I was chatting with my old friend and colleague Colton this weekend. Along the way down the rabbit hole, we were reminded how miserably the fitness industry has failed the American consumer.
Did you know there are no education, testing, or experience requirements to call yourself a personal trainer in Pennsylvania? Did you know there are also no requirements of any kind to claim to be a nutritionist, either?
You could quite literally open up your own wellness business and be in charge of someone's health without knowing a damn thing. Scary? Yes.
It's no wonder the fitness industry gets away with the insane shit it does. Walk into an F45 Training, SOLDIERFIT, Orangetheory Fitness, or any group training franchise in the country and be blown away while they literally take you through a free workout without knowing anything more than your name on a completed waiver.
No assessment. No health history intake. No individualization. Just go get sweaty while doing the same exact thing everyone else is doing.
WTF?
Of course most perceive the fitness industry as a low-value lifestyle add. The country is swimming with cookie-cutter programs that follow absolutely no standardization despite being on the front lines of preventative healthcare.
Here are a few questions for you:
When you see a doctor, have they ever just looked at your body and wrote the same script they did for the last five people they saw without any assessment?
When you see a hairdresser, have they ever just looked at your head and proceeded to cut your hair just like the last ten people they saw without any discussion?
When you see your accountant, have they ever looked at your W-2 and processed your returns just like the last 140 people they saw without any research?
When you see any professional on the planet, have they performed their services for free the first time regardless of your situation?
Your answer to all the above should be, "Of course not. That would be ludicrous, Evan! Those are professionals and they treat me as the unique individual that I am." Good answer.
So then, if you are a human capable of moving your body with the resources to care for it, hopefully you value that gift that many don't ever get. So why would you want to work with anyone but a true professional for a cheap price to nurture that gift?
I can only hope that one day the fitness industry is run with standards to practice as a professional. For the longest time, it has been run by con artists and now social media influencers who have subsequently driven it down to the lowest spot on the healthcare totem pole (and rightfully so).
The potential we all have as humans is limitless through personalized physical activity and nutrition. One day, if you haven't already, I hope you seek a fitness professional that runs their program like a doctor's office ... but much more fun for you, of course!
#standards #fitnessindustry #healthcare #fitness #health #experience
