ForemanRules
New Member
Telling Lies in America
“Telling Lies in America” was a 1997 movie about the seedy side of the
movie business. The movie boasted an all-star cast including Kevin
Bacon, Calista Flockhart ( there must be some symbolism here) and
Luke Wilson. I was shocked. When I saw the title I was positive it was
a fitness documentary like Pumping Iron or Stay Hungry. Telling lies in
America is what fitness in this country is all about.
We have 8 Minute Abs, Buns of Steel, and at least 129 titles on
running, walking or dancing yourself thin. The reality is that the lies in
fitness far outweigh the truths. Every fitness magazine on the
newsstands contains at least a few liberal interpretations of the truth. I
had a great conversation the other day about fat loss and female
clients with trainer to the stars Valerie Waters and it got me thinking.
Is it OK to lie? Maybe we can just tell little white lies as my Mom used to call them.
Here’s my premise. It’s OK to tell a lie if you know that it’s a lie. If a
lie gets someone to become involved in an exercise program then I’m
all for lying. There is one small problem. First you need to know the
difference between the truth and the lies. The whole point of this
series of articles has been for coaches, trainers and fitness enthusiasts
who read this site to learn the truth about training, nutrition and fat
loss. Once a personal trainer or performance specialist knows the truth
then, they can tell a little white lie to make the sale or to get the client
on board.
Here is a great example of a classic “little white lie”.
The nervous client- “I don’t want to get too big.”
The lying trainer - “Don’t worry we’ll just keep the weights light and
tone you up.”
Subliminal Man’s Answer- “Don’t worry you won’t work hard enough to
build any muscle anyway?”
We all remember Subliminal man from Saturday Night Live. Always
saying what we were really thinking. The reality is that we know that
building muscle is hard work and that it won’t be easy. But, telling the
client this will contradict everything they have ever read in Self or
Shape and potentially drive them away. A little white lie to get the
process started is ok. Education can wait. What we are looking for now
is for the client to buy in.
Talking to experienced trainers like Valerie Waters who deal with
female clients every day can be educational and enlightening.
Sometimes male trainers with hard heads ( read author) can be so
focused on the truth that they lose sight of the job. The job is to get
people to train and to help them achieve their goals. Getting a
reluctant client to train by attempting to convert them to your belief
system may not be a recipe for success. In fact it’s probably a
prescription for failure.
The key to selling fitness lies (clever play on words) in knowing the
truth but, also knowing when to lie.
“Telling Lies in America” was a 1997 movie about the seedy side of the
movie business. The movie boasted an all-star cast including Kevin
Bacon, Calista Flockhart ( there must be some symbolism here) and
Luke Wilson. I was shocked. When I saw the title I was positive it was
a fitness documentary like Pumping Iron or Stay Hungry. Telling lies in
America is what fitness in this country is all about.
We have 8 Minute Abs, Buns of Steel, and at least 129 titles on
running, walking or dancing yourself thin. The reality is that the lies in
fitness far outweigh the truths. Every fitness magazine on the
newsstands contains at least a few liberal interpretations of the truth. I
had a great conversation the other day about fat loss and female
clients with trainer to the stars Valerie Waters and it got me thinking.
Is it OK to lie? Maybe we can just tell little white lies as my Mom used to call them.
Here’s my premise. It’s OK to tell a lie if you know that it’s a lie. If a
lie gets someone to become involved in an exercise program then I’m
all for lying. There is one small problem. First you need to know the
difference between the truth and the lies. The whole point of this
series of articles has been for coaches, trainers and fitness enthusiasts
who read this site to learn the truth about training, nutrition and fat
loss. Once a personal trainer or performance specialist knows the truth
then, they can tell a little white lie to make the sale or to get the client
on board.
Here is a great example of a classic “little white lie”.
The nervous client- “I don’t want to get too big.”
The lying trainer - “Don’t worry we’ll just keep the weights light and
tone you up.”
Subliminal Man’s Answer- “Don’t worry you won’t work hard enough to
build any muscle anyway?”
We all remember Subliminal man from Saturday Night Live. Always
saying what we were really thinking. The reality is that we know that
building muscle is hard work and that it won’t be easy. But, telling the
client this will contradict everything they have ever read in Self or
Shape and potentially drive them away. A little white lie to get the
process started is ok. Education can wait. What we are looking for now
is for the client to buy in.
Talking to experienced trainers like Valerie Waters who deal with
female clients every day can be educational and enlightening.
Sometimes male trainers with hard heads ( read author) can be so
focused on the truth that they lose sight of the job. The job is to get
people to train and to help them achieve their goals. Getting a
reluctant client to train by attempting to convert them to your belief
system may not be a recipe for success. In fact it’s probably a
prescription for failure.
The key to selling fitness lies (clever play on words) in knowing the
truth but, also knowing when to lie.
