If you are a thinking person, you have doubtless raised an eyebrow at various claims proffered by personal trainers.
For example:
“I help busy professionals lose 24 lbs in 12 weeks using my FatLoss9000 system”
On the face of it, there is nothing “wrong” with this (other than it being offensively wanky).
Indeed, various NHS sources recommend setting a goal of losing 1-2 lbs per week, which aligns with what is on offer here, albeit the promise is towards the top end.
So what’s the problem?
Is Yours Baldly just taking potshots at others because his offers are garbage?
Perhaps, but I shall leave that for you to determine.
However.
Before you decide, I’d like to draw your attention to a couple of things:
Gripe #1 Reputable sources recommended 1-2 lbs per week of *weight loss* whereas more often than not the PTs’ promises imply (or outright state) *fat loss*.
You might say I am arguing semantics, but I believe this is a subtle yet nevertheless important distinction.
Why?
To lose 1-2 lbs of fat per week by definition requires losing significantly more weight than that, something that is, at best, unsustainable and, at worst, outright dangerous.
Ergo, the results clients expect are out of line with reality from the word go.
A recipe for stress and strife, I am sure you will agree.
That said.
I have no doubt whatsoever that a handful of clients will achieve those results, which leads me to…
Gripe #2 Rarely are these claims based on statistically significant data.
Let me ask a rhetorical question:
Can you claim in integrity to “help busy professionals lose 24 lbs in 12 weeks” if you’ve worked with fewer than 1000 clients and less than half of them got (and maintained) that result?
No, you cannot.
Why?
A) Whatever results your clients have gotten are statistically insignificant (i.e. they are just as likely to be down to random chance), and,
B) If you’ve worked with a statistically significant sample and you cannot evidence that most people (at least half but, ideally, greater than 80%) not only lost the weight but kept it off and potentially went even further, it’s a stretch to say what you are claiming is “true”.
Let’s look at another type of results-based claim.
This time, regarding strength gains:
“I help hardworking dads increase their squat, bench press, overhead press, and deadlift by at least 20% in 12 weeks using my StrengthBlaster2000 System”
Again, nothing outrageous at first glance.
But examine it more closely, and scratches begin to appear.
Scratches best articulated by an exchange I had with a PT fan of mine who appears to have developed somewhat of an obsession with me:
“You still haven’t answered my question: I’m pushing 100kg on military press, if I read your book or enrol in one of your programmes how much strength am I likely to increase by?”
Was his question.
Answer:
I cannot possibly say because I know nothing about this chap whatsoever.
His age, height, weight, training experience, health status, and injury history are a mystery.
As is the rest of his programming, how much time he can devote to training, why he wants to get his press up, and the form he is using to press (more on that in a moment).
All things any PT knows they need to ascertain before making so much as a guesstimate about what a client may or may not be able to achieve.
Returning to that point about form:
What constitutes a “military press” varies widely.
You have some who label any overhead press from standing as such and others who correctly identify the military press as a strict standing press starting with the forearms vertical and the bar sitting just above and slightly in front of the clavicles.
The latter is much more difficult to improve because it’s a pure “muscle” lift from a marginally disadvantaged starting position. Whereas the former includes the “Olympic press”, which is a highly technical movement using the hips to generate momentum to pop the bar off the shoulders while simultaneously aligning the pecs and delts into an optimal pressing position to drive the bar to lockout.
Hence, you can see tremendous increases in weight with form tweaks and a bunch of practice. (Yours Baldly went from grinding out 75kg for sets of 5 to 90kg for confident sets of 3 in a matter of weeks after grokking the transition between the first and second phases of the lift).
It’s important to note that these increases don’t represent an improvement in strength. Instead, what has happened is optimal form allows strength that already exists to be fully expressed.
Similar applies to the squat, bench press, and deadlift (plus just about any lift you can think of and some you can’t), meaning a client who is already quite strong is likely to put a bunch of weight on the bar instantly if they have hitherto been training with suboptimal technique than someone who is starting from scratch.
To wit, back when I had my gym I would run a free “taster session” for potential clients wherein we would work on a lift of their choice.
One chap came in asking me for help with his barbell back squat, which had been stubbornly stuck at 140kg for several months.
I immediately identified and corrected a number of issues with his technique, resulting in him hitting 160kg – an increase of 12.5% – with ease in the space of ten minutes.
Do I now go around making definitive results claims based on that and other situations where I have done the same or better?
No.
Because I’m not going to sit here and pretend those examples are typical when they’re not.
They were, without exception, individuals who were in excellent health and had considerable experience of training with discipline and intent in the somewhat recent past, if not currently.
Consequently, they possessed the attributes and, critically, attitude needed to make significant progress very quickly.
Alas, that does not describe the general population, rendering almost all results-based promises null and void in my humbly correct opinion.
None of this is to say that there aren’t people out there who could potentially make such promises.
For example, strength training titan Mark Rippetoe’s system “Starting Strength” has been used by hundreds of thousands, probably millions of people since it was first published in 2005.
So if there is anyone out there who could promise specific results based on robust data, it would be Coach Rip.
But I have yet to see one.
(And, believe me, I have looked).
It’s almost like he knows there are too many variables at play to make such promises unworthy of the paper they are written upon.
Almost.
So if the man who is arguably the most influential figure of the 20th and 21st centuries with regard to basic strength training won’t promise specific results, then I have no business whatsoever even hinting that you’ll get a certain specific outcome if you follow one of my programmes or work with me in a private capacity.
So I don’t.
Instead, I promise to teach you “how to” do things because that is an accurate representation of what you will be purchasing.
The marketing people who want to sell me their courses are quick to tell me that I am doing it wrong.
They are technically correct, if “money” is your sole or overriding value.
However, I prefer to sleep soundly at night, so if that means I have to miss out on a few sales from people who won’t commit unless I make a bold, definitive promise, that’s fine by me.
So.
If me saying:
“I will teach you how to get strong and in shape”
Is promise enough for you, email me directly and we shall have a conflab.
My address is phil@philtyreman.co.uk
Thank you,
Phil Tyreman
P.S. If you’re not sure what to say, simply send the word “Responsibility”, and I shall take the lead.