B.S. Experts-
Bullshit experts are lurking everywhere, as I discovered this morning. Sometimes for a change up I workout in a local chain gym instead of in my fitness studio, and this morning I overheard a question asked by an older married couple to one of the gym employees. While I won’t mention which gym, it was fascinating to me how little this gal knew. The question was pretty straight forward and simple, “How do I find my target heart rate”?
At first I assumed the employee worked the front desk and wasn’t accustomed to the specifics about exercise. But then I noticed Personal Trainer on the back of her shirt. The gal still hadn’t answered the question after 17 minutes of non-stop talking, which covered everything from:
- “I recommend using a scale of 1 to 10, and maybe start at a 4, and then crank it up.”
- “You should never do longer than 20 minutes”
- “The machine isn’t working correctly and I don’t know why”
- “what are your goals?”
She worked in a short lecture on perceived exertion, which is an actual term, but still not the answer to the couple’s question. And finally she concluded with, “You should know your training zone” which pretty much took the guy full circle back around to his first question.
The take away from this is be careful who you ask for advice, they may just be a b.s. expert. I recently had this same conversion with someone else on a different topic but with the same take away.
- DO NOT ask the 5 times divorced guys who cheated on his wife the secret to staying happily married.
- DO NOT ask the guy living with his mom who cooks his meals the secret to financial success or independence.
- And DO NOT assume because someone is wearing a shirt that says Personal Trainer that they are an expert in personal training.
Hope you enjoyed today’s little rant, another edition of Optimum Philosophies. But seriously, if you’re considering hiring a trainer, be sure to grab a free copy of the 2014 Personal Training Consumer Report here and educate yourself before you make any decision.
Your friendly health & fitness expert,
Melissa
OptimumCondition.com
(619) 252-4993
Empowering people through fitness, education, and coaching
