A while ago, I wrote about the 12 Worst Things We Do to Our Health.

I have left one out.

I know that I promised to finish this list, but every time I started, it turned into a rant, so I would stop and wait. Nothing changed. It still made me feel so crazy that I couldn’t finish it.

This one thing, more than any other, has made me question my profession, contemplate becoming a barista (or something like it), and change how I run my business.

What is it?

If you remember how this list started. I went to the Exercise and Fitness conference, and there was a panel discussion about the worst things people do to their health, and each of the presenters came up with their top 3.

We are all guilty of doing a few of these at some time, but the key to making a change is to make your bad habits harder and your good habits easier. Recognizing unhealthy habits is, as they say, the first step to making a change.

But what if the bad habits you are practicing are taught to you?

The last thing in this series is health & fitness professionals.

At the conference, it was stated that one of the worst things people do to their health is not respecting the advice of health and fitness professionals.

I can totally agree with this.

Taking advice from your friends, neighbours, the guy at the gym, hairdresser, Gwyneth Paltrow, Jillian Michaels, or all of the above is generally a bad idea. Finding a credible source of information is difficult.

But here is where I go off the rails.

All health and fitness professionals are not created equal.

Taking a deep breath and…

I have been in the health and fitness business for a long time. I have a degree in Human Kinetics, am a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist and a few other things. I have years of experience, and I am still surprised by some of the exercises that I see trainers give their clients at the gym.

Qualified?

One of the biggest challenges in fitness is the insane variation in the qualifications of various training organizations. You can hire a trainer who received their qualification by writing an online exam to someone with qualifications that you can only get after you have a degree.

Or they have no qualifications at all.

Another way of getting fitness “advice” is to ask an athlete. This may not be the best idea. Athletes have some very specialized skills, and if you want technical advice, they have great experience and can help you with the specifics of your event.

BUT!

Do they understand the basics of adaptation, training, and fitness? Experience does not equal knowledge.

Unfortunately, I often see trainers working with clients, and I can not understand the goal of their workout. That doesn’t mean there wasn’t one, but it was exceptionally difficult to understand what they were trying to achieve.

Fitness should not be that hard, and most of all, it should be fun.

So what should you do?

Give up? Join the couch surfing league?

No, but a few tips to make sure that the advice you are getting is helping you reach your goals.

7 tips for hiring the right trainer.

Ask about their qualifications, experience and their philosophy on training. Qualified doesn’t necessarily mean good; experience doesn’t make you an expert, but there should be enough of both to help you reach your objectives.

Try it. Three sessions are enough time to know if this person is right for you.

Can they explain – in the language you understand – why you are doing these exercises? If your trainer needs to explain every detail in technical language, I am guessing they don’t really understand it either. You know what they say, “If you can’t explain it, you don’t know it.”

Can they tell you what you should expect in terms of progression and results?

Could you do this workout without them? Do they make the workout so convoluted and difficult that you could never do it alone?

Do they teach you what you need to know to be independent? You may like to work out every time with your trainer, but are they creating dependence or helping you achieve your goals?

Can they tell you what you can expect to see and when you can expect these results?

It doesn’t have to be complicated.

My biggest frustration is seeing people get bad health and fitness advice from professionals. It is hard enough to get people to exercise, and then when they do ask for help, they get bad advice. It is so frustrating.

It makes me question whether it is all worth the effort, and then I have a day like today. Where someone I have been working with reached a milestone that was considered unlikely, if not impossible, by many of their health professionals. It was a great moment, and I was lucky enough to be a part of it.

Every time one person reaches a goal, big or small, to change their health, eat better, exercise more or start a new habit, it makes a difference.

Every time someone sends me an email asking, “What do you think about this?” I am always happy to help them understand or find the answer. I am glad they are asking questions and not simply taking opinions as fact.

Every time someone decides to start a new habit, to improve their health and fitness, it is an important step and frankly, I don’t want bad advice messing it up.

So that is the last in the 12 Worst Things We Are Doing to Our Health. I am sorry it took so long, but this is one thing that makes me go on a rant. If there is one thing I care about it is helping you reach your health and fitness goals. There are lots of great resources and very knowledgeable people, but unfortunately, they are often not the loudest or the most popular.

Sometimes, the best advice is the simplest. Just do it.