Motivation.........WTF is this motivation?

I just finished reading a great article by Matt Carlin form The Gym Yamba (click the link to check it out http://thegymyamba.wordpress.com/2013/10/26/show-me-the-money/ ) which is very well written and shows his level of service and care in the fitness industry. In the article he writes that the industry is "Chasing every dollar that can be squeezed out of people for all matters related to fitness and nutrition. It’s getting ridiculous! So many of the commercial type gyms fighting for maximum membership for maximum profit and personal trainers charging prices that I consider excessive for services they really aren’t experienced, or even qualified, enough to offer" (Carlin 2013). Seriously I couldn't agree with his statement more, profit is well above care in most gyms.

The article left me with two main thoughts, the first I will write about now the second I will discuss at a later time. This is the first thought and comes from Matty's statement that the fitness industry is getting ridiculous, in many ways it is and one example that jumped straight out at me is one of my major bug bears I have.....the fit chick/guy picture with the motivational quote that you see on social media, fitness websites everyday. All I can say about these pictures are WTF. These pictures are simply ridiculous. They are unrealistic, airbrushed crap and most of the quotes that go with them are yes, also ridiculous. So sitting here at home watching a replay of the women's 68kg World Weightlifting Championship I quickly Google to find some of the ridiculousness I am referring to. After just one keyword search below is some of what I found.



Ok WTF, they are 2.5kg technique plates (far from strong) and hey lets not worry about technique .

WTF...Yeah this looks legit. No one lifts like that dressed like that.

Yep see this in the gym everyday....WTF please.

 I really wish she would start saying I will put weight on my bar.

Pretty sure you aint getting strong when the bar is racked too high for you to even unrack it.....WTF.

And my favourite, we all go to the gym punch the bag for a bit then take or top off and rub our boobs against it. WTF.

 

 

 



I think my point is made. My point is that the majority of fitness motivational photos are unrealistic and not even meaningful to most. Whatever happened to "I am going to the gym today and I am going to train the house down and wreck that joint". Then I am going home having adequate recovery and eating good nutrition so I can be the best I can possibly be. The other bizarre thing with these photos is that we see the fitness industry promoting most of them or creating them. Why? If the fitness industry is so informed why use fake pictures with fancy quotes to promote health and fitness? Marketing for your dollar I would say. Imagery to suck people in.

 

However I have an answer for this ridiculousness.

Now I am going to put the pictures up that should go with these quotes or any quotes. These pictures are real people, strong women and real people. Oh and some are even from Hybrid. We are all who we are, we have different genetics, body shape etc. We should concentrate on Fitness, Health and performance in the gym and nothing else. If you look after these you will look good I can assure this. Don't be fooled by pretty pictures, be inspired by the below photos to help you reach your goals. Real women, fit and strong women.

Let's flick those ridiculous motivational pictures and start using images that are real like these ones above. We have the power to ignore an industry that concentrates on look rather than performance. Remember Fit is Fit and Strong is Strong, nothing else.