Online coaches: I'm not doing your job for you.

Has Instagram killed coaching?

We live in a post truth world. Donald Trump is President- elect, Brexit happened, and anyone with an instagram account is a fitness expert.

Now let me say straight off, there are some good online coaches. Ones who take time to skype their client, build rapport and construct an individual programme and nutrition plan.

And you could say if its not harming you or interfering with your work, why comment?

But online programming and 'coaching' has encroached on my work, I offer three examples below. It gives an insight into what the public are buying...

Example 1: £300 for a programme, and the instructors at the gym have to show you the exercises.

A young girl came into the gym with a programme she had bought from an online trainer. This girl was not very experienced in the gym and didn't really know any of the exercises on her programme. The person she had bought the programme from had provided some video links, but not for all the exercises.

She asked us for some help and we showed her a few of the exercises, and said she should contact the trainer again for more advice. The trainer was relatively local, and her answer was, the young girl could pay for a session with her to show her the exercises and that the "instructors in the gym have to show you all the exercises, its their job."

Hang on, its my job to show someone all the exercises in a programme that you got paid £300 for? Even if I think the programme is no good and the exercise choices are sub par? Bear in mind this would take hours of coaching to get her where she could do the programme with competence.

The young girl was quite upset by the whole thing and asked me what she could do. I suggested going back to the trainer, trying to get her money back, maybe contact REPs (if this trainer was a member of REPs), look at distance selling law, if she paid by credit card or paypal may be try to recoup the money.

In the end she wrote a thank you note for all our help, I don't know if she got her money back. The online trainer is probably still selling online programmes to beginners who can't do them.

Example 2: 90% 1RM of a rear delt flye.

A guy approached me in the gym to check out his rear delt flye technique. I had a look and said he probably needed to reduce the weight and focus on technique as he was only getting partial range with a lot of momentum.

He then told me his programme told him that this week was strength week and he had to do 90% 1RM of a rear delt flye for 3 reps. He then showed me on his phone the actual programme and there it was.

I explained in my opinion the rear delt flye was an accessory exercise, it should always be in a higher rep range and you would never try to workout the 1RM on a rear delt flye. The programme looked professional, nicely presented, but looking good and actually being good are two different things.

Now there are a few possible explanations. First, the person writing the programme committed a copy and paste error and never intended that exercise to be a 90% 1RM. Second, they have never actually trained anyone and don't realise this will not work. Thirdly, they train people all the time and use this method effectively. I'll let you decide which it is.

Example 3: 1100kcals a day and white potatoes only.

A young girl who comes to the gym showed me a nutrition plan that her sister had purchased off of an instagram coach and she was following it as well.

The calories per day were worked out on based on their weight in kilos. With a bodyweight of just over 60kg the plan had worked out that several days per week her caories were down in the 1100 to 1200 range and on the higher calories days it went to 1600-1700kcals.

Now will you lose weight on this? Probably. Will you feel miserable? Probably. Is it sustainable? Probably not. Does it give young girls an unhealthy relationship with food?

I've seen women getting contest ready and going on stage eating more than this.

It also looked highly scientific as the guy who wrote it had used a spreadsheet, and the calories had been worked out to the decimal point, yep he knew you could eat 100.4kcals of egg white.

There were also some other restrictive 'bro' elements. White potatoes only, that's right no sweet potato allowed. Egg whites only. Very low fat. And of course, a recommendation that you supplement with a special fat burner made by a company you've never heard of.

As it turned out, I did a few quick calculations and the calories the plan said was lower than what I was coming out with.

It was basically an old school bodybuilding diet designed for a man.

I explained that I thought the calories were too low, and there was nothing magical about white potatoes, yes, she could eat sweet potatoes with no adverse effects. I also suggested eating an avocado might help bump up the fat levels from its current very low levels.

So what does all this tell us about online coaching?

Are the public being mis-sold?

The world of instagram coaching is the wild west,  how does someone differentiate? Yes, you can say market forces will out, but with an increasingly crowded market place image becomes everything.

The entry level is low, you need some social media accounts, a website and if you want to really look professional an off the shelf fitness app. You can even be legit and get a level 2 fitness qualification. This is not the fault of the people doing it, they got the qualification they needed. Its not their fault there is no quality control. There are very few instagram lawyers or medical consultants for a reason, the barrier to entry is high.

Could it be the Dunning Kruger* effect in action?

This theory states that some low ability individuals overestimate their ability. They think they are great, and 100% right. In fact, they are terrible but just don't know it. These coaches could all believe they are brilliant offering a superb product. Whereas real experts in a field can doubt their ability, don't always have black and white answers, know how complex something can be and say 'it depends' a lot.

Unskilled people can have nearly 100% confidence even though they are incompetent. See Donald Trump for further evidence. Picture source:digitialintelligencetoday.com

Here are my easy steps to becoming an instagram coach.

one for women and one for men.

For men

1) Selfie up, you will need a baseball cap, Beats headphones and a vest made of 2cm square of material.
2) Superset bicep curls and D-bol.
3) Enter a fitness competition, any competition, or get some professional photos done.
4) Get a sponsorship deal with a supplement company no one has heard of.
5) Create a logo, something cool like a skull chewing a barbell.
6) You are now ready to sell programmes and nutrition plans.

For women

1) Take selfies with minimal clothing on.
2) Shoot videos of you training in the gym with minimal clothing on.
3) Booty shoots and training are in the zeitgeist, focus on them.
4) Get a deal with a weightloss tea, make sure your selfies include a shot of you with the tea.
5) You are now ready to sell nutrition plans and programmes.
6) Don't tell anyone that your glutes and abs look like that because of your Brazilian genetics and surgical enhancements and not due to the random selection of exercises you post up or the weightloss tea. (Full disclosure I click on pictures of Brazilian fitness models as much as the next guy).

I get it, it seems like a good career. You like training, and got good results, so why not make a living from it. Write some programmes and sell them to people. No need to go to an actual gym to train people, all that effort of having to tweak things, change things, focus on technique.

But here's the rub, as my colleague Paul has said about instagram coaches posting up selfies and competition pictures "all you've demonstrated is the ability to follow a programme and nutrition plan, probably written by someone else" it does not mean you have the ability to coach other people or that the concepts that worked for you will work for someone else.

The problem with online coaching is it focuses on the programme.

As I've stated before for most people, the programme could be the least important thing. As my colleague Nick has said "I could give you George St Pierres programme, it doesn't mean it will work for you or you will become George St Pierre."

The key ingredients missing are:

1) Consistency.
Yes good online coaches might make you accountable, and the fact you are buying a programme means you are probably motivated. But for many instagram coaches the relationship ends with the paypal transaction.

2) Intensity.
A lack lustre effort, no results, however good the programme.

3) Technique.
This is a big one. The programme might have some really good exercises on it like deadlifts, or squats or even something like a dumbbell row. But if you're technique is off the chance of injury is high, plus you will not be activating the muscles you should be.

See my three pillars of training that I wrote about a hundred years ago.

Even a press up or a plank in a basic bodyweight programme can be done horribly.

I could write 10 effective programmes right now** (while sipping a cappuccino in a coffee shop) ranging from fat loss to hypertrophy to marathon running. I know they work, I have tested them on people. It doesn't mean that everyone should do them.

The same goes for nutrition plans.

For example, I have purchased programmes online that have power cleans  at 85% 1RM in them. Is it a good exercise, yes. Would I expect someone to be able to do a power clean just because it was in a programme and they had watched a 30 second video of it? No.

The online market is not for beginners.

As I stated last week, we can become insular as an industry.

Instagram and social media posts of half naked, ripped fitness models does not  appeal to most of the public who just want to get fit and lost a bit of fat.

We have to keep upping the ante, posting more and more exercises, thousands of variations, something no one has even seen before, feats of strength and endurance to garner more likes  and clicks from our fitness friends.

Posting the basics is no longer enough. Everyone knows how to do these right? Wrong.

No one is going to post up a video of someone going for a steady state walk or doing a wall press up.

Many online coach doesn't really want to bother with beginners. They want to train people like them. People who already know how to deadlift or squat, who want to get ripped for stage. Fellow bodybuilders and powerlifters.

It becomes a cult of fitness. Training beginners is hard, you can't do all the sexy exercises. The public switch off.

The genie is out of the bottle.

As I've stated before the digital disruption of the fitness industry is here.

I'm no King Cunute here holding back the sea.

There are some very good coaches online, but there is also a sea of bad ones. And I've seen first hand how some members of the public have bought into these programmes and promises.

The traditional part of the industry was too slow to adopt the online platforms and methods and got out maneuvered by some social media savvy millennials.

Sure the free market reigns online.

But in a post-truth world the loudest and simplest voice is heard and believed.

All the good coaches, the ones with years of experience training people 'one on one' need to step up and take it back from the charlatans, hawkers and digital carpetbaggers. That means coaches like me (and you) need to get to work.

--------------

* How do I know that I'm not actually incompetent and a fitness dolt? The original Dunning-Kruger theory was inspired by the news story of a guy who tried to rob a bank with his face covered in lemon juice, thinking as this was used as invisible ink it would make his face invisible to the security cameras. As I have never tried this, I think I'm safe.

** Send a stamped addressed envelope to 'Lost in Fitness, No.1 Fitness Towers' and I will send you out a free programme of your choice.

Training: Stop making it so complicated.

Accommodating block conjugated periodised occlusion based eccentric triphasic dynamic effort Bulgarian HIIT HIT isometric energy systems based steady state interval training Karvonen Maffetone method. Confused? You will be.

All industries and professions like their specialised language and nomenclature, it's what separates a professional from a normal member of the public.

Now with unprecedented access to information and knowledge in the arena of training there are more and more complicated and advanced training techniques being used on a daily basis in gyms around the world.

Gyms have mostly moved on beyond rows of cardio machines and some chrome dumbbells.

But do the general public need complicated training programmes?

Now, if you are training for the Olympics or you are are at Westside trying to get your deadlift from 950 to 960 pounds then stop reading this article now. You need to do the things that give you the extra 1%. If not, then read on.

Intelligent and effective programming doesn't have to be complicated. However, complicated can be confused with effective.

As every Instagram coach knows...

If you are selling programmes then complicated looks good.

To use a nutrition analogy, for most people to lose weight and get a bit healthier the advice is obvious - eat less junk, stop smashing a bottle of wine and a pint of Ben & Jerry's every night and eat some more vegetables. But that doesn't sell many customised nutrition plans, where the coach has worked everything out to the gram. It also doesn't sell much bone broth, or gluten free bread or special powders.

As every instagram coach knows

1. Complicated looks effective
2. Most things work for most people most of the time as long as...
3. .. they are committed and believe in the programme.

No one is going to pay you to write 5x5 starting strength, because it's too simple, it's available for free all over the place. And people like to think they are more advanced than they are, or there is a special secret sequence of exercises that will transform them.

Advanced training for beginners.

It's not unusual to see band resisted and chain resisted movements, and Olympic lifts in the average gym. The level of access to equipment is unprecedented. 10 years ago power racks were as rare as unicorns in gyms, now it's not unusual to have 2 or 3 of them in a health clubs or budget gym. When we first bought a power rack for the gym I work in, probably 8 or 10 years ago, hardly anyone used it, no one knew what to do, they kept doing squats on the beloved Smith machine.

Training programmes can become massive hybrids, coaches having people doing Russian squat cycles combined with Olympic lifting, add in some condition and WODs and don't forget to somehow combine body part split training with powerlifting training. Hint: If the kid is squatting less than 80kg you probably don't need to be doing all this.

See the picture below of Paul Anderson. One of the strongest humans that ever lived. No power rack? No problem, dig a hole. Also note the lack of a special Texas power bar or buffalo bar. Now I hear people complaining that there gym doesn't have Eleiko plates or bars or a freaking vibrating platform.

Paul Anderson: He's stronger than you. Can't find any weight plates? Get a couple of passing  'broads' to sit on some barrels. Picture source: oldtimestrongmen.com

Looking at programmes of professional athletes, it is surprising how simple some of them are. Everything that doesn't work has been stripped away. There is a laser like focus on the goal at hand, to improve performance in one area, while preventing injury and burn out.

Joe Kenn, is the S&C coach for the NFL team the Carolina Panthers. In a presentation I watched he stated there are three guys in the NFL he would trust to do dynamic effort work with bands. And yet in the average gym you see average guys attaching bands to things all the time. Many NFL teams use machines to train, and completely avoid movements like snatches, instead favouring jump squats and less technical movements. Don't forget these are elite professional sports-people.

Read Verkhoshansky's Special Strength Training; Manual for Coaches,  and many of the routines for specific sports consist of two exercises. Depth jump and scissor jump anyone?

The difference is, the athlete is expected to do these with 100% intent and explosiveness. Not tack them onto the end of a leg workout as a 'finisher'.

Olympic lifting for who?

Training doesn't need to be advanced to be effective. I like Olympic lifting but it doesn't mean everyone should be doing it.

Go into the average gym and literally everyone and his aunt is wearing lifting shoes. I've seen people do their entire workout in lifting shoes including warm up. And the only people who should be wearing heels this much in a gym are Brazilian fitness models.

A complaint I here  more and more from people, is my knees hurt all the time squatting, invariably they are wearing lifting shoes for most exercises.

If you like Olympic lifting fine, if you are competing in Olympic lifting or crossfit, also fine. If you just want some general fitness and weightloss (90% of people in the gym) then you don't need to be doing a Bulgarian lifting programme, plus met-cons plus biceps plus low carb etc etc.

The average client does not need an overly complicated or technical programme. Spending hours with someone on a platform trying to get them to do something that they don't have the hip mobility or need for is a waste of time. You're basically trying to teach someone a sport. Would you take the average client and try and teach them to be a decathlete or high jumper if all they wanted was some fitness?

If an NFL pro is not doing overhead snatching then your fat loss client probably doesn't need to either.

In this example, you can replace Olympic lifting with any complex skill based activity such as plyometrics or gymnastic moves. If you really want to learn a new skill and love the idea of complex technical things, and you are injury free, then these are for you. If not, think again.


Special populations are the easiest.

In the UK, there are level 4 fitness qualifications. These are the highest fitness qualifications and are generally concerned with training so called special populations, like those who have had a stroke, cardiac issues, diabetes or blood pressure problems.

If you do one of these courses, you spend a lot of time looking at medications, stages of change models, working out % of VO2 max (which you will never use again) and so forth.

It is made to sound like these populations are the hardest to train, and the most complicated. In fact, they are the easiest. The nature of the population immediately narrows the options available to you.

They are starting at such a low base, that anything works. Guess what, going for a walk is one of the best things you can do. Add in some chair squats, step ups, and if you have access to resistance machines you can a few of them in too! No machines, grab some resistance bands.

It's all movement. If someone hasn't really been moving, get them moving and moving often.

Show up, take it easy at first, gradually progress, listen to your body. That's it, level 4 referral right there.

These populations are generally easier to programme for,  compared to trying to get someone ready for competition, dropping their fat percentage down to 5%,  or trying to finish top three in a race. Now you are dealing with the fine details, now you might need to be complicated. But what proportion of the population does this apply to?

Of course, there are some caveats to special populations, sometimes the details matter. For example, exercise for back pain. But these are not the type of things they teach you on a level 4 back pain course anyway.

What to do? This.

Most people most of the time need a total body training approach.

Do they need a specialised bicep day? Probably not. Does attaching a band to an exercise instantly make it better, probably not.

For the average client think:

Squat
Hinge
Push
Pull
Core

Then get their heart rate up in some way.

Machines are okay, they are not some dark force sent by Globo gym, some people benefit from them. Scale the workout to the client. Use the tools you have available, but use them correctly, at the right time, in the right dose.

Examples:

Squat could be bodyweight, goblet, back, front, or could be leg press or step up.
Hinge could be RDL, glute bridge, deadlift with kettlebell or bar, or guess what ,you might have to use the leg curl or swiss ball leg curl
Push - press up variations, DB press, shoulder press
Pull - rows, TRX row, low row machine
Core - pallor press, plank, dead bug

Rep ranges, don't get hung up, enough to get a response.

You get the idea.

Generally whole body movements for most people most of the time. Could be barbell, could be kettle bell or dumbbell, could be bodyweight, you might use some machines.

Paretos Law states that 80% of your results come from 20% of your efforts or resource or customers. So it is with training, 80% of your training results are going to come from 20% of your exercise selection. This means the 20% that directly impacts your goals, the big compound movements. The rest is garnish, dedicated forearm and calf exercises and 1000 crunch variations are essentially garnish.

Of course, there needs to be some progression. And guess what it can be fun. Not everything you do has to come from a peer reviewed double blind study. But conversely hardly anyone wants to be a competitive bodybuilder, adding another complicated bro-science routine to the mix.

Sometimes, it's harder to think about what you need to take away rather than add in.

Anyone, can keep adding into a clients workout until before you know it they are training 3 hours at a time, and doing every exercise variation under the sun. If you love training like that, fair enough, bear in mind most people don't want to spend 7 days a week in the gym. If it's your hobby, your passion, you're in the minority.

We live in the age of distraction. This applies to fitness as well, so many machines, so many gadgets, so many exercise variations. It might seem like you need them all. But you don't. More does not equal better.

Do I need my Suunto GPS to tell me my average heart rate and recovery time in hours? Probably not. Does the client who is aiming to run a 55min 10k need a Garmin, does the client looking to lose a few pounds need a fitbit or should they just try and be more active during the day? Gadgets and variety are fun, but don't lose sight of what most people are in this for.

Only make your training as complicated as it needs to be. Your clients will thank you in the long run. Generally simplicity and hard work win.

Progression, habit and consistency are the keys to success.

Percy Cerutty, iconoclastic renegade running coach, leads Herb Elliot up a sand dune hill session. No GPS, no heart rate monitor, no shirt, no shoes. Source: tonireavis.com

There is a quote by Michael Pollan about food:

"Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants."

Here is my paraphrase of this for training:

Lift (relatively) heavy things. Get your heart rate up. Mostly walking.