What does Scooby think of leemhayward, ScottHermanFitness, Mark Rippetoe, Luimarco, BrandonCarterTV, StandFirm, vicsnatural, VinceDelMonte, charliejames1975, sixpackshortcuts, the HodgeTwins, Crossfit, P90X, and Ian MacCarthy?
Who cares!
If you like them and they are giving you the results you want then I think they are AWESOME! Not every program is right for every person, find the program that works for you!!! If your program gets you jazzed about working out every day then that is the best program for you, as I always say:
In the fitness class of life, 90% of the your grade is based upon attendance!
If you are working out every day and having fun doing it then you are going to have great results over the long haul! Having said that, the above group of trainers can be grouped as follows:
- Those on YouTube who are trying to the best of their ability to pass on good information, all with their own unique twist. Fortunately, many of the above trainers fall in this category.
- Those who will promise anything just to make a buck, these folks appear in my Fitness Hall of Shame
- Acknowledged pro coaches
- Those who just criticize everyone else in order to get their 15 min of fame. These folks don’t offer any workout or nutrition programs of their own so they are really not trainers and often don’t seem to workout themselves.
I will leave it as an exercise to the reader to decide which trainers belong in which categories but it should be pretty obvious.
Now as far as who you should listen to? If your goals are just cosmetic then here is some great advice: Choose the personal trainer who has the body you want! If they can’t achieve it, how do you expect they will be able to help you achieve it? Have the they been able to help others achieve great physiques? If not, its a warning sign. Now what if your goals are sports performance related or health related? Choose somebody who focuses on that. For sports performance like football prep for High School, Crossfit would be my first choice. If brute raw strength is your only goal then Mark Rippetoe strength training program is the way to go. P90X has a snazzy program that has transformed many a newbies physique in short order. I will let everyone else describe their own niche but I will describe mine. I focus on natural bodybuilding and good nutrition as a tool to improve appearance, health and sports performance. I encourage people to do real cross training: weights for strength and then outdoor sports for enjoyment as well as cross training. I practice what I preach. I have lifted 5x/week for 30 years. For cardio and cross training I do swimming, running, cycling and beach volleyball. I compete actively in triathlons and endurance cycling events, my next event this summer is a half Ironman. Since the swimming, biking and running are very linear and steady state, the beach volleyball adds a very important element of high acceleration, jumping, side to side motions. OK, and the beach volleyball is really FUN! Its all about FUN! Cardio should not be boring, if it is you are doing something really wrong in my humble opinion.
OK, now the exceptions to the “choose a trainer with the physique you want” advice. With many pro level sports, the coaches are very specialized and may not excel in the sport themselves. A perfect example is trainers for IFBB bodybuilding pros. These guys are as much pharmacists and chemists as trainers. If you want to be an IFBB pro then don’t waste your time listening to me! If you want to win weightlifting events in the olympics, don’t listen to me, listen to Mark Rippetoe! However, if you want a healthy, natural physique thats as much for go as it is for show then I humbly suggest giving my website a try.
Alles Klar?