Proper strength training is one of the most beneficial things a person can do to improve their quality of life. A proper strength exercise program will improve your ability to perform any physical activity, and your enjoyment of life. A proper strength exercise program will improve health and longevity and can ever reverse some of the effects of aging. A proper strength exercise program will make you look better, especially in combination with a healthy diet, which can have many positive effects on the body.
However, when strength exercise is not performed correctly, when a program is poorly designed, it includes poor exercises, and encourages a poor method of performing them, it can be counterproductive for these goals. A poor strength exercise program can waste your time, cause overuse and acute injuries, and undermine your long term health and fitness, and negatively affect your quality of life.
I've been training and teaching people how to strength train for over 30 years now, and I'm not exaggerating when I say I have seen people's lives transformed by proper strength training. I've also seen a lot of people who have suffered because of misinformation, wasting years of their lives (and many times an absurd amount of money) on inefficient, ineffective nonsense that gave them more pain and frustration than results and wreaked havoc on their joints. I am also one of these people.
This is not about looking good at the beach, but about people's physical and mental health and their quality of life. So I get a little aggravated when I see outright BS being sold as proper strength exercise.
What is the BS I speak of? Programs that promote a pill and become ripped in 30 days, most any infomercial on TV, and the list goes on and on.
A few truths you won't hear in most mainstream fitness media because it doesn't help sell their BS products.
1. Proper strength exercise is very hard and not fun.
2. No exercise program alone will get you ripped abs, and it is utterly stupid to perform 30 minutes of abdominal work. If you want to get lean, you must address the calories consumed.
3. There are not secret techniques or tricks. Outright hard work is the TRICK.
Why, then do they promote the opposite? Because it is easier to sell. We have had many clients not stick with our program because of how hard we work them. Science dictates we must work them hard. So the truth hurts sometimes, but it works every time.
