Some of you may have read previous gripes here at Fusion Fitness TV about commercial “fitness.” Health clubs, gyms, fancy machines, pills, potions, powders……it is a formidable obstacle of mostly style, marketing and appearance. It’s not really about results, but image. Make the sale. It’s an obstacle against reality. Men’s fitness magazine? Most coaches I know call it Men’s Fiction magazine. BUT guys still buy it AND buy into it every week.

If you know me and FFTV you know that I /we like basic stuff. Following trends, and fads are for the people that don’t have a clue. Here’s clue number 1. If you want a better body, health and fitness why not follow the best known practices that are less sexy, more time consuming and require a greater commitment?  That’s the way it has always worked. No one has ever come along and found a better way than that. No  matter what today’s magazines, studies and technology might say body transformation, and any fitness worth a damn still requires hard, hard work. It also means doing some things that are hard for you. I think those things are called weaknesses. One of my weaknesses is leg strength, and it gets the attention it needs at times. Whats’ your? You should know. You won’t learn it at a “health club” though.

That means the exercises, the reason for the exercises, the plan you set for the exercises, and the food you put in your mouth are all pretty basic, challenging as hell, well thought out and done with a mond / body connection. Anything less and you have reduced your chance of success by up to 50%!

For a weekend warrior that may be something pretty basic. Depending on what YOUR goal is (that is what a coach is supposed to do), and what your weaknesses are (what has to be fixed so you can earn that is how your exercises routine should be structured. It means you should thrive because of your training. It doesn’t mean you are simply a survivor.

Unfortunately that is the message I frequently see out there. I found this NY times video about Push Ups. A wonderful exercise AND one of those basics we talked about. In fact it is so basic that I would say everyone needs to be able to do at least 10 full body push ups (20 might be better) before they ever even think about touching a barbell or a dumbell for Bench Pressing. Anyways…..there are some videos of women in a health Club doing horrendous push ups. The “trainer” even has some skinny chick trying clapping push ups, and they ain’t pretty. Keep that up and she is asking for trouble. Just watch the trainers attitude and you will also see the hype and image problem in today’s commercial fitness.

If you have watched past episodes of Fusion Fitness TV you should know how to do a push up and why. If not you can go here. Or for a particularly tough version you can watch here. AND yes Jen does struggle with those push ups. In reality every single one of her push ups should be as perfect as possible. Carry this rule in your own pocket. As soon as your form starts going stop the exercise. Pushing onwards into sloppy, un-targeted exercise will only lead to much of nothing. Percentages immediately begin to plunge downward. Today’s commercial fitness wants to inflate your ego by providing you with false claims, fancy (and not the most productive exercises and programs) and sexy looking “workouts.”