By: Jimmy Smith
“To avoid criticism, do nothing, say nothing, be nothing”
Elbert Hubbard
The fitness industry is a young industry, health and fitness have certainly been around for awhile but the industry in terms of information products, conferences, top trainers etc etc is still pretty young. I guess youth is wasted on the young in that sense. When you initially think of an fitness expert you probably think of someone with a bunch of letters after there name then go into how many conferences they present at and magazines they write for. On the other hand, everyone who is an author of anything is an expert to the Internet fitness community.
It’s more of a “tell-me situation” then a “show-me”. I received an email either right after or before my first newsletter from a member of a popular forum. He pleaded with me to not go the affiliate route and “sell out” like so many other trainers. Right or wrong, he rang a bell. After all, that same popular forum has a huge list of “expert” blogs which mine isn’t even on. Damn I guess I haven’t reached that level. The fitness industry is all confused, it isn’t about who is right or wrong with what they are saying but who actually gets it and what knowledge they have.
People are deemed expert by going with the popular trend. If I say “high intensity cardio is good up to only a certain points” (which I believe) and Kevin says “high intensity cardio rules all the time then is backed by Tony who says “slow and steady cardio sucks” then who’s right? Does that make me any less of the expert? See the whole fruit debate, damn I must be wrong because I went against popular opinion. You obviously must have fruit in your diet to get any type of results and I must of being saying a statement that must apply to everyone 24-7-365. I even had people who have screen names that sound like they picked it out of their nose cursing me.
Am I am expert? You decide but I’ll tell you I’m just a nerd with a passion and deep respect for this industry who at 25, works a minimum 12 hour days training people and advancing myself professionally and personally in this field on top of getting a masters degree then probably a PhD. The title expert is thrown around way too much. As Mark Twain said about adjectives “leave them out” or as Harry Beckwith said
“If you cannot describe what makes you different and excellent in twenty-five words or less, don’t fix your copy. Fix your company..”
Jimmy,
Well said. I started in the industry in 2000. I have my schooling, certifications, etc… There are a lot of voices in the ‘fitness market’, many of them conflicting. I have found that at the end of the day, it really comes down to you and the individual client. Their needs will be unique, their personality makeup, exercise history, paradigms, expectations, genetics, and many other factors. As soon as you try to put everything into either BLACK or WHITE, you’re screwed. Because it’s NEVER all black or all white! That’s where we come in. We know the exceptions to the rules, because (hopefully) we KNOW the rules. Mr. or Mrs. Smith don’t have time to sort through the ever-increasing pile of data, books, and articles that we so joyfully comb through on a daily basis. Thank God for the opportunities we have to be trainers. I personally love the gym. I’ve put in almost 20,000 training hours thus far and truly believe that at 34 years old, it’s whats keeping me young and healthy. I also teach fitness at a community college, write, speak, etc.. and it’s all good. So what IS a fitness expert, exactly? It’s being defined and re-defined by those who aren’t necessarily just writing about it, but sometimes just DOING it.