Blowing minds. That's what I do.

Recently, during a session with one of my favorite regulars, I was introduced to a concept that I had no previous knowledge of. It's called the Dunning-Kruger Effect. Go read the link, I'll wait...

Not me. Although I was a fat little kid.

Done? Understand it? For those of you who chose to skip reading the link, or don't understand it, the Dunning-Kruger effect says that dumb people can be too dumb to know that they are dumb. Thus, they will go on believing that they are the tits and never seek help to alleviate their dumbness. (I'm paraphrasing). Pretty interesting concept. I wasn't quite sure of how it applied to my own life, but it came to me when I was walking Lexi today (I do a lot of my thinking when walking her). Prepare to have your mind blown...

...the Dunning-Kruger effect has an abnormally high predominance in commercial gym's!

Boom. Laser show. That just happened. Think of the large number of ass-clown's you see roaming your gym every time you go to get a lift in. The guy that continues doing his "bodybuilding" split routine, even though he has lost muscle mass and gained fat over the last 8 months. The woman who is only lifting 3 pound dumbbells because Tracy (vomit) Anderson said so. The guy benching while wearing sunglasses. (Yup, that happened in my gym the other day.) The hordes and hordes of people who think squats and deadlifts are bad for your back. 

The masses. The herds. The multitudes of people who know absolutely nothing about training, yet assume they know what is best for them. Do you do the work on your car by yourself, even though you don't even know where the oil pan is? Or do you bring it to a mechanic? The last time your laptop shit the bed, did you try and take it apart on your own, or did you bring it back to the Mac store and let those Genius Bar nerds take care of it? Of course you sought professional help in both those situations.

WHY DO PEOPLE REFUSE TO ASK FOR HELP TRAINING???

You can buy a new car or a new laptop. You only get the one body, though. Please, ask someone for some advice! When I take a look at my client roster, Dunning-Kruger seems very accurate. All of my clients are very intelligent, self-aware, successful people. People who understand when they need help with something outside their scope of abilities. 

The guys in the weight room who will never ask me for help? The same guys who think they look cool lifting in sunglasses. The same guys who don't realize they are far too skinny to be wearing an Under Armour compression shirt. The same guys who think they are looking at their abs in the mirror, when they are really seeing their large intestine. I've been questioning for a few years why these people just continue to grind away without asking for help. Dunning-Kruger explained it very well. They truly believe they know much more than they do about exercise and training. They rate their ability, and probably their physiques, as above average. 

Now, that I've identified this problem. It's time to come up with a solution. But, for now, I'm going to go beat myself up with some 10x3 squats!