Albert Einstein defined stupidity as “doing the same thing over and over again expecting a different result.” In the world of fitness and nutrition, it’s sad to say that there are a lot of stupid people. I know me saying that may come across as a bit harsh, but lets be honest….it’s true. Sometimes a little dose of tough love is necessary to get your point across.
Yes I am referring to you Mr. “I follow a body-part per day split and still have a 40 inch waist.”
I’m also referring to you Mrs. “I don’t eat breakfast because I am trying to lose weight.” How’s that working for you?
The fact of the matter is, as humans, we’re creatures of habit and don’t like change. Unfortunately in the fitness/nutrition world, this is a woefully skewed mentality to have, and stupid.
I remember not too long ago, I started working with a woman in her mid 20’s who mentioned to me that she had always had issues with her weight and that no matter what she tried, she could never attain her ideal physique. Upon asking her what her normal “approach” entailed, she informed me that she would perform at least 45-60 minutes of cardio every day and that she typically followed a low-fat diet (rice cakes, bread, yogurt, etc)
In the limited time I had with this woman, I tried my best to inform her on the merits of resistance training and gave her tips on how she could “clean up” her diet (focus more on lean protein, include more healthy fats, etc etc). Essentially everything I told her was the complete opposite of what she had always done.
Long story short, my time would have been better spent drinking battery acid. A week later I see this same woman performing her daily routine of 60 minutes on the treadmill. Who wants to take bets on whether or not she was still eating those rice cakes?
In the end, it never ceases to amaze me when people will continue to do what they have always done while still getting the same results (zero).