A Biased “Fitness” Revolution:

The Truth Behind Why You Always Receive The Same Advice. 

I had an interesting time working with a brand new client who brought me to this topic for this week. I’ll make it as short as possible the list of information she gave me in terms of what she’s been doing for workouts for 30+ years.

“I’ll have to workout 5X per week (legs only) to get a larger booty”.

“Knee extension is bad”.

“Knees need to stay behind the toes when I’m squatting”. 

“Get as many reps in and vary the workouts”. 

Not all of this is incorrect, but a LOT of it is skewed to the person she was asking specific questions to. Friend, chiropractor, cousin, etc. 

What I have noticed is when we get information that sounds “right” or that we have heard before we tend to cling onto it for dear life. Because if more than one person has said it it must be true, right? 

WRONG.

Psychologically speaking, this is what we call “confirmation bias” and something I frequently see with clients. 

Confirmation bias is the tendency to search for, interpret, favor, and recall information in a way that confirms one's beliefs or hypotheses while giving disproportionately less attention to information that contradicts it. Plous, Scott (1993)

When I do run into this I am brought to two lanes in which I can go…

React or ask questions. 

I choose to ask questions. To get to the bottom of where and why someone is thinking what they think. No judgements. Just an open dialogue. 

What generally ends up happening after this dialogue is us beginning to explore an exercise they once were told was “bad” (in a progressive manner that is appropriate FOR them). Which dismantles the “truth” they once avoided and opens up a whole new world of POTENTIAL.

This is something I CONSTANTLY do with myself AND my clients. 

What I invite you to do the next time you are looking for any sort of fitness advice from a friend, family or even a professional is to take a step back and question what is being told to you. Even if it is coming from me :)