The One Thing I'm Dogmatic About

Throughout the years, there have been many dogmatic individuals in the fitness industry. While being dogmatic gets you noticed and arguments attact attention, I'm convinced that it is not helping people get results.






I have been training myself for over two decades and I've been training other people since 1998. After all the studying, learning from colleauges and the thousands of hours I have put in on the gym floor, I have become less - not more dogmatic. Today, the one thing I'm dogmatic about is not being dogmatic.

This past weekend, I was teaching a weight training instructor course with Health & Fitness Alliance. It was a great experience and I had a really great group of students who peppered me with excellent questions. I have found over the years that I can answer almost every training question with 2 words - "it depends". My students heard those words over and over again. (Then, of course I explained what "it" depended on).

While there are fundamental training principles that we need to respect and common trends in all succcessful programs, we all too often get caught up worrying about and arguing over the non-essential, insignificant details. People are sweating the small stuff and wasting time and energy worrying about and arguing over small things that differ from person to person and from one context to the next.

I believe in absolute truth and morality. I believe that some things, regardless of culture or circumstances are right or wrong. However, I believe that when it comes to training there is no "right" or "wrong". All you have is more appropriate or less appropriate for a particular person in a particular situation with a particular goal.

The take-home application:
I believe that when it comes to your training there are only 4 things that matter:

1. Your health
2. Your performance
3. Your body composition
4. Your longevity

I'll expand on this more in a future post.

If these 4 areas are at or moving towards where they should be, then what you are doing is "right!"

If you want to learn more about customizing training for your individual body or how individualize training for those you traing, checkout my upcoming workshop Train Right for Your Body Type.