This week I made a post about burpees on Facebook and it caused a bit of an uproar.
Personally, I’m ok with burpees, but there are coaches that feel like burpees are a bad exercise. However, I’m fine with everyone having their own opinion. What really caused an issue for me is that many of the people that say burpees are bad don’t have a good argument as to why.
Words matter and it’s important for us trainers to be responsible with how we share our opinion. If we make blanket statements without real consideration, then we are just creating more confusion and pitting coaches against other coaches.
These discussions aren’t really about squats or burpees, they’re about the fallout that comes from irresponsible statements. So, if you’re going to be an educator or participator in the fitness industry, then you need to practice logically consistent thinking.
I decided to make a video about this since I think it’s one of the most important issues that we are facing when trying to improve the industry and the perception of it to the general population.
In the video below you’ll learn:
- The most common errors coaches make when evaluating exercises
- Why what we say as professionals matters and how it affects the industry
- How to identify when others are using inconsistent logic
A great place to start being a better trainer is being able to easily spot good and bad reasons for using or avoiding certain training techniques or nutritional approaches by reading book titles like:
- Loserthink
- How We know What Isn’t So
- You’re Not So Smart
- Why We Make Mistakes
- Think: Why You Should Question Everything
What you’ll find in these books is humbling and very enlightening because you’ll see how just how common many of the things us trainers think are “great reasons” or “common sense” are basic errors in thinking even a 9th grade debate team member could spot.
In other words, you learn why there really is no such thing as “conflicting information.” There is just information that is based on good evidence and logic, and information that isn’t.
You don’t have to be an expert in everything to be able to separate the signal from the noise. You just have to understand the basic rules or logic and what constitutes good evidence, good reasons.
So, improving the fitness field, improving your programming and consumer protection is being able to spot sloppy thinking in yourself and in others.
