Everything You Know About Fitness is a Lie (2011)

> People seem eager to find some magic, half-hearted shortcut to reaching certain goals. There really aren't any. The best advice is often the kind you don't want to hear.

Often yes, and in this case probably especially so, but I'd like to make a general comment here as I hear this sentiment repeated in many other situations: in general, this is not true. The entire technological progress of humanity is based on this simple assumption: there must be a better / faster / magic way to do this, even a half-hearted shortcut, so that we do not have to work much to get what we want. That's why we invented... pretty much everything. We can call it "looking for half-hearted shortcuts" or "optimization", but it's the same process.

OK, as a former professional athlete this piece is, as usual, half-smart and largely uninformed (and hugely frustrating).

Important points:

1 - Don't confuse a "health club" with a gym. 2 - Don't confuse a "personal fitness trainer" with an athletic trainer. 3 - Most of all.... Don't confuse Performance and Results.

If you actually really care about Performance and training - I would suggest you start by learning the fundamentals of training. You MUST own your own training. And to do that you need to be informed. The author obviously didn't do any of this work as he just ran from "expert" to "expert" rather than taking personal responsibility. A simple rule of thumb.... if you're not talking about periodization, you're working with the wrong person (and doing it wrong).

Kevin Brown was one of the best PTs on the west coast and I'm incredibly fortunate to have worked with him. He was a huge loss to the community, and to his friends and family. But he wasn't the sort of 'holy man' that is implied in this piece. Unlike everyone else who the author worked with throughout his efforts, Kevin was just a highly skilled, highly trained, athletic performance professional. These people exist throughout the athletic world - including working as trainers.

So make the effort.

1 - Educate yourself on performance and athletic training principles.

2 - Fine a serious professional and work with them.

If you're not up for the above - then accept that you're not going to get the "magical" results you dream of. That's life.

Oh... and a fundamental flaw throughout this piece is the idea that there is some sort of "shortcut" to high performing physical fitness and athletic performance. Other than using PEDs there is no shortcut. And even PEDs are only effective if you ALSO take no shortcuts in your training.

You increase the support in a system by strengthing it, not loosening it.

You may want to address imbalances (look up "upper crossed syndrome") by strengthening parts of the system in opposition to those which are overstimulated.

Generally, there's not a whole lot of increase in flexibility you can accomplish by casual stretching, and excess flexibility can be a problem -- pregnant women experience a loosening of tendons and ligaments (it helps in moving the baby through the birth canal) which can present problems in strength training.

Kettlebell swings are most decidedly low-impact training.

You're much better off finding a gym which specializes in training for strength or power sports (e.g.: powerlifting, Oly lifting, even a better Crossfit box) and signing on with a team. This isn't a group class, it's a team sport.

The cost-effectiveness is much higher than one-on-one training, the emphasis is on measurable results (higher totals, Crossfit games, etc.), and the group itself is competitive but supportive.

One-on-one fitness studios can be good, but it's a high-cost niche.

For whatever reason, swimming picked up a pattern of really long-distance training routines, peaking in the 1970s and early 1980s with 10-12,000 yard/meter days (two workouts). Cycling had similar trends for a while as well. Both are activities in which the athlete is supported (swimmers by water, cyclists by the bike) and friction is minimal (rowing tends to get painful after an hour or two), allowing hours-long training sessions well past what would be the point of exhaustion in other activities.

While this can help with skills development (though my thinking is that training in an exhausted state reinforces poor form), and may be a good way to keep kids off the streets, it's largely useless for developing maximum capability in the shorter-duration events typical of pool meets (50-500 yards / 50-400 meters), taking anywhere from 15 seconds to 5-6 minutes or so. The primary exceptions would be 1000m or 1650y events (10-15 minutes or so). Triathalon / open-water swimming is almost a wholly different sport.

You'd benefit in swimming from a regime that's similar to other HIIT training: 15-60 second maximum-effort pieces followed by brief rest (5-15 seconds) and a repeat, in sets of 8-10 or so. Incorporate warmup, skills drills, and strength training, and workout time drops markedly.

I still enjoy doing longer pieces and the whole-body flush accompanying them, but they're not something I undertake daily or even weekly.