Fitness industry and logical fallacies

[coach hale]

I think it is hard to determine the most popular logical fallacy associated with the fitness industry but i propose the following two as the most popular (of course there are many more).

1- Argument from authority: this claim states that it's true because a person or group perceived as authorities say it is true. It is resonable to give more credence to the claims of those that have demonstrated some degree of knowledge or authority in a specified field. But the truth of the claim should ultimately rest on logic and evidence, not the authority of the person promoting it.

2- Argumentum ad numerum: It consists of asserting that the more people who support or believe a proposition, the more likely it is that that proposition is correct

Ad hominen is honorable mention

thanks
coach hale
www.maxcondition.com

[John Izzo]

Coach: You said it alot more "nicer" than me.

Below is from my newsletter this month. I appreciate the PMs and e-mails I get supporting my stance on fitness marketing and the current trends I see within the circles. I wrote this peice over X-mas and I know it is bound to piss some people off. Bring the f*ckin' rain!!!

Secrets of Fitness Marketing Revealed!

I love that show “Secrets of the Masked Magician”. That guy totally entertained me. Not only did he entertain me, but he empowered me. He gave me (and millions) a glance at what goes on behind the curtain in magic. Did it take away anything from the mystic of magic? Hell no! It only added to it and forced other magicians to step it up! That is why today you see more “illusionists” performing outrageous and death-defying tricks because we have learned how to solve the puzzle! So now, the puzzle has to become more complex. Well, if you can see behind the fitness marketing curtain, you would truly be amazed at the similarities between magic tricks and marketing. Now that 2007 has come to a close, I have become aware of more and more trends in fitness marketing. I find the same group of experts have endorsed the same products and provide you with the same link over and over. Have you ever heard the saying: “Keep telling the same lie and you too, will simply believe it?” Well, it is true in fitness marketing too. The more people keep pointing you in the same direction, the more likely you are to believe it is the only path to your destination. Popularity supersedes integrity. So I have found some marketing trends in 2007, that I simply wanted to reveal to you.
Workouts are always flexible for the user, so why write a book? I have read a couple of popular books this year that detail workout templates and ideologies according to the author. I have read questions on popular internet forums from readers asking tons of questions regarding tailoring workouts to their specific needs. 99.9% of the answers are “sure you can change/modify/or do what you can”. So I ask: why follow a workout written by some author, if in the end, it will need to be continuously adjusted according to your needs? Basically, this has proven to me what I always believed: most workout books, that are popular and basically marketed to be the “be all, end all” of workouts, can and will be adjusted or tailored to the readers’ needs. Even the author will acknowledge this usually within the beginning chapters or preface. So why write the book? Cha-ching…
Books written by authors who don’t train others for a living. Sometimes I feel like I am the only one that owns night vision goggles in Dead Horse, Alaska. Why do we trust authors that put out books pertaining to fitness and training when they don’t even do it for a living? I don’t want my plumber looking at my car engine and I don’t want my dentist picking out my life insurance. So why do so many people popularize books written by authors that clearly have no history of training others, but feel they can provide you with information? And make a helluva living off of it? You know why? Because they are good writers. Well, see the next one…
Authors using real fitness professionals for validity. Yep…this is like “Secrets of the Masked Magician Revealed”. Guess what? If you were to remove the name of every fitness expert that is a “co-author” of every fitness book on the shelf at your local bookstore, and leave the prominent author’s name, I bet the book wouldn’t sell as well. Why the need to place a big named fitness expert as your co-author? Well, firstly it adds validity to the title and content, which ultimately, helps increase sales from the target audience. Or...ask any writer (and I have met a few) that tend to become certifed in personal training or strength coaching simply to be taken seriously. Also, ask them about "ghost writing". Ghost writing is when a true author writes the actual content, but it is marketed by a true fitness expert. Why such a sneaky collaboration? Let's face it, fitness professionals train for a living and writers write. Basically it is a trick. Again, my plumber should be talking to me about pipes and sinks…not building Chinese stick kites.
Podcasts that waste my time (and yours). Hmmmm…this one is pretty self-explanatory. Why do some people feel the need to waste an hour of time from others with senseless gibberish and futile talk? I have tried to listen to many popular podcasts and I have wasted a total of 13.25 hours of my time. I want that time back. Many young fitness enthusiasts that are not professional (meaning being paid a salary to do what you do), are putting out podcasts, that by the package look good and sound like they are going to be good, but when you click on the “download” button and listen, they are absurd conversations that sound like they belong in a college dorm-room. Word to the wise: just because you can create a podcast and can get “names” to contribute, doesn’t necessarily mean you are good at it. Do us a favor and pay attention in your communications class: annotations should be clear and concise and keeping the listener engaged with noteworthy commentary is paramount.
Experts visit forums to promote but don’t stick around. This is classic and quite humorous. I am almost embarrassed for them. If you frequent discussion forums, you’ve seen them. They never post or answer a question, but when they have a new product to promote, they will pop their head in to mention they have a new product. It reminds me of the high school assh*le that would show up at parties, only to take some beers and then leave within an hour. I spend my time answering questions and engaging in discussion on forums, as well as AskExperts.com. I receive about 10 e-mails a day asking me for exercise suggestions or asking me to troubleshoot a workout. And I answer every one, as well as provide feedback on relevant posts on various discussion boards. Do I promote a product? Sure I do, but it is a “give and take”. I promote lightly, as well as give away from pretty free stuff from time to time (Training Revolutions E-zine being one!) and I always stick around! Word to the wise: Respect your audience. Check your ego at the door because in this business you are never truly your own boss: the client and consumer are.
Experts who claim they don’t have time for forums because they are too busy. This has become cliché in the past couple of months. I noticed a lot of young professionals ‘seemingly and deliberately vanish’ from discussion forums. I wondered why, so I venterured onto some blogs. Wouldn’t you know? They were posting in their blogs that at present time they are too busy to be spending time on forums. They claim that they are busy training clients “in the trenches”. I figured, "wow they are really gaining alot of experience". That’s a lot of experience to pack in a measly month—especially when we are entering the quiet time of the year (November through December is considered the quiet time in the fitness industry, then it explodes into madness come January 2nd). I figured, once others know you are busy they will assume you are becoming such an experienced professional that your wisdom will be even more profound. Sounds good, doesn’t? Well, they must have a ton of time if they are posting on their blog often, writing newsletters, writing articles, and conducting podcasts---seemingly not really training a lot. So why the lie?

[EricLikesLifting]

Thats a great article John

[Jean-Paul]

Nice article, John. A couple of points that I would debate with you:

Books written by authors who don’t train others for a living. Sometimes I feel like I am the only one that owns night vision goggles in Dead Horse, Alaska. Why do we trust authors that put out books pertaining to fitness and training when they don’t even do it for a living? I don’t want my plumber looking at my car engine and I don’t want my dentist picking out my life insurance. So why do so many people popularize books written by authors that clearly have no history of training others, but feel they can provide you with information? And make a helluva living off of it? You know why? Because they are good writers. Well, see the next one…
Authors using real fitness professionals for validity. Yep…this is like “Secrets of the Masked Magician Revealed”. Guess what? If you were to remove the name of every fitness expert that is a “co-author” of every fitness book on the shelf at your local bookstore, and leave the prominent author’s name, I bet the book wouldn’t sell as well. Why the need to place a big named fitness expert as your co-author? Well, firstly it adds validity to the title and content, which ultimately, helps increase sales from the target audience. Or...ask any writer (and I have met a few) that tend to become certifed in personal training or strength coaching simply to be taken seriously. Also, ask them about "ghost writing". Ghost writing is when a true author writes the actual content, but it is marketed by a true fitness expert. Why such a sneaky collaboration? Let's face it, fitness professionals train for a living and writers write. Basically it is a trick. Again, my plumber should be talking to me about pipes and sinks…not building Chinese stick kites.

The only example I can think of here is Lou Schuler and his NROL books, which if you have read them, you will agree that they are excellent, providing a refreshing new (old) philosophy, breaking the trend to push new exercisers to fixed plane machines. I'm not sure if you had them in mind when you typed out these two particular paragraphs, but I think this is an example that actually runs counter to your point.

Lou doesn't train for a living... He's a writer. Alwyn (and Cass on the second book) co-authored the book. Their contribution gave the book some great content. I don't see the harm in it since by judging the final product it is excellent. If I'm going to work on a book, I'm going to use every resource I can, including people who know more than me on particular areas. Was there another example you had in mind?

Regarding podcasts, I admit that I have ultimately been pretty non-plussed with them, and I don't even think that they are necessarily bad. I just bore really easily (very ADD) and it is actually painful for me to listen to them. It is a new form of media, so there are bound to be growing pains as the pioneers in that medium experiment with it. To me, a good podcast would have to be no longer than 5-10 minutes long and really focused on a very specific topic.

[Jean-Paul]

1- Argument from authority: this claim states that it's true because a person or group perceived as authorities say it is true. It is resonable to give more credence to the claims of those that have demonstrated some degree of knowledge or authority in a specified field. But the truth of the claim should ultimately rest on logic and evidence, not the authority of the person promoting it.

I agree that is a common logical fallacy, but I like to play the devil's advocate here.

Do you trust the diagnosis of a doctor? Why? If you question what they say, how can you debate it if you don't have the educational background upon which to base your arguments?

My point is that at some point, we have to trust the information of true experts. Yes they can present logical support for their claims, but most people aren't equipped to even ask the right questions, let alone make a counter argument.

I realize that the fitness industry is much different than the medical industry, but there are irrefutable experts who we can refer to for logical support for legit claims. For example, I feel pretty damn confident citing Stuart McGill on any discussion on back health without having to go do all the research he has personally done in his research facility.

[PowerManDL]

Originally Posted by Jean-Paul

My point is that at some point, we have to trust the information of true experts. Yes they can present logical support for their claims, but most people aren't equipped to even ask the right questions, let alone make a counter argument.

I realize that the fitness industry is much different than the medical industry, but there are irrefutable experts who we can refer to for logical support for legit claims. For example, I feel pretty damn confident citing Stuart McGill on any discussion on back health without having to go do all the research he has personally done in his research facility.

To some extent yes, but it's a big stretch to compare the education of an MD and professional rigor they have to pass and maintain, to "Timmy the Personal Trainer", when discussing authority.

[gobbla]

There has to be some sort of "something" that separates "true experts" from not. I've seen people that I'd regard as a "true expert" SLAM another "true expert" saying pretty much every ugly thing in the world about them and their knowledge, 6mo later having a testimonial on their site.

There's too little integrity in the field.