About 15 years ago whenever I began delving more and more into training and nutrition, there was limited information available.
Today, we have a different struggle- there’s far too much information out there. You “know” too much!
One Facebook post says this, one Personal Trainer says that, another video says this is the “best” way to lose fat, another says something else is the “best” way to gain muscle. It’s confusing.
What should you do?
Whenever I’m researching a specific area more and I’m trying to make sense of the ridiculous amount of sources available, I ask myself a few questions. These help me to divide fact from fiction. They help me to gain clarity and discern opinion from evidence.
1) Is the person / organisation who is presenting the information gaining something directly or indirectly from the claim?
2) Can the claim be backed up with scientific studies or evidence?
3) Does the claim concur with the renowned leading experts in that particular field or are they completely on their own?
4) Try it for yourself if there’s divided opinion – sometimes a theory can work for some and not for others. This is why only x% of candidates in experiments show significant changes when new theories are tested. You might be in the other camp.
5) Keep researching. Don’t just stop at the first 3 sources. Read a wide range and gather the information together.
6) Develop your own methodology from the information you take in. Don’t just adhere to what 1 particular expert says without thinking about it for yourself.
7) Be open to correction and changing your own views and theories should new evidence come to light or you discover other theories from your research.
Information Overload
These questions might seem like overkill, but hopefully you can apply them as you do your own research so you don’t get confused or discouraged.
Learn about your own body and how it reacts. Theories are great but unless they are tested and applied by you, they can be completely useless to you. Exercise only “works” if you actually do it! While I’m keen to help as many people as possible and share high quality information in a simple way, I’m even more keen that you apply what you already know!
“Exercise only “works” if you actually do it!”