Has Bodybuilding.com become the WebMD of fitness?

The internet has come a long way in the last 2 decades. It has contributed to some of the greatest leaps in human-kind’s history. Enabling us to connect to hundreds of millions of people and “experts”as well as access to an entire universe of knowledge and information. But like exercise and nutrition, too much of anything good can be a bad thing.

Before I decided to change career paths and become a Performance Enhancing Fitness Instructor, a.k.a Personal Trainer, I was a combat medic in the Army for almost 8 years. I dealt with some of the most well trained and motivated individuals you could ever hope to cover your six (that’s military speak for watch your ass). With these highly motivated, awesome and amazing people, I shared some of the most shittiest situations you could ever imagine as well as laughs I will probably never have again. So when I decided to transfer into the civilian sector of medicine I kind of naively expected a similar situation. Of course most of the nurses and doctors I worked with were amazing, for the most part, of course no matter what your profession you will always have turds. But, after a while, people apparently started becoming their own doctors, coming into the Emergency Room with book sized printouts of articles and medical journals, self-diagnosing their runny noses and mild fevers. They must have been dying from some unforeseen tropical disease they picked up while on Spring Break in Cancun! Nope, sorry, you have a mild viral infection, here are your antibiotics and a work note, have a nice life. You want to know a sure fire way of damaging any relationship with your doctor, start any sentence with “well, I read on WebMD…” and then pay attention to how seriously they take you afterwards, don’t be surprised if they decide to give you a lolly and a Spongebob band-aid on your way out of their office.

When I transitioned into the fitness world I thought, again naively, maybe those days of self-diagnosing were over. As a trainer, every few weeks I will have a client start their sentence with “well, I read on Bodybuilding.com…”, now I have developed a relatively modest amount of patience over the years but when those shit words are oozed from their face holes I immediately begin to feel the Lou Ferrigno veins bulging from my temple. Whatever tidbit of misinformation that cartwheels off of their tongue after those 5 words matters not because I know that I will have to spend the next 15 minutes rewiring their already solidified opinions of holy truth. Please, don't get me wrong, both of those websites contain a plethora of useful and very well researched information, much like a combat hardened, well-trained SAW gunner with a full combat load is capable of spraying round after round of beautiful jihad-stopping freedom at a rate of 200 per minute. But, you put that weapon in the hands of 16 year old punk kid from Wisconsin and see just how effective it becomes. I’m sorry, but you just can’t expect to smash a workout routine created by Dorian Yates when your max bench is 135 pounds and you can barely curl a 30 pound dumbbell, it just ain’t gonna happen. And just because Billy “BigArmVeins2523” McDaniels has a Rep Power of 2,908 doesn’t make him a damn leading expert in the field of Kinesiology and Bio-mechanics.

Personal Trainers exist for a reason, much like various other certified, degree laden professionals. We posses the training and years of know-how to help create a foundation of efficient and well structured routines that will enable you to continue a life long pursuit of fitness and strength development. When you become passionate about a field of study enough to make it your livelihood you tend to know a thing or two about what you are doing. By no means am I stating that those individuals who decide to blog on the forums are uneducated or in any way ignorant, I am simply saying that you must appreciate the context of the situation. Like the fine print states at the bottom of every “new and improved, guaranteed to get you jacked” supplement “Results may vary”.

Listen, context is the universe in which all information gains its relevance. You can take any bit of information and mold it to fit your situation, but that doesn't mean it belongs there or that it even remotely applies to you. How do you think professional bodybuilders and elite athletes get to the level they are on? Simple, trainers! Trainers, that are 198% knowledgeable about their clients, their clients goals and their clients overall conditioning. There are no professional athletes out there today that have gotten to the level they are at, completely on their own, why? Because the level of eliteness that these players and competitors perform at require a level of training know-how that reaches beyond their scope of understanding and application.

Trainers are your saviors, they are the ones who will elevate your progress to a level that you have never seen. I have had too many clients come to me and say, “Chase, I never looked at it from that perspective.”, or my favorite, “YOUR A GENIUS!!” No, sorry, my Mensa application got rejected. I just simply knew you, knew your level of conditiong and knew what your goals were but more importantly I am in a position to see the things that you can’t. My position, training and knowledge allows me to see all those tweaks, twerks and skidoos that are invisible to you because you are focused on other things, like preventing this 75lbs dumbbell from knocking your teeth out during the press.

My final argument is this, hire a Professional Trainer. One certified and with a track record of satisfied and healthy clients. Yes, its OK to reference those awesome websites with all those hot chicks and ripped dudes sweating and clogging up your bandwidth with those massive pumps and veins, but when it comes to you and your goals and desired fitness level, trust someone that knows your situation, someone that can keep you accountable and that can ensure forward, efficient and overall safe progression. Or just go blow out your knee trying to squat 647lbs for 396 reps, because that huge bro-man on the blog told you “that’s how I got ripped”.