Thursday, December 12, 2013

All Hopped Up

Something interesting has popped up over the last couple of days in the fitness industry, notably over a controversy regarding the television show "The Biggest Loser". I thought I might give my two cents since this is currently trending and has been generating a fair amount of steam with the media.

Allow me to first give a slight recap: Jillian Michaels, who is arguably the most recognizable personal trainer in the nation right now was exploited for giving her team caffeine pills before a weigh-in. The host of the show uncovered this and penalized Jillian's team for being administered a non-authorized supplement per the rules and guidelines of the program.

Jillian stood by her decision that administering caffeine pills was a better alternative than letting her team get loaded up with coffee before a weigh-in. Her only apology came that she was sorry her team had to suffer over her "professional decision".

So, it becomes a matter of principle.

And to be fair, you almost have to penalize both parties.

Let's consider the show first:

Since it began, The Biggest Loser has been one of the most monumental and inspiring shows when it comes to weight loss and how the public perceives it. They should be applauded for showing people how difficult losing substantial weight can be. In addition, the viewers can see how former contestants have managed to either keep the weight off or (in some cases) regain much of it back. Another added plus, is the huge shift it has caused for corporations to start their own Biggest Loser contests in efforts to get their employees more mindful of their individual health and wellness.

Where I feel the show has betrayed the public is in how unrealistic the entire program is. The amount of work the participants have to endure is borderline insane. Instead of approaching weight loss with more mindfulness and balance, it's constantly about more, more, harder, faster, more.

Having run a business which specializes in weight loss, I can assure you: most people in a similar situation have no business pushing THAT hard.

And the show lets you see the grim side of that as well: when the injuries occur, or someone has to leave the show due to contraindicated exercise or program design.

Is it a bad show? Not necessarily. For the right person, it can be just the right amount of motivation to say "I need to start taking better care of myself. If "they" can do it, so can I".

Ultimately, if it gets someone off their butt...mission accomplished.

On to Jillian.

As fitness professionals, we have a lot of tools at our disposal for helping people lose weight. Nutritional counseling, high intensity training, supplement advice, etc.

Is caffeine a terrible thing to administer? Absolutely not. Many people do quite well with caffeine combined with exercise.

However, she does have guidelines to follow and her team paid the price for her executive decision.

One has to consider, Jillian committed a minor infraction on a show with already vastly unrealistic expectations.

But chock up a big win for the show. As soon as controversy rears its head, the show gets more attention, hence more views and don't you think that makes those commercial sponsors really happy?

Sadly, I find so many people who can regurgitate every detail about this show and in the same breath say, I wish I had time to exercise...

I'll let you marinate on that statement for a moment.

In my opinion, if the Biggest Loser wanted to offer a great service to it's viewers it would spend more time showing how the average person can make enough lifestyle changes to see the results they want. Instead, they'd rather show you what you can accomplish when you are forced to adhere to their competition, on their terms.

We can help you establish the guidelines without sacrificing your entire day to get there!

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