Dynamic Dialogue with Danny Matranga - 122: The Fitness Misinformation Monster

Episode Date: September 2, 2021

In this episode, coach Danny outlines the very real issues and consequences we are facing in the age of fitness and health misinformation.Thanks For Listening!---Check Out Our New Partner Elemental Labs!---RESOURCES/COACHING: I am all about education and that is not limited to this podcast! Feel free to grab a FREE guide (Nutrition, Training, Macros, Etc!) HERE! Interested in Working With Coach Danny and His One-On-One Coaching Team? Click HERE!Want Coach Danny to Fix Your S*** (training, nutrition, lifestyle, etc) fill the form HERE for a chance to have your current approach reviewed live on the show. Want To Have YOUR Question Answered On an Upcoming Episode of DYNAMIC DIALOGUE? You Can Submit It HERE!Want to Support The Podcast AND Get in Better Shape? Grab a Program HERE!----SOCIAL LINKS:Sign up for the trainer mentorship HEREFollow Coach Danny on INSTAGRAMFollow Coach Danny on TwitterFollow Coach Danny on FacebookGet More In-Depth Articles Written By Yours’ Truly HERE!---- Support the Show By Shopping for Your Supplements At Legion and using the code “DANNY”Support the Show by Staying Hydrated with LMNTSupport the Show.

Hey, everybody, welcome in to another episode of the Dynamic Dialogue podcast. As always, it's your host, Danny Matringa. And today's episode is a little bit somber. It's kind of a sad one. It's something that is honestly bred from disappointment, disappointment that extends from what's going on with the COVID-19 pandemic, general frustrations that I have regarding misinformation, and the impact that misinformation can have on people's health. Now, bear with me here. I know that many of you are probably sick of hearing about the pandemic. It's been politicized to the point that it's almost impossible to talk about, and unfortunately, our public health has

been paying the price for this. You know, regardless of where you fall on your stance about the politics of COVID-19, vaccinations, lockdowns, masks, this is not that. And I'm sure many of you will be happy that this is not that, because it has been a lot and it's getting increasingly depressing with each passing day. But there are some lessons to be learned here with the spread of misinformation. Misinformation has run rampant and has extended the very frustrating thing that is this pandemic. It has literally been exacerbated and extended by misinformation. And I think that messaging is important too. I think that communication is important too. And I think that unfortunately, we see this a lot in the

fitness industry. And we've actually seen it in the fitness industry for quite some time. And I think that this kind of misinformation, it's misinformation that's rampant in diet culture as well. I think that this shit is really important to talk about. And I have wanted to make an Instagram post, a Facebook post, something like this for quite some time, but I just don't think there's a better platform or a better vehicle for it than a podcast, somewhere where I can really open this up with you and talk about this because this is the kind of discussion that I think is going to, it's something that we need to have at a policy level because it is problematic in the same way that misinformation around a pandemic is problematic, at least in my opinion. And that is,

of course, a very biased opinion. But I think we need to be honest about misinformation in the fitness space, misinformation about health in general, and a conversation on a podcast, right, is a good place to open that dialogue and hopefully get you guys communicating about it with your peers, getting you communicating about it openly with your families, right, being more proactive when you see this kind of stuff on social media, because it is out there and it is really undermining a message. And we'll get to why I think it's so dangerous in a minute, but misinformation is everywhere right now. It's all over the internet. It doesn't discriminate. In fact, it actually targets certain populations, which I will expand on as we go, but let's open the conversation first

with the definition of misinformation. And basically it's false information intended to deceive, right? It's, it's, it's, we have disinformation, which is false information, which is intended to mislead, especially propaganda, usually issued by governments, organizations, rival powers, et cetera. So this is almost always intended to deceive. Misinformation is usually false, often spread very quickly. It's not necessarily always intended to be deceptive, although oftentimes it is. The big, I'd say, difference between the two, as I understand these definitions, is some type of institution, some organization, oftentimes being behind disinformation, whereas misinformation is spread like the common cold. A lot of times it's just

spread accidentally. Like, oh, I didn't know that thing that I picked up on Facebook was false. And I think most of what we're seeing on the internet with regards to health and fitness misinformation, supplementation misinformation, I'll get to examples that we see in the fitness space as we go,

but like that's usually misinformation, right? Still bad, but I don't think it's propaganda. I don't think it's planned. It is by certain influencers and people who have platforms that want to make money and they're not, they're, they're not uncomfortable with deception and lying to people. Um, so it's not always intentional though. So let's talk about some examples of misinformation that we're all familiar with in the fitness space about some examples of misinformation that we're all familiar with in the fitness space specifically. So the first example is lifting weights makes women bulky. This is misinformation that's been spread around for years. You've probably heard it, right? And I bet if you heard it, you probably heard it from another woman, but it's not uncommon to hear it from men. In fact, I've

heard it from many men and this is not true. Why is it misinformation, right? It's something that we know is untrue based on the evidence. It might appear true. It might seem true, but it is not true, right? Lifting weights does not make women bulky. Lifting weights makes women more muscular, right? Lifting weights up into a point will make Lifting weights makes women more muscular, right? Lifting weights up into a point will make certain women more muscular than others. And that could mean that they appear more bulky. But to make a blatant statement, one that might be intending to keep a woman from lifting or prevent a woman from lifting, that categorically falls into misinformation. Okay, here's another thing that's misinformation that you've probably heard.

Squatting is bad for your knees. That's not always false. Squatting can be bad for some people's knees, but squatting is not bad for everyone's knees. And for many people, I would argue it's good for your knees. I would say for the general population who doesn't have an existing knee issue, doing exercises like squats that incorporate a lot of knee and hip flexion are going to be really good for your

knees, especially in the long run compared to the alternative, which here in America is sitting on your ass. So it's true for some, as is the case with the previous example. Some women might get more bulky, but it's not true for all. And to act like it is, is, you know, we're making some broad generalizations, but when those generalizations start running rampant and spreading on the internet or somebody turns them into a post, those can quickly become misinformation. Misinformation. I think I said that right. Okay. I've said it enough today. God knows. All right. The last one is cardio is the best way to lose fat. This is very true for some people, but it's not true for everyone. So it's a generalization. And oftentimes you will hear people reference cardio being the only way to lose fat. So I use this as an example of

misinformation that's partially true in some instances, but has morphed into a, let's say meme, something that people share like, oh, you got to do cardio to lose weight, have to do cardio to lose weight. It's something that we often have confirmed. And it's an example of confirmation bias, right? Like I heard cardio is the best way to lose weight and I used cardio to lose weight. Therefore, it's true. Not necessarily true. And so a lot of these things are spread around the internet with the intention to deceive or with people knowing they're lacking context, with people knowing that they're partial truths. And I think these are all examples of,

perhaps let's call it low- level fitness misinformation that we're all familiar with. But misinformation shows up in a lot of other ways. Another thing that we see a lot is misinformation delivered through language. So some examples of where we would see misinformation delivered through language are with the use of phrases like or terms like toned, right? So toned is a made up word. It's almost always used to describe a fit, uh, athletic female physique and toned is used in marketing in a way that immediately makes it seem very disingenuous. For example, you will see toning routines, which are just resistance training routines that perhaps target muscle groups, women more and more. This will tone your muscles. This movement will tone your muscles. This pill will help you achieve a tone physique. It's literally a term that was, I want to say stolen because you will hear people refer to

muscle tone to describe the actual tenacity of a muscle. Is it taut? Is it tense? High tonic or hypertonic, I should say. Muscles that are high in tone, hypertonic, are tight and rigid. Muscles that are hypotonic are soft. They're low. They're not contracting. It is a term, but it's not. The term that you're hearing is used almost exclusively to market fitness products, fitness supplements to women. And it's actually created, I don't want to call it a monster, but it's created an understanding that there's, let's say, higher reps for toning, because this has been a common marketing ploy that's actually created misinformation. So, you know, hey, do this to tone. Well, what the hell is

toning? It sounds like it's just building muscle and losing fat. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But you got to do this to tone. Well, can I lose muscle, build muscle and lose fat, uh, by like, you know, watching what I eat and lifting heavy. Yeah. But that's not a toning routine. You see the toning routine is it's all bullshit guys. And another thing that I'm seeing now, an example of one of what I would, I would call it more of a modern day example of something that is newer, like tone's been around forever. It's been a marketing term for quite some time. This is something I've seen more recently, probably within the last two years is the term thick and thick is generally used to describe losing fat. Like to get thick would be, I want to use this. I want to phrase this

properly to, to get thick would usually describe losing body fat in the midsection or maintaining the leanness of the midsection, uh, while being voluptuous and curvy, particularly around like the hips, thighs, and breasts. And where women store their body fat when they lose weight or when they start exercising is influenced in large part by genetics, as is the case for men, but more so with women, you'll see body fat patterns that might, you know, there might be a predisposition for fat around the midsection. There might be a predisposition for fat around the arms. There might be more fat on the hips and butt than the breasts or more fat on the breast than the hips and butt. There's a lot of variability, a lot of it's genetic. And what I've seen is a lot of women who are undeniably

gifted genetically with regards to where they store their body fat, um, carrying that with a little bit of exercise. And they develop these very objectively attractive to me as a heterosexual male physiques. I go, okay, she looks very fit. She's very curvy. That is a good look. I can understand why a woman might see that and go, wow, I want to look like her because she looks great. But what these people never disclose is that a lot of the way their physique looks is genetic. They just so happen to store body fat in really flattering locations, something that while most women

aren't doomed to look terrible, most women don't have the same genetics, right? You can do a lot with whatever genetics you have, but it's intellectually dishonest for me to sit here and tell you that genetics don't make a difference in training outcomes. And that's one of the things that frustrates me. I like the idea of like, hey, we're getting thick and we're out here looking to build muscle and we're not hyper-focused on the amount of body fat we have.

I think that's actually really positive messaging. But when I see women with unbelievably flattering body fat disposition going, do my program to get thick like me. And I'm like, oh, come on. You know, that's not going to happen. You know, that women are going to put all their fat where you put all their fat. If they follow a plan and train like you, they'll probably get stronger. That's great. Hopefully they develop a good, a good relationship with food and exercise. That'd be wonderful. But we're kind of mis-selling this here. If you're saying get thick like me, and I have seen this a lot and I just feel like it's really, really disingenuous. And the last one, and this one is, I don't think this is misinformation so much as it is

misinterpretation and that's the healthy at any size movement, right? So I think the message behind healthy at any size is almost exclusively positive. My interpretation is that healthy at any size means that everyone should have equal access to things like healthcare, the ability to work on their health, the ability to feel comfortable and included in settings that are quote unquote health focused like gyms, or that there's the ability to be healthy and a non-typical body size that we associate with health. Meaning like, okay, you typically think, or we see bodies that are presented as being rail thin, super skinny. And even as fitness enthusiasts, we go, hey, that's not healthy. It's okay to have a little bit of body fat and muscle.

You don't have to be like rail thin. And I think that breaking free of those chains is really, really valuable as we try to bring health to people in a country that is really grappling with trying to find balance and trying to live a good life and a happy life where they can enjoy things and get the most out of their fitness and health without being obsessed with it. And we have different cultural things. We have different things in our lives and to act like there's any one way to look is just foolish. However, the notion that you can truly express all markers of physical health at any size are a little bit suspect. And quite frankly, I think they're misguided. And I would go so far as to say that if you were just saying you can be healthy at any size, that would be misinformation because you can be working everything within your power to get to exercising properly, and maybe you're not so concerned about your weight, but there are levels of body fatness at which point things start to become genuinely unhealthy in the long run. that massively increased the likelihood of all-cause mortality.

Okay? And so I think healthy at any size, great movement, really awesome. We want to encourage body positivity. But saying you can be healthy at any size is untrue. So those are examples of where misinformation might occur in language, whether it's making up words altogether, like you see with tone, using words that are made up like thick to misrepresent other things like genetics or something like the healthy at any size movement, where you're by and

large pushing something really, really positive. But depending on who picks it up and who throws the term healthy at any size around, we might be getting some just genuinely crazy shit. And we've seen all that. So how is it monetized in the fitness industry? Because this is the problem, is that people are spreading this stuff in order to make money. And that's what we don't want to see. We do not want to see people using misinformation for their own gain. We have seen this in America politically with the pandemic. it is extremely unfortunate. There are many people in politics who have leveraged COVID to enrich themselves, right? Whether that's buying stock in companies that make therapeutics, you know, like there's literally no shortage of this stuff.

This is like, again, trying not to get political, but we think it's nasty when we see it there. We go, oh, that's so shitty. I wish people would do that. Our politicians are the worst. Well, people do it in the fitness industry all the time. And misinformation products or products that are almost exclusively tied to the spread of misinformation are usually high ROI products, right? They're cheap to produce.

They can sell them at high margins. Waist trainers are a great example. Waist trainers are literally like neoprene stretchy fabric that probably costs less than $10 to make and are often sold for $30, $40 a piece. Some of these things literally cost less than a dollar to produce, like the ones that you just wrap around and these gels that you rub on yourself, these fat burning gels, these are just things like oils, really low quality oils. And so what we're really talking about here, guys, is like, these are oftentimes we see misinformation sold as products that don't do a fucking thing. And people have gone out of their way to make up a narrative as to how they work as though wearing these things

around your waist is going to improve fat metabolism in that area. We know that's not the case, but we see people pick it up and run with it. Influencers pick it up and run with it. Companies pick it up and run with it. I would say 30% of the women at the gym I go to wear a waist trainer when they work out. That's a lot of people doing something that doesn't fucking work. Hey guys, just wanted to take a quick second to say thanks so much for listening to the podcast. And if you're finding value, it would mean the

world to me if you would share it on your social media. Simply screenshot whatever platform you're listening to and share the episode to your Instagram story or share it to Facebook. But be sure to tag me so I can say thanks and we can chat it up about what you liked and how I can continue to improve. Thanks so much for supporting the podcast and enjoy the rest of the episode. Really think about that. Like reframe that, that 20, let's say 15 to 30% of women in any gym you walk into are going to be doing something from the minute that they walk in that door that does not work the way they think it does. But maybe they do it because it makes them comfortable. Maybe they do it because they like it. Maybe they do it because they think it

works or it helps them keep their core tight. Those are all logical. Okay. But a lot of people do it thinking that it's going to help them specifically lose body fat around their midsection. That's unfortunate. That would be like a lot of people going in doing seated calf raises and being like, I'm doing this because I think it works my biceps because somebody on the internet lied to me and told me that's what this thing does. Yeah, it's not going to hurt you to do some seated calf raises, but you've been bamboozled, my friend. And we don't want to see that. Supplements are another good example of where we see misinformation. Massively, you know, over the top, ridiculous label claims, skin splitting pumps, you know, like unlimited energy, infinite stamina. And it's like,

next to each one of these things, you'll usually see a cross. It's like a little asterisk, but it's a cross. And the cross will lead to how they make these label claims if you check the back of the label. But then you have pixie-dusted ingredients where people will say, oh, this product contains citrulline, but not enough citrulline to fall within the range of what's been shown to be clinically effective. Meaning when we've tested this with people, right? You need this much for it to work. And the supplement company found out that it works at four grams, but they only put one gram in because it's more expensive to do four grams, but they still told you it was on

the label. And they made the claim that it does what it says it does in the study increases pumps or increases blood flow, for example. But instead of saying contain some of the ingredients that increase blood flow, it says, you know, blank ingredients, super big skin splitting pumps. And unfortunately, that's shit cells. And because supplements aren't FDA approved, oftentimes they end up full of shit that doesn't even make it on the label because supplement manufacturers just straight up don't care. So the supplement industry is wild. It's like the literal wild west. And you got to go, uh, when it comes to buying supplements, you got to go with supplements that have transparent labeling and third-party testing. You got to have that, or at least batch numbers, guys. Lot numbers are cool.

Stuff where they'll say, okay, you can actually see the lot number that this was made in and it was tested in. That's pretty cool. Transparent labeling is dope. If you go to a supplement company's website and the whole back of the label is proprietary blends, they don't tell you what's in there, you probably shouldn't buy anything from them. A hundred percent. Again, if they're not giving you references as to like, okay, we put this ingredient in because it does this, this, and this, and we've included the studies to show it. You got to be a little skeptical there too, guys. Juice cleanses. Another thing, that's not how cleansing works. You're not cleansing yourself of anything. You're cleansing yourself of maybe the shitty food you're eating and the shitty alcohol that

you were drinking, but you're not enhancing your body's ability to really do anything that it wasn't already going to do with regards to cleansing and detoxing itself. It's not to say that nutrient dense plant juices aren't valuable in the aggregate of your diet though, but they're sold to do something completely different, right? Diet books. This is one of the worst ones, uh, written by doctors. Like, like you see the SpongeBob meme with the alternate capital, uh, lowercase texts, right? Doctors. Most of these doctors are like doctors of psychology or chiropractors. They're very rarely written, oftentimes medical doctors, but they're very rarely written by people who

have doctorate degrees in nutritional sciences or people who have behavioral understanding, like degrees, doctorate degrees in some level of, let's call it psychology that would specialize in human behavior because so much of weight loss comes down to human behavior. They're written by people who see writing a quick little diet book as a great way to make some money. And it's very, very popular with people like chiropractors and medical doctors who don't have any, they have very little, if any, formal nutritional training, which isn't to say that you can't have a supplemental nutritional training that is phenomenal and you don't need

to have a doctorate in nutrition to be qualified to talk about nutrition at all. But a lot of people are out there writing books and popularizing diets and approaches to food that are highly dogmatic, very restricted in really leveraging the title of doctor to build a lot of social proof in what it is that you are doing. And so I wouldn't necessarily go so far as to say that's misinformation, but a lot of these people spread misinformation. For example, somebody who I know does this is Dr. Jason Fung, and he is notorious for this. If you are familiar with Lane Norton, he's one of the OGs of the fitness industry. Lane is somebody who really knows his shit. And he has a PhD in nutritional science. This is somebody who is a real doctor of nutrition, but specifically with regards to things like body

composition, protein. So this guy's got a great understanding of a lot of what this other guy is bullshitting about. And so he's like, dude, this shit's annoying. And I have seen a number of Lane Norton's debunking videos just from this one Jason Fung guy. He doesn't take any prisoners, no doubt. And I think that's a good thing. We'll talk more about that in a minute. doubt. And I think that's a good thing. We'll talk more about that in a minute. But this kind of stuff is really important because what you see is somebody who is leveraging the title of doctor to sell misinformation or sell information, or let's say publish information that he knows will probably sell well, but it's disingenuous and it's not necessarily intended to deceive. Perhaps it's intended to do as little damage as possible, but a lot of the stuff is just blatantly half-truths or completely false.

And it could be really harming. I'm trying to be nice here, which is probably a waste of my time. But still, those are some good examples of, I think, how we see the fitness industry monetizing misinformation, right? Products that just flat out don't work, supplements with ridiculous label claims that then don't actually fit the bill, if you will. Silly things like juice cleanses and stuff like diet books. It just doesn't go away. Let's talk about why I think this stuff is a problem. I think we're at a point now with information access that more information isn't necessarily better. What would help is messaging. What would help is delivery. What would help is if somebody were to go on the internet and look for nutritional information, that they would find

the good stuff first, not just the stuff with the clickbaity terms that the SEO is pushing at you, right? That the algorithm knows you want based on what it's determined you've already purchased or already looked at, right? Like, so the more we add to this just amalgamation of junk on the internet, some of which is good, some of which is great, some of which is terrible, some of which is just okay, it just continues to muddy the waters. Um, it just continues to muddy the waters. And so that isn't going anywhere, right? And we have to understand the landscape. And so more, there's more fitness content creators than ever. And in a world where new and exciting sells, there's money to be made in selling or repackaging things, even if they're not entirely true. And we are seeing that with people who occupy the, let's say, title of influencer. Influencers are notorious for doing this. Okay. I don't think more information is the solution at this point unless it is better interpretations of the information we already have or new information that is evidence-based or at least proven an

anecdote and isn't nefarious or misinformation, right? The algorithms are going to continue to feed people who are already misinformed more misinformation, right? We're seeing this with movements in the United States like QAnon, where people follow one conspiracy theory and the algorithm acknowledges that and it figures it out and it feeds them more and more and more until before you know it, they're completely warped. Now imagine you buy a waste trainer and then the next thing you know, you start getting ads for juice cleanses, right? These things aren't, aren't, these things literally work like this. Not in all cases, right? But it's not uncommon for people who are using paid advertisement methods to access you on social media or access

people like you who fit into your demographic on social media with their ads, right? They're paying Facebook, they're paying Instagram, they're paying Twitter to access you with their ads. And you have a profile that, you know, has a name, has an age, has interests, has things that you consume when you're on that app. And if you've consumed health misinformation already, it's probably going to go out of its way to find you more and more, right? So it's actually going to follow you. And that if you bought a waste trainer, somebody who's selling a juice cleanse probably built into their advertisement profile, people who like waste trainers, Same thing's true of supplements. Same thing is true of fat burners. Same thing's true of these scammy products. They literally find you and they follow you around. And so once you've been

misinformed, it's easier to continue to be misinformed. And that's a big, big problem. The last thing, and this is perhaps the most important thing to me, per the Harvard School of Public Health, 71.6 or seven in 10 Americans are overweight. Okay, these are the people who are most impacted by misinformation. They're the people who know they need to lose weight. They go online and they look up how to lose weight. And the minute they do,

boom, in comes the misinformation. Whether it's from Karen at the office who's offline, one of these shitty diet books that they get at the store, or literally targeted ads that are chasing them around the internet. When you watch a YouTube video for fitness, the first dude that comes up goes, these are no joke ads. The first guy that comes up is like, let me show you how to eat properly for your body type. Okay, that's bullshit. He goes, let me show you this one fat burning food that you need to know about. Okay, that's bullshit. That's misinformation. You literally couldn't, even if you were going to click on a good video, you can't click on a good

video without running into more misinformation. That's a problem when seven and 10 Americans are overweight and we live in a culture where trying to figure it out on your own on the internet is normal. And I don't think that's necessarily a bad thing, but the internet is a minefield with some of this shit. Okay. And these are some of the people who are most likely to die of preventable diseases or diseases that unfortunately are diseases of lifestyle, like diabetes, right? And shit, even things like COVID, we know that people who are overweight are more likely to die of COVID. And when people who are looking for ways that they can treat COVID start looking for options, all of a sudden, all kinds of crazy misinformation follows them around the internet.

And so it's infected our public health with regards to infectious disease. And it's infected our public health with regards to things like lifestyle disease, like obesity, diabetes, heart disease. That's unfortunate, you guys. It's really shitty. So to wrap it up, misinformation sucks. It's every fucking where, but how do we fix it? Okay. Practice skepticism. All right. Remember the following. The formulas for how to be successful with your health and fitness are largely already out there. Okay. People will repackage them. People will communicate them more effectively. That is all well and good. Okay. So be repackage them. People will communicate them more effectively. That is all well and good. Okay. So be aware if anybody's selling something that seems totally new or

totally crazy, practice a little skepticism. New things are allowed to come out. Minds are allowed to change, of course, but practice skepticism, right? If you see something repackaged or repurposed, practice skepticism. Okay. If it seems too good to be true, probably is. If there's celebrity endorsements or things of that nature, it's probably worth adding additional skepticism. You can arm yourself against misinformation by following evidence-based legitimate practitioners who cite sources, people who go out of their way to communicate directly with followers, people who will make a point to defend claims that they make, who don't do personal attacks or don't play victim. A lot of people who spread misinformation immediately start

acting like a victim. So people who are willing to discuss nuances, that's all really important. So follow those kinds of people. Stop following people that are sharing misinformation. Okay. When you see misinformation, call it out. You can leave comments like this seems untrue. Can you explain more? Or this does not seem true or send it to a creator who actually, you know, does look

at this stuff and maybe say, Hey, I really trust you. You guys do this for me a lot. And I'm not saying you should do it all day long, hey, I really trust you. You guys do this for me a lot. And I'm not saying you should do it all day long, but if you run into something and you're like, dude, this looks really promising. Should I spend my money on it? Part of what I do, and I can't get to every DM or every email because I do have a lot to keep up with, but I'd happily look through that stuff and be like, hey guys, don't do that. I'll post it on my story if you send me something so I can go, hey, please don't buy this. I think this is misinformation. I just want to put it out there.

That's great. Check in with the people who you do respect. And then lastly is elevate those people, elevate the good information, share the information, share what's evidence-based, share what's anecdotally worked for you. If you're willing to apply a little bit of nuance and really flesh it out and not make blanket statements. All that stuff is awesome, guys. So that's my little rant on misinformation. Thanks so much for listening. I hope you enjoy the podcast.

If you haven't yet, hit subscribe, please do. Leave me a five-star rating and review on iTunes. If you want to work with me or my coaching team, you can head over to corecoachingmethod.com and check all that out. Thanks so much for listening. coaching team, you can head over to corecoachingmethod.com and check all that out. Thanks so much for listening.