“A six-pack in 6 weeks!”, “Lose weight in 8 weeks!”, “Bigger arms with these 5 exercises”. Fake news, clickbait, and false promises. We’ve known them for years in the fitness world.
Fitness Fact Checker
A few years ago, I received an article for this blog.
“Bodypump would lead to more muscle growth than traditional strength training,” the author claimed.
At first glance, it seemed substantiated. There were neatly two references to studies supposedly supporting the claim. One of the studies she referred to was about Kaatsu training.
However, Kaatsu training involves the occlusion of blood circulation during exercise and has nothing to do with Bodypump. The other study did focus on muscle growth with relatively low resistance and high repetitions. However, there was no reason to believe that the resistance and number of repetitions, as used in the study, were representative of Bodypump.
It’s a bit like saying “Bananas are healthy” and referring to a study on the effects of coleslaw.
When I pointed this out to her, the response was that her article was accurate according to Les Mills and she stood behind it. However, Bodypump is owned by Les Mills, so I explained that it’s not wise for the butcher to judge his own meat.
As editor-in-chief, it’s my job to stand behind the articles that appear here. She didn’t want to modify the article, so I couldn’t accept it. Then she didn’t feel like working with that annoying editor who wants information to be factual.
She would distribute it on her own channels, and thus the world was once again enriched with a gem of information.
Fake News
On days like these, I sometimes wish I worked for a political blog. However, when it comes to fake news, or ‘alternative facts’, you can also get your fill in the fitness world. Some well-known examples are:
- “A six-pack in 6 weeks”
- Tel Sell terror
- “Because I can, you can too”
- Magical pills and powders
‘Six-pack in 6 weeks’
I get a sort of allergic reaction when I see, for the umpteenth time, a Men’s Health title, featuring a Tel Sell six-pack model and a Bold and the Beautiful headline. Or 20 different titles all about bigger arms, something the more hardcore magazines excel at.
If you have monthly tips on getting a six-pack in two months or ‘arms like a giant’, something apparently goes wrong if people keep buying the same titles. It’s a bit like doing the same beginner’s dance course ten times. Either it turns out to be an impossible dance for beginners, or you’re an incredibly bad dancer.
When it comes to the six-pack, both apply.
Even if you make it 60 weeks. You don’t have to be an expert to understand that you can’t specify a fixed term for achieving a six-pack. The differences in starting points are far too great for that. If you currently have 40 kilograms of overweight and a body fat percentage of 25 percent, then 6 weeks is unattainable for a six-pack, unimportant, and undesirable.
Losing weight to a healthy weight and learning a balanced diet are much more important.
So, who are these titles so tempting for?
Not for the people for whom it’s achievable. Those are the people who are already close to having a six-pack and don’t need an article with a few abdominal exercises.
Oh yes: Why do so many of the tips in these articles consist of abdominal exercises?
Not because the writer doesn’t know that these exercises are only a very small part of the solution and that diet is the most important. They know that all too well.
However, they also know that ‘doing more exercises’ sells better than ‘eating less’.
These titles are mainly aimed at people who will probably never have a visible six-pack. People who unconsciously want to buy an illusion.
Reading such an article is a bit like participating in the lottery.
You know you probably won’t win the jackpot, but you buy a piece of hope. The good news here is that in practice there can be many more winners, the bad news is that you have to do a lot more for it than buying a ticket or a magazine.
Tel Sell Terror
I sometimes wonder how many people have a gym under their bed. All those revolutionary fitness machines that (along with your fitness dreams) can be conveniently tucked away under your bed and never brought out again.
Don’t get me wrong. Some of these devices can really have an effect. However, usually not the effect the consumer expects. Tel Sell unleashes a bunch of well-trained actors with a six-pack and a Colgate smile, and the viewer thinks they’ll get a six-pack by doing exercises for the inner thighs, for example. Those legs can get stronger, but the desperate buyer just can’t seem to see the same stomach in the mirror as those of the models in the ads.
So, back to waiting for the next King’s Day to sell that stuff for a euro to another sucker.
Supplements
We recently wrote about the acquisition of Body & Fitshop. It would involve about 100 million euros. So, there are a few million super muscular, super dry Dutch people walking around. That must be the case given the billions of kilos of pills and powders sold and used in recent years. Supplement buyers can often be divided into three main groups:
- The all-buyers: “Show me a nice picture of a bodybuilder and use strong terms like ‘ripped,’ ‘gains,’ and ‘mass monster,’ and I’ll buy anything you put in a jar.
- “If it doesn’t help, it doesn’t hurt”: Less expectations, but willing to try everything as long as the budget allows.
- Pubmed cowboys: Deaf and blind to everything the seller says. This buyer gets all his information only from independent and scientific sources.
Be Realistic and Critical
This is the time of one-liners, soundbites, fake news, and clickbait. In this era, statements about menstruating chickens and embracing hunger are popular.
Wanting an easier solution doesn’t mean it exists. Not even when someone supposedly presents it. Both media and politics are increasingly focused on telling us what we want to hear, not what we need to hear. We’re listening more and more to the most beautiful story, not the right story. So, we get a beautiful but incorrect story.
What You Should Hear Instead?
- If you regularly read articles about getting a six-pack, you’ll probably never get a six-pack that doesn’t contain beer
- You don’t need twenty articles to tell you what you already knew
- You don’t need to read ‘previously undisclosed secrets and tips’. There are no easy ways, no shortcuts.
- The model posing for an article, device, or supplement always has more predisposition or has worked harder than you. They haven’t read more articles with ’10 tips for a faster six-pack’ and haven’t bought a smarter device on Tel Sell.
- You are responsible for the information you accept!
