I’m going to get right into this, and because we focus on Strength Training… I’ll use it as the first example…
If you ask 100 trainers what Strength Training is, you will probably get 100 different answers. If you ask google, God help you. Strength Training is made out to be this super complicated idea – something that you need to travel thousands of miles and years until you find the magical Strength Training Wizard’s cave – where they can impart their wisdom and finally answer…
What is Strength Training? If you want to know what it is, in simple terms… check out this blog. I’m not saying it here because this isn’t about definitions of Strength Training, it’s about why does all of this shit end up so damn complicated…
The Answer.
The answer is pretty straight forward: those in the fitness industry don’t want it to be simple and relatable.
The Explanation.
Why? Because complexity implies that you need a trainer for it. If you just can’t understand it… well it justifies my job as a trainer. If what I have you do is super complicated, new fangled and fancy… well, you need that trainer. The trainer knows – if I have to explain this… they’ll need me. After all, the basics don’t need explaining. Further, we all have to have different definitions and versions of everything, because that’s how I stand out. Why would you choose me over someone else if we all had simple definitions?
And, of course, don’t forget…
Don’t you need a trainer who can make sure you maximize your muscle post-activation potentiation?
I’ve come to call this idea in general, “The Fancy Hypothesis”. I will do a deep dive on this later… but for now…
The Fancy Hypothesis is the idea that if something is complicated, hard to understand, new, confusing, or fancy, it must be valuable, when in fact, usually the opposite is true.
People usually think to themselves some combination of, even momentarily, “Well, if this is new, beyond my understanding, or complicated… it must be valuable in some way I just don’t get.”
Health and Fitness as a Whole
It’s exactly the same for “health” and “nutrition” as well. Wait… you mean all I need to do is sleep, drink water, eat more protein, strength train a few days per week, walk 10k steps/day, and remove a few hyper-stressful things from my life? And I need to just do that for 50 years in a row? IT MUST BE MORE COMPLICATED THAN THAT.
Clients Help Support the “Fancy Hypothesis”
And guess what… I’ve come to realize many clients don’t want it to be simple either. If it’s just too complicated and confusing… there’s a built in excuse for trying and failing. If it’s constantly different and fancy, well… at least I won’t be bored (even if it doesn’t work or I get injured). If I’m paying some guru for a secret… well, that must be valuable since no one has heard of it.
And after all – anyone can understand the basics… why would I need to pay someone for the basics? Clients tend to inherently think… if it’s simple, or “If I already know it”, then why would I pay for someone’s help with it?
Well… here’s why you should hire the person that wants you to do the simple, uncomplicated, easy to understand thing…
Hire Someone Who Makes You Do the Boring Thing
Do not go to a gym, coach, or trainer because things are complicated. Go to them because they make things simple – boring even. Great coaches and trainers provide accountability, safety through technique, and an unwavering commitment to the basics.
Anyone can make something complicated… it takes a true expert to make things simple, and then to stand by that simplicity. Because you see, when you really, deeply understand something, you can explain it to a 5 year old.
It is exactly this way with soreness – do you have any idea how easy it is to absolutely brutalize you in the gym? To make you sore as shit? I’ll tell you – it’s one of the easiest things to do on the planet. Ask a friend, “Hey, can you make up a workout that will make me super sore?” 100% guarantee they say… “Uh… you’re weird as shit but sure… how about 500 air squats, 500 burpees, and then run 5 miles?” It ain’t hard…
But ask a friend to design a workout plan that keeps your quality of life in mind, along with a progression for the future (meaning you’re not so sore from Monday you can’t be productive on Wednesday), and gets killer results, without intense soreness? And then ask them to keep you accountable to that plan… that’s exceptionally difficult.
But of course, trainers are scared of clients saying… “That’s it?… But the other gym does 1000 reps per workout… but, this is Gym X’s warm up… but… I heard about this thing called muscle confusion and constant variance… but I saw this super cool thing on TikTok.”
You don’t pay for the info. You pay for the accountability and the plan to actually make you do the basics. The truth is, if it seems new, fancy, and complicated – ie, you actually want to do it, you probably don’t need it.
Do NOT fall into the trap of, “well I already know the basics… I need help with nutrient timing and sport specific supplementation.” If you have any thoughts like that at all, the basics is exactly what you need to pay for.
CrossFit: A Case Study in “The Fancy Hypothesis”
CrossFit programming from 2008-2012 used to be mind bogglingly simple. Monday was 5×5 Deadlifts. Tuesday was a 3 mile run. Wednesday was Fran. Thursday was off. Friday was 5×5 Press. Saturday was Cindy. Sunday was Off… and that was it.
The rise of the Games and competition at gyms created this obsession with “More” or “Fancier”. More/Fancier intensity. More/Fancier workouts. More/Fancier soreness. More/Fancier reps. More/Fancier novelty. It was the differentiator between gyms – a badge of honor to see what gyms could program that their members would still survive.
I was there on the front lines. I was a Coach and Gym Owner when this all happened. “Hey Coach – I saw this piece of equipment (that was never before created) on The Games and I’ve decided it’s the key to my health/fitness, we need it or I’m going somewhere else.” It was shiny object syndrome on steroids – and not just TRT, I’m talking a full 2 gram stack of EVERYTHING.
I literally used to feel like I had to compete with the gym down the street that was absolutely crushing their members. We had to provide more pain than gyms in our area to win.
I can look back now and realize that was wrong.
And why? Because it didn’t help people nearly as much as it could have, and that’s the only thing I care about.
Hell, even I fell victim. I was looking for a way to really make my abs stand out… and I watched a video on how handstand walking “works the core like nothing else”. This fascinated me beyond belief. I didn’t understand – but what I saw was people with super 6 packs handstand walking… so I because obsessed. Got really good at handstand walking and… I can say it didn’t help my goals, not even one small iota.
I would have been much, much, much better serviced spending that time becoming great at the basics.
The Antidote to the Fancy Hypothesis
Well, as you might imagine…
The antidote is boring as shit.
The antidote is the basics, and we’ve lonnngggg since committed to the basics – to simple warm ups, simple mobility (injury rehab and prevention), basic strength training, and simple, short, relatively intense bouts of conditioning, and simple, healthy lifestyle habits.
It’s Really That Simple
Here’s what I hope you’ve taken away from this…
#1) Fight the “Fancy Hypothesis” and instead, find value in the simple basics.
#2) Actually do the Basics.
#3) Don’t pay for someone to explain or deploy complex things into your life… Pay for help, guidance, and accountability with implementing and mastering the basics, not understanding them.
The next blog… we’ll do a deep dive into “The Basics”.
For now…
Out!!
Coach Connor
Find me on instagram @connorgreen3000 and the gym @sparkfitnessla
Find me on YouTube here @connorgreen3000 and the gym here @sparkfitnessla
