don't ask if you aren't ready to act

If you are seeking change but do not know how to get it and you ask a fitness professional how to get that change then why not take their advice?

I am going to premise this blog with a short story that sparked the inspiration to write this post: 

I work at a gym and I set people up on machines and show them how they are used.  In this time some people ask me fitness questions.  I had a very nice girl tell me that she felt she had no upper body strength and could not lift a bar (the 45 in the free weight room).  She opened up about her weakness in the upper body and wanted some advice.  I gave her some tips that would help build her strength up and explained to her differences between machine lifting and free weights.  I told her some of the best ways to push herself when lifting.  I mentioned that failing on your last rep or two in your rep range is not a bad thing at all (which she thought was).  It is a VERY beneficial thing for gaining strength.

She recently came to me and said that my advice was amazing and helped her immensely. She says she can now lift the bar in the weight room and expressed her gratitude towards me for sharing that with her.  She also told me that she has been looking for someone or ways to figure out how to start getting into lifting and I was happy to give her the advice to get her started.  

Imagine if she decided not to act on the advice I gave her, she still would be struggling to find a way to increase her strength. But because she listened she saw results within 1 week of consistently working on those changes.

SOO if you are still reading here goes the basis of the blog post:

I have never understood why people discredit things so easily.  I understand that there is an overbearing amount of information but if you have asked someone for some advice then what do you have to lose by giving it a shot? Of course I am not saying trust everyone right off the bat I am just saying if you have seen them working out, know they are a credible source and admire their work, aesthetics, and health then why not take their advice?

Let's say you are trying to build muscle and meet someone who clearly has a desirable amount of muscle on their body.  So you think oh let's see what they do.  First of all if you ask someone for fitness advice that is personal you should place this at great importance because this is something that person does and trusts, so they are most likely not going to try to cheat you or harm you unless what they do is completely wrong as is.  Just make sure they have a good reputation and do know what they are doing, not all gym rats are good ones and not all personal trainers actually work out (but we will save that topic for another time). 

What I am trying to say is if you are asking someone for help then that means you do not have the answer so you can either try out their advice and have greater potential for results or you can deny what they say and be stuck in the same spot as before.