by Matt Weik
The last several months have been a whirlwind of political posts being plastered across the internet and social media. Mainstream media is pushing a certain agenda. Politicians are trying to shove their viewpoints down all of our throats. And in the end, what has this solved? Not a damn thing. Politics will always be politics. There will always be division. So, how am I tying in the fitness and supplement industry with politics?
While the fitness and supplement industry doesn’t directly impact our day to day lives in the sense of our finances and livelihood, it does impact our health, performance, and longevity. What’s my point? My point is this, opposing sides will always butt heads. One side will say the other is wrong and vice versa. Each side, essentially, has their own agenda that they want the other party to understand and accept as being factual. And here are some examples.
Training Methods, Trendy Diets, and Supplement Brands
There have been many heated debates, fights, arguments, and disagreements over training methods, trendy diets, and supplement brands (as well as products). You have the faithful followers from all groups who stand proud for their cause and simply will not accept any other opinion to derail their position.
Look, I get it. We all need to stand for something, but much of what’s going on in the nation is based off of being a puppet for a cause, simply because you checked a box for a political affiliation. Politics is so screwed up these days that there may be no fix for our broken system. My only hope is that the hatred that we’ve seen not only stops but never escalates to such a level in our industry.
When you look at the topics discussed under this heading, think about all of the funny things we’ve seen on social media. People are posting “Vegan” in their social media bio. People are putting “CrossFit” in their bios. When you think about it, it’s like playing politics. You’re promoting your stance and positioning in your bio. Do you know how someone is a vegan or does CrossFit? It’s simple, they’ll tell you five hundred times in a matter of ten minutes. “Hi, my name is Joel… I’m a vegan.” It’s like sitting in an AA meeting and going around the room telling everyone your name and that you’re an alcoholic.
There’s really no reasoning with people who, like with politics, are so deep with their stance that there’s no way in hell they’re going to hear you out. They’ve already thought of 48 different reasons why you’re wrong, and they all start with, “See, you’re stupid because…”
I’ve written content on all sorts of topics. Various diets such as IIFYM, Keto, Mediterranean, Vegan, Low Carb, you name it. In the comments, you will always find people who, rather than opening up and learning about something, want to argue with you and disprove everything you say (even when science doesn’t back it up). Mind you, without them knowing a damn thing about the subject. It’s the exact same thing we are seeing in politics today. People on both sides are arguing as if they’re part of the House or Senate. I mean, heck, all the stuff I’ve heard lately, you’d think these keyboard commandos were looking to run in 2024 and change the world with their plans.
What’s the best way to build muscle? It’s a trick question – there are many effective ways to build muscle. The key is to try out a bunch of different training methods and measure your results. What works for me may not work for you and vice versa. But that doesn’t disprove that what I did didn’t work or what you did didn’t work better for you than what I did. See the back and forth in positioning? Maybe I need to use heavy weights in order to build muscle while you can get away with lighter and a more moderate weight? Heck, good for you. It may protect your joints in the long run.
You have consumers who will only purchase products from a certain brand. Maybe it’s a pre-workout (since that’s been a hot category for years). This customer tells you all the time that they’ve never had a workout like the one they had with ABC pre-workout, and all the others are junk. Little did they know, it was just the right combination of ingredients to maximize their workouts and results – for them.
I’ve actually looked into this more in-depth, and I’m going to be writing another article on my experience. I took raw materials and created my own formulas to test out – all of which were specific to vasodilation and enhancing the pump. What actual research has shown as being effective, surprisingly, didn’t give me the greatest pumps (I did arm measurements both pre-workout and post-workout to see what the pumped measurement read).
This all circles back to the fact that you need to do your own research and testing to see if what is being said is true or not. I take everything at face value these days, and I’m already not one to trust someone who I know nothing about. I’m skeptical of just about anything I read, and if I think there is some value behind it, I’ll try it out and gauge my own results and come to my own conclusion.
I believe we all need to end the nonsense of bickering back and forth about what is right, wrong, or indifferent. What people say in our industry is different than politics in that what the Left or Right does will absolutely affect our lives. In our industry, some 165-pound kid in his mom’s basement saying your pre-workout is trash really means absolutely nothing.
In the end, whether it’s politics or health and fitness, there will always be opposing opinions and stances. What we all need to do is our own homework. Don’t believe one side without hearing the opposing. And from there, do your OWN research to make a final conclusion. “Can’t we all just get along,” is a pipedream. Maybe it’s time we all just agree to disagree and focus on what we believe in and move forward with that. Some people will follow you, some won’t. In the end, the only thing you can control is YOU.
