My Morning Cup of What The Eff? How Is Tracy Anderson Still a Thing??

Yesterday I saw an article being shared like wildfire across my Facebook feed, all about Tracy Anderson’s Workout Rules. I’m thinking the article was not so much rules as just stuff she felt like talking about and a reporter who gleefully included all of the soundbites to make it something entertaining.

I’ve written about Tracy Anderson before, and it was mostly about how her view of exercise physiology and biological adaptation seems to be….. creative at best. This article seems to be somewhat more desperate than previous ones, talking about how she sees more injuries in her studio from poor kettlebell use (“you don’t really know where the force is ending up”) and how muscles hold each other back, and how working a muscle will make skin sag somehow, but there’s a point in the first portion of the article where she says that driving a convertible burns more calories than a non-convertible because of sensory input. I guess she’s never seen a motor bike ridden by anyone who wasn’t entirely ripped.

This isn’t to pick on convertible drivers or motorbikers (I don’t want a biker gang at my front door looking for a flex off. You guys are all right), but to just point out a very simple logical fallacy. Much like how the author asserted that Anderson “invented dance cardio,” which can only lead me to wonder where Richard Simmons was all this time and whether her time machine somehow transposed her to a time when Richard was putting out videos and she wasn’t even born yet.

Maybe drawing attention to stuff like this is a bad idea, as all it does is give coverage. As this article on Moz.com points out, even in times where attention is for a perceived negative event, the coverage can cause an upswell in clicks to the site, interest in the brand, and even lead to sales. However, they also point out that negative elements of a story can cause people to view them with distrust, and ultimately could affect the bottom line if the company doesn’t respond to the criticisms aptly and in a beneficial manner.

Far too often, when we see articles of this nature, they draw attention to serious misgivings in the validity of a specific claim with the intent to help others not fall victim to their specific brand of charlatanism. A very well received piece on the Food Babe by Yvette D’Entremont did manage to emply a very successful dent in her army, although I would suspect she’s not suffering too much. Tim Caufield (also from Edmonton) even penned a book called “Is Gwyneth Paltrow Wrong About Everything?” that looks at celebrity culture advising the rest of us on everything from what to eat, what medicine to take (or not take), and how to look and feel like they do, even if many of their suggestions are completely wrong and potentially dangerous.

There’s even a social media campaign designed to stop people from sharing memes from David “Avocado” Wolfe, cleverly titled #dontcrywolfe. His pages have come under fire for promoting very dubious health claims, such as a hand full of walnuts is more effective as an antidepressant than actual medicine. If someone who was suffering from clinical depression saw this and decided to ditch their medicine in favour of walnuts, then wound up getting so depressed they made a valid attempt to die by suicide, I wouldn’t imagine Avocado would lose much sleep over it.

while the design of these methods is to inform people who might easily be swayed and show them that what is being shared isn’t accurate and could even be very dangerous, sometimes the opposite effect happens and more people check in to see how outlandish the claims being made are, which creates somewhat of a self-fulfilling prophecy. I mean, Tracy Anderson is still being interviewed, goes to launch events as a host, and gets to launch programs that have as much scientific backing as a wet napkin, in spite of her saying very emphatically that she has a lot of doctors and researchers behind her. Meanwhile the trainers, nutritionists, and health providers who do amazing work day in and out have no voice, and no where near the impact she may have.

But still, someone has to stand up and say that the information is wrong and could potentially be damaging. I will agree with her part #3 in the article that everyone should do something for 30 minutes each day, so she gets partial credit for that.

But instead of saying how wrong she is, I want to show it. Lifting more than 10 pounds will make you bulky? Check out Kate Upton training with my friend Ben Bruno, and crushing some heavy landmine deadlifts and then some massive hip thrusts.

Maybe watch Bret Contreras train some of his bikini and figure competitors with some weights slightly heavier than 15 lbs

Maybe Daisy Ridley, you know, Rey from the new Star Wars movie, moving some serious weight will wind up being big and bulky with saggy triceps. Or not.

Maybe my own wife getting after some heavy squats is obvious justification for how lifting something over 10 lbs won’t be the death of you.

You can work out how ever you like, whether that’s dance cardio, rock climbing, weight lifting, kick boxing, or what ever makes you happy and gets you what you want. Work out because you love what it does for you, but don’t avoid exercises or styles of training because you fear what it may do to you. Get coached in technical stuff so you know how to do it with as minimal risk as possible, try different things, enjoy your life, and don’t let fear let fear keep you from a possibly amazing experience.