Mind Pump: Raw Fitness Truth - 1735: Worst Fitness Myths That Keep People Out of Gyms

Episode Date: January 24, 2022

In this episode, Sal, Adam & Justin cover five myths that keep people from going to the gym. How myths have a tendency to spread and grow, and people believe them to be true. (2:30) What motivated Mind Pump to communicate this message. (3:57) The Five Worst Fitness Myths That Keep People Out of Gyms.  #1 – That people are mean and critical of overweight members. (9:39) #2 – The fittest people are the most judgmental. (16:40) #3 – That fit-looking people have it all figured out. (21:51) #4 – It costs a lot of money to have access to a gym. (27:40) #5 – The biggest, strongest people in the gym are mean. (32:44) Related Links/Products Mentioned January Promotion (#1): NEW YEAR'S RESOLUTIONS SPECIAL BUNDLE OFFERS January Promotion (#2): MAPS Anabolic 50% off **Code “JANUARY50” at checkout** Luna Physical Therapy What the Future of Fitness Really Looks Like Mind Pump Podcast – YouTube Mind Pump Free Resources

If you want to pump your body and expand your mind, there's only one place to go. MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, with your hosts. Salda Stefano, Adam Schaefer, and Justin Andrews. You just found the world's number one fitness health and entertainment podcast. This is Mind Pump, right? In today's episode, we talk about some of the worst fitness myths that keep people out of the gym. So this is probably some of the most dangerous damaging fitness myths around, because they actually prevent people from working out in the first place.

Very, very sad, but we go over them, we dispel them, we destroy them, so that after this episode, you can go to the gym. You feel good about working out in the gym. Now this episode is brought to you by one of our sponsors and partners, Luna. Now Luna provides physical therapy to your door. You don't have to go through your primary care physician, you can contact them directly, they are covered by insurance,

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start with maps and a ball like that program is 50% off right now, so you can get just that if you go to mapsred.com, once again, mapsred.com and then use the code January 50 or January 50, no space for that discount. Some of our most popular episodes that we've ever done revolve around myths, right? Myths around fat loss and muscle building and myths around

nutrition and building muscle. And they do very well because myths have a tendency to spread and grow. People believe them as to be true. And they can be quite damaging, right? If you believe something to not be true to be true, it'll influence your behaviors and your actions. And it can prevent you from accomplishing quite a bit. In this episode, I want to talk about what I believe to be some of the most damaging myths because the myths we're about to talk about prevent people from getting started with fitness in the first place like what we're about to talk about Makes people feel like

Fitness is not for them that gyms are not places where they're welcome or they can go to Help improve their health and improve their mobility and their fitness, to help them lose weight, whatever. And I think it's terrible. And it's funny because I, as a kid, I've been in gyms most of my life, but I remember as a young kid kind of thinking these things myself, but very quickly realizing that it's actually opposite. So it's different when you say something that's not true

versus something that's actually the opposite of true. And many of the myths that we're gonna talk about today are not just false, but they're actually the opposite of what you'll find. So what prompted this for you? So I was, the self magazine has been posting lately kind of these interesting articles on fitness, right? And they were posting articles about like how,

you know, you could be healthy and also be overweight. That's the one that we were tagged on and we all recently talked about just. They've done a lot of these, right? These posts and there's a big article in the Self Magazine talking about this. Well, there's this fitness direction. Yeah, and there's this movement in the fitness space.

It's a small one. I don't think it'll stick because people who work out a lot, just smell the smile away. But there's this movement in the fitness space to where, and I, of course, I'm going to take some responsibility for the fitness industry. There's a lot of things we've done wrong. A lot of ways that we've communicated fitness the wrong way. So much so that it's caused the pendulum to swing in the opposite extreme direction to where people think the answer to, you know, praying on insecurities, telling people that they're not sexy enough, they're not hot enough to hate themselves, is to say, there is no health, negative health effects from obesity and that, you know, that wanting

to lose weight, it's fat phobia and all that stuff, which is in the opposite, but also extreme and also wrong direction. And so they did a post recently, and I'm going to read some of this caption, and this is really what motivated me. So people are tagging me on these things left and right. And this is how it opens. It says, lots of fat folks simply don't go to gyms or exercise classes, even if they very much want to. Fitness is already a practice of the privileged.

It requires time, money, and access that many people don't have. Fat people have to jump those hurdles and more just to get to the gym. And when they do, they're often met with judgment, discrimination, and calorie lectures they didn't ask for. The problem keeping fat people out of the gym is not their fatness. The problem is fat phobia. And it really made me upset to read this. I know why they're saying it, but it's also so wrong.

It's just so, so wrong. It just seems so, so wrong. It just seems annoying. It's just more angles are trying to find here to create like a negative, a divisive way of getting attention in the health and fitness space. And it's frustrating for sure to see a lot of these myths, keep getting spread out there about gym culture and deterring people that really need help from actually enrolling and signing up for something that's gonna be,

life changing for a lot of these people. So it sounds to me like somebody riding about the gym who's never been to the gym. Yeah, that's what it sounds like. And I think they're trying to draw a parallel line to like school and educate. Like there's a lot of bullying and shaming and shit like that on school campuses and within kids.

And that message I understand, like and I think that to a point, I think the anti-bullying and that message is a good message because I think there's a lot of that that does happen But this is so so far fetched its ridiculous. I've been I've been in the gym ministry for 20 years Most of that time actually in the gym working every single day And never once have I seen a fit person inside the gym shame a overweight person in the gym. In fact, it's quite the opposite. And in fact, you might see two fit people and the fit another fit person struggling to do something or whatever and then they're

ignored and nothing. But if you see somebody who you can tell is very deconditioned or is very new to this place, the opposite response is what you get from really healthy fit people inside the gym. It's crazy. It's like, to me, it seems okay. Like if you're unfamiliar with something and you're thinking about what the experience is going to be like, you have a lot of insecurities that you're kind of bringing in. You start conjuring up your own stories in your head of what the experience is gonna be like. And when you get there, it's like completely opposite of that. And that's every time I've seen that in the gym,

you'll see like the biggest, most aggressive look in person in there, like slam and wait, they'll stop anything to help somebody in this type of situation. That's okay. So it's so damaging because if you're already feeling self-conscious about the way you look or you're lack of fitness or you're not experienced with exercise,

you know how machines work, you don't know how exercise work, you're already intimidated and you're already feeling self-conscious. Then you read some crappy article like this. And you guys scare the shit down. It confirms everything. Oh my God. I was like that. I'm never going to go into the gym with a terrible place. It's it's so wrong and it's so damaging. And it's funny because on the one hand, on the one extreme, you know, the fitness industry and media, I should say fitness media industry would pray on your insecurities by telling you

that you're ugly, you're not sexy, and you need to buy this new pill or whatever to get in shape. This is also praying on your insecurity. They're also telling you all the stuff you feel about yourself about how scary it is to go to the gym. You're right, don't go in there. It's so wrong, it's the most accepting place that you'll ever go into

if you're at a shape and you're trying to improve your fitness and health, the most accepting place you'll ever go in your life as a gym. That's a fact. That's a hundred percent fact. Everybody in there is trying to do the same thing. So I made a list of these myths and I want to go down each one of them one by one and I even can tell some stories around of these because like I said, as a kid, I experienced a lot of these myself. One of the biggest ones is that people in gyms are mean and critical of out-of-shape people.

That's so wrong because we're all in there for a reason. And also, and there's a very small minority of gyms are made up of super fit athletic-ripped people. Like, it's very small. I'm talking about 1% probably of gyms where you walk in and everybody looks like they've been doing it for a long time. Most gyms are not like that. Most gyms are filled with everyday regular people. Like, you don't see, I used to do this with, with potential clients and potential members all the time when they would talk about how six packs

and people are so ripped and they'd say, all right, we're gonna go out and walk on the workout floor and I want you to point out a person with a six pack. And they wouldn't and I'd say because the gym is just made up of everyday people, the difference is people are here trying to do something to improve their health and fitness. And that's exactly what's happening.

So people in gyms are not mean and critical. They're supportive because they're doing the same thing that you are. They're doing the exact same thing that you're trying to do. They know this struggles. 100%. Totally. That's the thing.

It's just so crazy to me. It's like they, they, like I would just look and see somebody struggling. I would stop and be more compelled to go help in some way. And I know there's a lot of people in that environment that feel the same way. We'll go out of their way to help some because they know how challenging it is to begin with. And them just being there and wanting to improve themselves, it encourages everybody.

It's like we're all in this together. We're trying to get better. So one of the things I love most about gyms, and this is how I really fell in love with the gym. I always liked working out, and when I started as a kid, and I worked out in the backyard, then a couple of years into it,

I actually got my first gym membership, and I went in, and what I loved about the gym was, there were different races and genders and ages, and wealthy people, and people not so wealthy, and youenders and ages and wealthy people and people not so wealthy and, you know, teenagers and older people, and it didn't matter. It's a melting pot. It did not, nothing, and none of it mattered.

We're all in here doing the same thing and I felt that camaraderie in the gym, even though I, you know, put my headphones on and kind of minding my business and tried to do my own thing, I noticed that it was this great feel in the facility, this great, you know, atmosphere that, and by the way, I do want to say this also, there's assholes everywhere. So of course, always exceptions to the rule. Always exceptions to the rule, right?

Somebody's going to have an experience that they'll share something that's quirky for you. There's always assholes everywhere, there's jerks everywhere, but I dare you to find another place where everybody has to share the same equipment And it and it not be as a great environment as a gym. I would make the case that you you're more likely to Have somebody do that or bully you or fat shame you or in a grocery store than inside the gym. Yes That would be the case I would make is that you're more likely to get that at the mall, the grocery store, and on the place, then inside the gym when maybe they're afraid of the gym thinking that it would be worse. I don't think that's the point is that it's definitely not worse than anywhere else you walk around the world. There are going to

be assholes everywhere you go, but I think a majority of people have that. In fact, we were, we just recently got back from Utah when we were up there. The TV was playing kind of in the background. We were really watching. We were hanging out talking and bullshitting. This local TV show had this reality bit that was playing. Oh, it was the, what would you do, series? Okay, so it was cameras. Yeah, so it's like one of those hidden camera.

What they do is they stage three actors or actresses that you know you have the the girl who's working out and they chose different body types they'd used like a girl that was really overweight and they used the girl that was like really like skinny skinny like and then they had two other actors or actresses that were gossiping about that person like oh god look how fat she is or oh she shouldn't be wearing the and and what they were trying to see is what would people do around. And the two things I noticed from, I took from watching this small bit from this one, I don't think I've ever seen anybody like do that before.

I don't think I've ever heard people, like the stuff that they had them staged and saying were like viciously mean. Have I ever heard someone say, sure, a comment here there, but they were like being like really mean, right? Really mean and they were like viciously mean. Have I ever heard someone say, sure, a comment here there, but they were like being like really mean, right? Really mean and they were talking loud. Yeah, like don't you know that

you're not supposed to wear pants like that? Yeah, it was like over the top, right? So which I get it, they were dramatizing it. So the people listening, they wanted to see if they heard that. Now the thing that I saw that happened, which I do think is true, is every single situation,

somebody else walked up, some other like regular gym goer walked over and stood in, said, what are you doing? Like, what do you go, and then actually criticize the people that were being critical of the, you know, the girl that was at a shape. And so, and I really believe that that's exactly what would happen. If that, that scenario even happened. First of all, I don't think that scenario happens in the gym, or at least in my 20 years, I've never seen something

that egregious happen. And then if it were to happen, that's how much it is like a community and everybody cares and supports. Exactly, itself regulates. That some big, meathead guy would walk over and check those. Can I tell you something right now? The most dangerous place to openly, I don't know, fat shame someone

to use their terminology or to criticize someone for how they look, the most dangerous place to do that is a gem. If you make fun of somebody for how they look in a gem, you're gonna be a target because that environment in the gym is anti that. Everybody's there trying to help themselves and everybody there has been through some type of struggle and challenge.

And fitness is also, it doesn't just happen to you overnight. And of course those exceptions, the role of people who look a particular way and that's just got great genetics. But for the most part, people have had to work hard. So you get this genuine respect. I've heard many people in gyms talk about other people in the gym who were beginners or overweight, that it was never negative.

It was always, man, look at her, go on for it. That's freaking awesome. Or look at that. And in fact, more often, I've seen this happen many times. People will walk by, give someone a high five or a handshake. I've seen that happen so many times. I remember there was this one woman who came into one of the gyms that I managed

and she had just got, she had, she was trying to lose weight to get gastric bypass. So she was a big woman. She was on a treadmill walking very slow, sweating very hard. At least three people who were members walked by and said, great job, very encouraging. I remember this person broke down into tears.

I had signed them up the day before. And I remember they broke down into tears and said, I did not expect this kind of support. And I said, of course, would you think that would happen? This is a gem, this is what people are doing here. The next myth is that the most fit people are the most judgmental This is again the opposite what you're gonna find and this is a fact

For the most part the most fit people the people that look the most ripped or whatever Delt with body image issues themselves and probably are still struggling with them Even though they look super fit. So these are people who have dealt with these issues, are working through them. They look the way they do because they're probably still obsessive and battling it. They're the last people to judge other people who are trying. Again, this reminds me of this narrative from like, schoolyard bullying. Like, okay, where I see examples of this is the gifted kid who has probably never worked out,

who's 17 years old and has got great genetics and has already symmetry and a good body. Like everybody went to school with that one kid or the girl who's just naturally beautiful and that didn't work for it. And then she shames or bullies the out of shape girl or the fat girl at school. Like that's where you see this

and where I do believe this is a common practice with kids, but inside the gym, somebody who has obviously put the work into build that physique. Most of those people are exactly what you said. They're coming from a place of understanding because they were there at one point in their life and or still going through it. Yes. So, you know what?

I tell you what, think of any, maybe this will help people kind of get what we're saying. Because maybe someone's listening right now who's never really being consistent in gyms and this is, by the way, this is something that's important to understand. Sometimes your filter makes you see things that aren't there. So you may, if you walk into gym, feel like people

are gonna judge you and stare at you. That may be what you perceive, right? People may just glance at you because you're there, but you may think, oh my God, they're looking at me, they're judging me. So keep that in mind when you go into these situations, but I'm gonna change this just a little bit to help maybe communicate what I'm trying to say here.

Think of an expert in any field. Think of an expert at chess, an expert at basketball, an expert at engineering or construction. Now imagine you walk up to this expert and you say to them, hey, I don't know how to do this. This is really hard. Like, can you help me? 99% of the time, the expert will be more than happy

to help you. They have a passion for what they're doing. And they're more than, especially if you ask them, they're more than happy to help you and to show you. And you're not going to, I'm not going to walk into a room full of grandmaster chess players and say, hey, I'm a beginner. I don't know how to play. And they're going to make fun of me. Those are the people that are not going to make fun of me.

I'm more likely to get made fun of by other people who've never played chess before, who maybe are, you know, their own egos or whatever. Well, I think to, you start conjuring up a lot of these ideas, because you'll see some group of people in there that are really getting after it. It's like an intense work on it. It's like, it's aggressive and it's a little bit intimidating, but you know, that's literally where they're at in their experience, is they're able to, you know, go that with that kind of intensity. And, but what you'll find is if you talk to them and you have a conversation and really approach them

with the right energy. And I think that's an important fact, is like coming up to them and with an inquisitive, kind of curious type of question for them to, you know, be able to see kind of like how they can guide you or like give you some advice. Like, they're more than always more than healthy, help you, more than happy to help you. And it just seems like it wouldn't be the case because they're so, you know, aggressively

getting after. No, I'm glad you said that because that also can cause that perception is when someone is in their zone and then their space, I do this, right? When I work out, I'm essentially blind to anything that's happening around me. I don't hear conversations around me. I don't care about what's happening

with the bench next to me or the squat rack behind me. I'm in my zone. And so if you're going in with the bench next to me or the squat rack behind me. I'm in my zone and so if you're going in with the perception that, oh my God, fit people are judgmental, fit people are looking at me and then you see me in there sweating with my head down, this kind of aggressive look on my face, you may think because you have that filter, that's one of those people.

That's one of those people that's judgmental. When in reality, I might not even know you exist right now. I am literally in my space, just focused. However, this has happened to me before, especially when I manage gyms. See, when I manage gyms, I would put my headphones on and I'd be in my space, but because people recognized me as the manager,

they were more likely to stop me. Now, if I go into a gym now, I'll never, typically nobody will say anything to me because I'm in my own space. But when I was a manager, sometimes people would tap me on the shoulder knowing I was a manager. And I'd write away out of it and how can I help you what's going on.

And even if I had nothing to do with stuff that a manager would have to answer, it could be just a question about working out or a machine or whatever, people would stop me and I would love to help them out because, I mean, I love this thing called fitness, and I'm willing to help anybody who has a question. And most people who work out in gyms are like that.

All right, the next one is, this is a huge myth that I think it's two, there's just kind of two sides to this that are negative. One is that I should listen to anybody who looks fit because they know everything about fitness and the other is, well, they're gonna looks fit because they know everything about fitness. And the other is, well, they're gonna judge me because they know everything about fitness and I'm not doing anything right

or they're gonna think I'm doing everything wrong and they're gonna think I'm an idiot. The myth is that fit-looking people have it all figured out. This is totally false. Fit-looking people do not have it all figured out. What they probably have figured out is the consistency part. That's the part that they typically have figured out.

They just done it consistently, didn't take, don't miss a lot of days, don't miss a lot of weeks, and they're consistent, that's why they look the way that they do. But as far as figuring it all out, that's not true at all for the most part. And again, I said this earlier,

most people who work in the fitness industry either have dealt with or deal with body images, image issues themselves. So they obviously haven't figured it all out. It's a challenge. I think this is a gym and Instagram. I think that there's this idea of just because somebody has a six pack or they look amazing that they have figured it all this out. I remember sharing with you guys and I've shared on the podcast many times, so I'll blown away I was.

I kind of knew this already, but even I was fooled by the experience I had when I started competing. I just assumed that this is the 1% that they have to really know their shit, and I was blown away to find out it wasn't that. They weren't any more different than the average, because the things that they struggle with

were just different. Everybody has their challenges in life when it comes to health, fitness, nutrition, relationship health. There's so many things that encompass health, and we all have our challenges. And just because somebody has figured out the macro ratio to exercise, does not mean they figured out

the rest of the sphere at all. And I think that's the mistake is to think that these people have it all figured out because they figured a piece of that sphere out. And again, it's no different than the average person have figured out something else. And so I think they're way more like you than you think they are. Again, they've just, they've applied the discipline and consistency

of the law of thermodynamics. They have figured out if I eat less than I burn, I'm gonna stay lean. And if I lift weights every single day, intensely, I'm gonna add some muscle on my body. And so they figured that piece out, but they could be completely out of balance and struggling

on other aspects of their life. Yeah, well, that's why this is a lifetime pursuit. Everybody has problems, and this is sort of the place where we're all working it out. And everybody's problems look different. Yeah, and it does look like a lot of fit people have it all figured out, but like you said, there could be other aspects that they're trying to improve. And everybody comes from different places and different experiences. And there's a lot of different variables that are working their way through. So that's the beauty of it.

It is like we're all there to work and sort these problems out and improve our body and improve our mindset. And it really doesn't matter what you're bringing in as long as you're in there putting in the work. Yeah, you said something Adam, I think that I want to go back to, it's really important. You said that they're just like you, right? When you look at someone who's fit and you think they have it all figured out,

either one or two things will happen, either one, you'll put them on a pedestal, or two, just by the way, they're bound to fall off of it if you do that. Of course. Or two, you think that that person is somehow different, more privileged, more whatever. They don't know anything about you, they don't understand you,

or they look at you differently, they look at you in a bad way, they're bad people. None of that is true. I mean, some of it can be true, but oftentimes it's not. They are just like you. You know, the thing about your physical fitness is it's very visible. So it's easy to see when someone has a challenge with physical fitness. It's not as easy to see when someone has challenges with other aspects of their life. So it's it is, I can see why someone would put someone on a pedestal or think of them that way, right? But you don't know if that person with the six back

has a really tough relationship with their spouse or had a bad hard upbringing or is challenged with finances or maybe has another health issue that you don't know about. So. I don't think it's any different than the halo effect that we do with actors and actresses. Yes. We assume because they're rich

and they made it on the movie screen that they have life figured out and their life is so good. It's like, what, because they figured out one piece, they figured out how to make a lot of money. A lot of you have to get all balances. Yeah, I know, they figured out how to make a lot of money. So you're gonna go ahead and assume

that they're good people, assume that they know all these things. I think that's hilarious. It's no different here. You'll walk in a gym and there's a very small percentage of people that are jacked and ripped. And then you're gonna just assume that because they got it all figured out because of that because they figured one thing out.

It's so weird to me that we think like this. It's like, we're all a lot more like each other than you realize. It's just that everybody's demons are a little bit different. Everybody struggles are a little bit different. Everybody successes are a little bit different in life. And so just because that person has figured that piece of it out that maybe you haven't,

doesn't mean that they're not a lot like you. It also might mean you have something to offer them. Right. So keep that in mind. I mean, I learned so much in gyms from people who I would help with fitness, and they would help me with business or with finance or with, you know, I used to have my older members would come in and I'd ask them questions about being a father, you know, you mean that

kind of wisdom. So here's another one. And this is again, and direct response to that article that it costs a lot of money to have access to a general. First off, I want to be- Didn't they say something that health and fitness is a thing of privilege? Yeah, like, and this is, I get somewhat, I guess good health can be a privilege. Some people have genetically bad issues with, I get all that, but the pursuit of fitness is not a privilege.

Pursuit of fitness is available to anybody. And it looks different for everybody. First off, you don't need a gym at all to do it. Nothing, you need no equipment to pursue fitness. You need zero equipment, so you don't need a gym. But number two of all of the investments that you make in your life, the gym is the least expensive. Gims are not expensive, especially nowadays.

There's gyms you can sign up for $9 a month. You know what, you know when I really figured this out? By the way, when I managed gyms in the late 90s, early 2000s, they were way more expensive than they are now. Okay, they got a lot more less expensive because the market grew and they figured out how to make money charging less and less stuff. But I remember, I'll never forget, a guy walked in, he looked homeless, walked in and asked about the club. And I had one of my sales guys

and I said, hey, give him a tour, show him around, and my sales guy was a little bit like, I don't know if you said, just do it, you know, see what happens. So he did, he gave him a tour show around. And the guy bought a membership and he was homeless, you know, why he bought the membership, gave him access to a shower, he got to work out, and it was open 24 hours. And it was the least expensive way he could get access to that kind of stuff. And I said, that makes a lot of sense. He's paying 20 bucks a month,

working to pay 20 bucks a month for that kind of access to things, right? Well, now you could buy a membership for nine bucks a month, but you don't even have to do that. You can work out with no equipment at all. And you can work out, you can also make your own equipment. Have you ever seen the videos on Instagram of dudes

and girls are like, oh, I love the ingenuity of seeing some of these creations, especially over the pandemic, I've seen a few people like build machines. Yes, and they're backyard. I mean, there's a will, there's a way. And again, it might be intimidating, but there's definitely a low cost way to apply a

program and get into fitness room. Well, especially when we're talking about fitness and health, not about competing at the professional level as a bodybuilder, it doesn't take a lot to be active and say no to food. That's not a thing of privilege. The thing of privilege is not the act of saying no to excess calories and moving your body in a physical way is not a thing of privilege.

And that's what we're talking about right now. We're not, is maybe competing at the highest level of thinking of probably, well, yeah, okay, you need access to steroids, you need access to a lot of probably gym equipment, like super genetic. You need to be on a very high protein type of diet and be able to eat and surplus of calories. Okay, you can make that case.

I'll concede that, that that's a place of privilege a little bit to be able to do something like that. I get that, but to try and say that fitness or health or that that is that's ridiculous. We all have choices and we can pursue it. You know, I've trained clients that were paraplegics. I've trained clients that had severe physical You know issues that prevented them from doing a lot of different things But they could still pursue

Improving their health and fitness through choices that they make so and that that of the message that we're countering is one of Disempowerment so what they're trying to do is they're trying to disempower you because when you're disempowered, you're easy to manipulate. This is a big problem. Remember this, when you have, when you feel no power over yourself and your life and your circumstances, that means someone else can manipulate you either to buy their product or to vote a particular way or to do something. Okay. So they're disempowering you. The truth is, again, getting up and walking or moving your arm or making different food choices

or even changing the way you think about things. All of those can be in pursuits of health and fitness and all of them are accessible to most people. And even buying a gym membership, Look, I tell you what, most Americans have a cell phone. Most Americans pay a cell phone bill. A cell phone and a cell phone bill is far more expensive than the average gym membership. It just is. I mean, planet fitness for goodness sicks. I think that's the largest gym chain in America. What's the, what are they charge per month? Nine bucks.

Yeah, something like that. Yeah, it's cheaper than Netflix. You know, many people tell me I can't afford, oh, I don't know if I'm gonna spend that much to go to a gym, but they pay for Netflix, Hulu. Oh, I know, it's inconsistent. Yeah, when you start doing the math of like the Starbucks and all the excess items that you end up purchasing, you don't realize like if you do an inventory and you look at all these spending habits,

you can really cut it down and prioritize it. It's just stupid arguments. I even work spending that much time. It's and try to stupid argument. It's a stupid argument. It's not even worth spending that much time. It's just giving you an excuse. It's like, there's lots of ways around, you know, having a gym, you don't need a gym to be in great shape and stay healthy. And so it's another terrible argument

that that health magazine, whatever their shape is. It's a shape. Self, that's what I'm sorry, self magazine. Here's another one. And this one I thought would be the case when I was a kid, just because of the stereotypes you see on TV and movies, but it turned out to be the opposite, and that's the myth that the biggest,

strongest people in the gym are mean, that they're not welcoming, right? Now, I get this one, right? So do I, right? I get that, because at first glance, I mean, even me, You never watch a big, strong dude live. Yeah, yeah.

So even me, like, right, I'm even me at first glance walking in the gym when I was, you know, skinny little 160 pound boy getting ready to live for the first time. And across the gym was the 260 pound stairrooted out meet head dude who was slam the way. Ugggh, every time, every time like I most certainly, he looks angry.

Right, I didn't feel confident to probably go walk up to him. I probably avoid it because I was probably intimidated. So I think that they at first glance, it's very easy for us to judge and go like, oh, I bet he's an asshole because he's on steroids, right, but he's an asshole and thinks, so I'm sure it's really easy for us to assume that and I'm just as guilty of it. But the crazy part is maybe the, maybe the

nicest people in the gym. That's the troll of people. Of all the cardio bunnies, the yoga stretchers, the fucking, you know, we can war your guys like maybe the powerlifting huge steroids out meet got me had tiny bear, maybe the biggest teddy bears and most helpful people in the gym. It is now, now you have to understand one thing, because if you interrupt someone's workout, so if someone's working out, they're on a time frame, they have specific exercise they wanna do, they're very focused, and then you go interrupt them,

and if somebody's short with you, it's because you may be interrupting someone's work. They may be a competitive lifter, they may be a professional bodybuilder, or this may be the hour they have of the day where they do this. So if somebody's short because of that, it's not, because they're being assholes to you, but rather, it's like you're walking in on somebody in the zone

working, you know, writing a book and you interrupt them. So that may actually, that might happen, although, it's still rare, it's still rare. For the most part, if you walk up to a big, strong, muscular person and ask them a fitness question, here's what I experienced. I'll never forget this. This was one of my, my introductions in the gym, like I was working out and I was training my legs. I was trying to build my legs up. And there were these massive powerlifters in the squat rack next to me. And I'm working out and I'm trying hard and I'm sweating and I really wanted to, so bad,

I wanted to ask them a question. I wanted to say, hey, but I was intimidated. They looked, you know, mean, they were so focused, they were grunting. And I remember I was trying to muster up the courage to go and ask them, you know, what I should do. And I finally did. And they spent like 30 minutes with me

showing me what to do, showing me how to squat, taking me through a workout, patting me on the back. You're gonna do great, kid, don't worry about it. And it was like, there was one of the greatest experiences I ever had. I've seen that happen time and time again. I've seen that happen in almost every gym I've ever managed. I've seen it with the, and you know this,

because in most gyms, again, there's a 1% of gyms where most people look like this in the facility. Most gyms don't look like this. Most gyms, again, there's a 1% of gyms where most people look like this in the facility. Most gyms don't look like this. Most gyms every day people, and then there's that one guy or that one girl that really stands out. And you know them, right? They come into your gym.

If I manage a gym, I always knew them because they stood out. The big dude that come in, oh, there's, you know, so and so, he's going to put five plates on the bar and do some squats or whatever. And I remember I would see every once in a while, someone would have the courage to go up and ask them a question. And you know what they would always do? Take their headphones off, and they would spend like 20 minutes helping them out,

showing them exercise. It was like clockwork every time. They could go out their way to help them. Go out of their way to help them out. Now I am gonna make a comment about that 1% of gyms where everybody looks super jacked and crazy. Those are some of the most supportive places you'll ever go into usually.

You go to a powerlifting gym or a strong man gym, unless you're going in there to make fun of them or to be lazy. If you go in and you're genuine, you have questions. They will all stop to help. All of them will say, by the way, if you're a female and you have genuine questions about fitness, and I know there's, like I said, there's always assholes, anywhere you go,

there's always gonna be that pervert everywhere you go. But when you're a woman and you ask some of these guys, because I know women are more intimidated typically than men about this, you ask a big dude about, hey, how do I deadlift more? So what, they will help you. In fact, the women in the gyms

that were really trying to get in shape, the ones that were beginners at a shape, the ones that had the challenges that were coming and consistently. The big guys in the gym were almost like their big brothers. I swore to God, if you would see this in the gym, it was like they were helping them.

Oh no, come over here, let me do your form. Let me help you with this. And they were almost like, and they would tell me, man, I feel like when I come to your club, I was so intimidated about going to the weight room. Now I feel like I got all these big brothers in here kind of watching out for me. And I love, I would love hearing that because it's so true.

Well, I think the, the point of this whole episode or this message is not that it's, none of these things have never happened before. It's just that it's a terrible message that's being promoted by these magazines or articles or this new movement of woke fitness that, if you know why give people a reason to not go to the gym when it's the complete opposite.

The narrative they go now. Yeah, it's not that all these situations haven't happened once before, whatever, it's just that it's so outlandish that it's more likely to happen in your local grocery store or on a campus at college or school before it's gonna happen in the gym. So don't be spreading bullshit like that, that's gonna keep people in the gym. So don't be spreading bullshit like that.

That's going to keep people from doing that. You don't hear anybody talking about that for school or grocery stores. So I think putting it out there and kind of shaming gyms or shaming people that exercise consistently in the gym is just as bad as fat shaming somebody. It is. It's passing judgment and it's passing judgment on how people look. It's the same damn exact thing that they're accusing other people of doing. But again, I'll say this all day long.

If you're looking to improve your fitness and health, one of the most supportive places you'll ever go is a place where everybody's trying to do that as well. And that's the gem. Look, if you like our information, head over to mindpumpfree.com and check out our guides. We have guides that can help you with almost any fitness goal.

You can also find all of us on Instagram. Justin is at Mind Pump Justin. I'm at Mind Pump Sal and Adam is at Mind Pump Adam. Thank you for listening to Mind Pump. If your goal is to build and shape your body, dramatically improve your health and energy, and maximize your overall performance, check out our discounted RGB Superbundle at Mind Pump Media.com.

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