In today’s online universe, finding a fitness enthusiast or so-called expert is easy. People who are looking for fast weight-loss tricks or easy guides to exercises and diets have to go no further than a Google search to be overloaded with hundreds of these fitness gurus.
While their flashy websites and tantalizing promises of quick fixes may draw you in, fitness gurus – from Instagram to Facebook and from Twitter to Vine – could actually cause you more harm than good. This certainly doesn’t apply to all fitness personalities you may find on the Internet, however, because of how easy it can be to create the illusion of fitness expertise online, many of the gurus you may encounter are probably not great examples to follow. Here are five reasons why solely following fitness gurus can hurt your fitness progress.
1. They are Misinformed
Sports nutritionist, Graeme Thomas, notes on his website that “Unfortunately, it’s not only the scam-artist type guru that is the problem. There are just as many, if not more, misinformed but well-meaning individuals who end up dispensing all kinds of terrible advice.” Think about all the things you have ever heard about health and fitness. A lot of what you have heard is probably contradictory.
That’s because fitness tips spread like rumors and they’re often not based in scientific fact. But, because they're often presented as facts, people repeat them. A lot of online fitness gurus fall into this trap. They may mean well by telling you how to accomplish your goal, but they just may not know that what they are repeating back to you isn’t necessarily true.
2. The Entertainment Factor
Online personalities of any genre attain their success by drawing big audiences and subscribers. They do this by being entertaining and welcoming to as many people as possible.
Because of this desire to appeal to the masses, it's even possible that some fitness gurus may make up stuff just to keep their audiences coming back. It's also likely that because their advice or tips are not specialized to your specific needs, they may not help you accomplish your goals. After all, something that may work for one person may not work for you and it could cause you to gain weight and bad fat.
3. They Stay Away from Traditional
As part of needing to be entertaining, fitness gurus often have to come up with something new and exciting in order to make their name. In doing so, you may hear them trashing traditional methods of diet and exercise.
They'll encourage you to trade hours of hard work for a miracle pill or one weird trick to lose fat. These are simply gimmicks designed to make you spend your money on them. Traditional exercise and diet has always been the best and most efficient ways to lose weight fast, but the gurus don’t want to lose their audiences to tradition.
4. Their Strategies Aren’t Supported by Scientific Fact
The workings of your body and its health are a science. While there are fitness certificates available for trainers to earn, the people with the best understanding go to school for years to learn how the body works and how it responds to stimulation through exercise and different diets.
Fitness gurus who don’t post any links or mentions to scientific studies supporting their ideas simply haven’t done any research. Following their advice may not only promote weight gain, but it could also be potentially life threatening since they haven’t researched what negative side effects could occur. Look for the ones that back things up with scientific studies.
5. Combining Advice
Because there are so many self-proclaimed fitness experts online, a common mistake is looking at a bunch of different sources and trying to combine advice. Taking several supplements along with crazy routines could have the opposite effect of what you want to achieve.
If you're serious about success, and you should be, take your time and consult with qualified nutritionists and trainers who offer personalized routines and who have numerous client success stories.