3 Fitness Buzzwords That Drive Me Insane!
Anyone who has read more than of my articles already knows how much I hate poorly researched health advice, over-hyped programs, and deceitful product advertising.
I am all for people doing their best to spread health and fitness wisdom, or come up with products that satisfy a real need, but if your entire goal is to make a profit off the backs of people’s insecurities then I probably find you contemptible.
And if you are trying to trick people into believing they will achieve quick results as long as they pay three installments of $29.99, only to then offer them your next latest and greatest product that you are “crazy to reveal to the public”?
Well, then I hate everything about you and I want to Batman Judo-Chop you in the throat!
The people that do this aren’t interested in helping people reach their goals, and they don’t have their best interests at heart; they are just trying to line their pockets with fat cash.
Fortunately loyal readers, I’m here to protect you from this nonsense!
I Will Look Like That… Eventually.
Editor’s Note: I asked Stormy Riot from GeekGirlStrong to offer up some of her thoughts on body shapes and image this week… and she definitely delivered!
I think it is fairly common for most kids to think that eventually, they will look like the adults they see most often.
For a kid today, the adults they see the most often are the ones they do not even know personally. Even once we grow up it seems that we are forever aiming to look like those we see before us.
Whether that is Scarlett Johansson, Lara Croft or maybe Ororo Monroe, we believe that there must be something we can do to achieve a look we thought we would grow into.
Society (I’m painting with a really big brush here) expects for us to look something like an hourglass or a pear for women, and an inverted triangle or carrot for men.
So much so that we have found all kinds of shapes and objects to describe different body types/shapes. It is said that there are evolutionary reasons behind this, women with wider hips (think waist to hip ratio) appear better able to carry offspring to term and give birth. Men with broad shoulders (the waist to shoulder ratio) seem strong and capable of protecting and providing.
Current studies and articles in academic journals support this. It is not that we would rather be in a long-term relationship with this person, but the evolutionary attraction is definitely there.
For some more insight, check out these links:
http://beheco.oxfordjournals.org/content/20/4/716.full
http://www.unm.edu/~abryan/articles/femalehipratio.pdf
http://www.ehbonline.org/article/S1090-5138(09)00109-3/abstract
BOD PODs – What Are They?
aka How In-Shape Is The Jerd?
One of the most popular articles here at the Jerd is a piece entitled “How to Measure Your Body Fat Percentage.”
In it I detail why Body Mass Index (BMI) is a really poor way to measure your health (and why doctors need to stop relying on it), what body fat percentage is, and the five major ways you can accurately measure it.
Of course you should read that first, but here’s a recap of those methods (in order from least to most accurate) if you’re in a hurry:
- Body Fat Scales
- Body Fat Calipers
- DEXA Scanning
- Water displacement
- The BOD POD
One thing that has always bugged me about that article is that, at the time of writing, I had never done anything more accurate than using body fat calipers; and as frequent readers of the site know, I pride myself on being thorough with my research.
So when my gym announced they had a BOD POD coming in to do body scans I had to jump at the chance!
Out of the three higher-end methods the BOD POD was, not only the most accurate but also, the one that intrigued me the most; I think because, after a little Internet research, I was convinced it was fueled by some sort of dark sorcery instead of science.
So let’s take a look at exactly how the BOD POD works, and what my experience was like!
https://i0.wp.com/www.thejerd.com/http:/images.thejerd.com/2017/10/Being-Weird-is-Awesome-The-Jerd-1.jpg?fit=1024%2C570&ssl=1 570 1024 TheJerd http://www.thejerd.com/http:/images.thejerd.com/2015/08/thejerd-header.png TheJerd2017-10-16 13:37:472022-11-07 16:50:50Why Being Weird Is Awesome!
https://i0.wp.com/www.thejerd.com/http:/images.thejerd.com/2017/07/How-To-Stay-Injury-Free-The-Jerd.jpg?fit=1024%2C683&ssl=1 683 1024 TheJerd http://www.thejerd.com/http:/images.thejerd.com/2015/08/thejerd-header.png TheJerd2017-07-31 10:30:102022-11-07 16:55:38How To: Train Smarter and Stay Injury Free
https://i0.wp.com/www.thejerd.com/http:/images.thejerd.com/2017/03/How-to-Turn-a-Setback-Into-a-Success-The-Jerd-1.jpg?fit=1024%2C625&ssl=1 625 1024 TheJerd http://www.thejerd.com/http:/images.thejerd.com/2015/08/thejerd-header.png TheJerd2017-03-29 12:05:492022-11-14 13:27:35How To: Turn a Setback Into a Success
https://i0.wp.com/www.thejerd.com/http:/images.thejerd.com/2016/12/What-Does-Diet-Really-Mean-The-Jerd.jpeg?fit=1024%2C512&ssl=1 512 1024 TheJerd http://www.thejerd.com/http:/images.thejerd.com/2015/08/thejerd-header.png TheJerd2016-12-28 13:00:112022-11-14 13:28:13What Does The Word "Diet" Really Mean?