was really drinkin’ the ol’ kool-aid, I thought everyone should be able to overhead squat, and if I just take my time and implement the right drills, and coach em up real good they will be able to achieve a decent overhead squat. Well to make a long story short, I don’t believe that anymore. Some people will never overhead squat nor does their life depend on it. It comes down to anthropometry, limb lengths, body types, ratios, muscle insertion, in a word, genetics. When you add lifestyle factors on top of that. It’s game over.

Spending time working on mobility for it’s own sake is probably not the best use of your time. Odds are you can achieve all the mobility you’ll ever need just by lifting weights through a full range of motion.

So who might struggle with gaining weight? Well truth is it could be anyone. Teenagers who play multiple sports often fit in this category. Young adults with physically demanding jobs is another possibility. In gym culture, these folks are often referred to as hardgainers. They just seem to stay skinny no matter what they do, as if they have this raging metabolism that allows them to eat junk food every day and not gain weight. There’s a little more to the story than that, and metabolism is a very complicated subject, but for this article I’ll just address the practical side rather than diving in to the science of what makes a hardgainer.

At the end of the day, the law of thermodynamics rules the process of whether a person gains weight or not. That law basically says that energy can be neither created nor destroyed, but it can change forms. In the case of gaining weight, food is energy, and when we eat more than we need, the excess is stored as fat, or if we are lifting weights, some of the energy can go into the creation of new muscle tissue. By contrast, when we fail to supply enough energy to meet the body’s need, then we must use fat to make up the difference. So we lose some weight. That is by definition a calorie deficit. If you’re in a calorie deficit and you’re NOT lifting weights, there is no signal to the body to keep that muscle, and you can also lose some lean mass.

So to GAIN weight, especially muscle, we need to supply MORE energy (food) than is needed to fuel activities and survive. This is called a calorie surplus. So the question everyone has at this point is, how do I know how much that is? Well the simple answer is, when the scale shows you’re consistently putting on a pound or so each week, then you’re eating enough. But to give you a starting point, use this formula:

bodyweight in pounds x 12–15

Use 12 if you’re less active, 15 if you’re more active. Keep in mind this is in no way intended to be perfectly accurate! This will merely get you into the ballpark, and you’ll need to make adjustments as you go. No equation, no matter how elaborate, can be perfectly accurate for every individual. Don’t waste your time looking for one. Just start with the above and get rolling. You can always make adjustments later!

“Coach I can’t gain weight no matter what I do!”

I’ve heard this many times! The simple truth is that you’re either not eating enough, or you’re too active, and most often a combination of both. So the solution is to curtail any unnecessary activities and eat more. At this point I could simply sign off and end this article, because that’s all there is to it. But there are many tricks, tips, habits, and ideas to implement that can help you make it happen.

So now that you know you should eat more, the question is more of what specifically? Well you’ll need more of all three macronutrients: protein, fat, and carbohydrate. So here’s how you approach the proper ratios. Eat about 1g of protein/lb of bodyweight, and divide your remaining calories as desired between fat and carbs. Now with that being said I’d likely advise you to favor carbs over fat in general. For example: I weigh 200 lbs, so using the formula above I’m aiming for 3000 calories/day. If I eat 200g protein, that’s 800 calories. This leaves 2200 calories in my budget. If I’m trying to build muscle, I realize that carbs are a necessary fuel to support resistance training. So I’d like to have a bit more of that fuel around. So I might split my remaining calories up like this: 1500 calories from carbs and 700 from fat. That’s 26% protein, 50% carbs, and 24% fat. This is a pretty decent starting point!

Now here are some important thoughts. To gain weight (some will be muscle and some will be fat) you will need to intentionally overeat. So when you do this, you’ll feel full and you will want to stop eating. So you will have to learn to push through that and eat when you’re not hungry. That is just how it is and it goes with the territory. One way to make this a bit easier is to avoid eating foods that make you feel full, aka the ones with a lot of fiber. The bottom line I’m getting at here is that a weight gain diet is somewhat incompatible with an exclusively healthy food diet. If you’re trying to gain weight, and you insist on eating only super healthy foods like lean proteins and veggies, it will be nearly impossible. So some of the very things you’d embrace when cutting weight, you will avoid when looking to gain weight. For example, a person looking to lose fat will want to eat a lot of veggies, and have that occupy a significant portion of their plate. For a person on the gain train, that is not such a great idea. It’s just gonna make you feel full and you’ll eat that much less as a result. A person cutting will probably avoid drinking juices, not because there’s anything wrong with juice but because it’s easy to put away a ton of calories really quickly because there’s nothing to slow that absorption down, and you don’t even have to chew. For a person gaining, that’s exactly what we want, to get the calories in quickly without too much bulk getting in the way. So don’t be too picky!

In addition to eating more, a person looking to gain muscle will do well to avoid heavy exercise or recreational activities that burn up a ton of energy. Again, a person cutting is looking to increase energy expenditure, and a person gaining is looking to be smart about energy expenditure, and avoid unnecessary activities. The assumption of this article is that you’re trying to gain mostly muscle, because unless you’re a sumo wrestler or an NFL lineman, I don’t know of too many folks who want to fatten up for no good reason. So it goes without saying that you’ll be implementing a smart lifting plan so that we are building muscle with all those extra calories.

Finally, if you read the above it’s pretty obvious you will need to track your macronutrients to have any shot of being successful. That is absolutely what I’d recommend. If someone complains to me that they’re struggling to gain (or lose) and they aren’t tracking, then it’s clear that it just isn’t really a priority to them. Tracking is a necessary step in my book and it is a game changer. I’ve used a variety of different apps to track macros, and there are some good ones. I’m fond of MacroFactor, but there is also Avatar nutrition, the RP diet app, and Carbon, to name a few.

As always, questions and comments are welcomed!

One way to think of it is “majoring in the minors.” You don’t want to be spending all your valuable training time on the fringes, while never really sinking your teeth into the main course.

How do you choose?

There are certain movement patterns that are considered fundamental to human movement. These will get you 90% of your progress.

*push

*pull

*squat

*hinge

There’s a ton of exercises that will fit into each of those categories. Don’t let yourself be oversold on how much variety is necessary. If you’re doing unfamiliar exercises on every workout, you’re chasing novelty.

Weight training has a big skill component. I’ve seen clients continue to improve a squat for years. Jumping around to every new flavor every other week will prevent you from learning.

For some reason our fitness culture seems to have confused training with entertainment. Are we really so worried that our clients will become bored, quit, and jump on the next hype train?

The desire to be entertained is a training obstacle. This doesn’t mean I’m anti-fun. But when gyms compete with each other to offer the most engaging and mind-blowing immersive experience, I’m not sure we are focusing on the right things! The deepest, most satisfying reward of training is measurable progress. And that is a result of consistency.

So I’d encourage trainees to set some mid-range goals and then start grinding to knock them out. Set your sights down the road a bit and become a student of the basics!

There are two main angles to look at fitness issues from; theory and practice. Some coaches swear by experience in the trenches, while others adhere strictly to research. I think it’s best to consider problems from both of these angles. Sometimes science takes a while to confirm what coaches already know, and sometimes coaches take awhile to let go of stuff that science has shown to be ineffective or even counter-productive.

As far as stretching is concerned, I’ve coached it and done my share of it and then some over the past 30+ years. I’ve been to many yoga classes and engaged in and taught various stretching routines. I’ve also guided individuals and groups through stretching and mobility sessions.

Truth is, I haven’t witnessed much effects. People who are stiff and inflexible tend to remain that way, for the most part. Even the most diligent stretcher isn’t likely to see dramatic changes. And the reality is that it doesn’t really matter. I’ve never seen anyone’s quality of life diminish due to lack of flexibility.

On the research side, stretching has been studied extensively. There is a large body of evidence to look at. And when you really dig, there just isn’t solid evidence to support much lasting benefits. Sure there are individual studies here and there that you can cherry pick to support increased ROM etc….but the vast majority of the literature fails to find measurable benefit.

Eliud Kipchoge just became the first human to run 26.2 miles under 2 hours. He is an elite marathoner, the best on the planet. And he can’t touch his toes. In fact he doesn’t even get close!

Flexibility for its own sake has little value, but is held in high regard in our society and fitness culture. But in my opinion, and science backs this up, flexibility has little or no correlation with health, quality of life, or longevity.

The number one best reason for stretching that is actually valid, is because you like it, and it makes you feel good, and that is not without some value, even if it’s a placebo and all in your head. But when you dig into the science, and there’s a lot of it, there just isn’t a compelling body of evidence to support measurable benefit.

Fortunately most sports teams have wised up and stopped static stretching prior to competition and opt instead for an actual warm-up. Weightlifting and running coaches know very well that stretching is a bad idea prior to performing. And many doubt it has utility no matter when it’s done.

Anytime you attack sacred cows, there is pushback, and that’s understandable. Whole industries and livelihoods are founded on shaky ground and all the jargon and myth that goes along with it. Myths die hard. Big ships change course slowly. Some of the pushback can get pretty vicious, because you’re asking people to do something that is inherently uncomfortable…

Admit they could be wrong, and change their minds.

What I HAVE seen to be effective for improving joint range of motion, however, is loaded stretching, aka lifting weights. You’ll do more for your flexibility any day via moving weights through a full ROM than you ever will by stretching. And of course you’ll simultaneously reap all the benefits of strength training which are too numerous to list here and would require a separate article.

So in summation, you need not worry too much about your flexibility (or lack of it). Just go lift, preferably under the watchful eye of an experienced coach! Stretch if it makes you happy, and if you have time, or if the specific needs of your sport demand it. But don’t expect dramatic changes or you may end up disappointed. And whatever you do, don’t prioritize stretching over strength training!

Well yes and no. Is it an important indicator of health? For sure. But do you really need to know the precise number? Is a few percentage points one way or the other going to make a realistic difference in how you conduct your life? Or is it just one more thing to needlessly obsess over? Even if you could know your precise % body fat, what would you then do with that information?

I’ve been a personal trainer, gym owner, strength coach, and in the fitness industry for nearly 20 years. In that time I’ve noticed that most people have some misconceptions about body composition.

• You can lose a significant amount of body fat really fast. (You can’t, it is a very slow process, about as slow as putting it on)
• That it’s normal, healthy and desirable to have single digit body fat levels. (it is very rare, even among pro athletes)
• That technology exists to measure individual body fat accurately. (It doesn’t)
• Women esp have an unrealistic expectation of how low their body fat can and should be. (It is normal and healthy for females to have higher percentages than men)
• Few people are as lean as they think they are.

Knowing your precise body composition is vastly overrated. I’m gonna take the possibly unpopular stance that it’s an irrelevant distraction on your fitness journey. People have the mistaken impression that it can be measured accurately. In reality it can’t be measured at all. At least not while you’re alive. It can only be predicted through the use of various formulas, assumptions, generalities, and equations. The assumptions upon which equations are built result in compounding errors on an individual level. All methods (except the 4 compartment model) rely on these assumptions. The only way to accurately measure your body fat is to be dead and separate it out from all other tissue. The current available methods of assessment are just not accurate enough on an individual basis to be useful. Instead they are likely to be a source of frustration, confusion, and distress. In the words of Dr. Mike Israetel, Chief Scientist and co-founder of Renaissance Periodization,

“the quintessential example of bad data in fitness is the BIA body fat test.”

You don’t need to have a body composition assessment to get fit or to measure progress.

There’s a good chance it could be misleading enough to make it a bad idea. For the purpose of this article I’m mostly referring to the BIA method or bioelectrical impedance. But less available methods, including skinfold thickness measurements, dexa, hydrostatic weighing, and air displacement plethysmograph aka the bod-pod, also have a surprisingly high rate of error. For some reason it’s become a popular opinion that dexa (dual x-ray absorptiometry) represents the gold standard when it does not. In fact prior to writing this article I thought this too. The only method that is considered the gold standard and is used for scientific reference, is the 4 compartment model, which is not available to the general public but is an expensive, time consuming research tool. This is the method against which all others are compared for accuracy.

Depending on which studies you look at, the individual error rates For DEXA range from 5–10%. It’s important to distinguish between errors related to groups as opposed to individuals. While a method may be very suitable for researching populations, it could simultaneously be inappropiate on an individual basis. What do these error rates mean for an individual? Well if am currently at 20%, I could be told that I’m anywhere from 15–25% at best, or 10–30% at worst. This is the difference between being as lean as a pro athlete or sedentary and obese. I want to you consider that for a moment. That represents a vast gulf of difference.

Even if we assume for a moment that you’re fortunate enough to get a reasonably accurate reading, it begs the question, what are you then going to do with that information? Are you hitting the gym and training hard to hit a lower number that you can brag about? Maybe but I doubt it. More likely you want to actually get stronger, leaner, and perhaps more muscular. You want a healthier you for a long, productive enjoyable life. You probably can look in the mirror and have all the info you need to motivate you.

So a very common reply here is “well at least the tool can provide a baseline, and allow you to measure the change over time.” Unfortunately that doesn’t always hold up. That would be true if it methods were consistently inaccurate. But they’re more likely to be inconsistently inaccurate. There are a host of variables that can influence the results. Some of these can be managed or mitigated while some cannot.

• hydration status
• alcohol intake
• food in the gut
• ethnicity
• gender
• brand and type of equipment
• algorithms and software
• the competency of the practitioner (calipers)

According to researcher and fitness authority James Krieger, M.S. of weightology.net:

“error rates have hovered around 5% in some research, although other research has indicated DEXA to perform much more poorly. For these reasons, I do not recommend DEXA for tracking change over time in individuals.”

And remember DEXA is typically considered more accurate and reliable than BIA. So even assuming you take utmost care to control the variables, and you use the exact same method, under the same conditions, with the same machine etc…you could still have a result that is skewed 5–10% in either direction, because there are assumptions the machine or method is making that you can’t control. And remember this is the method that many are calling the gold standard.

An incorrect assessment could potentially be devastating to a training program, because it can give you bad data, upon which you then make important training decisions. I’ll give you an example.

Let’s say you have been training hard for three months, tracking your nutrition, restricting calories, doing cardio, hitting the weights, avoiding alcohol, getting plenty of sleep etc… You’ve put in consistent effort, you’re down 25 lbs and people can see the difference. This is a big accomplishment. When you started you went to the supplement store where they offer a free assessment on a very high tech looking BIA scan machine. You received a printout with all sorts of sciencey looking charts and graphs. Your bodyfat was estimated at 24%. Now 3 months later you return and you are excited to see how much progress you’ve made. Given the known error rate of BIA you could be told that you’ve lost 4%, (hooray!) stayed the same at 0% (huh?) or gained 4% (omg!) Even though you’ve dropped a few sizes, your clothes are much looser, you visibly appear thinner, and you feel terrific, here’s this piece of technology that says otherwise. Suddenly you feel like a failure.

I’ve seen some folks get really blown out of the water in this situation if their reading is not favorable. It can make them feel incredibly discouraged as though all the effort has been futile. If you take the assessment as gospel, you might feel compelled to completely revamp your training strategy, when in fact that might be precisely the wrong thing to do. You’ve clearly been successful, you probably just need to stay the course. But I’ve seen people make rash decisions based on this bad information. For example, they might slash calories too deeply, start doing extended bouts of cardio, engage in extreme behavior using wraps, saunas, and fat burners, go and buy a bunch of expensive supplements that don’t work etc….Or if they have a reading that is making them look much leaner than they really are, they could relax and take the foot off the gas. None of these are desirable outcomes. Because of the number of times I’ve seen this occur and watched people stress and have the range of emotional reactions over it, I stopped using body composition assessments a long time ago in favor of other tracking methods.

There are other simple methods that will provide valid evidence of progress.

For some reason I can’t quite put my finger on, there’s a tendency some have to place great faith in technology and gadgets, become fixated on numbers, while dismissing the evidence of their own eyes and common sense. Unscrupulous marketing tactics may definitely play a role. Body composition assessments are frequently offered in specialty fitness equipment stores, health clubs, spas, or nutrition outlets, where the end goal is to close deals and make sales. Their accuracy and importance can be over-stated by persons who have a financial interest in impressing or perhaps scaring you. The whole orchestrated presentation that accompanies some of these so called assessments has the air of science and credibility, while it is actually mostly irrelevant fluff. I know this because I’ve been the one doing the presenting and making the sale. Trust me, people are not hard to fool, and they’re even easier to scare. Whatever you do, please don’t pay for a BIA assessment and be very wary indeed if it’s accompanied by a sales pitch. Trainers and salespeople often use a body fat assessment in an effort to justify training packages, supplements, services, or expensive equipment.

Then how do I track my progress?

This doesn’t mean I don’t advocate tracking your progress, I absolutely do. Without tracking, you’re merely guessing and that can lead to very haphazard results or none at all. The more advanced you get in training, the more crucial it is to track progress if you want to make gains. It’s just that there are much better ways to do it. Here’s what I suggest.

• waistline circumference measurement
• body weight on the scale
• the mirror
• the fit of clothes
• progress photos
• measuring body parts

So keep in mind that none of these are perfect. They all have limitations, but can provide reliable feedback when used properly. Here are some very abbreviated guidelines. Weigh yourself every day first thing in the morning before eating or drinking, and at the end of each week average the numbers. Yes I’m well aware that many fitness professionals loathe the scale and will tell you to avoid it etc…But studies have shown that people who weigh themselves regularly are more likely to be successful. Just make sure to be as cold and dispassionate about the numbers; it’s only data after all. It’s not your self worth. And please average the daily readings once a week to remove the roller coaster effect. The scale is useful whether you’re looking to add muscle or lose fat.

For fat loss, perform a waistline measurement at your navel once a month. Women may want to measure the hips or thighs. Just remember to do the measurement in exactly the same location each time and to avoid normal fluctuations don’t do them too often. I’d say take the measurement first thing in the morning before eating or drinking. Women should strategically work around their natural cycle and do the measurement at the same time monthly. Take progress photos in the same room, with the same lighting, wearing the same clothing (or none as the case may be). Between that and the way your clothes fit, you will have a very good idea of fat loss.

Another tried and true method, is tracking strength performance in the gym. As you lose fat, you want to do your utmost to maintain strength. If you’re maintaining or improving performance in the gym while losing pounds, that’s an obvious sign that what you’re losing is mostly fat. By the same token if you’re looking to put on muscle, you’ll want to make sure you’re getting stronger on your basic lifts over time. Ideally you want to do this while putting on as little fat as possible. In addition to measuring body parts, tracking your strength increases serves to let you know that you’re adding muscle to your physique. Or conversely if you’re cutting, keeping track of strength performance helps you to make dietary or training adjustments so as to preserve as much muscle as possible.

At the end of the day, we all just want to look, feel and perform better. Isn’t that why you’re training? What good does it do anyone to fixate on an arbitrary number? Even if we had accurate measuring tools, it’s never a great idea to hang your self worth on a number. Remember, the number in and of itself is irrelevant anyway. We only care about what it represents; good health, leanness, vitality, positive self-esteem. It takes serious time, effort, dedication and sweat equity to develop a lean strong physique. The smartest thing a person can do is cultivate a healthy perspective with numbers and interpret them with caution. If you like what you see in the mirror, you like how you feel physically and mentally, your quality of life is good, you’re able to participate in all the activities that you want to, then you’re golden! All the numbers are secondary to that, and are only useful as general markers and milestones.

Interested in further reading and a much deeper discussion of body composition?

Resources:

• James Krieger, M.S. The Pitfalls of Body Fat “Measurement”
• Dexa Scans Science for Sport
• Examine.com “Measuring body fat percentage: It’s an accuracy thing
• Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research: Body Composition Assessment in Male and Female Bodybuilders
• Diabetes Research and Clinical Practice: A comparison of different methods to assess body composition of weight loss in obese and diabetic patients.

I’ve been a fitness trainer for about 15 years. I’ve made plenty of mistakes over those years, some big, some little. Some of the things I did early on I now cringe at. Hopefully I’ve improved a bit, at least I like to think so. There is always more to learn. The longer I train, the less dogmatic I have become, and the more I appreciate nuance. The answer to most fitness questions begins with “it depends.”

When I was a new trainer, I had quick answers, tended to be over-confident and saw things in black and white. I had more of a “this way is right and that way is wrong” mindset. As a seasoned trainer I ask more questions and consider context. Needless to say it’s a challenge for an experienced trainer to spend time in a commercial gym. Why? Because the fact is that the vast majority of people don’t really know what they’re doing. I’m talking like 90% or more. This is not judgment it’s just an observation of reality.

When I’m in a gym I REALLY have to ignore everything I see because the trainer in me sees all the things that folks are doing wrong. When you spend your life analyzing and appraising human movement, it’s difficult to turn that switch off. Faulty patterns just tend to stand out more when you’re trained to identify them.

This may sound arrogant but it’s not about placing any judgment on anyone. I applaud everyone who is in the gym seeking self improvement. Let’s face it, if you’re uncertain about what to do or how to go about it, the last thing you want to do is be exposed and vulnerable to criticism. I’ve discovered that this is a major reason why some will never set foot in a gym; they are simply terrified. So if you’ve taken the step of overcoming fear, that’s huge and you deserve to be commended.

I love helping people. It’s rewarding as heck to see people grasp concepts and see them “get it” and embrace ideas and make progress. Few things are more gratifying. And often it’s super easy to get people moving in the right direction with a couple basic cues. So when I see people making simple errors I feel a strong inclination to share what I can. I have to fight the urge to intervene all the time.

In a perfect world I’d approach someone and they’d immediately implement my advice and be like “omg thanks so much for showing me that!”

But people are complex creatures with their own set of biases and preconceived ideas and beliefs. What they see as I approach is just some random person. (aka scary old guy!) They have no idea of my intent. They have no idea whether I know squat about training. They don’t see what I see, they don’t know what I know. There is zero foundation of trust. I have not earned any. We have no connection and no relationship. For me to approach someone who doesn’t know me, (assuming I don’t work at the facility in question) is completely presumptuous on my part. At the end of the day I feel it’s unprofessional of me to do. It’s just not a good model of how training should take place.

Start talking to people and you’ll soon understand why trainers do consultations and spend time developing thorough questionnaires to investigate issues and get to know their client as an individual along with their goals and preferences. It’s a respectful way to conduct business.

Another problem with critiquing others in the gym is that it’s impossible to have context of their overall training plan. Maybe what they’re doing at a given moment looks really misguided as an immediate snapshot, but makes perfect sense when considered as part of a six week cycle! I can’t know this from across the gym. For example there is a time and place for “cheat reps”, but they probably shouldn’t be employed in every session. Again, we can’t know this just walking by. Does this guy use this technique all the time? I mean probably but I can’t be sure and it’s not my business! What if a client is utilizing a specific movement to rehab an injury or as a work-around for some physical limitation that they have? You can’t know, and neither can I. Maybe they’re using the wrong exercise, or on the other hand maybe they know precisely what they’re doing.

We all know there are plenty of quarter squatters out there right? Well for sprinters, studies have shown that these have produced better results! And while odds are that most folks quarter squatting aren’t sprinters, we just can’t presume that they don’t have some valid reason for doing what they’re doing.

There are some good reasons for respecting others’ space and not being a busybody.

So while it seems innocent enough to to be nice and share knowledge, unfortunately it’s a lot more complicated than that and there are serious pitfalls.

Clearly I think it’s not ideal to dispense fitness advice to strangers, for much the same reasons I also think it’s probably smart to be really cautious or hesitant to accept it. It’s my personal opinion that most experienced trainers are not likely to ever approach people cold. That leaves the rookies and the inexperienced or someone with no credentials or training at all. What they’re telling you may sound great and make sense, it may have a grain of truth but be applied entirely out of context. So it’s best to be cordial and then carry on as you were.

Instead of approaching people cold I prefer to provide general tips and advice via articles, videos, and social media.

The other thing we can do is lead by example. As a trainer I feel obligated to do stuff right. I do my best to keep up with science, research, and cutting edge training. Doesn’t mean I’m right about everything and there are still many points of debate among trainers and questions that haven’t been settled. Reading books, training clients, asking questions, seeking mentorship from leaders in the field, and being open to learning are all things we can do to improve and provide quality information to others. A good trainer should always be questioning and should always be sharpening the saw.

But for me personally and I suspect many others, it usually doesn’t work well to take the liberty to dispense unsolicited advice to strangers.

That’s just my two cents, feel free to chime in and comment if you have had a different experience or a different perspective!

One of the most common mistakes in fitness is confusing correlation and causation. You assume results are due to X when they are really caused by Y. When you make a lifestyle change you rarely change just one thing. We almost always make a host of changes, some of which we’re unaware of.

Ex 1: I’m trying to lose weight and I heard you should go gluten-free. Going gluten-free has exactly zero to do with fat loss, but cutting calories does. HOWEVER, in the process of going gluten-free, I might easily cut junk food, eat more whole foods, and subconsciously make healthier choices and eat fewer calories. This leads to a dramatic 30lb weight loss! But not realizing the true cause I share my success story all over social media, now convinced in the magic of gluten-free living, and proclaiming it as my new religion. (Note that you could easily substitute any fad diet here).

Ex 2: I’m an overweight beginner trainee anxious to take up a new activity. I meet a cute kettlebell instructor who convinces me to try a class. At the same time I also make small efforts here and there to drink less alcohol, go to bed earlier, and get outdoors more often. I love the classes that I take twice a week and I’m super excited about learning a new skill and meeting new friends. As I see the weight coming off I’m utterly sold on the magic of kettlebells, and believe wholeheartedly in their unique power to deliver results in fitness, fat loss, strength, stamina, well-being, and more. I’m a new convert.

(Disclaimer: anyone who knows me, knows that I enjoy using kettlebells with clients, I just chose them as an example here! You could easily substitute many other things, yoga, CrossFit, P90x, Orangetheory, Olympic lifting, etc…)

The take home message is be aware that we all have inherent biases and just because two things seem to be associated doesn’t mean they are. No single method or tool has magical mystical power all by itself. The magic is in hammering the basics consistently month after month and year after year.

Want to look good naked? Lift weights, eat healthy foods and lots of lean protein, choose whatever activities you enjoy, be active outside of the gym as well as in it, get plenty of good sleep, and maintain a calorie deficit if you need fat loss. 😊

Appearance doesn’t follow activity so much as activity follows appearance. What do I mean by that? Even though body types are associated with certain activities they are not produced by them. You don’t get tall from playing basketball. But the nature of the sport rewards height. An extreme example obviously but no less accurate. Your favorite sport is likely something you’re naturally good at, and therefore the product of your genetic gifts. We tend to gravitate toward stuff we’re good at.

Body types don’t change.

If you’re short and stocky, you’re not gonna get long and lean from Pilates or Yoga. You simply can’t acquire a completely different body type by engaging in a particular activity. Let’s face it, certain activities are associated with specific physical shapes and attributes. People desire these attributes so they naturally assume that doing the activity must be the way to acquire that look. But this is a causation/correlation mistake. It’s a common error to assume one thing causes another when they actually are merely correlated.

So how do we explain that elite swimmers, rugby athletes, figure skaters, gymnasts, yoga instructors etc… all have very similar shapes compared to others in their sport? Why do they tend to look alike? Well the answer is they chose that activity because of their body type. Not necessarily a conscious decision, but more likely at some point they just discovered they were good at it. Certain sports reward particular genetic profiles and body types. If you don’t possess those genetics you’re not likely to be at the elite level in that sport. Doesn’t mean it’s impossible but it’ll be an uphill battle.

So it’s not helpful when this myth is perpetuated in the fitness industry. No you won’t get the body of a ballerina from doing ballet. You won’t get a sprinter’s physique from sprinting. Sorry but no you won’t get “long & lean” doing Pilates or yoga (unless you innately possess that tendency to begin with). You’re not gonna look like a typical swimmer by swimming more. And so on and so forth. You can’t magically stretch a compactly built body into a long lean one. If you’re tall and thin you’re at a disadvantage for bodybuilding. Physiology and training simply don’t work that way. The people who are great at specific activities got that way through precise genetic gifts and a ton of hard work and dedication.

That’s not to say you shouldn’t engage in whatever recreational exercise or sports you like. You definitely should! You can make plenty of positive changes to your health. But changing your fundamental body type is not among them. People who try to convince you otherwise are either misinformed or actively trying to sell you something.

So the take home message is:

A: Find what you’re good at by playing different sports and engaging in various recreational activities. If you don’t try different things out, you may never know.

B: Be content with who you are and optimize your genetics by choosing activities that suit you! Do the best you can with the hand you’ve been dealt.

C: Don’t fall for silly marketing that tries to sell you on achieving a certain look or body type via any specific activity!