The Saga of Fitness Bullshit Continues

Question:
Dear Marc,
I subscribed to your newsletter(s).  Good stuff.  Been helpful.  Just wondering why you don’t email that often?  Not that I want daily emails but you go months without a word.
You alive?
Answer:
Indeed I am alive.  Thanks for asking.  There’s 2 reasons why I don’t email that often.
Sorry Excuse #1: 
I’m terrible at keeping in touch.  Ask anybody.  The thing that all my fitness peeps told me over and over was “the money is in the list.”  I think what they meant was, keeping in regular contact with the people who have opted-in to your stuff is where the real value resides.  When you stop emailing people (friends and family), they don’t respond as well as they once did.  Something else, or somebody else grabs their attention and you are not on the for-front of their though.
Makes perfect sense to me.
I’ve signed up for great newsletters before.  I get a few.  Then nothing.  Then they start emailing me 6 months later.  I think “who the F is this?”  Delete or unsubscribe or if I’m particularity lazy, I hit the SPAM button.   I figure, that’s pretty much common in the virtual world.  I see people on Facebook who post something that comes across my news-feed and I think “why did I friend this person?  Who they hell are they”  I remove them.  It’s universal.
I’m barely at 226 words and my wrists hurt from typing.  Dragon Naturally Speaking might be in my future soon.
Moving on…
Honest Reason #2: 
There’s not that much to report that’s worth your time.  And here’s what I mean.
This industry is plagued with bullshit.  I’ve been at this game 10 years (online) and in that time, I’ve seen about 3-5 things that are really revolutionary.  The rest is spun crap, lies, bullshit, scams, or built by ghost-writers and slick kids who know marketing perfectly.  People today don’t know Vince Gironda, or Larry Scott but they know these kids who dropped out of college (won’t name names) who are truly nothing in the world of bodybuilding but have learned who to market.  They get the eyeballs and the money.  Sort of like politicians I guess?
Garbage.  I can’t in good conscious send links to stuff that I’d toss myself into the garbage can.  I made a promise that I’d send information that was somewhat valuable, somewhat interesting and could help you along in your goals.  I just have not seen much lately that meets that baseline criteria.  I could write articles all day about basics but that stuff bores me and I would venture to guess it bores you too.  I could be wrong.  I’m not trying to take morally high road here and look down upon others.  Spamming people with junk doesn’t interest me.  I’d rather trade stocks against other gamblers who signed up for the game.
In the last few months, I’ve kept very faithful to my workouts.  I’ve been doing what I do best (keep the head down and hit the weights).  In that time I’ve seen some crap come across my Inbox that I can’t believe is so popular.  It’s unfortunate really.  I think growing up as a kid I had it better.  A few muscle magazines and my own experimentations.  Today, people get bombarded with so many things from people who are not experts but appear to be that confusion is at all all time high.
I predict that as more and more information is available, people will not become more healthy.  They will only become more confused and injury prone.  They will continue to buy into get ripped and muscular fast programs that make outlandish promises.  Nobody is packing on pounds of lean muscle per week unless you are on drugs (but that claim sells and it’s truly what the readers want to hear .. hell I want to hear it!).
To me, bodybuilding is boring.  It’s repetitive, basic, hopefully none eventful workouts for years that lead to a longer, better overall quality of life (more mobility, less doctor visits).
I don’t mean to belittle your gym time. 
When I say boring I simply mean in terms of revolutionary discoveries.  Wrapping your arms to restrict blood flow is old school Russian shit.  Go for it but if you think your arms will be 2″ bigger than mine by using this technique, you must live in Colorado and legally be smoking the good stuff.  Targeting carbs around your workout or going ultra low carb and then having a weekly refeed is not new.  Doing spider craws thru the gym and then dumbbell overhead pressing on a Bosu ball is something you won’t see me doing.
Although experimentation can be fun and break up the monotony.  Seeking to be a better version of yourself thru whatever means necessary is certainly worth the effort.
If there’s something worth while, I’ll tell you about it.  But don’t expect weekly blog posts or daily emails about some new crazy way to do a bicep curl.  That fine for some, it’s not my style.  I like what works, I like to get the job done.  I don’t want to waste my precious years or money on crap and I don’t think you do either.
Well I’m off to do another “boring” but result producing workout.  Hope you have a great day and do something fun.

4 Replies to “The Saga of Fitness Bullshit Continues”

  1. Thanks for a great, honest post. As a personal trainer, I entirely agree with your statement – “Today, people get bombarded with so many things from people who are not experts but appear to be that confusion is at all all time high.”
    Confusion is definitely at an all time high. Never have people been so bombarded to have what they perceive as the perfect body, instead of being encouraged to develop their own body’s and mind’s potential. There’s a horrible amount of mis-information also, which is not doing a service to anyone.
    Thanks for your post
    Rolandas

  2. I want to lose weight. I do a lot in the gym and I run in the mornings.
    But all this does not give me the desired result.
    I want to ask how you feel about fat-loss drugs?
    Need your advice. Thank you.

    1. Fricking waste of time. Designed to take money from the consumer based on false hope and b.s. paid for science. The only weight loss drug that works is liposuction and eating less combined with proper exercise. The rest is gimmicky boo-shit.

  3. Well said man! You know what, my best years were when I was in college playing shotput and LIFTING WEIGHTS! I was at my biggest, off course, I had no kids, no responsibilities plus my dad supported my hobby. But I did not use no supplements, I only had a 1.5 litre plastic bottle of water, and 6 hard boiled eggs – it worked! Simple! I always say that in my articles and has become a mantra “Eat your eggs!” but I know well that eggs won’t make anyone money.. but at least I feel good about myself

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