The Fitness Diss-industry
In 2025, the more outlandish, obnoxious, controversial, or dramatic you are, the more attention you get online. That holds for any business in the public eye, including the fitness industry.
The written word has taken a back seat to viral videos, shit-talking YouTube personalities, insane workouts that no rational person should be doing, and people staying damn near contest shape year-round just because it looks better on the ‘gram.
I will be honest, it’s fucking ridiculous. It’s unrealistic, and it’s disconcerting.
It doesn’t just start and stop at Gen Z; it’s all across the generations. You see respected men acting like petulant children on YouTube videos, quasi-threatening people, and acting arrogantly dogmatic, while others make video series that run down a list of why that person is a fraud/sucks. Trainers with advanced degrees, Scientists….
I watched one of those videos, and the entire time I was looking at my laptop thinking, “what the fuck.” Is this where we are in this business? Has the social media era completely fucked this up?
It isn’t enough to put good information into the world; we have to see people shit on others for it. It isn’t enough to entertain; people have to go into full caricature mode to get attention.
People love drama, and they love to look at the silly shit and laugh. It’s why reality TV is so popular, because humans are attracted to it. It is easy to get attention when you act like a fucking idiot, talk shit on others, or say stuff so outlandish that it begs you to share it with your friends, saying, “Look at this idiot, can you believe it?”
That’s how the game works, and I refuse to play that game.
Honestly, it bothers me. It bothers me because I know many coaches and trainers who do a phenomenal job, yet they fall through the cracks. Some 23-year-old kid, who looks like a contest shape Arnold, is in the middle of Planet Fitness, acting like an asshole, because this fool knows goddamn well it will get likes and shares.
I am fully aware of how the game of self-promotion works, and I am on board with people putting themselves out there. What is out of control is the incentivized entertainment disguised as fitness.
Dillon Gabriel of the Cleveland Browns had a profound quote the other day, as he was talking about sports media. He said, “Yeah, it's just part of it. You know, there are entertainers and there are competitors, and I totally understand that. But my job is to compete.”
I look at the modern fitness landscape like that.
Some people are here to entertain you, while others are here to do their jobs as coaches - the competitors.
You can argue some do both, but when content creation becomes a full-time job, how in the fuck does that coach have time to be an actual coach?
They have people who edit videos, help with content, and find topics for them to talk about or talk shit on. It becomes a race and an entertainment game disguised as information.
Why?
Because they know goddamn well that many people want it, and when it comes to short-form video, the faster you grab someone’s attention, the better.
I haven’t posted on Instagram in a while, and God knows I need to. When I open the app, I want to close it immediately. I realize things change and people want their information how they want it, but I cringe at the way some people deliver it.
By making fitness into entertainment in the way we are now, we are flooding the field with shit. We have kids selling programs who have no idea how to write one or coach. We have people hopping on steroids at way too early an age just to be able to look the part and show the world how fucking ripped they are.
When I see fitness beefs spill over into YouTube or Instagram videos, my first thought usually is, “Why don’t you dumbasses get on the phone with each other and work it out instead of bringing the entire damn world into this nonsense?”
Imagine having a beef over training.
Imagine being pissed at someone because they disagree with your specific type of training.
Now, imagine those people as supposed fully-functioning adults.
I had grade school beefs that meant more than that shit.
At the risk of sounding like the old man yelling at a cloud, it blows my mind to see a business predicated on HELPING people filled with assholes like that.
What did I expect? There’s no way that I was foolish enough to think that people who live, breathe, eat, sleep, and shit training and orthorexic eating who flex near every mirror they see to really act like they give a shit about helping people.
I am not taking that road. I can’t. I refuse to.
There is a market for good information that doesn’t exploit, sensationalize, or mislead. It exists. I know successful coaches who follow that lead, and I applaud every single one of them. I admire those people for doing it in a positive way that doesn’t need the latest trend to pop.
After all, how the fuck can you put a trend on fitness?
Very little has changed from what we all know works.
Eat healthy. Lift weights. Follow an intelligently designed program based on principles of progressive resistance. Do your cardio. Get plenty of sleep. Drink enough water.
There isn’t a magic diet; most people do not need advanced training principles unless they are somehow training for a high-level sport, “lifting weights faster” sure as fuck isn’t cardio, and everyone needs to sleep and rest.
I have been struggling with writing and posting content because I am disillusioned with the current state of this business. That is on me, and despite how I feel about the noise in the arena, it is my job to ignore the noise and do what I do best.
I will do what I do best, and I hope you find and follow the trainers and coaches who contribute to this business in a positive and non-exploitative way.
Let’s flood the gates with knowledge.
I am accepting clients for nutrition and training services. With over 25 years of experience in the fitness industry, I can help you achieve your goals.
Studying for my Master’s in Psychology from APUS
BAS in Applied Nutrition and Health from ASU
AAAI/ISMA - ISSA Strength and Conditioning - Pn1 Certified - ISSA Sports Nutrition
Former Superleague Rugby player
Competitive Strongman from 1999 - 2010
Former NPC Masters Physique Competitor
Former assistant rugby coach for Mentor HS (OH) and former Assistant Rugby Coach at Liberty HS (MO)
2011 Speaker at Denison University’s Strength and Conditioning conference
Three self-published training books
Multiple magazine articles for Muscle and Performance, Muscle & Fitness, and Ironman
Published on PPSC, Elite FTS, and top articles of the week from Ben Bruno and PTDC
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