And the athlete label may have the most negative effect of them all because it is being shoved down the throat of everyone entering a fitness ‘journey’ regardless of their needs or wishes.

People really forget how negative an athletes life can be. They only see the winner & think that is the athlete's life, they forget that there is usually a trail of people, who couldn't make it or only got close enough. As you said the "athlete mindset" can at times fuel negative thought processes. These is besides the point that the athletes life is VERY stressful at ALL levels be it amateur or pro.
When I was an amateur boxer one of the things I vividly remember is the stress before a fight (sometimes for days), lol even before sparring sessions sometimes. It wasn't just me, this was common among the entire team, I was also lucky enough to speak to some Higher level athletes & they reiterated this.
People forget that athletics is about WINNING, your sponsor irrespective of the level, is sponsoring you to win(whether that sponsor is your college or a franchise is irrespective). This win at all cost attitude can be dangerous at times because sometimes it can make an athlete make choices that would not be good for him & over time the mindset can become very negative. Also, most athletes aren't "nurtured" contrary to popular belief (at least not properly), they just happen to be good at what they do & that's that. There is a either you can do or you can't do, Lol apparently you can't be trained to do(& thats whole different can of worms.)
LOL, that was a big rant (I wanted to talk about my experiences as an amateur athlete, but it veered off a bit : P) ; that's a very good article, Eric. It once again shows that the "fitness industry" is concerned more about making up mumbo jumbo then about actually doing something.

Dev, you've listed so many good points I don't even know where to begin….wow.

Couldn't have said it better, Dev. Echoed my thoughts exactly with your experience. I don't want to make people think that I (or we) think that all competing athletes are dysfunctional messes! That is not the point. The point is, however, exactly what you are saying. There is this glamorous and quite incorrect viewpoint that by virtue of being an "athlete" you have somehow sidestepped any training, stress, or lifestyle traps that "regular" exercisers are prone to. Where this ridiculous rose-colored attitude has come from I do not know but it is very prevalent in the "fitness industry" as you say. In fact, you have not sidestepped a can of worms you've just opened up a whole new can of worms.

When it comes down to it it's very simple: the idea that "thinking like someone else" will make us more successful is a silly and unproductive notion and this extends not only to the athlete fallacy but to the "thinking like a thin person" which I've written about or whatever other thoughts people try to put in your head.

Dev, you've listed so many good points I don't even know where to begin….wow.

Thanks dude.

I don't want to make people think that I (or we) think that all competing athletes are dysfunctional messes!

I totally agree with you on that point.

Great read Eric, and interesting comments guys.

Thank you.

It occurs to me that "Inventing the Couch Potato: An Exercise Myth That Needs To Go Away" is very much related to some of the central points in this article. Primarily the "think like an athlete" fallacy and attitudes suggesting that to exercise is not enough..one must "train" like an athlete. Certainly many of us here "train" rather than just exercise but the idea that everyone must be this structured is silly. In the Couch Potato article I quash that attitude by asserting that not only is it okay to "just exercise" but that exercise has immediate health benefits..only one session has a measurable effect on health.

Yes I read that article first then came on to this one. It's funny but I think so many people (myself included) can take this whole thing a bit too seriously… I remember turning down some things in the past because it messed with going to the gym etc. when in the big scale of things that was probably a mistake. I am not saying that you shouldn't take you're training/exercise seriously but try keep it in perspective. Training is a part of my life that I really enjoy but it should be weighed up against everything else, and I realise that I am not an "Athlete", I am a normal person who enjoys exercising. I think if I had all the pressure that goes along with competitive professional sport I probably wouldn't enjoy it nearly as much.

Endomorph

“I eat too much and exercise too little. I take too many shortcuts which usually leave me worse off than when I began.”

This….is halfway to being me :-P

I'm reading this article again after a long time and I love it!

Imagine you are very out of shape and stressed out. Now, as a trainer, I tell you that you must dedicate your life to training. You must become a slave to your body and train as if you are getting ready for the Olympics. Now how do you feel? Less stressed? I think not. Is this a positive way to begin a health and fitness regimen?

It's like telling someone who lives a normal life which has it's own problems to take on a huge slew of more problems…It duplicates stress! Now I gotta deal with this stuff PLUS training like a beast??? OMG!!!!

Your point is very valid because this is one of those "positive reinforcements" which leads to the opposite result than what the trainer desires. You tell someone who has enough stress and this results in that person quitting lifting at the drop of a hat.

The mistake we make with labels is that we think they describe us and others. They do not. They categorize us. It’s bad enough to categorize others, but when we do it to ourselves we simply put blinders on and ignore the possibilities in ourselves. Labels cause us to proceed in a fixed direction even when multiple directions are available. This is not self-knowledge, but the antithesis of it.

This explains why we just say "I'm training to get strong"…it is ambiguous as hell but it is a lot better than "I'm a Powerlifter" or "I'm a Strongman" when I'm NOT training for either competition.