About a year ago, I published my now very popular article, excuses, excuses, which is about calling out self-sabotage disguised as reasons not to exercise. But really, they’re not reasons. They’re excuses. Because my team and I get a lot of osteoporosis clients, this article will be excuses, excuses – osteoporosis edition.
I’ll give the same disclaimer/warning I did in my first article: this article might cause mild discomfort, spontaneous defensiveness, or a sudden urge to “accidentally” close this email. If you’re allergic to being called out, now’s your chance to bail.
But if you’re still here, I assume you have thicker skin.
Before we jump in, I’ll state my bias up front: I make my living by selling personal training. I don’t think that’s a surprise to anyone reading this newsletter. So this newsletter is not just me trying to sell personal training. All of my newsletters try to sell personal training 😉. I didn’t have to use this one specifically to do that. But I also want to sleep at night – I sell personal training because I believe in personal training.
Now, with that out of the way, are you ready to be mildly offended and hopefully amused? Let’s begin.
I’ll Try it On My Own
I get the temptation to avoid paying for something, or really committing to exercise. People often want to try it on their own before realizing that nothing’s happening. The most common scenario is they think they can stick to it. But because proper strength training is not a habitual part of their life, they stick with it for a few weeks, or a month or two, and then fall off the bandwagon.
They think to themselves “I just have to do it.” Yet, they don’t. Not in the long term, anyway. If they could have done it, they would have already. And they don’t feel that accountability is something worth paying for. After all, accountability is not expertise. It’s something they should be able to do on their own. Yet, again, they don’t.
Or, a better-case scenario: they do indeed do it on their own. Yet, what they’re doing isn’t effective.
For general fitness, it’s fine to try and do it on your own. If you’re not in the habit of regular strength training, the likelihood of sticking with it in the long-term is probably under 5%, but we like to pretend that we’re special, and we’re in the tiny minority that can do it…. despite a long history of failed attempts. But I know, I know: this time, it’ll be different.
For osteoporosis, there are 2 real risks to trying things on your own:
- The chance of getting hurt while you’re doing it. Maybe you’re doing something good for your bones, yet in the meantime, damaging your joints or tendons.
- The very real chance that what you’re doing isn’t effective. And the risk is that your bones aren’t sticking around, waiting for you to find what’s effective. They’re actively deteriorating. If you spend a year doing the wrong thing, your bones are going to be weaker next year. Then, you’ll have to spend 1-1.5 years training just getting back to where you were when you started.
Could it be done on your own? Sure, some people do it. But they’re in the minority. Could I do my own taxes? Sure, but an accountant will do it better, because they have training in finance. Could I learn how to change the oil in my own car? Sure, but a car mechanic who does it 40 hours per week for decades will do it better.
Could you improve your bone density on your own? Sure, but you’ll have to learn anatomy, exercise physiology and biomechanics. Your chances of doing it on your own are very slim – under 5%. With my team, we see success rates in the 85-90% range with osteoporosis clients, based on improvements in follow-up DEXA scans. Yes, I’m bragging here, but that’s because I’m proud of our success rate, and I’m not aware of any other intervention that has this kind of success rate.
When people think about spending, they only think of spending money. When people are saving money, because they won’t pay for a professional, they’re spending time figuring it out on their own. Arguably, time is more valuable than money. After all, you can make more money, but you can’t make more time. If you spend money, you save time. If you save money, you waste time.
I’ll Wait Until the Time is Right
Yep, this is procrastination, masked as preparation. Simply put, it’s not prioritizing your health. But again, when it comes to general fitness, there usually aren’t any major consequences to putting things off for a few months. With osteoporosis, there are. It’s not like you’re pushing “pause” on bone deterioration, while you’re waiting for the perfect time to exercise. No. While you’re preparing to exercise, your bones are actively deteriorating. And again, by the time you’re ready to exercise properly, you’ll have to spend months or years just getting back to where you were when the thought “I should exercise” occurred to you.
If you’re legitimately so busy that you can’t fit an hour workout into your day, even 5 minutes of proper activity will at least slow down the decline. Instead of losing 4% of your bone density in one year, you might lose only 1-2% in one year. Sure, it’s not as good as gaining bone density, but not as bad as losing 4%, either.
I’m Working with a Physiotherapist
Don’t get me wrong – physiotherapists are smart, well-meaning people. I even refer out to some of them. But don’t confuse their ability to work with osteoporosis clients with effectiveness.
Just because they’re not restricted from working with osteoporosis clients doesn’t mean that they’re good at it. In my experience, they’re not.
Physiotherapists are decent when it comes to getting injured people not injured. Where they’re not good is reversing chronic conditions. And osteoporosis is a chronic condition. They have it hammered into their head that their job is to manage chronic conditions. I strongly disagree. When possible, I think the goal is to reverse chronic conditions. Not just manage. And with osteoporosis, it’s very possible.
Because of their very conservative training, their mentality is just “let’s not make it worse.” But if a person has osteoporosis, their mentality is “let’s make it better.”
There are 2 criteria for proper exercise:
- It has to be safe
- It has to be effective
Physiotherapists forget about the effective part. They’re just concerned with safety, and effectiveness is not even on their priority list. Too bad, because it is on yours. They’re happy when you don’t fracture a bone while you’re under their care. You’re happy when you get your DEXA scan the following year, and it was better than the previous time. You have different goals.
I’ll Hire a Local Trainer
One of the most frustrating things for me is when I speak to someone who has osteoporosis/osteopenia. We’ve established that someone from my team can help them, but it would be online.
Then, as we try to set up their initial assessment, they back out, saying they’re going to try someone local. This makes me want to rip my hair out. I’m not frustrated because of the loss of potential business. My primary concern is the welfare of the client (even if it’s not my client), and my secondary concern is yes, my business. I’m frustrated because this prospect believes that all personal trainers are the same. They’re not. There are vast differences between personal trainers.
Unlike regulated professionals (such as doctors, physiotherapists, chiropractors, registered massage therapists, etc.), personal training is not regulated. With regulated professionals, they all took a test, and had some relatively extensive schooling. So you can guarantee that if you’re working with a regulated professional, there’s a minimum to how bad they can be. That’s not the case with personal trainers. There’s no minimum, because to become a personal trainer, there’s no test. Anyone can call themselves a personal trainer, and get a job as such. No diploma, no degree.
A step above that is a weekend certification. That’s the majority of the industry. A step above that is trainers with either 2-year diplomas or 4-year degrees.
Furthermore, even the vast majority of personal trainers with the highest qualifications don’t know a thing about osteoporosis. It’s a very narrow specialization. I should know. I actually have a 4-year kinesiology degree, and I wasn’t taught anything about osteoporosis in university.
I’ve been in business since 2010, and in that time, interviewed probably 350-400 personal trainers. I always ask my interviewees about osteoporosis, and only about 5-6 out of those 350-400 that I interviewed knew anything about osteoporosis.
Very often, the osteoporosis patient knows more about osteoporosis than the personal trainer training them. Terms like “DEXA scan” and “T-score” are completely foreign to most personal trainers.
Yet, because of this false belief that all personal trainers are the same, an osteoporosis client hires a local personal trainer, spends money and time training with them, gets their DEXA scan, and, to their surprise, it’s worse than the previous year. That’s what happened to one of our clients, Ann. After getting diagnosed with osteoporosis, she hired a personal trainer. She wanted him to help her with her bones. He believed he could help, but didn’t have the specific expertise needed. Her DEXA scan was worse the next year.
Yes, some people perceive in-person training to be better (although I haven’t seen it – about 60% of our clients are virtual, and they get the same results as our in-person clients), but what they think they’re gaining by training in person, they’re missing out on expertise. Expertise that they’re very unlikely to find in their local area. And believe me, I know – I’ve interviewed trainers all over the world: Toronto, New York, Los Angeles, London, Sydney, etc. Only about 1-1.5% know anything about osteoporosis.
Whether you decide to work with my team or not, I just want you to be informed about risks, rewards, and trade-offs. If you find a way to do it on your own, or you find a personal trainer not employed by my company to help you reverse your osteoporosis, I’ll be extremely happy for you. But if you do want to get help with your own bone density, just fill out the application form on our home page. Doing so doesn’t obligate you to anything – it’ll just set up a quick, 10-15-minute call to understand your situation, and see whether we can help. There’s no pressure or sales pitch.
