If there’s one thing out there that is more readily available than exercise tips, it’s conflicting workout advice. Google, social media, and even personal trainers are continually giving recommendations that are in direct conflict with what the very next – or very last – tip you read or heard.
This can be very frustrating. After all, if you’re seeking solid answers, then how do you know which piece of conflicting workout advice is the right one? On which blog post, video, tweet, meme or custom recommendation from a pro should your efforts be based? What should you believe? How do you know if something is worth risking your time and effort.
Finding Your Way Through Conflicting Workout Advice
There is no easy answer to navigating your way through conflicting workout advice. That said, it is still possible for you to come out on top. The key is for you to decide to educate yourself. Understand that this will be a gradual process. Simply start at the basics and work your way up to more complex or detailed information as you become ready to understand it.
Regardless of how much you know, you’ll always run into conflicting workout advice that either goes against what you believe or that flies in the face of previous lessons. The truth is that even the most up to date scientific studies don’t have it all figured out. Therefore, much of what you’re regularly hearing is nothing more than opinion or, at best, an educated guess.
Just to make things even more complex, keep in mind that we’re all individuals. Therefore, sometimes the reason a recommendation seems like conflicting workout advice is that it works for some people and not for others. To help yourself, you need to do your research, keep your mind open and pay attention to what works specifically for you.
Be Open Minded…But Stay Skeptical
At the same time that you need to be open minded about both sides of conflicting workout advice, don’t simply assume that everything you hear is accurate. There is a lot of inaccurate information circulating at the moment. Many involve misunderstandings, but there is also deliberate misinformation regularly shared for the purpose of selling products or simply sabotaging people’s success.
One of the key rules to follow when it comes to managing conflicting workout advice is to remind yourself that if it sounds too good to be true, it likely is.