Why on heavens good earth, is there so much confusing, contradicting, conflicting fitness advice and so called ‘evidence’ when it comes to the disoriented fitness world. Some dude says one thing, another dude says another, and the next thing you know we’re all calling ourselves experts, trainers, or gurus! It’s crap, complete crap, and as convenient as the internet has become, it’s quickly becoming less convenient with all the crap you have to sift through to find something that actually has some legitimacy and truth behind it.

I wish I could tell you what’s true and what’s not, but let’s be serious….That’s just a little bit unrealistic of a job for one person. But, I will gladly tell you two of the main reasons why conflicting fitness advice seems so abundant.

There are 2 main reasons why the fitness world is so disoriented now. The first deals with change, and the inability for some people to simply swallow their pride, tell their ego to sit down, and show some integrity by seeing the methods they currently use, are quite possibly, outdated.

The fitness world is going through what I call the “Changing of the Guard”. New fitness methods, training, and techniques are being explored and proven to provide better, faster, and safer results than traditional methods. Now, before we jump to conclusions, don’t go spreading the rumor that I’m saying traditional fitness methods are bad or don’t work. Because that would be a lie, we all see many people who are currently using these methods and are still in great shape. All I’m saying is these new age methods of training are more efficient and effective as a whole.

What’s the effect of this? Well change is hard for some people, especially people who have been doing something for 20 years and are told one day by some hot shot whose twice his youth, “your workout routine is inefficient, ineffective, and takes to long…”. Naturally, someone is going to take offense to this and fight to the death that they’re methods have worked great for them for 20 years, why change now? A valid point, but the very reason why we have so much conflicting fitness advice nowadays.

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Let’s look at a few examples to get the ball rolling. Older methods of weight loss include doing hours of cardio training, stamina/endurance training, and steady state motion exercises to lose body fat. Newer methods of exercising to lose body fat include interval training, intense spin/step classes, and anything dealing with a greater range when it comes to your heart rate. The latter is proven to be more effective when it comes to losing weight, yet people still say cardio is the most effective method, and we all see cardio equipment as the most frequently used piece of equipment in a gym. WTF! It’s like talking to a stubborn child who refuses to listen.

Another example would be the concept of building muscle. Traditionally, building muscle was done through a process of isolating muscle groups. Highly targeted, specific, isolation exercises to try and super target a muscle group. New methods have resorted to muscle confusion and compound dynamic exercises. Workouts which target multiple muscle groups and are constantly changing to maximize results and eliminate the plateau effect. Again, the latter has proven to provide much quicker results; yet people still want to promote isolation exercises to build muscle. WTF! New age fitness programs have provided breakthrough results: Beach body fitness, P90X, Turbulence Training, CrossFit are just a few of the new era fitness programs that can support this – giving people their sought-after bodies within only months of starting, no traditional program has been able to do that!

The second reason I want to touch on explaining all the conflicting fitness advice is the introduction of diversification into workouts. Now, I’m not saying traditional muscle gaining or fat burning methods didn’t incorporate diversification, only that the ‘new age’ workouts are becoming more aware of the importance of this aspect. You’ve probably heard of this as muscle confusion. Muscle confusion has eliminated the stereotype that different body types and genetics have played in the role of preventing people from losing weight or gaining muscle. A common thread throughout the 80s and into the 90s was that people couldn’t do anything if they fell into that group of genetically cursed individuals who couldn’t lose weight or gain muscle. New era fitness has put this myth to rest and has allowed skinny dudes to naturally gain loads of muscle while allowing naturally larger people to rapidly shed the pounds. Now traditional body builders would argue that they’ve known about this forever, yet I still see the majority of them primarily doing isolation exercises in the gym and doing the same old sets and repetitions workout after workout. WTF!

This new fitness era has brought about a revolution where more and more programs are incorporating methods that provide effective, efficient, and rapid results that are challenging traditional methods.

We’re at a stage where multiple self-proclaimed experts, gurus, or trainers are constantly arguing and disagreeing with each other because no one see’s eye to eye. Everyone has their personal way of doing things, and any other method is wrong! It’s time people look at the bigger picture, swallow their pride and man up, stop being so arrogant and realize that methods outside of their own are effective as well. We are amidst the “Changing of the Guard” and until everyone can see eye to eye on the way the fitness world is heading, we’re going to be set for bumpy roller-coaster of a ride with much more conflicting fitness advice.

Change is the only constant. Every single industry grows and adapts to the never-ending change involved within it. Instead of people trying to prove everyone else wrong because their methods are new, controversial, fresh or different from their own – they have to look at things with an open-mind, understanding there is more than one method of gaining the body you desire – and eliminate all this conflicting fitness advice in a now disoriented fitness world!