Basic Human Competency

Basic Human Competency - A Guide for Prospective Trainers

New trainees are generally very eager to begin the organized pursuit of their goals; they are more than willing to purchase new equipment, supplements, journals, clothing, accessories, and so forth. Invariably, they want to do much more on their first day than would be beneficial; there is a sort of restlessness which consumes them until they are introduced to fatigue, hunger, soreness, and the other sobering realities of training.
The vast majority of casual trainees are impatiently obsessed with instant results, despite the fact that they’ve happily spent years in complacency. I pass no judgment on this group, because even 30 year veterans are receptive to the idea of instant results; they’re just experienced enough to know better. The fixation with “now” invariably leads to failure, not necessarily because of disappointment, but because of the unfounded assumption of competence.

People are more than willing to see themselves as weak, fat, slow, disgusting, etc. and will not hesitate to tell you. Very few, however, are willing to accept that they are novices. The scariest idea to a typical trainee is that he/she will have to begin their journey… at the beginning! Sure they weigh 500 pounds, and require a wheelchair and oxygen tank to get out of bed, but they are not beginners. No way. Maybe some other guy, but not them. Crossfit has capitalized unscrupulously on this demand for instant gratification. Fuck “know it all” trainers like me, with my progression tables and detailed plans, that guy just did 14 burpees. 14! And you said he wasn’t ready for the Olympics.

Even more damaging than a poorly conceived program, is a dissonant or closed mind. Some success is possible with consistency and dedication, regardless of the training system employed. The physical limitations of a given individual are far less predictive of success or failure than his/her self-imposed cognitive restrictions. The most effective tools in navigating obstacles are self-awareness and honesty.
The absolute worst part of program design for a new client is that they project an ideal, rather than an accurate picture of themselves. They’re always vague, and always lying, whether they intend to deceive or not.

Claim: “I worked out off and on for 10 years”.
Reality: You lifted a couple of times in high school and used the stairmaster at a hotel once.  
Claim: “I don’t eat that much.”
Reality: You eat precisely that much.
Claim: “I eat a lot!”
Reality: You eat the exact opposite of a lot. The louder and more defensive you are about it, the less you actually eat.

This last item is of particular concern to me, as it demonstrates the frightful incompetence of typical people. After so many years of involvement in fitness, certain things are so rudimentary that they are taken for granted. Though trainees would like to believe they are ready for “an advanced program”, they’re actually not even ready for a novice program, because they have no knowledge of basic human physiology or nutrition.

I was shocked to learn that there are still people who can’t read nutrition labels. Would figure that humans, naturally inquisitive, might have some passing interest in the contents of their sustenance, but then again, why go through the trouble of reading a label? Not like you’re getting graded. Despite the fact that very few people could tell you what a calorie is, or even how many calories were in the last thing they ate, everyone is convinced that they can accurately assess their level of consumption. This phenomena is not unique to the fitness world, where delusion is a product of the overwhelming desire to project knowledge and ability, it’s the unintentional condition of most people. Whereas the “off and on” trainee is lying to protect his/her ego, the nutritionally ignorant skinny/fat trainee, more often than not, is giving you an accurate summation of their perspective. Of course, their perspective has nothing to do with facts, but they are [sometimes] innocently oblivious of that.

I watched a very interesting documentary a few weeks ago. Take a break and watch it, if you like.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jPsKpnu0-X4

The results of the experiment were rather unremarkable, but the genuine ignorance and incompetence of the subjects deserves close scrutiny by anyone considering a career in fitness. They were given the laughably easy task of consuming [at most!] 5,000 calories/day for a month. They were all literate, free from any obvious mental impairment, and had access to a grocery store. I'm not going to say there's a right or wrong way to go about this, but I would:

1. Read labels of food products I enjoyed, preferably complementary ones. The peanut butter, jelly, and bread combination, for instance, might seem a fair choice.
2. Create roughly equivalent meal choices (1,700 calories).
3. Prepare and consume those meals.

Conversely, their strategy:

1. Find energy dense food items
2. Consume them irregularly and hope you meet the quota

Let me reiterate that I understand most people are unfamiliar with meal planning, nutrition labels, and diets, but this had all the complexity of a second grade math problem. It wasn't that they weren't smart enough to figure it out, it's that they didn't bother to try, because they falsely believed themselves competent.

Barring illness or injury, every fat and thin person who comes to your door suffers from mindlessness. The constant availability of food leads us to treat it as we would the air or the sun. It's something vital, but always expected, so we don't bother to regulate it. Different gene expressions, environmental factors, and adaptations to stress are then left to define our consumption. Random variations in size and shape (of untrained persons) have nothing to do with discipline or willpower; they're merely indicative of the different unconscious processes in similarly oblivious people.

Observations:

Overweight: Eating while distracted, eating as a reaction to stimulus, having primarily external satiety controls (whatever is being eaten will continue to get eaten until the bag/box is empty).

Underweight: Forgetting to eat, eating sloppily/incompletely, having strong internal satiety controls (hunger is not modified by the availability or convenience of food)

There is no way to plan a successful diet if your client can't track their daily candy bar intake, or if they leave 30% of the chicken on their plate because "they're done". The common idea that "I can't lose/gain weight, no matter what I do" is a completely rational statement, given the subjectivity with which most people analyze themselves.

An overweight person may truly not remember eating a snickers on the car ride home. Not that they have no memory of eating it, but that it didn't have a context worth remembering, so it may have been three days ago, it may have been last week, it may have been twice, it may have been five times.

An underweight person may be convinced that they ate two pounds of steak and two cups of rice, but what they actually did was stir the contents of the plate around into an unappetizing mess which was eaten by no one.  

Inaccurate information leads to poor diagnosis, which inevitably leads to failure. The results of the client will ultimately determine your credibility, and the single largest factor in determining their success is the accuracy of the information they give you. It's very difficult to get the truth out of anyone about anything, but it is in your interest to constantly inquire about the most minute details, and take absolutely nothing for granted.

It's really sad to see a talented athlete never reach the limits of their potential because no one ever told them to clean their plate. The initial consternation they feel at having their delusions refuted will give way to a lifetime of gratitude.