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The “Dirty Dozen”: 12 Reasons Why You’re Confused, Frustrated, And Being Mislead By The Fitness Experts
By Skip La Cour
Workouts For Older Men
Podcast
This blog post is going to upset a lot of fitness experts.
They’ll no longer have an unfair advantage over you.
It will make YOU extremely happy though. That’s my plan.
This information will level the playing field.
If you’re confused by all of the fitness information on the internet that’s being thrown at you, you’re certainly not alone.
It’s the #1 challenge, by far, that older men who want to choose the right workout plan, build muscle, choose the right diet, and lose body fat face.
What I’m sharing with you here will help you finally break through all the noise. It will help you train and eat right with certainty and confidence.
Imagine what it would feel like to look in the mirror and see the lean, muscular body you really want. Imagine looking in the mirror and feeling 100 percent capable of changing your body’s appearance.
I’m going to expose a lot of fitness experts’ “dirty little secrets” that make it almost impossible for you to ever feel confident about what you’re doing to earn a better body.
I’m going to tell you how some fitness experts get you to believe that, if you’re not doing things their way, you’re just wasting your time. You won’t get any muscle gains. Zero! You’re never going to lose that stubborn body fat. None!
Some are doing this to you intentionally. Some are not.
This information is not only going to upset a lot of fitness experts, it could upset you.
If you are pretty confident with your workouts but aren’t making any progress, this blog post may dismantle your sense of certainty.
Sometimes, it’s easier to just keep on doing what you’ve been doing even if you aren’t making any progress. So, not only will you continue getting inferior results, you may not feel so good about your methods anymore either.
If that sounds like you, you probably want to stop reading now.
The information in this blog post will help you understand why you’re not getting the information you need to enjoy more success with your health and fitness habits.
Here’s 12 reasons why you’re confused, frustrated, and being mislead by the fitness experts.
1. You’re In A Very Select Group Of Men And There’s Not A Lot Of Information Designed For You.
Think about it for a moment. You already look better than most men your age. Yes, I know you want to look even better. I can certainly help you do that. You didn’t work this hard just to get this far. And, yes, I know that most men your age don’t even work out.
Most men your age would love to have the body you have right now. They’d be thrilled. Take a look around. Don’t be so tough on yourself for a moment.
When you consider all of the older men like you in the world, your level of fitness is easily in the top 20%. Of course, this includes men who don’t work out and men like you who do. And, if you’re a man who is a little older and you haven’t been training that long and you know you have some work to do, you’ll be in that top 20% group within a year or so if you’re dedicated.
There’s not a lot of information out there for you. It’s a simple case of supply and demand. There aren’t a lot of men who are looking for the information you need. There’s not a big demand. So, there’s not a big supply.
Makes sense, doesn’t it? I bet you never thought of it that way. No wonder it was tough in the past.
You’re here now though. You’ve found your #1 source for fitness information that’s specifically-designed for your unique needs here.
For example, most nutrition information is really meant for overweight and inactive people. The little bit of nutrition information that’s left is meant for younger men who live extreme fitness lifestyles.
You’ve heard that the way you look and feel is determined by your eating habits far more than you workout habits.
This is especially true the older you get.
If you’re a little older and trying to build some muscle and lose that last 10 or 15 pounds of stubborn body fat, it’s a challenge to find the right eating program for you.
The simple basics of “moving more and eating less” will work for a man who is really overweight and inactive. But that way of eating isn’t going to get you to the next level. Crash diets don’t work in the long run and aren’t healthy.
Going overboard with your fitness habits doesn’t work either. The extreme diets and mindset that revolves around eating isn’t sustainable for you. You don’t have the willpower, focus, energy and time with your busy life to stop and eat six meals a day, count every calorie and macro, invest an entire day preparing your meals for the week, and carrying those meals with you everywhere you go. The good news is that you don’t have to.
2. Great Communication Happens Back And Forth Between Two People.
A great fitness expert, coach, teacher, and communicator takes responsibility for both sides of the conversation. He doesn’t just tell you something, have the best intentions, and hope you understand what he’s telling you.
Great communication happens when a coach and you go back and forth with each other. He makes sure you understand what he’s telling you. A great coach doesn’t just assume you do.
That’s one of the biggest challenges that stands in the way of getting the information you need to succeed. It’s really difficult for you to understand exactly what’s being taught when you are watching video after video after video from many different fitness experts.
Even if the information you’re given is rock-solid, there’s a good chance you’ll miss some things the first few times it’s explained to you.
I experience this all the time. I can tell an older man five times in five different ways that he’ll never see what he wants in the mirror if he doesn’t lose his extra 20 pounds of body fat. Right afterward, he’ll ask me if his training routine is good enough. And, he’s a successful, intelligent, and highly motivated man. It’s just part of our human experience.
That’s when I’m actually talking to a man who has made an investment in one-on-one coaching. Just think what your ability is to understand what’s being taught during a free video on social media where you have no chance to ask the fitness expert follow up questions.
3. You’re Getting The Right Answers To The Wrong Questions.
If you ask the wrong question, you may get the “right” answer and be worse off for doing so. You’ll waste time. You won’t get the results you want. You’ll be even more confused moving forward.
That’s what happens when you get the “right” answer from the fitness experts but you asked them the wrong question.
Continuing with the previous example, let’s say you do a Google search for the “best weight training routine to lose body fat.” Someone is going to give you an answer. If they don’t, you’ll find someone who will.
Weight training routines have almost zero impact on fat loss. Weight training stimulates the muscle building process. You need a good diet to lose that body fat. But you didn’t search for a diet.
I can go on and on. I see this all the time. I upset some rigid-thinking men from time to time. I don’t do it intentionally, of course. I do my best to help someone get the results they’re after. “You didn’t give me an answer!” they say.
I did give them an answer. A great answer, actually. It was just an answer to a question they didn’t ask.
If you’re not typing the right questions or not using the proper phrasing when searching for the solutions to your problems, this will happen to you too.
You’re going to get good answers to misguided, inexperienced questions. It’s not your fault. How are you supposed to know at this stage?
Any fitness expert who gives you the answer you want isn’t a good fitness expert. But how are supposed to know that he isn’t? That’s why you’re searching for expert advice, right? But that’s also exactly why you are finding the bad fitness experts.
A great fitness exert would need to communicate with you back and forth to make sure you understand. That’s probably never going to happen when your fitness expert has millions of followers. It’s easier just to sell you a $99 program and hope you figure out how to get the best use out of it. (Do the math. What’s 100,000 or 1/10 of his followers x $99? 10 million dollars!)
This demonstrates once again why you’re so confused and frustrated because you can’t find the right information for you.
4. Optimal or Nothing.
Most fitness experts teach what they believe are “optimal” strategies and nothing else. That’s their intention. They tell you that too. “Well, I’m just telling you what research says is optimal.”
Optimal is great. No doubt about it. But you simply don’t need every training and eating strategy to be optimal, time consuming, and complicated to be effective. It doesn’t matter if it’s optimal if you can’t sustain it with your busy schedule.
If “optimal” is a “10” (on a scale from 1 to 10), you can use strategies that are solid 7s, 8s, and 9s and easily reach your goals.
Never let a fitness expert get you to believe that everything you do is either a “10” in terms of effectiveness or a “zero.” That’s simply not true.
It’s tough for them to give you context and nuance in their answers even if they wanted to. They can’t interact with you on a one-sided video and make sure you understand what you’re being told.
5. Outrageous Gets Attention.
The more outrageous a fitness expert can be, the more attention he’ll get. Attention is very important when you are searching for the right fitness information for you.
Now, I’m not saying his personality, thoughts, ideas, and strategies need to be outrageous to get attention but it sure helps. His body can be outrageous. He can be outrageously ripped. He can have outrageous muscle size and beautiful shape. He can have an outrageously polished presentation. He can be outrageously handsome. He looks outrageously good for his age. If something about him is outrageous and puts him way above the crowd, he’ll get attention.
Attention may have an impact on your decisions. It does for most human beings whether they realize it or not.
“Social proof” is extremely influential as Robert Cialdini states in his book Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion. Trained hypnotist, master of influence, and author, Scott Adams, tells us that visual cues are the most powerful ways to influence anyone.
The more followers, likes, hearts, shares, and comments you see the fitness expert get, the more likely you’ll be influenced. The more likely you’ll assume that that fitness expert has the information that’s right for you.
A fitness expert who is outrageous and gets a lot of attention could be a great teacher too. No doubt about it. He also could be outrageous and just be okay. He could be terrible. How would you know for sure? It’s not the easiest thing to figure out from your side of the computer.
6. Complicated Strategies Are Interesting And Get A Lot Of Attention.
Training and eating strategies don’t need to be complicated in order to effective.
They sure are interesting though, aren’t they? Your fitness experts know this. They also know you’re looking for something different than what every other fitness expert is telling you. Some will give you what you want.
It doesn’t matter how complicated or interesting a strategy is if you can’t sustain it for very long. It will be worthless to you.
7. “Make Things Complicated Going In.”
Did you know that there’s actually a marketing strategy that instructs the fitness expert to make things seem complicated going in so that you, the man looking for fitness information, won’t think you can do it all by yourself?
Then, once you’ve invested in their product or service, they’ll make it simple and effective so that you get the results you want. That’s the plan, at least.
Most men looking for information need much more than just the information to finally earn the body they want. The need motivation and accountability too. They just don’t realize it.
So, I understand what these sophisticated fitness marketers/experts are trying to do.
They want you to get in the right mindset to succeed. Your mindset is extremely important to your success. It’s probably just as important as using the right strategy for you.
Having something to lose if you don’t follow through (your money), accountability to them, and their leadership will usually get you in far better mental conditions to succeed than the ones you have now. They’re not getting the job done now. You know that.
That’s why I love one-on-one coaching and why it’s so damn effective in creating lasting change in you. (Although it would be a lot easier and less time-consuming to just to sell cookie-cutter training programs to thousands of men for $99 apiece.)
The good news is that very few fitness experts are sophisticated marketers and do this to you intentionally. That’s my opinion.
The bad news is that too many fitness experts actually believe you must take the complicated approach in order to succeed.
8. “Fake Becauses” (And Just Plain Dumb Ones).
Robert Cialdini cites fascinating studies in his book, Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion.
One is the “fake because.”
Studies have shown that, if you just add a “because” after any request or statement you make, the chances of you being perceived as credible go up dramatically. Any “because.” It doesn’t even need to be a good “because.” It can even be a horrible “because.”
Many smart, older men who are successful with their family and business are falling for fitness “becauses” that make absolutely no sense at all.
But that’s not your fault. You’re human. We are emotional and not as logical as we want to believe. It’s up to the fitness expert to give you good reasons why you should follow their advice.
Again, I don’t believe most fitness experts are intentionally trying to mislead you with “fake becauses.” I just think that they offer silly ones from time to time and they really believe what they saying.
It’s difficult for you not to be influenced by the silly “becauses” from amazing visual fitness specimens who speak confidently and have a huge following.
They don’t even know they’re telling you them.
I heard one of these “becauses” recently. This fitness expert seemed like a nice guy. He looked pretty darn good. He certainly was confident and had a large following.
He answered the question “How many sets should you do for each exercise?” His “black and white” answer was 3. His because was that the first set breaks down 50% of the muscle. The second set breaks down 75% of the muscle. And the third set breaks down 95% of the muscle. He even added that you don’t want to break down any more than 95% of the muscle.
He delivered his “becauses” with absolute certainty.
So, does your muscle reset when you do your second exercise for that body part? Wouldn’t I go past 95% during the second and third exercises for that body part? Is the percentage the same for a serious man who has been training for 20 years and a younger man training for 20 minutes? What about if someone chooses to pyramid up in weight? I’ll just stop there. You get the point.
9. Fitness Is A HUGE Part Of A Fitness Expert’s Identity and Not Yours.
Peak performance specialist, Tony Robbins, tells us that a person’s identity is the most powerful force that guides their thoughts and actions. A person will walk, talk, act, make decisions, and not make decisions based on the way they see themselves. A person is forced to stay consistent with their identity in good times, bad times, and everything in between.
It’s the “secret sauce” that drives a person to great achievement or dismal defeat.
The chances are great that you, as an older man with a busy, productive life, don’t have this “secret sauce” to drive you. At least not in fitness. It’s not a strong enough part of your identity. At least not yet. Certainly not as strong a part of your identity as those fitness experts you used to follow in the past.
Many of those fitness experts don’t realize the power of their identity and how much it’s driving them.
That’s not good for you. They don’t have the empathy or understanding of what adjustments you’ll need to make to succeed.
They’ll imply or directly state that you’re just not dedicated enough. They’ll be less likely to offer you simple and effective ways for you to reach your goals in the context of your busy, productive life.
That’s a shame because there are so many ways for you to get from “Point A” to “Point B.” They’ll never teach you them though. You’ll just get the extreme, hardcore approach.
They’ll tell you that working out and eating right is “just an hour a day.”
It’s not just an hour a day. Don’t buy into that garbage and think you’re just lazy. It’s far more complicated than that. Unless you’re a fitness expert, of course.
If you were to tell them that their amazing body, knowledge, and habits were “no big deal” because they were earned with “just an hour a day” they would quickly change their perspective. They’ll probably tell you about all of the sacrifice and dedication you don’t see.
I wouldn’t recommend that though. You might get punched.
10. The Basics That Work Get Boring For The Fitness Experts And For You.
The basics that work are boring to most men and will not grab a lot of attention and views. The fitness experts get bored talking about the basics over and over anyway.
The fitness experts will move on to some new and exciting topic that might produce a 2% difference at best. It doesn’t matter. That’s what most men want. They won’t watch the “boring” basics. They even complain to the fitness expert and imply that their methods aren’t that good.
Most men believe they’ve already done the basics well enough and they’ll only get to the next level with something new.
Men who succeed with their fitness goals understand that taking the fundamentals and basics to higher and higher levels is what’s most important.
The fitness experts know this but they grow tired of most men’s complaining. They give the masses what they want even though they’re just getting more and more confused because they’re not getting the results they are after.
The basics that work are boring for most men. The basics that work are boring for the fitness experts too.
So they’re giving you the strategies that aren’t going to do squat for your progress.
11. Likes, Shares, Views, and Retweets Are Addicting For Most Fitness Experts.
Tony Robbins says that “the secret to life is to continually grow.” For us to be happy in life, we have to continually take our emotions and experiences to higher levels.
The desire to exceed what you’ve accomplished in the past is normal and healthy for us as human beings.
Fitness experts are human beings.
There is pressure on the fitness expert to top what he has done in the past. If his videos usually get 10,000 views the first day he posts them, getting 5,000 is going feel like a failure.
Even if the video that gets “only” 5,000 views is exactly what you need to learn.
Social media expert, Gary Vaynerchuk, talks about this all the time. He can’t believe how many people on social media won’t post their good material because they know it won’t get very many likes.
If you’re my age, you’re probably familiar with the term “Jump the shark.” That was from the hit television show, Happy Days, we watched as young boys.
After a long run and tremendous success, the hit show ran out of ideas. During their final season, Fonzie jumped over a shark on water skis wearing his leather jacket and 501 Levis cut off jeans. They should have stopped the show a few seasons earlier. They obviously ran out of good ideas.
When your fitness expert is talking about other fitness channels, gossip, haters, or other people just to keep his view count, he’s jumping the shark. He’s run out of topics that can help you build a great body and is now just trying to entertain you.
12. You Demand “Black And White” Answers And The Fitness Expert Gives Them To You.
You demand black and white answers. The fitness experts are pressured to give you what you want.
Men looking for fitness are sometimes a little too confident because they’ve achieved success in other areas of life. This gets in the way of their progress. They underestimate what it is going to take to “crack the code” and figure out the pattern when it comes to fitness.
More of what worked in the past isn’t going to get you into the top 10%. A man who makes a million dollars a year isn’t always 10 times smarter and he certainly doesn’t work 10 times as many hours per day as a man who makes $100,000 does.
The millionaire knows the subtle distinctions that the man making $100,000 doesn’t. He sees the world slightly differently. He understands nuance. He understands that world isn’t black and white. It’s many colors.
He understands that it’s not always this OR that. Many times it’s this AND that.
Many men are too quick to mistakenly recognize perceived established patterns that simply don’t exist.
It’s tough for a fitness coach to teach in colors and nuance from the other side of the video without talking with you and checking for understanding.
So there it is.
This is why a smart man like you who is successful with his family and business is getting confused, frustrated, and overwhelmed by all the fitness information all over the internet.
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