Nonsense
Posted on | November 7, 2009 | 3 Comments
The fitness industry is one of the most nonsense-filled marketplaces in the world. Most training ’secrets’ can be summed up in a few sentences: Be active several times a week, strength train by moving heavy weights around, don’t eat too much, eat whole foods, and get plenty of sleep. Unfortunately, that doesn’t make anyone much money. Instead, profit comes from a few other things:
- Supplements. This is a huge business, around $20 billion in sales in the US alone according to an industry lobby group report. Very few of those dollars are well-spent. I recommend protein supplementation for some individuals, fish oil caps for those who don’t eat a lot of fatty fish, and maybe some creatine for a more advanced trainee. But these aren’t going to cost more than $30-$50 per month on average. Wander into any health foods store, GNC or the like, though, and you’ll find shelves upon shelves of mass gainer, fat burner, testosterone booster, and general make-you-lean-and-strong-right-now! pills. Too bad none of them do very much at all besides slim down your wallet. One humorous example is that of “Surge Recovery”, a post workout drink marketed by Biotest that “turns on the muscle gaining, hyper-drive switch.” (You can read more sensational claims about the product here.) At about $2/serving, this drink had better be pretty amazing! Alan Aragon did an analysis of Surge earlier this year comparing it to chocolate milk and ultimately concluded that the two were equally effective (based on the research done to date). Chocolate milk, however, is less than half the cost per serving for all the hyper-drive switch muscle building you could want.
- Exercise equipment. We’ve all seen the infomercials promising six-pack abs, bulging biceps, or a toned butt—all in just six minutes a day! More nonsense. The most advanced equipment most people will ever need to get fit and look better are a nice set of dumbbells, a bar with some weights, and a comfortable pair of shoes for exercising. After all, Olympic and professional athletes are using this same basic, time-tested things to get stronger and faster. Can you imagine Usain Bolt ditching his squat rack for a Shake Weight?
- Fads. Books, diets, articles, gurus, coaches, and programs. Every month there’s something new, from the South Beach and Zone diets to P90X, Marine-style bootcamps, 6 Ways to Build Bigger Biceps, and so forth. All of these have one thing in common: they promise fast results. And most of them are either very flawed or make outrageous claims. See my post on bootcamps for the kind of ridiculous claims that are common, and which completely undermine the credibility of what could otherwise be a decent program.
It’s hard for me not to take all this nonsense a little bit personally. I’m a trainer, I make claims about my product, and I charge money for that product. Unlike many of these companies, though, I like to think that 1) I make realistic promises and 2) I deliver on those promises.
Even if the industry continues to sell overpriced, unproven products to make a quick buck, I’d also like to think that consumers can become more informed about health and fitness. That’s what I try to do when training my clients, and with the content of this blog.
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November 13th, 2009 @ 12:40 pm
This is a great introduction to the snake-oil and humbug that the health and fitness industry is mired in. Good job!
November 14th, 2009 @ 10:14 pm
Well said, Cameron. It’s a delicate balance between making profit (which we’re in the business of doing, of course) and exploiting our clients for no good reason.
November 15th, 2009 @ 12:45 am
Nice post, found your blog via Driveline Mechanics. I like the “myths” posts, good stuff.