Toxic Positivity

TOXIC POSITIVITY VS VICTORY EXPERIENCES 

This was one of the more popular Instagram posts I put out in the last month, so I though I would expand a bit on it. One of the several reasons why, in large, the "fitness" industry is cancer. Let's pretend I don't know you. And although I don't know you, or anything about you, or your goals, I want you to believe in yourself and be confident. This type of false cheerleading is one of the reasons people DON'T believe in themselves. If I simply tell you to be confident, with no actions or reasoning, of course, you won't be. You have no reason to be. Then maybe you'll wonder, "what's wrong with me?" Nothing is wrong with you; you're just not an idiot because you do not believe in something you have been given ZERO reason to. 

Before I delve more into why I despise the talking heads of the fitness industry, I feel the need to clear something up. I do not believe in negative reinforcement. I will never tell anyone they're not good enough or that your goals aren't necessary. I don't think that type of coaching is productive. It can be productive in specific environments, but it doesn't last, it is like setting the living room furniture on fire to stay warm. Sure, you achieve your goal but at the cost of eventually burning the whole house down. 

So why are the yoga pant clad ladies and fake smile gents of the fitness industry so nauseating? Because they tell you to believe in yourself but give you no justification. You're not stupid, you know this, people fail at things all the time. You're smart enough to know that you might be one of these people who does. But hey, "believe in yourself."

What is a possible answer? I think it is in a coach who facilitates VICTORY EXPERIENCES. An alternative to Jillian Michaels talking head or even worse Tracy Anderson (she is to fitness what ISIS is to humanity) "believe in yourself" schtick is to begin to create victory experiences. These need to be large enough to mean something but achievable enough to where it's not easy to find an excuse not to back out. 

I suggest you, or you and your coach, start wit action goals. Outcome goals can be tricky. To say I will squat 400lbs and I will lose 10lbs this month are goals that have numerous factors that are out of your control. If you are starting and need to build confidence, begin with a goal like, "I will walk into the gym." Just do that. If you're having a hard time starting, just walk inside, then you can go home. YOU DID IT! Then a day later, walk inside and do 10 min on a piece of equipment, it might not seem like much. However, you are doing what you said you would and building these victory experiences. Also, you are enforcing the habit of following through with assigned tasks.

For a nutrition client, I might start them out with "you need to write down everything you eat today." The trainee does not even have to show me, they can throw the piece of paper away tomorrow, but they need to be 100% honest with themselves and write everything down. Just that action of being honest with yourself, consciously knowing what they are eating in a day, and being accountable is a huge step. Boom! "You did it," that's a victory experience, "now you're on your way." 

If you need help to determine a course of action, and how to best build these victory experiences, message me so we can discuss the benefits of Interactive Coaching or to set up a consult. START TRAINING TODAY! 

Measuring Progress Versus Constant Variation

In this blog post I’m going to specifically focus on strength exercises and providing a counter point to proponents of constantly changing them, i.e. the good ole “muscle confusion” crowd. Although I am going to discuss strength exercises what I’m saying holds true for conditioning and sports as well. I would assume Michael Phelps probably swims more than once a week. Do you think his muscles are “confused” when he’s in the pool? Whether it's Usain Bolt at the track, or Gennady Golovkin on a heavy bag, athletes strive to perfect similar movements day in and day out. The best of them also include some cross training to balance out their bodies and prevent repetitive motion injuries. If you want the body of a well conditioned athlete, you should probably train like one. 

YOUR SQUAT WILL NEVER BE PERFECT

Perfect is not attainable, excellence is - but we will never be truly perfect at anything worthwhile. You will never “outgrow” the barbell squat, deadlift, overhead press, pull-up, etc. There will always be tweaks to get more out of the core lifts and movements. You can always gain by having a coach look at your benchpress. Once you start doing these “simple” movements you realize how infinitely layered mastering them becomes.  The statement that you “never outgrow the basics” is universally excepted by athletes in sports. However, sometimes I see this being forgotten in the gym. What are the basics? Universally speaking the movements (notice I said movements NOT muscle) of the squat, hip-hinge, push, and pull. 

A REASON YOUR TRAINER MIGHT NOT HAVE YOU SQUATTING OR DEADLIFTING

Quick disclaimer, a trainee might not be ready for these movements. In this article I'm specifically speaking about in shape, uninjured, reasonably fit clientele. A good deadlift, loaded carries (the farmer’s walk for example), and a good squat are true fitness “game changers.” Silly things done on a BOSU ball are not, even if your goal is weight loss. Weight loss is a condition of more work being done than calories entering the body, and very few exercises cause the body to work more than these three for example. However, these exercises take focus to learn. To be honest, a lot of you (not “you” you but that collective “you”) have the attention span of a gold fish. It’s easier to keep a low-commitment client “entertained” if things are constantly changing. 

Also, squats and deadlifts in particular take an experienced coach to teach. Not just someone who is the “rep-counter/gym babysitter” type trainer. Also, like anything rewarding, there is risk involved. If a trainer is only concerned with just making sure you are there to keep paying for sessions, your workouts might primarily be comprised of only low-risk and lower reward “entertaining” exercises. I see the same thing being done with boxing training. Clients being taught choreographed pad-work routines before they are anywhere near fundamentally sound to keep them entertained.

WHEN TO USE VARIETY

Most well thought out training programs include a phase that is some sort of General Physical Preparedness(GPP). At the base of the training pyramid is a period of acclimation to training, the body should be challenged in different ranges of motions, differing energy systems and rep-ranges. Accessory work, ("what is accessory work?" is a discussion for another time), is a perfect time to include some variation to keep things fresh. Also, there can be variation with in the movement itself (goblet squat versus barbell back squat for example). Changing rep schemes and rest periods can also be manipulated to keep things fresh. 

IN CLOSING

Training needs some metric to gauge progress: how many punches you can throw in a minute, mile run time, bench/squat/pull/press numbers. There is a place for variety. However, if you are constantly changing exercises and don’t have quantifiable numbers measure progress you will always be just “exercising” and never training.