Transparency in The Fitness Industry

The subject of transparency is a really important conversation that needs to be opened up within the fitness industry, particularly with social media. 

In this post, we’ll discuss this subject, along with how to set realistic expectations and goals for yourself.

There are a plethora of fitness influencers who make completely false and misleading claims when it comes to how they obtained their physique. 

At best, this leaves people feeling underwhelmed, demotivated and in a state of constant comparison. 

At worst, it can lead to people taking dangerous measures in an attempt to emulate the physical attributes of someone who is being completely dishonest about the reality of their results. 

This post, to be clear, is not to take away from the result of anyone who has worked incredibly hard to achieve something which is difficult to achieve. 

Rather, I want to shine a light on the factors that go into those results, so people can hold more realistic expectations with their fitness, health, and physique goals. 

Understand that someone who makes a living from their physique will potentially be using all tools available to make themselves look as good as humanly possible. These include:

- PEDs (Performance Enhancing Drugs ie steroids)

- Perfect camera angles and lighting

- Photoshop to enhance their physique further

Many fitness influencers then use their enhanced physiques to convince people that the reason you don’t look like them is because you don’t possess something…..something that they conveniently sell.

Be this a supplement-  (I’m looking at you, BCAA’s!), or a training program that holds the ‘secret’ to this person's uncommon physique. 

To be clear, from my perspective, if you are selling something on this basis without being fully transparent - you are a fraud and deserve to be called on it. 

Factors that influence our response to exercise

While it is true that anyone who has developed an impressive physique has worked hard. The other side of the discussion is bringing awareness to the factors that influence how our bodies respond to training, diet and lifestyle changes. These include, but are not limited to:

- Genetics and epigenetics 

- Recovery capacity

- Body type / frame

- Stress levels

Let’s break down these factors, so you have a better understanding of how to break out of comparison and learn to set realistic fitness, health, and physique goals.

Sometimes we are asked what is the best training program, or diet for a particular goal? It’s a difficult question to answer, because although there are many similarities between us - we respond differently on an individual level to lifestyle changes. 

If you were to take 100 people at random, and have them follow identical exercise and nutrition plans for 12 weeks, there would be some predictable health changes, but on an individual level - you will see wildly different results.

The reason for this is down to a combination of the elements listed above - body type, age, sex, genetics, recovery ability and lifestyle factors.

Of these, our genes perhaps play the most significant role in determining how we respond to exercise. A group of researchers found that our genetics account for about 50% of our response to exercise.(1) 

In other studies, groups of identical and non-identical twins who followed the same training protocol had mixed results between groups, along with non-responders - ie. people whose fitness or strength didn’t change.(2) 

To loop this back into transparency in the fitness industry - if we have someone who is clearly in phenomenal shape - selling a program or supplement with false claims so that you can emulate their physique - we can use the information from this research to understand why so many people ultimately get frustrated and give up, when these results never arrive. 

Other factors, such as recovery capacity will be influenced by many aspects of our lives, some which are within our control, some of which are not. The level of stress in our daily lives will absolutely impact our ability to recover from training sessions. 

Additionally, we have different body types also, different heights, shoulder and hip widths, limb length - these all play a role too in the physique that we posses.

The border issue here is one of honesty. Because in many cases, people who financially rely on their physique to earn money, are not rewarded for integrity because in many cases it would undermine their ability to flog their programs and supplements.

The most recent example of this would be the controversy surrounding the ‘Liver King’, A TikTok influencer known for preaching the benefits of eating raw meat in order to sell his supplements was blasted after admitting to taking steroids to achieve his muscular physique. This revelation completely undermined his ability to sell.

Ultimately, this lack of transparency within the fitness industry, particularly on social media, has led to, in my opinion, a huge amount of confusion in the average person about how to set realistic and sustainable goals.

Now that we’ve looked at the issues surrounding transparency in the world of fitness, how do we progress towards a more positive future?

The answer, in my opinion, must be rooted in honesty and integrity. 

For the fitness industry to align itself with what should be it’s core prerogative, encouraging and supporting as many people as possible to improve their health and fitness. 

While understanding that a cookie cutter approach to diet and exercise will restrict our ability to help people, as individuals.

Setting Realistic Goals

Now that we have a much greater understanding of the factors that influence our response to exercise, let’s discuss how you can learn to set more realistic goals for yourself, and avoid the trap of comparing your progress to others.

When it comes to goal setting, one method we often use is asking a client to describe their long term goals in as much detail as possible. 

We usually define our long term goals as a year or more into the future. 

‘If nothing was off the table, what would your ideal version of fitness and health look like?’ You can try answering that for yourself, if you like.

If you can, be specific about what your goals mean to you, if you want to improve your fitness levels, why does that matter to you?

‘I want to be able to tackle a flight of stairs without getting badly out of breath.’

‘I want the energy to keep up with my children/nieces/nephews etc’

The next part is usually slightly more challenging for most people - going from where you are now, to where you want to be in the future requires us to break down our long term goal to the short and medium term.

This can be done by considering what small, habitual changes you could make this week, in order to bring you closer to your long term goal. 

If you're finding this process difficult, this is where an experienced coach can be of great help.

The final thing to remember about goal setting, is to focus as much as possible on the positive steps you are taking for your own health and fitness - rather than beating yourself up by comparing yourself to others, particularly in the online space.

We hope you enjoyed our take on this subject, if you have any questions, or points to add, let us know! 

Jonathan & Craig

Train MBS