Do you need a program? Why do you want to fail?

Four examples of people who obviously aren't following any type of program.

Example 1: Guy walks into the gym, the very first thing he goes on is the pec dec, then followed by something random like the calf raise. Note: this guy does not look like Dorian Yates.

Example 2: Guy walks into the gym, goes over to the free-weights, picks up a pair of 50kg dumbbells with no warm up and does a set of dumbbell bench press. He does this every single time he comes into the gym. He has found something he is good at and is sticking with it.

Example 3: Woman walks into the gym, goes on the cross trainer for 40 minutes and then does every variation of crunch known to woman kind.

Example 4: Guy walks into the gym, goes over to the free-weights, stands as close as he can to the rack and then does a super fast set of alternating partial range bicep curls to warm up, followed by declines press on the smith machine.

None of these routines can be found in a magazine, or fitness website or fitness book. None of these routines were written or designed by a professional.

In a  recent survey in the gym where I work over 90% of people were not following a program. They gave all sorts of answers such as 'I freestyle it', 'I have a routine I like to do', 'I kind of do my own thing'. All code for I am making this stuff up and have no idea what I'm doing. Strangely, the people most likely to be free-styling were the beginners and neophytes, the people most likely to be following a routine written by themselves or more likely a coach were the most advanced.

So why don't people follow programs? Do they need one? Do they subconsciously want to fail? And should you be doing intuitive training if you have no idea what you are doing?

Do beginners need a program?

Firstly, the most important thing is to show up (I think Dan John said that). By actually showing up at the gym you are already way ahead of most of the population. Well done.

Next up, what to do in the gym. You would think that considering the vast amount of programs on the internet and fitness apps available, people would be following these? Right? Wrong. Most beginners are not following any program.

So you would think they would take advantage of the offer of a free program? No, offer someone three free appointments and a free program and most people never make it past turning up for appointment one. After session one, they figure they are good to go, they know how to start the machine and watch E4, so let the results based training begin. Although, if someone is actually paying for a program, they do actually turn up and take notice. There is a lesson there.

I think the first issue is comfort zone. People don't like being uncomfortable. For most of them, just coming into the gym is uncomfortable, you start asking them about their goals and their plan and they get decidedly shifty. They want to keep their head down. They have already decided what they are going to do. You tell them in the most polite way possible that their plan of coming to the gym twice a week and doing a bit of cardio while not changing their diet will result in zero weight-loss, and one and a half stone is not shifting with this approach, and they don't like it.

Cross trainer. The fitness industry nemesis. The anti-program machine?

Hard work doesn't sound like what they signed up for. They want to be taken to the edge of their comfort zone so they can justify the tub of Ben and Jerry's but they don't want to actually go much further and get results.

Expertly drawn picture of why the no program strategy doesn't work for beginners.

A real conversation between one of my colleagues and a new member

Trainer: I can offer you a movement screen, write an individual program, get you booked in for three appointments with us, at no extra cost.
Client: No, I just want to use the cross trainer and a few machines
Trainer: I can show you how to press quickstart, but I don't want you to think in three months time that you didn't achieve anything or get results
Clients: I'll do my own thing for a month, then if it doesn't work I will come and see you.

Good luck to her, but it wont work.

Hardly anyone thinks they can teach themselves to drive or ski with absolutely no help. A few could probably do it after watching some youtube videos. But most couldn't, they seek expert help, because if nothing else it's quicker. But with fitness, they aren't doing this, they are free-styling it, not even turning to the internet. You learned to walk intuitively, but you are not going to grasp a sumo deadlift or kettlebell swing intuitively, so you will avoid them or do them really badly.

Beginners don't need an individual program. Bu they do need a program. And a program that is progressive, if you are still lifting the 1kg dumbbells in 6 weeks time, there was no improvement. The program can be simple, more simple than people think they need: walk everyday, body-weight squats, body-weight step ups, glute bridges etc but with good technique and a progression!

There is no place for intuitive training with the absolute beginner, how can you make intuitive choices about exercises you are not even aware of?

The beginner needs to be guided with exact reps and sets and time, because they have no frame of reference to make an informed decision.

Who needs a program?

Beyond the beginner there are a range of programs available. I have personally followed programs off of t-nation, and by Eric Cressey, Bret Contreras and Brad Schoenfeld. They were all good and gave me some structure. Though I doubt any of them would have been useful if I didn't know how to squat, deadlift, press etc.

I have also followed programs written by myself and others. (My running training is a different matter, as I will explain).

You don't need a program, but you do need a plan!

It is okay to be flexible. How many times have I walked into the gym and wanted to use the rack for squats but it is in use. I could be that guy who stands there for 30 minutes waiting for the rack to become free, as he cannot deviate from his routine, or I could go and do some trap bar deadlifts or kettlebell front squats.

I have a template in my mind, but anyone who has ever worked out in a commercial gym knows you have to be flexible.

You don't need a program but you do need a structure!

So you need to have enough experience to know when to deviate from the plan, but also to know when you are kidding yourself and wimping out.

Cybernetic periodization and autoregulation. What, Cyber-men are coming?!

These days the terms intuitive training and autoregulation have become conflated. Intuitive training is essentially making it up on the day and doing what you like (no squats, bench all the way!). Autoregulation is actually way more structured, see Siff (2003: 129).

More useful for the medium to advanced exerciser is cybernetic periodization. Which sounds more complicated and Dr Who than it actually is. Siff (2003:135) defines cybernetic periodization this way

"..in which loading, in a given training scheme is modified regularly according to a subjective rating of perceived exertion (RPE), rating of technique (RT), objective physiological measurements and actual sporting performance."

and further more

"cybernetic programming... is a quantified extension of what may be termed intuitive training, an approach which probably is as old as the history of physical training." (Siff, 2003:297)

Note, this doesn't mean you just go into the gym and make it up. You have a plan or even a specific program. Maybe, you are meant to do 5x5 on squats on a particular weight, but you back off on the last set that day, or only do three sets, or if you are feeling strong and technique is good, put more weight on the bar.

This approach works if you know how you body responds to exercise, if you are on week one of squats and still using just the bar, then you don't have enough experience to make the decision. That's where the coach comes in.

Avoiding qualities you need to work on. 

Another reason to have a program is the tendency to avoid the things you need to work. I think it was Duncan French who said we need to work on the qualities that have been trained out of our athletes (I'm paraphrasing) and in essence this is the same for the general public. People are rounded too much, sit down all day, then come to the gym and do too much bench press or sit on a bike. They need to do the opposite of what they have become accustomed to and comfortable with and by extension reasonably good at. And not many people want to do things where they might start off looking bad, ego stops more people than anything else for asking for help and getting a program and results.

A confession.

As I stated earlier I have followed resistance training programs from a whole range of sources and got good results.

When it comes to running, its a different matter. I trained for Leadville 100 mile with no program set in stone. I didn't write my mileage down, I don't know how many miles I covered each week. Don't get me wrong, I read every source and book on run programming and ultra running that  I could from Brad Hudson to Bryon Powell and way too many more to list. And I took influence from all of them and then constructed my own plan. Call me egotistical, with my background in resistance training and rehab I thought I could construct a better plan for me than anyone else.

Also things like run 3k at tempo, then 5k at marathon pace etc just don't work for me.

Don't get me wrong, I had a plan, but in essence I was using cybernetic periodization. And also because of my work schedule I had to be flexible as to when my long runs and gym sessions were. The actual description of what I did is a whole other article. But below is a brief summary:

Monday: Rest
Tuesday: Approx 10k trail or road run depending in schedule, plus gym (dropped gym in later phase of training)
Wednesday: easy road run 30-40mins
Thursday: Hill session, anything from 8 sec sprints to 1 mile repeats
Friday: Gym
Saturday: 10-20k road run or treadmill incline
Sunday: 35-40k trail

This schedule would switch and change all the time, sometimes Saturday & Sunday would reverse, sometimes I would add in a gym session on Tuesday or Wednesday evening, sometimes I would be working weekends.

The important thing is I had bench marks to hit, 50k run by first week of June, 70-80k run by 7th July.

Sometimes I would feel good and do more hill repeats on a Thursday, sometimes I would do more work, sometimes less,sometimes faster than I thought I could, sometimes barely making it to the end, but I never missed a session.

The plan was there, the basic structure was there, and thought the thought of blowing up on Hope Pass kept me motivated to not kid myself and take days off and avoid things I needed to do (run up hills in the rain and snow).

Anton Krupicka (ultra-runner with awesome beard) has said, if he had a coach and a program, he would almost certainly get better. But mountain ultra running is about something more than that. So if you are exercising because you want to get into a flow state, or enjoy running for the sake of, and like exercise purely for stress relief and to help mindfulness, then you probably don't need a program. But most people join a gym to lose weight, tone up, increase muscle mass and all the usual reasons.

Anton Krupicka. Intuitive training is fine if you know what you're doing and you have an ultra beard . (Picture chosen by my girlfriend!)

Failure & success, it's a fine line.

Most beginners don't have a plan or structure. Sometimes they have a vague idea of a routine that they have constructed out of the ether. Okay, at least they are doing something (but please stop doing sit ups while holding onto a sandbag!)

Some have a random approach, random workouts, random conditioning. Mostly staying well within their comfort zones, and working on the qualities they already have rather than the ones they have lost. And random workouts can be fun, but you need to earn the right to do them. Learn to read and write before writing novels.

Yes, as a beginner without a coach or a program or plan you will fail.

Yes, an infinite number of monkeys given an infinite amount of time may write Supertraining. But we already have Supertraining, and we already have hundreds of programs that work and good coaches that can help, so why are you still free-styling your way to failure?

Most advanced lifters and athletes are following a program. You don't need to plan every single rep, but you do need a road map. Athletes and advanced lifters will work on things they don't like, with the help of a coach, as they know it will make them better.

You are probably less advanced than you think you are, you probably need some help to get results you actually joined the gym for in the first place. Yes, you will go out of comfort zone, and it may be hard, but a good coach and program will get you to where you want to be. Trust them, it will be worth it.

References:

Siff M (2003) Facts & Fallacies of Fitness. 6th edition.

 

Simplify

"Embrace simplicity" - Laozi, Daodejing

There is a concept in psychology called the Hedonic Treadmill (also called hedonic adaptation, but here I am using treadmill, as the pun is intended). The idea that we keep having to accumulate things to be happy. We buy something, and it makes us happy for a while, but then the feeling dissipates, so we have to buy more, and its never enough. More of everything.

This concept affects the world of fitness in two ways. Firstly, we feel we need the latest gadgets and accoutrements to make us feel better. Those new trainers, the new GPS, the new sunglasses will make us better. Of course, we know deep down that this is probably not the case, but we like buying things, it makes us happy and feel part of something; for a while.

The same happens in the gym, if only I had an Eleiko bar or my gym had a plate loaded hack squat, then I would achieve my goals. We get distracted by the frivolous and the material, we can use them as excuses and temporary hapiness.

Somewhere someone in India is doing yoga and is not concerned about having an air conditioned studio with the latest props, mirrors and mats and somewhere in Kenya someone is running around a broken down track barefoot.

Not only do we get trapped by having to have the latest things, which in most cases make absolutely no difference to our training. We are also on the hedonic treadmill of programs and nutrition.

The internet has provided an infinite amount of information and fitness programming. You can do one program for a week, then find another one the week after and then another. We are temporarily satisfied, but it's not enough, we switch programs and exercises looking for instant results

Generally, if you want to get better at running for most people, the first thing they should do is run more. If you want to get stronger, then lift more, and lift more often. But we are program hoppers and always looking for the latest fad. Of course, I could lift more and stick to the basic lifts, but surely if I do band assisted work and then add chains, and then do a complicated split routine with lots of accessory lifts it must be better than just doing the basics, right?

The same with running, there is no secret exercise that makes it easier.

Fitness is a skill and we want to take a short cut or look for the magic answer.

If you are in the gym power cleaning 70kg, having the most expensive Eleiko bar makes no difference, you are not good enough yet, you are not strong enough. If your running program consists of 2 x 20 min jogs a week, guess what? You need to run more. Compression socks, minimal shoes, hokas, maffetone formulas, crossfit endurance aren't going to make any difference. You just need to run more. It doesn't have to be complicated.

Maybe buying these will make you happy and make you a better runner. Or maybe you should just run more.

Of course, you might be that 1% who is lifting elite amounts of weight or already running 80 miles a week, in which case the small things can make a difference. But never forget Paul Anderson, Eugene Sandow, Ed Coan etc basically lifted heavy things and ate. Roger Bannister broke the 4 minute mile wearing a pair of leather plimsolls on a cinder track while training in between full time medical studies.

We want it to be complicated, because the alternative is hard to digest - hard work and repetition.

The same applies to nutrition, eat whole foods, prepare as much as you can your self, avoid overly processed things. But we want the new, the esoteric supplement will save us, the latest fad diet. I know why I'm not making gains it must be because I don't carb back load, it can't be my appalling nutrition or my lacklustre training regime.

The best of the best keep it simple. Kenyan runners don't really track mileage, but they run everyday, sometimes twice a day, and they eat ugali. No fancy micro managed diet from the latest guru.

If only you had a proper track you would be a world class runner. Oh wait? Source: africancowboy.blogspot.com

True conversation:
Runner: How do I get better at running hills?
Me: What hill training do you do now?
Runner: None
Me: Run more hills
Runner: Is there anything else I can do?
Me: Just start running up some hills.


Even some of the most elite athletes in the world have less complicated routines, nutrition plans and supplement regimes than some weekend warrior gym goers.

Simplify.

But simplify doesn't mean lack of structure.

It means do the basics well. Often.

Martial arts is based on repetition, sometimes mind numbing repetition. The modern western mind finds it hard to deal with. Where is the short cut, where is the hack?

New to exercise? What's the best fat loss routine? Go for a walk everyday. Do 50 body weight squats everyday.

I make a living telling people what to do. In some cases they are injured or have tried other things, or are looking to find that bit extra to win. But in most cases it is simple.

In the fitness industry we are guilty of showing someone a basic move such as a squat or deadlift and when the client doesn't grasp it, we move on, we don't spend time grooving in perfect technique. We feel the need to keep the client entertained by showing them new things or progressing them onto things they have no business doing yet as they don't have the movement capacity or fitness., But we want to show them what we know.

Yeah, I know Starting Strength is boring, and 5x5 doesn't work for you because you are special, and cross country running won't work for you... except.... but....

Simplify doesn't mean no coaching. It doesn't mean lack of quality.

I don't think all individuals know intuitively how to military press or bench press or even have good running technique.

The job of the coach is to help people shape the raw material they have. But the answer doesn't have to be complicated. Help clients identify the thing they are neglecting, the quality they need to work on.

Does everyone need a program? That's a question for next weeks blog.

In the meantime.

Simplify.

Move more often.

Work on the basics.

Get rid of superfluous things.

Simplify training, simplify exercise selection, simplify nutrition, simplify life.

(Yes, I'm aware that it took me over 1000 words to say keep things simple).

If you think going for a run for a total of 2 hours a week is hard try staring at a wall for 9 years. What could be simpler than sitting down. Bodhidharma Source: wikipedia.

Why Do We Cling To Fitness Frameworks? (Doing stuff that doesn't work).

Human beings are funny things, once they get an idea in their head they find it hard to let it go.

Despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary people continue to do things and think things that don't make sense. Once we have invested time and effort building a framework in our minds we don't want to have to dismantle it, accept something else and try something new. This is the basis of faith.
Some people continue to think evolution is an opinion, or the earth is flat or the sun goes around the earth (see this article here).  And some people seem to think you should spend your Saturday evening watching Britain's Got Talent rather than do something more useful like drink Absinthe until your brain dissolves. Sometimes our observations seem intuitively right but are factually incorrect and not supported by the evidence.

Anyway, fitness is a fertile ground for frameworks that people refuse to let go of despite the evidence. Here are the ones I hear and see everyday, but I'm sure you could all think of a few to add to list.

No.1: Crunch your way to a six pack.

We've all heard that you can't spot reduce fat, and abs are made in the kitchen. And yet it seems to be a human reflex action to finish a workout with abs.

Something deep inside us thinks the advice must be wrong, or even if it is, it doesn't apply to us, we are different, we are a unique snowflake. And after all, it can't hurt, we've got nothing to lose. Of course, you're different, you're doing it to get a strong core, blah blah. In which case stop doing stupid sit ups and crunches while holding onto a sandbag or medicine ball, and doing planks with the spine position of a banana.

One of the most common things we get asked in the fitness industry is 'I want to work on my stomach', 'I want to lose the fat on my stomach'. And you can explain that you can't spot reduce fat, and nutrition is the key, and spend an entire workout doing total body movements, but someone will still say at the end 'can you show me some ab exercises?'.

The very people who tell me they don't want to bulk up or lift weights, have no problem doing crunches until their abs burn. If I told them to do one hundred bicep curls until their biceps were burning they would look at me like I had gone insane, but abs are different of course.

For extra bonus points do some side bends while holding a dumbbell, as this will make your waist smaller, unlike all other exercises involving weights, which will obviously make you bigger.

Or you could be one of those guys who wants to build up his abs for some reason, in which case stop doing a 2 inch crunch (Stuart McGill is crying somewhere) and load up with some heavy weights.

Yes, and even I am afflicted by the core framework, how many times have I ended a personal training session with some core work for no apparent reason or to appease the client. And why do we all do core at the end?

I take it back, sit ups obviously work. Source: Bella Falconi

No.2: Fitness = cardio.

To the general public fitness = cardio. 'I wanna improve my fitness... so I wanna start with some cardio and get my fitness up... then I will move on and lift some weights .... I need to to improve my cardio before I can go to a class'.

There are several frameworks here. Firstly, the idea that cardiovascular fitness is the only type of fitness. Sports scientists are somewhat to blame for this, as they spent years measuring VO2 max, and max heart rates and heart rate zones. It was easy to measure in a lab. And then organisations like the ACSM and Cooper Institute originally only really talked about cardio fitness as being important.

The misconceptions are numerous. Firstly, that other measures of fitness like strength or power are somehow less important than the ability to watch Eastenders while being able to talk in short sentences walking on a treadmill.

Secondly, that only cardio machines are cardio. Your body doesn't know if you got your heart rate up on a cross trainer or by doing burpees or a conditioning circuit or high rep squats. Of course, one of these options is easier and doesn't involve straying too far from your comfort zone.

Thirdly, cardio is how you lose weight. It isn't. You tell people that if they got their nutrition right then they would lose weight, the steady state cardio they are doing twice a week for 20 minutes is making no difference. They will nod their head, do the 20 minutes and then go home and drink a litre of Zinfandel.

Of course, any exercise is better than none, and I don't want to come across as a curmudgeon. But if people are really as time poor as we are all led to believe, and can't commit to the gym, how come they can do an hour of cardio or three classes in a row. Surely, they would want to do the thing that is proven to work and be the most time efficient? But they don't, the steady state cardio framework is too strong.

Of course, you may be training to run a marathon or just really like cardio, that's fine, but don't think its the best way to lose weight or the only measure of fitness.

Camille Leblanc works on her cardio fitness. Source: about a million crossfit sites

No.3: Cardio before weights.

Related to number 2, tell people they can do strength training before weights and they will look at you like you just said you can eat dessert before the main meal. It doesn't make sense to them. Tell them they don't have to warm up on a piece of cardio equipment or the 10 second static stretch they are doing after their cardio warm up is pointless and they will look at you like you just told them Hershey bars are better than Dairy Milk (sorry my American friends but if you are going to eat chocolate life's too short to waste on a Hershey bar).

No.4: High fat.

The low fat mantra is so ingrained in people that they find it hard to let it go. Tell them that some fats are healthy for you and they can accept that just about. Tell them that they can lose weight by reducing carbs and increasing fat and protein and the fat phobia paranoia kicks in. You just told them to reduce carbs and all they heard was zero carb.

Or women especially will suddenly transform this advice into 'yes I must avoid carbs, and even though I have been told to eat more fat, that must be wrong, so I will be low fat as well', Combined with the fact that they think lentil soup is a high protein option and before you know it someone is eating 800kcals a day, feels terrible, looks skinny fat and ends up smashing a tub of Ben & Jerry's as their body goes into starvation mode. 'Yeah low carb, high protein didn't work for me'.

Tell someone they can eat a full fat Greek yoghurt and you can almost see the cold sweat on their faces. And when they are shopping the low fat framework is too strong, their trembling hand will reach for the 0% fat yoghurt, after all why would they make it 0% fat if it wasn't good for you?

Before I have a million comments from people saying where is the research, low fat worked for me, what do you think of banting? I think that 99.9% of people would benefit from eating a Mediterranean style diet, eating less processed stuff, and following the 90/10 rule, eat this way 90% of the time, and 10% of the time eat what you want. Unless you are getting ready to step on stage, which is different to most people, who want to lose a half a stone and look a bit more toned.

No.5: Interval training.

If you are training for a 5k or 10k or marathon every running magazine and book since Ron Hill first put his tracksters on will mention doing some interval training or fartlek.

And yet, nearly every recreational runner avoids this stuff. They go out and run the same 3 mile or 5 mile steady run every time. Again they have fallen foul to the framework of 'I need to get fitter before I do that stuff'. NO, that stuff will make you fitter!

It could be a time issue, there is this perception that if you can only run 3 times a week then just do the steady stuff. Once again, you are different, intervals and fartlek won't work for you, you just need to get the distance in, right? WRONG. It works. It doesn't have to be a big part of your training, but it needs to be part of it

The other issue is ego. Most people run on the road, and if your are doing fartlek or intervals, at some point you are going to be either walking or jogging very slow. In which case all the other runners are going to judge you as they run past on their steady 4 mile run. How dare you be wearing a hi vis running vest and be walking. I don't think I've ever seen anyone doing interval or fartlek on the road outside of a running club environment.

Of course, the last reason is interval training and fartlek is hard. You are literally pushing out of your comfort zone. 'But I'm training for an ultra?' Answer:You still need to do intervals and hill sprints at some point in your training. 'But I'm doing the race for life 5k and need to get my fitness up?' Answer: See no.2 and no.3 - you need to lose weight and strengthen up doing squats and other compound exercise before running long distances.

No.6: What you working on today?

Walk into most gyms and ask any random guy what they are doing today or what they are working on and they will say something like 'chest & arms' or ' a bit of back and biceps' or rarely 'legs'.

Despite the explosion of Olympic lifting, power lifting and crossfit style training, most guys in the free-weight area are following a classic body part split. Their training will be based on Arnie's Encyclopedia or Muscle & Fitness circa 1994. Despite the fact that most of them are not stepping on stage ever, and will even tell you 'I don't want to get too big'. Hardly anyone is going to say power day, or strength day, or plyometrics/ explosiveness.

The body part framework still pervades gym culture, even when trainers are designing fat loss workouts. Basically making their clients train like they train.

No.7: I want to do this class/ activity because...

Once someone has an idea in their mind it is very hard to change, and they will generally ignore your advice anyway. For example, I hear people say all the time that they want to do Pilates or Yoga to flatten their stomach, or help them lose weight on their stomach or legs or help with back pain or think it will be easier on their knees than gym work. If you tell them, that they will lose zero weight from doing Pilates, the calorie burn is minimal, that of course, it will help with posture and work some muscles but is not designed for back pain, or that yoga is hard. It will make absolutely no difference to them, they have already decided that they are doing the class, that yoga will be better for their knees than squats or they will get longer muscles.

Bonus: protein shake after workout.

I must drink this shake within 10 seconds of finishing my workout, preferably while talking a selfie in the changing room while I am still pumped. Adding the hashtags #pumped #anabolic #shredded #postworkout on instagram actually makes the shake even more effective.

This framework is deeply embedded in male lifters. Yeah, I've read the research, but I'm still drinking the shake with 20 minutes just in case.

Every second that passes you are literally shrinking unless you drink this post workout.

What's to be done.

Logic and science are one thing. But faith is another. The human brain seems hardwired to work on faith to a certain extent. Without getting into a religious discussion, people do and believe in things that they have no direct evidence or experience of. But unlike religion, fitness and research is not attempting to answer unanswerable questions about the afterlife. The body of evidence and research relating to fitness, weight loss, various training methods is quite large, and the general trends all point in the same direction.

And yet, people still like to cling to their frameworks. Blame the media, blame dogma, blame inflexible thinking, blame our culture looking for easy answers. Whatever, I don't know. I'm off to do some crunches.

Induction, Program, Leave, Repeat.

It's that time of year again, when thousands of people join gyms, and in a few months, most if not all of them would have left. That's why the fitness industry market penetration stands at about 12%, overall the number of people using health clubs and leisure centres' and PT studios is not really going up.

Churn.

Churn is an oft used term in the fitness industry. It refers to the fact that most people have been members of a gym before. They will join the gym, leave, possibly go and join another gym, leave, come back and join the original gym again, and so on. The fitness industry is churning members, clubs are merely swapping members.

The main reason is most clubs offer the same product, there is no differentiation.

And one of the biggest failings of the industry is the induction (sometimes called orientation) process. That initial appointment or series of appointments where the fitness instructor initiates you into the 'secrets' of the gym.

Clubs and gyms make a big point of saying you get 2 or 3 or 5 or 3 months of appointments with them, and free personal training, and it's always included in your membership. Always individual to your needs. Nearly always includes an 'assessment' and free program. What's not to like? The problem is most of this is not true.

The induction process is a failure. This could could be because the industry has adopted the same process, which is tired, boring and unimaginative? The fitness instructors delivering it could be under-skilled or lazy? But, I am going to put it out there, the public are to blame as well, with their low expectations, low adherence levels, and unwillingness to break out of their comfort zones. They end up getting the product they deserve. It all becomes a vicious cycle.

Museum tour.

Once you've had the museum tour of the club, 'this is a treadmill', 'this is a leg extension', 'this is a sauna you're never going to use' it's time to join and get booked in for the induction.

The tour has set up an expectation of what the induction will consist of (all the shiny machines with TV's attached) and the members previous experience has also set up an expectation (I've had an induction before, I've joined the gym to use the same machines I used at another gym, even though I didn't get any results, these machines must somehow be different, after all they are connected to the internet. Of course, the definition of insanity is expecting different results while continuing to do the same thing).

The public have an expectation of what a gym should consist of. I think this is because the current generation of exercisers first joined a gym sometime in late 1990's, early 2000's. This is when big box gyms were on the rise, these chains all had plenty of CV machines, some resistance machines and not much else. This is what the public think a gym and fitness is. The fact that this was an aberration, that for most of history gyms didn't look like this, fitness didn't look like this, is lost, people only know what they've seen and what they've experienced.

And the fitness renaissance that has happened in the last 5 years or so, with an upsurge of freeweights, kettlebells and bodyweight has been mostly ignored by the general public. For example, I still get asked 'where is the adductor machine you sit on, I used to like that'.

When all these new fangled treadmills and machines first came out, maybe you needed someone to show you how to use them, but not now. If you can turn on your TV and walk down the street, you can probably use a treadmill.

How do I start this machine? Good news, It's got a TV, I'm bound to lose weight now.

Low skill, high skill.

When it comes to the actual induction, the vicious cycle begins. Back in the 1990's, gyms and golf clubs and hotel gyms could employ low skilled instructors, because showing someone a few machines was an easy minimum wage job.

Except, now many instructors, trainers, coaches have a decent skill level, and know how to demonstrate squats, deadlifts,and kettlebells (of course, there is some variability here). But this takes time.

On the other side is the new member. They have certain expectations and a perceived wisdom of what will get results. It must be all the machines, that's what I'm paying for?

Back to the instructor, they are back to back with appointments, as its January, and the member has just uttered the dreaded sentence 'I just wanna lost weight and tone up, and don't want to get bulky'. Plus they've just mentioned a back injury and knee injury, which they've had some 'physio' for but now they want your advice on what to do for this, will the x-trainer help or make it worse?! And they can only train twice a week.

And times ticking, the instructor has 45 minutes left. There is no assessment, there is no movement screening, because 1) They may not know how to do one 2) The member expects to get on and do some cardio pretty soon, because after all that's how you lose weight?! 3) The instructor is going to stick to the tried and tested machines they know they can show people quickly in 45 minutes. Because the instructor may already be thinking that this person is going to drop out, if I show them how to squat, when they come in by themselves they are going to stay in their comfort zone and go on the x-trainer again, and I will be inducting someone else so wont have time to help them.

Because, if the instructor says, 'actually with your knee issues and back issues, we need to do a full movement screen, and there is no fitness solution to injury, and you should be doing these mat based exercises to begin with, and to lose weight you don't need to go anywhere near a x trainer'; they know they will mainly get a perplexed look from the client.

So the instructor ends up showing them the treadmill, bike, x trainer variations, a few resistance machines and a mat based exercise. And then books the client in for their follow up appointment.

Because showing you these takes about 30 seconds and is a low skill option for the instructor and the client; and will result in no weight loss.. And if the instructor shows you a goblet squat are you going to have faith that they are telling you the truth.

Except the adherence rate for follow up appointments is very low, most people don't make it past appointment 2, after all they are safely in their comfort zone on the x trainer failing to get any results, literally going through the motions.

Oh and a program of course.

What can also happen, is the instructor will write you an 'individual program' while walking around with you. Of course, it isn't individual or optimal, its what is easy to show you and what the instructors thinks you are going to remember.

Most clubs seem to have been using the same program card format for the last twenty years. If you use a program card, I can guess the layout right now. 1) Warm up box 2) Static Stretch section 3) Cardio section 4) Resistance section, it might even say resistance machines 5) Cool-down 6) Some more static stretches.

The programs will consist of warming up on a piece of cardio, a few stretches, 5-10mins each on a selection of cardio equipment, some resistance machines, cool-down on a piece of cardio, some stretches laying down. It will probably be a one day program. And if your lucky it will have a core exercise like a plank, or possibly a swiss ball, though they have fallen out of favor now.

However, this program format is absolutely useless, works for no one, and you will get a more intense workout walking from your car to the gym. So it is no surprise most clients will abandon this program, and then start free styling their workouts.

What should happen then - fitness is a skill.

We need to break the cycle. The exercises that work take skill, time and coaching.

The content of gyms has exploded in the last 5 years, with kettlebells, TRX, Viprs plus more barbell and cables, but most of the public don't use them or get shown them. This is a two way street.

You do the occasional client who says 'show me everything', which shows they don't really know what they are doing either, and they also need to be educated. Yes, we could spend literally weeks just showing you dumbbell exercises, and you want to see every cable exercise as well, plus Olympic weightlifting, this is going to take a bit longer than 55 minutes.

It could take an instructor an entire session to coach someone a squat, or deadlift, or kettlebell swing. You may not get any training effect in the first session. In fact in may take 4 or 5 sessions, to coach and educate the client on what is the most effective exercises for them. They may need an entire session on corrective exercise or mobility. This is why instructors loathe free PT sessions, what can you really do with someone in 55 minutes with no info, background, screening or experience of the client. Especially when the client is expecting to get out of breath, and 'smashed', as this is what fitness is to them.

Most instructors are willing to coach now, they want to coach and impart what they know.. The business's they work for need to realise this. To begin with not all clients will get this or understand this. But in the longer term they will get results. You will lose some people to your competition but others will stay and get results.

"If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses." - Henry Ford.

To paraphrase Henry Ford, if you ask the public what they want in terms of fitness, some are going to say a better x trainer or new ab machine. Something easy.

Members need to be educated and the fitness experience re-framed. They are not buying equipment or machines, they are buying coaching and results and a community experience. I'm slightly loathed to say it, but this is what Crossfit has got right.

And coaching is be better in a small group environment. Many clients end up going to classes and covering way more in one bodypump class than they would do in the gym with an instructor one to one. We need to accept that the one to one training/ induction method may not be the most optimal way of training people. Most athletes train in groups. All classes are in groups, why did the gym become a lone activity?

People don't turn up to appointments because they don't value it. You are offering them free coaching and they don't show up. They think its about equipment because that's how we sell it. We need to sell differently. We need to put coaching and our staff and results at the forefront in peoples minds.

And as for the people who have decided before they turn up that they don't like exercise or they don't like the gym. This could be because of previous experience of inductions and lack of results from the cookie cutter program and perfunctory inductions, so if you do something different you've got nothing to lose, as they were going to leave anyway. And if they don't want the new method they were already lost, the product never was for them.

And you don't need a program.

At the other end of the spectrum are the people who opt out of the induction process, either because they've had one before and attach no value to it, if someone is just going to show you how to use a treadmill again why bother. And the other group (mostly guys) who are following a program they have got from the internet or Mens' Health.

And iI'm going to put it out there again, the program is not really that important. For most people whether you do 3x10, 5x5, or 4x8, dumbbell press or barbell press is irrelevant. The heart rate zones aren't important, walk uphill, get out of breath, and for the love of all that is right, work on your strength, running form and technique before going for a jog..

What IS relevant is the execution and skill. Most people following programs have poor form, a little knowledge is a dangerous thing (these are the guys who think they can figure out how to use any machine, and end up doing leg presses on the calf machine). What they need is COACHING. They need to be taught the SKILL of training. How to structure their own training. This lasts a lifetime.

We should be coaching the movements that work - squat, press, deadlift (hinge), row (pull) - whether that be with barbells, kettlebells or dumbells or sandbag or bodyweight. But this takes time.

Bright shining lie.

And the lines between induction, instructing, coaching and personal training become blurred. The idea that we give this amount of information in an induction but if you want real training you need to do personal training becomes problematic. We may need to re-frame our products.

But also members need to re-frame there expectations and we need to help them. Only the other day, an older lady told me the gym was becoming more about young people and young guys with all its free weights and kettlebells. In her mind, cardio equipment and certain resistance machines were for old people. And don't get me wrong, many machines have their benefits. But what an indictment that someone now thinks a basic movement such as a squat or press up or a dumbbell is only for younger people.

In conclusion, we have all failed, the industry, the staff, the clients. We were all complicit in the bright shining lie, and it was fueled by equipment manufacturers.

It's time to get real, get truthful, it's time to re-frame our product. Its time to have faith in your knowledge, its time to realise the true value of your product and skill set. It's time we all got out of our fitness comfort zone. It's time to get coaching!

Otherwise next January is going to be the same as this January.

Fitness Isn't

Fitness isn't about

machines, or the latest fad

or carb back loaded paleo keto butter in your coffee instagram posts

It isn't undulating periodized secret Russian training method

It isn't about how big the gym is or how much it costs

It isn't 3 stage orientation, induction, we do things differently around here with the same cookie cutter programme

It isn't in the trenches strength coaches selling their latest product

It isn't mens health, fitness model, this time I'm going to get a 6 pack workout

It isn't internet connected, watching TV while walking up a hill

It isn't superfood

It isn't celebrity diet, exercise DVD, bargain bucket when they balloon up again next year

It isn't long leaner muscles

It isn't fitspo

It isn't about gamification

It isn't easy

It isn't about the music in the background or what you wear or android apple app that tells you when to sleep

It isn't about hashtags and click bait

It isn't on demand or live streamed

It isn't social media, constant posts and noise and endless advice

It isn't the latest gadget GPS map my life heart rate variability how long should I recover

It isn't this training split or GVT

It isn't 'my method is better than yours'

It isn't 'this is the only way'

It isn't about paying a trainer to motivate you

It isn't this January it's going to be different and 3 weeks in everything is the same

It isn't goal setting, new year, new you trite slogans

It isn't fitness models with eating disorders pretending to be role models

It isn't a cult or a box or a licence fee branded workout

It isn't about your ex wife or your ex husband or 'i'll show them'

It isn't about that boy or that girl or for anyone else

It isn't about a medal

Fitness is never external

It is only ever intrinsic

The motivation is only ever internal

Look inside

There is no equipment solution to a fitness problem

Your body already knows what to do

It's about who you want to be

It's about what you were born to do

Fitness is movement

You were designed to move

Your mind already knows what to do

You half remember when you were a kid and it was effortless

When there was no plan, when there was no expectation

There is nothing new

Move, eat real food, sleep, simplify

Fitness is something more fundamental

You have the raw materials, all someone else can do is help you shape them

Why haven't you started

You know why

Just start

You already know what to do in 2015

How to choose a gym

I wrote an article for my friends over at www.maximaleffort.com

It's called 'How to choose a gym', so you can probably guess what it's about, you can find it here

The Digital Disruption of the Fitness Industry. (Here comes the future and you can't run from it*).

"It's not sufficient to do things better. We need to do better things." - Mark Shayler

Fitness at its heart is very much an analogue activity. Regardless of the gadgets and fancy gear, you still have to lift the weight or run the distance.

Although the 'gamification' of the fitness industry has probably been overplayed. (go to any gym, like the one I am a member of and see how many people use The Trixter bikes, basically none, once the novelty has worn off). The way we engage with the public, get them to join our facilities and the products we offer need to move on and reflect the new way the market behaves.

Opening a gym used to be relatively simple, a 2 stage process:

1) Fill a room with machines
2) Hand out some leaflets and hope people joined

This process was then added to by some of the big players. And despite my claim at least one of them would go under, specifically LA Fitness in the last couple of years, they have more or less stayed afloat. Though, those of you who keep up with such things will know that LA Fitness had to close several sites, sold a load to Sports Direct and had to re-negotiate the rent on the others.

The process favoured by the standard industry representatives is:

1) Fill a room with machines
2) Hand out some leaflets
3) When people come in with the leaflet put them on a call list
4) Call them offering no joining fee until they join or tell you to stop calling them
5) Ignore them until their contract finishes and then call them again to ask about renewal.

Of course, this model forgets that the Internet, amazon, google and facebook have since been invented.

1998 called, it wants its marketing campaign back.

I have heard the same figures quoted for leaflets for the past 10 years, a 1 to 3% return. Don't forget this was the possible return rate in a world without facebook. These days you would be better off sponsoring the recycling bin because that's where your leaflets are going.

A brief history of the fitness industry.

We are also in a period where innovation is being driven from the bottom up in fitness.

In the last 50 years or so, fitness has gone through the following phases:

1) In the 1950 & 1960s. Guys who liked training in gyms, opened one up for their friends to train in.
2) In the 1970s & 1980s tennis clubs and squash clubs started to open. In the UK leisure centres started to spread. Some had a small gym attached, normally a multi-machine.
3) In the 1990s. The current modern era started, with various health club chains opening, this is the model most have joined the industry in the last 15 years or so are familiar with. The agenda was set by these companies in terms of how you set up a club. i.e. rows of cardio equipment, minimal weights, resistance machine, saunas & steam rooms. It was a top down model, and someone at the top decided what was going to attract the most members or the desired type of member.
4) Now. Guys and females who like training are opening their own micro gyms, or PT studios or Crossfit boxes. The agenda is now set by these clubs. Innovation is being driven from the bottom up.

The trend in kettlebells, HIIT training, functional rigs and so forth were all adopted by the big chains after they had been proven in smaller facilities.

And most of this disruption was driven digitally on facebook and youtube. With coaches and trainers posting videos of their facility, their clients and what they do.

Innovation in marketing.

The  main focus of this article will how to engage more people in fitness via the marketing we use and the ease with which consumers can access our products.

A quick look through the websites listed below and several things stand out:

http://www.lafitness.co.uk/

Join online includes free PT
Still has tour de france promo from July on site
PT yes, no prices

http://www.virginactive.co.uk/

Can�t join online, gives prices

 http://www.nuffieldhealth.com/

Can�t join online, usual PT spiel, no price

http://www.fitnessfirst.co.uk/

Yes, can join online, includes bodyfirst PT sessions

http://www.gymbox.com/Join

Can�t join online, meet the PT section, seemed to have got away with work out of the day without being sued by crossfit

http://www.bannatyne.co.uk/healthandfitness/

Arrange a visit, can't join online

http://www.fitness4less.co.uk/

Can join online

http://www.thegymgroup.com/

Can join online

http://www.davidlloyd.co.uk/

Can't join online, you can get free membership until Jan 2015, plus they have a playlist app. Yep, a playlist app but no fitness or nutrition app.

http://crossfitlondonuk.com/

personal training appt slots, prices per session and monthly on site

1) How similar all the websites are, the same stock images, the same menus at the top of the page, the same phrases.
2) How on some of them you still can't join online. They still have the gatekeeper mentality. You need to contact a sales advisor to be able to join. You might be able to buy a car online, or a holiday or a computer worth a �1000, but when it comes to signing up for a gym you have to go through the sales team still.
3) The prices range per month range from �10.99 to �70+ per month, and at first glance it is very difficult to discern any real difference between the different companies. They have the same classes on offer, the equipment is made by the same manufacturers. So obviously you are paying for the service...

There are no 'purple cows' as Seth Godin would say, no one is really standing out from the crowd. They all look the same, and offer more or less the same service.

These companies have become too big to innovate, they are fighting for the customer who occupies the mythical middle ground. The customer who so far has made most of their business models untenable.

The myth of incumbency is alive and well. You think these companies know what they are doing, they are the experts in the fitness industry. But hang on

"Sony missed the mp3... Kodak missed digital... and Nokia forgot about innovation." - Mark Shayler

Being the big guy on the block doesn't mean a thing in the face of the current technologies.

"The only source of competitive advantage now is a focus on knowledge of and engagement with customers." James McQuivey

The claims that they have 'built a gym package exclusively for you or me' can't be true. If any of these operators go beyond off-peak/ peak/ corporate and contract/ non contract I'll eat a bosu.

"Don't try to make a product for everybody, because that is a product for nobody." - Seth Godin

Before & After pictures - the calling card.

The current outlets of facebook, twitter and websites allow individual trainers and small companies to engage as much or more with their customers than large corporations.

Its not unusual for self employed solo personal trainers to have more facebook likes, more twitter followers and more interactions on social media than their big business counterparts.

Firstly, posting before and after pictures and testimonials is very powerful and most large companies don't do it or are poor at it. This could be related to the personal training model they follow (see below). Whereas, success coaches and PT's make it their business to post success stories and testimonials.

Secondly, in many ways it is easy for the lone trainer to engage with his audience on facebook & twitter. They do not have to go through a corporate filter or marketing department. They can be their authentic self.

"The way you break through to the mainstream is to target a niche instead of a huge market." - Seth Godin

This is the approach Crossfit took and small independent trainers can take. The large chains that think they just target the mainstream have forgotten that total marketing penetration for the fitness industry stands at about 12%.

For large corporations, there is always the chance that the opposite will happen. Check out Nuffields facebook page to see how former disgruntled employees will have their say or any other operator to see how unhappy members will rate your service or how vociferous they will be if something goes wrong with the service or their contract. This is then compounded by pages being updated sporadically, less than once a month, and the complete lack of member transformation stories. The PR war has been lost before it even begun.

Personal Training - not really part of the service.

Looking at the websites listed above, it is hard to find personal training on any them. It becomes doubly hard to find out how much personal training costs and just about impossible to book an appointment.

One provider, Fitness First, does provide some PT sessions as an option as part of the initial sign up package.

The reason for the difficulty finding PT is most operators don't see it as part of their core service. The trainers are normally self employed and pay a monthly rent to access the clients in the club. Again, you will be hard pressed to find any testimonials or before and after pictures on any of these websites.

How about integrating personal training into the member experience. Don't make them pay for it in blocks of 5 or 10 sessions. How about charging an enhanced monthly rate for personal training and rather than making the PTs freelance hired hands, make them the instructors that you pay an additional (decent) amount to for training clients. And how about measuring them in terms of results and PR generated.

App Attack.

I checked all the major app stores and couldn't find any current fitness operator who had delved into this market, except recently Nuffield with their health measuring app and David Lloyd with their playlist app.

Again, another missed opportunity. The public are using 'my fitness pal' and all sorts of fitness workout apps and the fitness industry was in the perfect position to produce their own one, but as far as I can tell no one did. We have the gyms, the staff, the workouts and the member base. It wouldn't have taken much much for one of the big players to release a fitness app which they gave to every new member for free, and/or sell it somewhere like the 'play store'.

The same goes for nutrition apps or even basic workout tracking apps. But it seems the industry waits for someone else to do it.

Outside the building.

As an industry, we are still very much in the mindset of  'put some machines in a room and people will come'. There is no reason why our products could not become more virtual. Even if apps are not developed there is no reason why you couldn't be selling nutrition and training programmes to people not actually in your gym. Freelance trainers from the USA and UK are doing this right now with online clients; but for some reason this is an aspect of business we dismiss.

If you start to develop clients outside your geographical sphere of influence you have just widened your market wider than you ever thought possible. But it has be done properly, a half arsed effort is not going to cut it in today's market place.

Joined up thinking.

I found only one website, a Crossfit one, where you could actually book a personal training appointment via the website. Surely, this should be the norm.

The following simple changes could make the difference

1) The front page of your web page should make it easy to join and obvious what the price is.
2) Your website should not consist of stock images of people sitting on swiss balls but real before and after testimonials from clients, people actually training in your gym with you.
3) The client should be able to book personal training or their first gym orientation online, most places let people book classes online now, why not this.
4) Integrate PT into your business model not as stand alone blocks of 5 or 10 sessions. Pay staff to be your personal trainers.
5) Widen your customer base to include distance coaching clients, online programme writing and more. If you have an IT department why aren't they developing a fitness app to give to your members or to place in an app store.
6) Don't try and be all things to all people, Crossfit doesn't, Zumba doesn't, the best TV programmes don't try to be - so why are you? Pick a market, and be authentic with how you represent yourself and your product.

But fundamentally start asking what your customer really wants and what you can do to stand out from the crowd.

Are you offering customers what they really want? Do they want rows of equipment? Do they want fast classes? Or do they want results? Do they want to belong to a tribe? Do they want to join with a friend or would they rather join and meet like minded people? Do we really know the answer to these questions or do we presume? Do we as an industry know the answer to these questions?

Standing out doesn't means starting some crazy fitness class that no one wants to go to but developing a product that is easily accessible and provides something that no one else is providing or they provide it but you just do it better.

If you don't start disrupting now, someone else will and you will be left behind.

"Just asking customers for feedback won't lead to the breakthrough disruptions... because customers don't always know what they want." - James McQuivey

Oh, and if anyone asks, I invented digital fit street.

References

Seth Godin (2003) Purple Cow: Transform your business by being remarkable. Penguin

James McQuivey (2013) Digital Disruption: Unleashing the next wave of innovation. Amazon publishing.

Mark Shayler (2013) DO Disrupt. Change the status quo. Or become it. DO Books Co.

"Marketing is too important to be left to the marketing department." - David Packard

* line taken from Billy Bragg song Waiting for the Great Leap Forwards.