one of the silliest things I've ever read by a professional:

http://www.brinkzone.com/blog/strength-training/post/why-i-love-the-athletic-metaphor/

If someone exercises and THINKS of it as exercise they are a couch potato. OR, you MUST think the way a certain other person thinks to be successful?

Empty words.

I used to do this. I'm guilty of it. But not anymore.

You will not help people get off their asses by assigning your values to them. This is just a symptom of an inability to put yourself in other's places and help them figure out what motivates THEM as an individual. Having only a hammer and everything looking like a nail is a BAD thing, lol.

I agree, that blogpost was nothing but fluff.

I think that its fundamentally wrong to think of everyone as an athlete because most people are not athletes, nor do they care to be.

Comparing athletics to parenting…To be honest I fail to see the connection. Striving to be your best does not always equate to athletics.

Life is holographic- your intellectual, spiritual, and emotional strength depends on your physical strength, and vice versa.

That statement really got me. Its nothing but straight bs.

I think Stephen Hawking would strongly disagree with this statement.

If intellect was dependant on physical strength we wouldn't have the stereotype of skinny bookworms, would we.

Couldn't agree more.

First of all I have no idea what "life is holographic" means, lol. But indeed, yes, you can build a stronger mind and spirit partly by striving to build a stronger body and always pushing your limits. This helps create self-knowledge which is the key to inner strength. But it is a tool.

Stephen Hawking is a perfect example.

I really get tired of people pushing THEIR personal value system onto other people.

If you come to me and say "i just want to be in shape", guess what, that is OK with me. I don't care if you deadlift 400 lbs. I will try to help you realize that goal. I will help you find ways in which you are personally motivated even if you don't choose to think of yourself as an athlete or as athletic at all. It is OK just to exercise. Good lord.

Its kind of interesting how you posted that article about people being intimidated by the gym and not wanting to go until they're in good enough shape to go.

And then Staley says that its not good enough to just get up and exercise, which is the bigger problem, he says that you have to think like an athlete. But its mainly only athletes that have the drive to think like athletes, that's what makes them athletes and not couch potatoes.

The whole point of a trainer/coach is to provide the capability to reach the client's goals, usually through knowledge and instruction. You defeat the purpose of being a trainer entriely when all you do is impose YOUR beliefs and goals.

Yes again.

Heck yeah it's no wonder when sedentary people find it intimidating to go to the gym given the message they are recievng from the "coaching" community going off the deep end about things. Some of these guys get so insulated within their own little worlds coaching pro athletes and the like they tend to lose touch with reality sometimes.

But I wouldn't go so far as to say all that about "athletes" in general. But I don't want to go into that right now because I'd be giving a preview of my next article, lol.

I realized that this article should be linked here. This was originally published at FLZine but since then I've republished it here:

Drop The Labels

I am very proud of this article. I've re-read it a couple of times recently and I still think it is one of the best and most important articles I have ever written.

Here are some other pages that mention or concern the athlete fallacy.