Fitness, Business, Fitness Business, & Achieving Life Goals

To paraphrase an Albert Einstein statement, once you label phenomenon with a theory, you exclude any other possibilities. 

Through the years people have believed that the world was flat, women were not as suited for intellectual pursuits as men, and that men walking on the moon was a hoax. Theories in our field have included: women should not lift heavy weights, machines are the best way to train, doing “aerobics” is most important for health, exercises should all be done in neutral spine, and crunches are the best way to train your abs.

There’s nothing wrong with following a theory, the problem is when we create or accept a theory about something, we often only look for the evidence that supports our theory and ignore or scoff at anything that contradicts it. How many myths persist in the world? How many myths persist in just the fitness world? How often does it come down to the theory that our way is better than your way? How many times must we be beaten over the head with contradicting information before we’re willing to consider a opposing theory?

So my main question is, are our theories or beliefs getting in the way of seeing the possibilities that are out there? Are we simply building on top of old ways and not exploring what could be?

“What if…?” is a beautiful question and should be asked often. Imagine, re-imagine, create your own theories, but be open to others.

Alright, I admit it. Part of me just wanted to use meme in a sentence. While I’ve heard the term before, I didn’t really know what it was. As I was looking through some videos on ted.com (love those), I came across a video by Susan Blackmore on Memes and Temes that helped me understand better.

Memes (pronounced meems) are, to quote Wikipedia, are “cultural ideas, symbols or practices, which can be transmitted from one mind to another through writing, speech, gestures, rituals or other imitable phenomena.”  Huh? Yeah, I know. Memes are evolved ideas/beliefs, copied with variation and passed on. They’re sort of ideas that mutate.

So what’s that got to do with Personal Training? Well, think of the fitness beliefs out there in the fitness world. How have ideas evolved… or not evolved? What beliefs do we hold on to that we might need to let go of to let the next generation come in? Less calories equals weight loss… long slow cardio for weight loss… etc. As they say, nothing is permanent but change. Evolve from the old and look for the new truths/ideas. Be open to them. Adopt those ideas. Adapt them for you and your clients and spread them like a virus. Be part of the evolution of the industry.