The other day we were talking to a client who is a Personal Trainer here in London about how most people who approach a physical activity program expect immediate results and when they discover that after two weeks “nothing has happened ”, Always the coach’s fault. That is, we even get to contest the instructor or the gym and its methods and then change them with another.
Dissatisfaction is one of the main reasons that animate the turnover of customers of fitness centers who, on the other hand, can only resign themselves to the phenomenon so as to become passive actuators themselves. Some managers of small / medium-sized fitness centers have confessed to me that they don’t go out of their way to keep up with “problematic” customers who eventually leave anyway. And they do well.
Choose not to succumb
The point here is not only the professionalism of the instructors or personal trainers , or their preparation, but the fact that it is objectively impossible to achieve without effort and in a short time those results that many media indicate as possible.
The problem is that if until some time ago it was only women’s magazines that declared “lose 10 kg in two weeks without struggling”, lately there have also been a bit more specialized magazines and thematic websites, which use unsustainable slogans just to generate interest and visitor traffic.
For every disappointed there is always a new solution ready to renew the false promise of eternal youth at no cost The exploitation of any information that has a minimum of scientific basis is almost embarrassing, especially when it turns out that many of the studies cited in support of these bizarre illusory theories, they say something quite different from what is instead claimed in the article.
On the other hand, people accustomed to obtaining everything immediately, with little effort and with the minimum sacrifice are the target of this type of communication which relies precisely on their lack of determination and will to propose apparently easy, almost magical solutions.
Big Pharma also uses this lever, for the series “why struggle when you have the magic pill available?” Unfortunately, unscrupulous sensationalism, disinformation and Fitness seem to complement each other very well and here for every disappointed there is always a new solution ready to renew the false promise of eternal youth at zero cost in terms of effort.
So the aerobics on videotape of the 80s with Jane Fonda, which in any case worked well if done well, turned into Zumba or Sh’bam, the theory of low-impact activities as favorable to the elimination of fat has become an almost belief. dogmatic and the types of group courses have diversified and multiplied like bacteria. Is it possible that despite such a vast offer there is nothing that in the end really manages to meet the expectations created in consumers?
What if the problem were customers?
Well, I personally tried to “infiltrate” some group classes, the infamous “courses” and I must admit that many of them, even if they are never characterized by great intensity of work, can be tough, so much so as to bring some results to those who persevere with commitment and consider them an aspect of a lifestyle that also includes the other side of the coin: nutrition.
Yet, what I have often seen, are movements performed poorly, with disinterest, without the slightest awareness, simply mimicking what the instructor or others are doing with more of a night out at the club than a workout in the gym.
It is true that most people approach training as fun and are often not interested in improving their technique. It is also true that most people in the end never fully believe that they can change and find it easier to blame anyone else, including the class, the instructor, the gym, rather than admitting their mental resignation, that is, an unconscious attitude. self-induced negative that is difficult to remedy.
The theory of lesser evil and conscience at peace
In the end, complaining about others for not doing it to yourself is the practice that, whether or not exploited by the Fitness industry, is still part of the DNA of a good chunk of human beings. In the end, if you count those millions of total sedentary obese, even doing Step twice a week is always better than nothing. It is the theory of the lesser evil, very often used as a justification for not doing better and more and being satisfied without trying to progress.
Ultimately, doing little is better than nothing for many, but we must be aware that it is not enough to improve one’s fitness and health even if the doctor said that just walking half an hour a day is enough. He too has succumbed to the lesser evil theory but he knows that it is the only way to get you to do something, whatever it is.
The lesser evil theory explains why in ever more approved fitness centers, less and less strenuous exercises are administered uniformly to everyone. It’s right? Certainly not but for those people who do not want to use their heads to understand and prefer to be led on a closed road already from the start being told what they want to hear instead of objective truth, it is the only thing that can be done.
As a good evolutionist, I believe that in the end it is a kind of natural selection between those who consciously want to take care of the only body they have and those who prefer to believe the unreal promises that, at this point, they deserve. But for those who want to evolve, understand, experiment and test themselves there are luckily still instructors, coaches, coaches and trained people able to satisfy them: you just need to want it and look a little ahead of your nose and I’m not just talking about CrossFit . Just realize that if for many a little is better than nothing, for others a little is not enough.