Why I Hate the Fitness Industry

Yes, I said it. I get so mad at 90% of the fitness industry and the bullshit messages that they spread, share, and sell.

Think 90% of them give two shits about your health?! Hell NO!

We shouldn’t be vain about what we look like, we should be vain about how healthy we are. However, being healthy usually leads to looking good naked anyway. (Yes, #1 goal that I see on a health history form). There is this uninterrupted disconnection between looks and fitness. That confuses even the professionals as to what they are even doing.

If I go into Instagram and search #fitness. Want to know what comes up? I mainly see men and women posing half naked with some workout pictures and horrendous, circus-like form. This isn’t a damn circus. If I wanted to get into that industry and work for Ringling Bros., I would have (nothing against them, I’m just made for the fitness industry, not the circus).

Wouldn’t it be a breath of fresh air if you went on and saw a 90-year-old complete a deadlift at 1.5x her bodyweight? Wouldn’t it be nice if there were pictures of strength training of kids who learned how to create a healthy lifestyle at a young age so that they have the tools to deal with stress in a healthy manner as they age? How nice and calm would it be if there were pictures of outdoors in the woods and kettlebells? Wouldn’t it be nice if the fitness industry was there to inspire and build you up instead of break you down and sell some quick fix bullshit?

I want to be part of that 10% that is there to inspire healthy lifestyle changes. I may hate 90% of the fitness industry, but I absolutely LOVE 10% of it! I love and respect the American College of Sports Medicine whose slogan is, “Exercise is Medicine.” I love organizations such as StrongFirst who believe, “Strength has a greater purpose” and Gym Jones because they state “The Mind is Primary.” There are incredible coaches who work for Titleist Performance Institute who I have personally met. These wonderful individuals understand that it takes a doctor, strength coach, and golf coach who can all come together to understand human movement to improve a golfer's game. Or how about the original human movement specialists like Grey Cook and Lee Burton who developed Functional Movement Systems so we could get everyone on the same page to understand that we need to fix movement patterns first before loading them. Or shoot, how about Westside Barbell that has produced some freakishly strong athletes in the powerlifting world. I have met some amazing people in this fitness industry who continue to inspire me to learn more so that I can provide the best possible education for our members in all aspects of strength, nutrition, and active recovery (more on this next week as I will discuss the importance of it).

How about the coaches in the fitness industry that understand it takes dedication and hard work to make a change… but when that happens, it is absolutely amazing. For the coaches who inspire kids to live a healthy lifestyle so they can understand how to handle stress or walk into high school with confidence. How about those that will leave their damn egos at the door and will talk to other health professionals (doctors, PT’s, etc.) to put their members' health and fitness as a priority. How about the fitness professional that will ask how your bloodwork came back to make sure you are in the healthy range. How about the coach that wants to make sure that you don’t have to be dependent on pharmaceutical drugs because if you change your lifestyle, you don’t need them. (Yes, there is a time and place for them. I’m talking about when things can be controlled by living a healthy lifestyle). How about the coaches that give a shit when you're not in the gym and don’t want to see you smoking a cigarette when you are outside of it due to the harm that it can do to your health. How about the coaches that care both about your physical health as well as your mental health? How about the coaches that will bring you in during an initial consult, but when they see a health history red flag on your form they will ask more questions and send you away to see a doctor or other health professional before they have you begin your health and fitness journey with them. How about the coaches that want to see you do things you never dreamed that you could do? How about the fitness professionals that know when the right time is to back off and understand that some days you may just need to go for a walk? How about the fitness coaches who preach to drink a gallon of water a day and get 8 hours of sleep (both of which are FREE to us). How about the coaches that notice when you missed a week and will reach out to you?

These are the coaches and 10% of the industry that I LOVE and want to be a part of. These are the coaches that should have a million followers on Instagram. These are the coaches that we should all want to be like. These are the coaches that understand this is not just about passion (most of those and Instagram people last less than 5 years in the industry). This is about knowing how important fitness is to our HEALTH! That we want to see YOU be able to throw your grandkids around as you age. We want to be able to see you travel the world and do whatever you want and not have to worry about when the next health scare will be. We want to see you carry your own bag of groceries and 50# bag of dog food out of the store. We want to see you enjoy the activities that you enjoy doing.

If you decide to search any of the coaches from any organizations that I listed, do so and give them a LIKE or FOLLOW on social media. Start sharing and re-sharing STRONG individuals who care about your HEALTH. Let’s get the right word/mission out about the amazing 10% of the fitness industry that does what we do for the love, the passion, and the understanding that it is our goal to keep people healthy. Give them a follow, a share, a like, and a repost. Let’s keep this positivity going towards the right coaches in the industry!

Until next time,

Go find one new amazing coach to follow on social media!

Let’s go!