The Era of Magical (Fitness) Thinking
Anyone who knows me knows I love fantasy. Ever since I picked up a dog eared copy of The Sword of Shannara- Terry Brooks’ late 70’s series that was a barely concealed LOTR ripoff- I was hooked. I love me a hero with a big sword, a fearsome dragon, and strange, mysterious, powerful magicians.
That’s well and good for a make-believe-story, but just as you wouldn’t want to run into someone lugging a big sword around or a dragon on your morning commute, in the real world, magic is often a code for…bullshit.
These days, we’re increasingly being sold magical solutions to real world problems. The broad dissemination of information across unregulated platforms has led to a lot of people putting their trust in those who make their case the loudest, who appeal to emotion over reason, who promise magical fixes and secret cures. This is certainly dangerous in all of the places in our lives that aren’t fitness, and it’s equally problematic when it makes its way inside the gym.
So what does magical thinking in the fitness space look like? It’s often people espousing the benefits of things that are very new and/or haven’t been subject to rigorous testing. Sometimes it can be a message or messenger that leans heavily on visual appeal, emotional resonance, or absolute certainty to conceal a lack of knowledge, accuracy, or nuance. Sometimes it can be simply overstating the importance of a method or variable- treating a “side dish” like a “main course.” And of course, the thing that usually lurks under the surface, is when the person making the appeal stands to personally and financially gain from winning your belief.
I’m being pretty careful to not call out specific methods or actors, so I get it if this might seem a little abstract. Buy me a beer sometime and I promise I will happily dish in person. To help clarify and to help you avoid being seduced by dark magic, here’s some questions you can ask yourself:
- Track Record & Validation: How long has this method been around? Has it stood the test of time? Has it been studied, tested, and reproduced? Do the best athletes in the world use it or something like it?
- Source Credibility: Who is the person making the case? What are their background and credentials? Are you trusting them because they’re highly qualified and/or have lots of experience in the field or are you trusting them because they are jacked/hot/cool/have sick fashion sense/are really good video editors…you get the drift 😜
- Scope and Proportion: Assuming this method, program, or message is valid/tested/repeatable etc. is the scope and/or relative importance of it being accurately communicated?
- Follow the Money!: Does the person communicating this message stand to directly (usually financially) benefit from me agreeing with it, and more specifically taking action? Is this a problem that only they have the secret solve for…but it’ll cost you? Are they concealing the cost of things until it’s “too late?”
Asking yourself those questions, and sitting with the answers long enough to make a reasoned decision, can save you a lot of time, effort, and money in the long run. I hope this doesn’t read as me trying to gatekeep fitness- in fact, I think there are lots of times where a person or program may “fail” one of these tests, but pass the rest, and still be very valid and worth your time. The most obvious of these is a program with a great track record, designed by a credible source, that sets realistic expectations about what their program can achieve…and (transparently) charges money for it. That looks a lot like the gym I run!
If you are getting multiple red flags, or one of them to an overwhelming degree, I’d consider alternatives. As enticing as it can be to find a super secret mystical forgotten art, taught by someone who received their wisdom in a dream, consisting of only 3 movements that will train your whole body, for the low low price of $99.99…yeah that’s just magic. Cool when Gandalf does it, not so cool in the real world.
