In their opinion, fitness experts talk about the worst fitness trends of recent years.
Any newcomer is almost disabled by default.
One of the worst trends is that a person is almost disabled by default and needs a ton of rehab exercises every day. Some fitness trainers rely on this to make a person dependent on their services. Instead, we should make people believe that a person is strong and capable of amazing things.
Functional training
Through functional training, today, it is common to understand a bunch of meaningless exercises and use complex terms to make them scientifically sound. For example, you stand on a wobbly surface with a ball in one hand and dumbbells in the other and squat in that position. I have never seen such stupidity in nearly three decades of training.
You don’t have to stand on the ball and throw the ball to make your body functional. The paradox is that these “functional movements” are not used in real life. Functionality training means that all developed skills can be easily transferred from the gym to the real world. So old-fashioned strength training with the right balance between the front and back of the body, with basic compound movements – squats, deadlifts, pull-ups, presses, and the like – will develop your functionality the best.
Instagram trainers without experience
You can train a person personally online – now we have modern tools. But it isn’t easy and requires a lot of experience. Being an effective online coach is much more difficult than being an effective life coach. It’s hard to pinpoint the problem when you can’t see the person in person, and it’s made more difficult because they can’t see how they’re applying your advice.
To effectively train people online, you need to be a very good offline trainer and have a lot of experience. You should see all possible problems and know how to fix them.
Of course, when you have a beautiful body, you want to monetize it. And your training program can make easy money if you sell it to subscribers. But training yourself and getting results on yourself is not the same as getting results with others.
When I first started, I thought everyone was like me. I trained them like myself. Some got results; others didn’t. We are all different and respond best to different methods. You need to work with various people to understand this and train people for results. — Christian Thibaudeau.
I performed once at the competition; I am preparing others.
This is even more disturbing than the option above. I have seen people who performed once and now offer themselves in the fitness services market as experts in preparing for competitions. This has become even more common because we have bikini fitness and men’s physique categories. You can participate quite easily at the local level. You may not even know anything about proper training and nutrition. These people run the risk of getting to the “experts” to prepare for the first performance.
But even under the best of circumstances, under the supervision of an experienced coach (with experience in preparing for the competition), the preparation itself is difficult and sometimes dangerous. Can you imagine what might happen if you trust an “expert”? It can destroy your health, along with your bank account. — Christian Thibaudeau.
One perfect technique for everyone
A harmful fitness trend is to fit everyone into one exercise technique and not consider each person’s characteristics. All people are different: they have different goals, different injury histories, different experiences, and physical training. And more importantly, everyone has their length of arms, legs, and torso, different levers in the body. No person can be squeezed into some ideal standard for the squat or any other exercise. — Tony Gentilcore.
Group fitness
The foundation on which everything is built is a good exercise technique and a competent program. In group classes, this is completely ignored – it is difficult for the coach to keep track of everyone at once, fine-tune the exercises for each based on his level of training and plan his progress. Instead, we have unbridled energy, vigorous motivation, and speed – as the most valuable component of group programs when the coach does not let us relax. But this usually comes at the expense of technology and safety.
Terrible squats bring the knees together and lift the heels off the floor. Nightmare presses with compensation in the lower back. Rounding back when lifting weights off the floor. And if more speed and reps per minute are required of you, the technique suffers even more.
Maybe I’m biased because I spent 12 years in clinical orthopedics, where acute and chronic injuries are treated. Coaches either don’t know or don’t care about it, and I don’t know which is worse. “I told them how to do it right initially; they should have listened.”
Controlling each person’s technique in group sessions is incredibly tiring. But it’s not only our job; it’s our ethical duty to teach and continually correct each client’s poor technique. Making every rep of every set smart, biomechanical, and safe is what separates a true professional from a “fitness entertainer.”
No Payne – No Gein
A bad trend is to train to the flies in the eyes and squeeze a T-shirt at every workout. People think “killing” yourself every time is the only way to get a good workout. Some trainers lack the knowledge and experience to give clients a science-based “recipe.” They rely on exercises that make people pant and sweat because “sweat means calories are burned.” Although, in reality, effective training is not determined by the amount of sweat.
Supports the idea and camp of “elite fitness.” We’re seeing more and more hardcore workouts like CrossFit, and more and more beginners are convinced that fitness should be “hardcore.” Large weights, technically complex exercises, speed performance. Heavy breathing, a lot of sweat, and an inexplicable amount of self-satisfaction in the air, as if sweating profusely and your heart beating out of your chest, are the only thing that defines a “good” workout.
But here’s the reality: You don’t have to be a certified trainer to make a person sweat and get out of breath. My grandmother can do this to anyone with hundreds of burpees, but that doesn’t mean the workout was effective.
Effective training always meets the goals. If someone wants to get stronger or increase their muscles, they need to lift weights. People may not sweat or pant, but they will get results. Even in terms of fat loss, fainting is not a condition.
Fitness and bodybuilding competitions
There are a lot of horrendous fitness trends that I come across, but fitness figure contests are one of the worst. While all the “best fit” contests are ridiculous and destructive, I’m referring to women’s fitness contests in every category, from bikini to bodybuilding. Many potential clients want to prepare for competitions, and I immediately refuse to work with them.
The women on stage are emaciated and dehydrated – they’re just unhealthy. Sharp calorie restriction and all the thoughts about how this or that food will affect the figure. For some, this is already close to the borderline states of the psyche.
Most women have to get themselves to a very low-fat percentage, and often they sacrifice their long-term health in the process of “fat-down.” A common story is when women lose their cycle while preparing for the competition and are treated for a long time afterward.
Women already have enough pressure in terms of figures. Bikini fitness is another arena for idealizing a specific physique with the encouragement of eating disorders. — Karina Inkster.
From the hospital to the gym
Seeing how a trainer makes jumping lunges, dynamic planks, and burpees for a woman who has recently given birth to speed up weight loss makes me cringe. These are the worst possible exercises a woman can do after giving birth and can lead to injuries with consequences.
All quick fitness solutions should not be aimed at new moms. They need to do very specific exercises to restore the muscles of the core and the pelvic floor; otherwise, you can stay with problems like diastasis, organ prolapses, and urinary incontinence for a long time. Let’s educate women about proper recovery, not burpee marathons.
Fitness marathons in social networks
By participating in this, people do not consider their abilities and current physical training. I think that previous trends like CrossFit have acted as vehicles that people have “driven” away from the main concept of amateur strength training – improving health and well-being. They also introduced an element of competition that forces beginners to dig a hole for themselves and set the stage for injury.
