11 Popular Fitness Quotes That Are Dead Wrong!

Ah, fitness quotes… you gotta love ’em!

While some of them will motivate the bejesus out of you (like Apollo Creed yelling “There is no tomorrow!”), others just leave you scratching your damn head.

Today I want to focus on the latter, with 11 popular fitness quotes that are dead wrong.

“No Pain, No Gain!”

The person who came up with this clearly couldn’t tell the difference between the two.

Pain is when you stand on an upturned plug, and if your workouts feel anything even remotely similar then something is wrong.

Gain is created by gradually increasing the difficulty of your workouts over time (a.k.a. progressive overload). There will be moments when it burns, and you feel like you want to quit (or at least punch the guy who told you that working out was good for you), but it’ll never feel like actual pain.

“Nothing Tastes As Good As Skinny Feels.”

Let’s face it, if this quote was true then we wouldn’t be in the midst of an obesity crisis.

Further still, quotes like this can be a gateway to an eating disorder because they encourage an unhealthy relationship with food. Make no mistake, a successful body transformation needs to be based around taking charge of your health and learning about nutrition, not starving yourself. (1, 2)

“Couples Who Train Together Stay Together!”

Nope.

Trust me, if your partner is a raging fucknuckle at home, they’ll still be one at the gym – the only difference is that now you can drop dumbbells on them.

Besides, have you ever heard the story of the gym couple who publicly imploded? It’s wild. So an orange guy meets a girl who only trains glutes, and they spend their workouts gazing into each others eyes while strolling on the treadmill (which is really uncomfortable if you’re on the one in between), and he guides her around the gym with his hand on her lower back, like a delicate flower who might blow away if someone turns the air conditioning up.

Until one day, everything changes…

Suddenly the guy is training exclusively with his male friends, and the girl is hitting cardio with her female pals. Scornful looks are traded through the cable stations for the next couple of months, until one of them finds a new gym crush, so the other one drops a nuke on the relationship by posting a photo of the sea with a caption saying, “Don’t make someone a priority if they only treat you like an option” and cancels their gym membership.

Textbook!

“Fall Down Seven Times, Get Up Eight!”

They say social media is making people dumber, but seriously?

The math isn’t mathing on this one.

Honesty, I feel like we’re at a stage where I could upload a meme saying “If you fart and sneeze at the same time, your body takes a screenshot” and some people would actually believe it.

“What’s Your Excuse?”

Ah, this old classic.

“I’ve lost 42ls and I’ve got four kids… what’s your excuse?”

Gimme a fucking break, Susan!

Not only is using your own success to belittle others a total thundercunt move, but in my 22 years working as a personal trainer I saw countless examples of fat shaming like this (from the family members of clients, from colleagues, and from random people in the gym) and it never, ever worked!

Thankfully we now have evidence to show that fat shaming is a fucking awful motivational tool, so hopefully that stops people from trying it.

Researchers at the Canadian Obesity Summit in 2019 explained that a whopping 60% of all people experience fat shaming and/or body shaming at some point in their adult life, and that it usually triggers the same emotional response as anxiety, depression, and stress. In certain extreme cases it can cause people to develop an eating disorder, and the victim of the fat shaming often internalizes the issue which makes them feel even worse (e.g the more they hear “You’re fat/ugly/lazy/useless!” the more they start beating themselves up about it). (4)

So don’t fucking do it.

“A Woman In The Gym Is Sexier Than A Girl At The Club”

Ladies, my heart goes out to you.

I don’t know why every situation yu’re in needs to be sexualized by men, but that seems to be the world we live in.

Pay attention, guys; in both of these situations she just wants you to fuck off and let her do her thing!

“If A Third Grader Can’t Pronounce It, You Probably Shouldn’t Eat It.”

Let’s not base our food choices on the pronunciation skills of an 8 year old.

We live in an era where so-called “experts” like to create fear around certain foods, and one of the easiest ways to something sound scary is by using its chemical name. For example, while I wrote this article I ate a methylxanthine alkaloid 1,3,7-trimethylpurine-2,6-dione capsule and drank two glasses of dehydrogen monoxide.

Should I worry about exploding like the henchman from Big Trouble In Little China?

Of course not, because that’s caffeine and water!

So here’s the thing…

The motherfuckers who do this are always trying to convince you that “big pharma” is working with “big food” to pump you full of “big toxins” and put you in a “big hospital” (okay that one didn’t need any punctuation!), and the solution is always the fucking same – they just so happen to be selling a bunch of over-priced supplements! Don’t fall for it. (5)

“Eat Less Move More!”

I know these people mean well, but this statement rarely has the desired effect.

You see, it’s kinda like telling someone with anxiety to “calm down”, or instructing a drowning man to “sink less swim more.”

The vast majority of obese individuals have been struggling with their weight for most of their lives, and chunking their issue down to a soundbite isn’t very effective. Many of them has used food as a coping mechanism during times of stress and/or trauma, and breaking that cycle takes a monumental effort.

“Obsessed Is A Word Used By The Lazy To Describe The Dedicated!”

Is it, though?

I mean, Jack The Ripper was both obsessed and dedicated, but that doesn’t make him right.

Sure, it’s possible that some people in your social circle might be jealous of your gym progress and they may choose to mask that unhappiness by labelling you “obsessed” or calling you a “fitness freak”, but we also can’t rule out the fact that it’s because you never shut the fuck up about Herbalife, Karen!

“Unless You Puke, Faint Or Die… Keep Going!”

I guarantee this quote is written across the t-shirt of that guy who dry scoops his pre-workout while listening to the 300 soundtrack.

Don’t get me wrong; I love a good Rocky training montage, but exercise is not about absolutely killing yourself in every single workout.

It take a long time to get in great shape, and consistency is the key. You won’t always feel like blasting yourself into oblivion – and that’s OK! Expect to have a sprinkling of days where you feel bloated and hangry, and a sprinkling of days where you feel like an absolute unit, but on most days you’ll just feel “normal”.

Honestly, that’s fine.

“Haters Are My Motivators!”

Few things can light a fire under your ass than a quest to prove somebody wrong.

However, this is not a good strategy in the long-term.

I recently wrote about the various motivational drivers we can use for a body transformation here, but in a nutshell, people tend to see better results when they ditch external motivation (e.g. this type of shit) and focus on intrinsic motivation (e.g. learning how to set proper goals and deadlines). (3)

I’ve brought in AML co-founder Joe Donnelly to add another perspective:

“I say it time and time again. Be mindful of your external factors, especially with regards to motivation.

I hear the phrase “haters are my motivators” far too often. That’s all find and dandy, but heed my caution, when you are influenced in such a strong way by a subjective third party, they now own your ass mentally. They may bring about your rise, but they’ll also bring about your fall. For if haters motivate you, then the yes men, the fans, and the kiss-asses will be your undoing, as they will give you a sense of false ego and complacency. Because what happens to you when your haters and fans are no longer around? Your false sense of pride crashes and your fragile level of motivation disappears.

Measure yourself against who you were yesterday. That’s the only form of intrinsic motivation there is. It requires no external input, and only you can judge how far you’ve come.”

– Joe Donnelly

Further Reading:

If you enjoyed this blog, then you’ll probably also like reading these.

>> 5 Fitness Myths You’ll Hear In Every Gym
>> The 7 People You’ll Meet (And Hate) At The Gym
>> Workout Programs Now Available On RussHowePTI.com!

References:

Smith C. F., et al. Flexible vs. Rigid dieting strategies: relationship with adverse behavioral outcomes. Appetite (1999).
Leibel R. L., et al. Energy intake required to maintain body weight is not affected by wide variation in diet composition . Am J Clin Nutr (1992).
Teixeira, P. J., et al. Exercise, physical activity, and self-determination theory: A systematic review. Int J Behav Nutr Phys Act (2012).
Vogel L. Fat shaming is making people sicker and heavier. CMAJ (2019).
Blachford A., et al. The Voice Of Young Science brings you; the detox dossier. (2009).