Media driven fitness trends

I'm trying to write an intelligent blog post while I eat breakfast, drink coffee, feed my daughter, pack a lunch and try to make myself presentable. Maybe time to look at my own life balance!


When my daughter was a toddler or maybe I was pregnant (If I remember correctly because it all becomes a blur at some point), I was attended another Can Fit Pro conference. At those conferences you get to see all the latest gadgets and potentially up and coming fitness trends. One of the things I saw at this particular conference was the TRX. I've been using it ever since. I picked up one of the first models.

Over the years, I've seen some fantastic stuff that never made it into mainstream. And I've often speculated why? The main reason is the media. If the media doesn't get interested in what someone is trying to hawk, no one here's about it. If someone isn't connected with some influential media folks, nothing gets popular.

It can be confusing for lay people to sort through the plethora of fitness related media coverage to know what the best thing to do is. This confusion can almost lead to a state of paralysis! Too much to choose from, what is best? How many times have you been at a dinner party and people debate what the best piece of cardio equipment is? The best type of fitness class etc. etc.

Maybe I'm getting cynical because I've been at this fitness thing for so long. But I've seen so many trends eb and flow. I've seen so many journalist say this is the next best thing and celebrities rubber stamp whatever trend they dig at the moment.

So to all of you wanting to learn how to sort through the plethora of fitness related information, I suggest the following book to help you grow a healthy amount of skepticism like I have over the years.
Ultimate Fitness: The Quest for Truth about Health and Exercise by Gina Kolata

Part of my mission in my work is to help people make intelligent choices about how they decide to devote their very precious time and to help educate people about how to sort through all this information we are bombarded with.
Gina helps to show the reader that these so called newest trends have been recycled since human beings were interested in physical activity, health and sports.

This blog post was inspired by Amy Verner's newest article in the Globe about her discovery of the TRX, the newest and best fitness tool.
Only this fitness tool has been around for at least 6 years now for the mainstream population and even longer for the Navy Seals who've been using it for a LONG time. Not so new afterall. Just new to her. So much power to propel fitness trends are held in the hands of media folks and their personal fitness journeys.

Yours in health,

Jane
Jane