When it comes to weight loss and muscle building advice, there is a group of people you absolutely must NOT trust.
This group could include your best friend, family members or even trusted on-line fitness personalities.
And while they mean well…their advice can lead you disastrously astray.
This group is known as “The Early Adopters”
Have you ever heard something along the lines of:
Hey Jim, how’s that new workout you are trying?
Oh man, it’s AMAZING, the fat is practically MELTING off of me
If you answered yes, then you have met an Early Adopter.
Early Adopters are people who advise on how ‘awesome’ something is, they are only doing so because it’s something NEW.
You are getting great feedback on the sole basis that the topic is NEW and EXCITING.
[You are also typically getting feedback that is exaggerated or even impossible based on the time lines…especially when it comes to muscle building. Muscle grows very slowly, so anyone telling you their new workout is giving them MIND blowing results in the first 3 days is a person you may want to check back with in a couple of months to see if they are still as enthusiastic]
Take what they’re saying with a grain of salt (who knows they might just do a total 180 on you in a month from now)
So rule of thumb:
Your friend just started CrossFit and is Raving about it – Ask him again in 6 months time just to be sure.
Your Mom just started Eat Stop Eat and thinks it the BEST DIET EVER
– Great but ask her again in 6 months time just to be sure.
[This is especially true for all diets – a good diet will last the test of time]
Your little brother swears that he’s packing on muscle because he upped his protein intake –
-Check in on how he looks in 6 months time to be sure.
Early Adopters are almost always the people you find on the net, commenting on blogs and waging wars in forums, but they are not
the best people to take advice from.
When you see ‘too good to be true’ reviews always ask yourself “I wonder if this is just early adopter talk?”
[The flip side of this is the rose-colored glasses that people have when remembering far off events, like that time they ‘gained 50 pounds of pure muscle and were shredded’ that was actually 15 years ago…you’ll find exaggerations in these situations too]
Wait until the polish has warn off then ask them again for their advice or opinions.
Chances are, you may get a slightly more honest response.
BP
[One I’m always curious about is people who adopt the super brief workout program of one set per muscle group, followed by 10 or 11 days of rest, I always wonder if they are as keen on the program 6 months later, or if they have moved on]
