335: Josef Brandenburg Demolishes The Top 10 Fitness Myths

What an informative and entertaining interview!

Low-carb protein cookies, yum!

Just wanted to say I loved this podcast – mainly because of Joseph’s pug being able to be certified as a personal trainer! (i’m a pug lover myself got a 5 year old pug at home!). But that is pretty scarey that anyone (or any pug) can be certified…and you talked about the trainer telling you how to eat all that carbage before and after working out. Yeah the first trainer I saw after starting Atkins, of course tried telling me how atkins will kill me, blah blah blah…and that it would take over a year to get down to my goal and I would HAVE to devote 1 – 2 hours a day at least 4 times a week in the gym…
yeah – I got to my goal within 6 months on atkins (and maintained for 8 now!) and while I did exercise, it was nowhere NEAR what he told me I “had” to do. I’m talkin’ maybe once or twice a week I was in the gym.

anyways – great interview! (as always!)

THANKS Keri-Ann! Scary indeed.

–Jimmy

I think I have to disagree with the “myth” about certifications meaning something. I think they DO mean something. First off, Jimmy’s story says he talked to the “main guy” or whatever, not even mentioning if THIS guy was certified, the main guy said you can’t be trained by his trainers (the likely certified guys), so he was blowing smoke.
Then the pug story is lame cause he searched Google for the cheapest, easiest little test/course thing online, so what? There are sucky scams in every field of study I would think.

Is he really suggesting that the training from places like the National Academy of Sports Medicine, or the International Sports Sciences Association, or the American Council on Exercise are completely useless and don’t teach you anything? I’ve talked to gym owners around here and they won’t even look at you (to hire) unless you at LEAST have those basic certifications, and better still if you have a bunch of them. If I told them I had 3 certifications in sports fitness, nutrition and personal training from ISSA, would I look like a better candidate then if I walked in and told them certifications were crap and I got my training from blogs and radio shows? They’d laugh me out of the building.
Sure, getting a higher education degree would be better still, and sure you can learn a lot from blogs, web sites, you tube channels and of course BOOKS! But nobody wants to hire you because you’ve read a lot and have hundreds of podcasts on your MP3 player. They want to see some papers hanging on the wall that you’ve taken some tests, passed some exams, met the standards of some organization or another that is trusted and respected like those I mentioned.

And then to top of the irony, Joseph goes on to say he holds about 10 certifications! EVERY trainer I’ve heard on a podcast, radio show, youtube video or website at LEAST started their career with certifications! Nobody wants to hire a “personal trainer” trained by a stack of books from Amazon. I think that’s a shame, but that’s how the system works.

And besides, if I hired a trainer, I’d also want them to have some credentials from a trusted organization, and not tell me they got their education from websites and youtube channels and so they’re better than certified trainers.

Let’s be realistic, certifications are the entry point into this career, they get you jobs, they teach you the basics on muscle anatomy and exercises, routines, energy balance, etc… How not to hurt yourself, injure people, and deal with other things like form and function.
If Joseph decided to dump certifications and start his own organization to teach people the “right” way, he’d end up with another organization handing out certifications to pass his exams!

If certifications are crap, how else should a person enter the fitness, training, nutrition, health world? And don’t say, well you should spend $60k and go to college for 4 years. Not everybody can just run out and do that.

That’s my take!