Top 10 RED FLAGS for a New Diet/Exercise Program | Kettlebell Fat Blast

Season 6 | Episode 7 In this week’s episode I wanted to dive into a topic that is of particular importance right now. It's the new year, and there are SO many people out there shilling Welcome to the platform podcast where we talk to coaches, athletes, experts, and real people to learn about their approaches to training, nutrition, mindset, and much more. I'm your host, Jordan Kunde-Wright, founder and head coach of the Twin Cities Ketaba Club. I'm on a mission to help others build sustainable healthy lifestyles. Before we jump into the episode, I want to remind you that registration is open for the second annual Twin Cities Ketaba Open on October 22, hosted by our friends at the Athlete Lab looking at a Minnesota. Just as we did last year, we will also include video submissions for participants who are unable to make the trip in person. And you'll be eligible for all of the same prizes as our in-person competitors. Just go to our website, Twin Cities Ketaba Club.com for details. This week, I'm walking through my top 10 red flags that should make you think twice before signing up or paying for any new nutrition or exercise program or signing up with a coach, as well as a few tips on what you should look for. I want to take a second to say that I am incredibly grateful that you listen to this podcast. The best way you could support me, of course, is to go register for the Twin Cities Ketaba Open. Maybe tell a friend or two. Let's go to our website, Twin Cities Ketaba Club.com for details. And if you haven't already, please be sure to leave a rating review over the platform podcast and your app of choice and support my work by supporting our sponsors whose affiliate links you'll find in the episode notes. And of course, if you want help reaching your goals without wasting time, please fill out the coaching interest form linked in the show notes. I help athletes of all levels using my integrated coaching approach. You can follow me on Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube at Twin Cities Ketaba Club, or email me at Twin Cities Ketaba Club at gmail.com. Now, let's step onto the platform and discuss the top 10 red flags that you should look out for before signing up for any new nutrition, exercise program or hiring. All right, welcome into the platform podcast Ketaba fat blast edition. We are live in the Ketaba fat blast Facebook group. It is high noon on Saturday, January 22nd. And I wanted to start doing these on Saturday because I think I'm going to be able to be more consistent with these and record on Saturdays and then be able to edit the audio and hopefully get these out every Monday. Instead of on the Wednesday cadence. So my goal for the years is to put out 40 new episodes. So I'm building in a little bit of flexibility to make sure that I have time for weekends where I don't need to record hope to get some good guests for you lined up. Very excited. It's been a great start to the year so far. We're almost we're almost through the first month already, which is kind of crazy. But for a lot of us, I know we're still probably just getting into the rhythm of 2022. And in this week's episode, I wanted to dive in on a topic that was suggested to me by a friend of the show Matt Boris, I reached out to some people that I know follow the show closely and asked for suggestions on topics. And he brought up that at this time of year, there are so many people out there that are shielding their solution for weight loss in 2022. And a lot of people are signing up for programs and frankly, a lot of them are total BS. And they're sold by unscrupulous, underqualified, unqualified people who are just trying to make a quick buck. That's not to say everybody. There are also some very good coaches and trainers out there that are legitimately out there to try and help people. And they're also putting out programs and challenges and things at the start of the year to try and take advantage of when people have that natural motivation of really wanting to get after it at the start of a year. So this episode, I wanted to get into what are my top 10 red flags that you should look for that make you think twice before you sign up for a challenge, hire a coach, buy a program, start a new diet, these generally apply across all of those dimensions. So really top 10 red flags that you should look out for. And I also, because I want to keep it positive, I'm also going to give you like five tips on how, on what you should look for, or how you can evaluate these, these choices, because I want you to be successful in 2022. Obviously, I'm biased because I do this because I'm passionate about it. And I think that you should work with me. But if you're not going to work with me, there are plenty of other great coaches out there, of course. I'm only partially kidding, right? Like I want to work with people. I want to help as many people as I can, but I also limit the number of people that I work with because I want to make sure that I can give people customized feedback. I want to make sure that I can give people the attention that I think that everyone deserves when you're paying for a service. And I want to help people get the results that they need. And that requires that requires a level of attention and effort. So if you aren't interested in working with me, you can click on the link tree in the show notes. And there is a coaching interest form. You can fill out there. And that's for kettlebell coaching or nutrition coaching. This, this program, this podcast episode is going to be much more around nutrition and training than it is going to be kettlebell specific. So we're going to, we're going to dive into it. So I want to thank Matt for suggesting this topic, because this is one that I'm pretty passionate about. And I can tell you why. I have tried so many stupid things. So hopefully that makes you feel a little bit better about yourself. Like I have done stupid programs. I have done extreme programs. I have, I have bought some of the ridiculous marketing claims that you see out there. I have believed in, you know, the, the get, get ripped fast schemes and, you know, all of these different things. I've looked into a lot of these things. Now I haven't bought into all of them, but I've tried all sorts of diets. I've tried all sorts of nutrition programs. You know, I tried, I tried a lot of things in my years coming up, especially, especially when I was younger and just wanted anything that would get me out of the pain of feeling like I was a fat kid. That, that would make me feel comfortable and confident in my skin. So if you have fallen victim to any of these things, you know, you've bought a product or you've signed up for a program or you've worked with the coach that you came later to realize was completely full of shit. You feel bad. You're not alone. A lot of people have and most people that have struggled with weight loss have tried a lot of different programs. They've tried a lot of things to help get them where they want to go. And marketers are really savvy about this. And frankly, they're getting more savvy about this now because of data and because of analytics. It's not easier to test different approaches with different markets because of Facebook's algorithms and YouTube's algorithms and Instagram's algorithms and the ability to do paper click ads and you can, you can, you know, set up what's called a multi-armed bandit test where you're going to test, you know, even minor tweaks to see what gets what gets better conversion, what gets better click through and all of those things until you get a really targeted, a really targeted approach that gets you the best conversion rate. Really savvy digital marketers have done a good job of doing that and for good and ill. So that can cause, that can cause a lot of problems, but it can also, it can also help people that are good at business get their solution in front of people. So don't feel bad if you've been fooled by a sexy marketing claim or somebody had a really slick website or had a really slick funnel and it got you feeling really excited about a solution only to get it in your hands and be like, this is crap. So how do you spot those things before you've put down your credit card? So let's get into my top 10 red flags. Now I realized the red flag thing was a 2021 trend, it got a little ridiculous even corporations started getting getting in on the action of, you know, hashtag red flags, right, but it's still fun things to look for. So number 10 on my list is what I like to call anecdata. Now don't get me wrong. Case studies are useful. Stories are useful. An example of what worked for your neighbor might be useful. It might get you interested in trying something new like CrossFit or kettlebell sport or a keto diet or whatever. Right. But just because and over an accounting lost 15 pounds doing keto doesn't mean that it's the right solution for you and a red flag when you're looking at a program is is if they only use stories and anecdotes as their only means of supporting their claims. That should give you a little bit of pause because guess what I can make up a story about the success of my program. I can even probably put somebody's picture by it that doesn't mean that that's true. Right. And it doesn't mean that it's and it doesn't mean that it's going to work for you, even if it is true, even if it's a completely true anecdote that doesn't mean that that person's circumstances are the same as yours. Right. So context matters. So if it's only anecdata, that is a red flag. So that's tip that's red flag number 10 number nine is non reputable sources. So say they go the next step further and instead of just giving you anecdotes or anecdata, they actually quote some studies and you look into it and they're using you know studies by the yoga Institute of West Virginia to justify their claim of yoga being the absolute best way to get in shape or whatever you can think of any any example that you want. There's all sorts of hypothetical examples. Right. But the point is if they're using a non reputable source to support a claim that they have made. Check the sources. Right. If it's not something someone or something that you've ever heard of before and it's not in a peer reviewed study, it's probably not the most reputable source. Right. Like if you see that the they say Dr. Oz said on Oprah that this supplement is the best way to lose five pounds. Okay. And that's not a reputable source. Right. I hate Dr. Oz just for the record. I think the guy is a complete chill. But that's that's beside the point. But just an example of non reputable sources. Right. Somebody told me or somebody with a credential said this is not the same as looking at a peer reviewed scientific study. Right. Number eight is pseudo science, pseudo science, he claims this is one that I will be honest. I've been guilty of in the past. You know, I will I will raise my hand for that and say, you know, especially back when I first got started in in the fitness and nutrition space. And this is all the way back in. In 2009, 2010, you know, I bought into some of the some of these things of life. Oh, Doritos have read die number 40 in them as well as, you know, some other synthetic ingredient that's also used in degreasing engines. You know, you'll hear these types of pseudo science, he claims like, oh, this contain this contains ammonia and, you know, et cetera, et cetera. And if you combine those things, you get mustard gas, right. But that's in your foods. Well, that's not how organic chemistry works. Right. Water is in almost everything in including a lot of toxic chemicals, including a lot of toxic compounds water and hydrogen present. Right. Like that doesn't make water and hydrogen bad free. Right. So you'll see these pseudo science, he claims. The food science babe on Instagram is a great follow. She's a registered dietician and like her whole thing is debunking these ridiculous pseudo science he claims that you'll see particularly about food. But another really perfect example of pseudo science he claims is really well known is a particular program that was sold on infomercials claimed that you could confuse the muscles unlock the power of muscle confusion. Your body won't know what hit it. And you're going to get amazing results. Right. Newsflash. Muscles can't get confused. They don't have brains. They are cells with nerves. They do not have brains. They can't get confused. So muscle confusion is not a real thing. It's a pseudo science bullshit marketing term. It sounds, it sounds good. And you can think about like, oh, yeah, varying the stimulus every day is going to make keep my muscles off balance. They're never going to know what's coming. So that's going to force them to get better. Right. Right. Yes and no, it depends. If you're just looking for general fitness improvement, yeah, varying the stimulus is going to get pretty good general adaptation. And yes, if you're going to work out five or six times a week, you probably should vary the type of stimulus, the claims of motion. The level of intensity, all of those things, those are those are all good things. But if you're looking for a specific goal, the said principal applies specific adaptation to imposed demands. That means that if you want to get better at kettlebell sport, you should probably do kettlebell sport. If you want to get better at powerlifting, you should practice powerlifting, right. If your goals are more general, yes, then varied stimulus can be very useful. And I will say like CrossFit takes good, they take good advantage of the idea of being generally physical prepared for anything that comes at you. But that is not to say that they don't still apply the said principal, they also apply the the dead principle, right, the general adaptation to impose demands, basically saying that if you are just generally more active, doing a variety of things, you will get generally more fit, which is a good approach. But when it's time to prep for the games, CrossFit athletes focus specifically on certain things that they know are very likely to be in and they know there are certain types of movements, but they know they need to be good at. They know there's going to be Olympics and Olympic weightlifts, right, they know there's going to be cleans and snatches, they know there's probably going to be some ring work. So they work on muscle ups, they work on, you know, various things that are very likely to be because they want specific adaptation to the things that they know are highly likely to be. Right, so don't get tricked by pseudo-sciencey claims, just because it sounds scientific doesn't mean that it really is science, right, so really, really think about the claims that are being. Number seven, there's no consultation or customization process or systems in place. Now, I understand that if you're just buying an info product, you know, online and you're just looking, you're just buying programming or you're buying a nutrition plan or something like that, but there may not be a level of customization or there may not be a personal consult involved, but there should always be a customization option available. Kettlebell Kings is a great example they've got they've got their living fit programs and you can buy their you can buy some of their training programs done for you really, really well documented and they give you advanced intermediate and beginner level progressions and regressions for the movements that they've prescribed. Right, so there's a level of customization available, they're not just saying one size fits all here's the program everyone should do this because not everyone should do that news flash, we are different people have different needs, we have different injury histories, we have different goals, different backgrounds, different stress levels, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. So, especially if you're going to sign up with a coach for coaching, there should be a consult before you even start before you put down any money, there should be a free consultation that that gives you a chance to talk to the coach, give them your history and your background and your context and make sure it's a good fit for you, right, so there should be some type of consultation or customization angle or system, there should be a process or a system for some level of customization. That level of customization will vary depending on the price point and the type of service or product that you're signing up for, obviously, but there should be some way to customize your experience to your specific needs if they're selling one size fits all that should be a red flag red flag number six any program that puts you in a severe calorie deficit or an extreme training protocol and this ties back to number seven, right, you can't know what is an extreme. So, for example, I myself personally bought a nutrition program that I was interested in from a highly respected nutrition coach a highly respected MMA coach who does nutrition and I won't use his name because I don't want to disparage his program, but it was essentially a meal plan and it was very much there were a couple of options but I looked at all of the options and they all were in. The 1600 to 2,300 calorie range that may work for the general population for a lot of people of course it's going to get results for weight loss and relatively rapidly for a lot of people like for someone like me who I can tell you right now I that my maintenance level calorie intake is is between 31 and 3300 calories a day depending on how active I am on a given week that would be putting me. That would be putting me at its highest level highest prescribed level in a 1000 calorie a day deficit that is a massive deficit that of course I would lose weight if I went to that program but I would lose muscle tissue I would lose body fat I would lose water right but I would also stop losing weight pretty quickly because my body would adapt to that if I tried to sustain that level of deficit that would not be good for me and I probably be cranky I'd have some hormonal disruption there would be a lot of. Negative consequences to going that deep that fast right and since there was no consultation on what my current intake looks like or any of those things it was very much a one size fits all I got to read I asked for a refund I I was like this is this is not going to work for me it was not what I thought it was I asked for a refund the game you're great. But any protocol that puts you in a severe deficit and I'll say severe is generally anything more than 20% off of your baseline is is a severe deficit and honestly I start most of my clients you know we start at like a 10% because I'm looking for minimum clinical effective dose because you can only go so far in to deficit before you start having hormonal down regulation before you have metabolic down region before your body stops burning as many calories during exercise in it rest. That that happens if you go too deep too fast and the longer you're there the faster it happens because your body your body's job is to maintain homeostasis so when you cut the calories way low your body turns down the output this is why calories and calories out is tricky and it's a moving target right so it's an extreme deficit that's a red flag similarly when you look at exercise if you're currently doing nothing and you sign up for 75 hard for example they're going to tell you. So you need to do two workouts a day one of which needs to be outs outside to 45 minute training sessions a day now I will give them credit for saying they say the intensity and protocol is completely up to you so you're just signing up to do two movement sessions of 45 minutes in duration but still twice a day every day for 75 days if you were doing nothing that's a very extreme protocol that should be a red flag right and obviously they're they're branding it that way. It's 75 hard it's not 75 easy or 75 medium right like it's it's their intentional about advertising that it's extreme and that appeals to a lot of people it appeals to the psychology of wanting change now because we assume that the more extreme that we can make something the faster we're going to get where we want to go and that's only true if you look at a very short aperture right if you look at a short time window but the broader the time window gets the less likely. Those extreme protocols are to give you long term success because you can't stick with or because they come with other consequences right so if a nutrition or exercise protocol calls for extreme behavior then that should definitely be a red a red flag and extreme is relative right it is relative to what you're currently doing so for some people if you're already training four or five days a week you know 75 hard might not be that big of a stretch for you because you just say okay i'm going to add a walk every morning for 45 minutes and then i'm going to add yoga on the other days that I already strength train right then you could be doing to to training sessions a day for 75 days of varying intensity right and that would that wouldn't necessarily be extreme for you but again context matters personalization matters customization matters right so really really look at is this is this protocol. All extreme for me is this a massive change to my life right because if the answer is yes a it's not you're not likely to be able to stick to it very for very long and b it's all it's also likely to have consequences elsewhere in your life or in your body red flag we interrupt this episode to do a special thank you for our sponsors pro kettlebell home of made in the USA competition kettlebells kettlebell kings makers of all things. Kettlebell including competition and cast iron bells barefoot athletics optimizing the human to ground interface driven nutrition supplements revive supplements 27 degrees apparel bellivator belts by Dennis facility and Cambrian customs plate loadable maces thank you for your support in 2021 and I look forward to an even better 2022 number five and this is specific to to nutrition. Plans although you can replay I guess you can replace this with with equipment as well anything that requires you to purchase a particular supplement or a particular piece of equipment as though this is and they position it as this is the solution that you need so now i'm not saying for example if you if you want to do a kettlebell program and somebody saying well you need a kettlebell to do this program that's reasonable but if they're saying the only way you can lose weight is to buy a kettlebell well that's reasonable. That's obviously false the only way that you can lose weight or the best way to lose weight is to do this detox tea and this stack of supplements right here's our wonderful program all you have to do is replace your three meals a day with these three nutrition shakes. Anything that requires you replace real foods with supplements is probably not a good approach wait you know like wait will come off of course but probably not going to be sustainable we all know like slim fast made it's pay. In that just two shakes a day and a reasonable dinner whatever the hell they're tag line what's right like or even even but even if you're replacing just one meal a day with just a prepackaged shake or supplements like that's probably not super sustainable and it's going to have effects on your satiety levels your leptin and growing hormones that tell you your hungry full signals right it's not sustainable I'm fine with supplementation supplements are not. Not bad and supplements actually can be for some people the lowest hanging fruit as far as doing something easy a low barrier of entry to do something health focused to do something that helps you get on track you know i talked in the in the group about habit stacking one of the things that I started with when I was looking at how to start the year one of things that I started with was hey i'm going to take my supplements my am supplements every morning when I wake up because it was a low hanging fruit it takes me literally to. 3 minutes to do it and when I do that I also start my day with water because i'm taking vitamin D and fish oil and a couple other things right i'm taking that first thing in the morning and that gets me started on hydrating myself already gets me ahead of the game for getting adequate levels of water in so this is what we call habit stack right so that is perfectly fine because I would actually now my I've stacked another habit on tap on top of that so I wake up in the morning I take my supplements I. put my my kettle on for my tea and I sit down and I journal for five minutes in the morning and have my tea after I've taken my supplements that's so I started building out a morning routine right but what I haven't done is replaced my breakfast with a slim fast shape or whatever you know any any you know any brand of of replacement shake right I will sometimes have a smoothie for breakfast but that is a smoothie that. I make from whole foods and I use I use driven nutrition way protein in that with spinach and fruit and milk and avocado or flaxseeds or whatever right that that is fine but some days like this morning i'll have a skillet i'll have three eggs with potatoes and mushrooms and spinach and onions and sausage right that was my breakfast this morning i'm not replacing whole food real food with supplements that is a major red flag because supplements are supposed to be supplements they are the peak of the pyramid they're supposed to be an adjunct once you have gotten your other baseline habits in place they're supposed to then be an enhancement on that are to fill in the gaps in a and already solid right so anything that's telling you that you need to purchase supplements that is the key to to weight loss or to success right that is a red flag and you should you should very strongly consider not to do that protocol alright number four any program that or diet that demonizes any macro nutrient and I use that we're very intentional right because we've seen the flow in the world of nutrition we've seen the pendulum swing multiple directions right you remember back in back in the 90s when it was fat that was making you fat fat was the enemy fat was making you fat if you eat too much fat you're going to be fat duh it just makes sense fat makes you fat right and the pendulum swung really hard so what did we start seeing you remember like the snack wells cookies man I could crush a whole case of those snack wells cookies and fuck I felt okay about it because they're the snack wells devil case they weren't even that good the devil's food cake cookies they weren't even that good thinking back on them like but I would eat a whole case of them because they didn't have any fat in them so they they're fine I just need to avoid the fat the the carbs were totally fine the fact that I just sat down and crushed like you know 150 carbohydrates in one sitting was no big deal that couldn't possibly be the problem you know it couldn't possibly be the fact that I you know that I just had there's 700 calories of cookies in one sitting that can't possibly be the problem no no the problem is fat yeah fat is the fat is the problem right and now the pendulum swung the other way and kiddo it's kiddo bro now fat's not the problem it's carbs carbs are the problem right you just got to get rid of the carbs man replace replace those carbs with ketones your body doesn't even need carbs technically true but that doesn't make it optimal just because your body can survive without carbs doesn't mean it's optimal your body can survive without sex too but God I don't want to eliminate it from my life right any any protocol that's going to demonize a macro nutrient is not is not a good idea or or even or even a specific food or specific food group right like oh you just have to go gluten free or you just have to eliminate sugar or you just have to like you just have to to get rid of that you know this one evil thing that's the evil thing that's the key right it's more complicated that is a very simple so very simple conclusion from very complex science right so again it requires context it requires understanding of what works well for you it is not so simple as just eliminate any particular macro I generally am a fan of balanced profiles and customizing macro nutrient profiles based on your preferences and based on what your body is because people are different they have different needs and it's important to understand those and it's also important to understand that you all macro nutrients are there's only there's only three macro nutrients our body can use so to eliminate one of them makes the diet significantly less likely to sustain very few people that can sustain a ketogenic diet long-term at least that I've seen and that's not to say that ketogenic diets are bad metabolic flexibility is a good thing and being able to go without carbohydrates without crushing your your body is great being able to go without fat you know or without high amounts of fat for a period of time without it crushing your body is also good right so we want a body that's adaptive and metabolically flexible but demonizing a macro is just it's just bad it's just it's just a red flag so if you see somebody out there that is making claims about a particular macro nutrient being the problem the one that's never gotten really that much of a bad rapist protein although you will get the you will get I shouldn't actually say that you will get the protein is causing cancer protein is causing liver disease or kidney stones or you know again check the science there's there's a lot of there's a lot of confounding factors confounding variables when it comes to nutrition science so any anything that that demonizes a macro is generally not a good approach and that's not to say that like vegetarianism or veganism are saying that meat is bad there's ethical reasons for a lot of people are and health reasons where a lot of people choose not to eat meat and that's okay I'm not saying that people that that make those choices are bad or are or are giving you bad advice steven riddle is a great example he's a great coach and he himself eats mostly vegan or entirely vegan but he doesn't make his clients eat vegan he's not telling them that eating meat is bad he's made his nutrition choices based on his preferences and what he wants but he also coaches people who don't want to make that choice or don't want to change to a vegan diet and he supports them and gives them good nutrition advice without saying meat is bad or dairy products are bad because that's his personal choice but that doesn't mean that it's good for everyone and he understands that that distinction so that that is a huge red flag if you run into somebody who is demonizing a particular a particular macro nutrient or telling you that there's only one way that this is the right way to eat that's that's definitely a red flag all right we're gonna get into the top three now number three is the person who is selling this product has no credentials or training to back up the solution right anybody can go call themselves a nutritionist or a nutrition coach or whatever there are potentially consequences if you get called calling yourself a a dietitian you know depending on the state that you live in but on the internet it's kind of the wild west you can call yourself an expert pretty quickly there's actually there's actually marketers that will coach you on how to establish yourself as an expert if you don't have the credentials to back it up that is not to say that credentialing is the only way to acquire knowledge but anybody who's serious about helping people in the field of fitness or nutrition anybody that I know who's serious about it even if they came to it later in their life like I did I didn't study nutrition and college I studied psychology right but when I got serious about getting into personal training I got a certification so that I had a credential and then I got another and then I got another and then I got another right so that I had I had credentials that showed that I knew what I was talking about and just because I like learning right when I decided to get into nutrition coaching I went and got a certification for nutrition coaching before I started coaching nutrition right I got multiple certifications right so people should have credentials that back up their position right just because somebody has six pack abs doesn't mean that they know how to safely and effectively help you with your goal right if your goal is six pack abs that doesn't mean that person knows how to get you six pack abs they might just be genetically blessed they might be on performance enhancing drugs I don't know that might be a filter on Instagram that might be Photoshop there's all sorts of crazy shit that people will do to make money because it's easy and there are a lot of people on the internet so there are plenty of unscrupulous people who are perfectly fine being a fraud so check credentials because credentials matter and I'm not saying that it's bad to have six pack abs or that it's bad to look the part right like the body as the body as a billboard is a great thing in the nutrition coaching and personal training space right but I know plenty of people that looked great that didn't know jack shit that I was a much better coach then or I was a much better trainer then or a much better like I actually understood nutrition and they just eat what they ate and had ripped abs anyways right so just because somebody looks the part doesn't mean they have the knowledge to back it up right so and they may have the knowledge to back it up if they look the part but they may not so trust but verify right verify that the person actually has some knowledge just because they look good on Instagram doesn't mean that they are actually qualified to give you nutrition or fitness advice so check credentials make sure they have education necessary to actually give you sound solid advice right all right number two it sells a magic bullet right all you need to do is this one thing you don't have to change anything else about your life without changing your diet without changing without changing your exercise all you have to do is take this supplement or all you have to do is fast or all you have to do it right without changing anything else all shit all shit there is no magic bullet nothing changes if nothing changes right doing this in a way that is sustainable healthy realistic and can actually get you where you want to go is a process it's systematic it's iterative it is hard work if it was easy and there was a magic bullet everyone would buy it you would hear all about it from everyone right but instead you hear of one magic bullet from Annan accounting and you hear another one from from Bob and fulfillment and you hear another one from your cousin's uncle's sister right like there are so many magic bullets because there are so many people out there selling magic bullets right there is no magic bullet unless you can unless you count consistency and commitment you know sustainability as magic bullets but they're really not because that's longitudinal it takes time and effort right so if there is a solution telling you that there is only one thing that you need to do or that you can get these amazing results without changing anything it's bullshit there's no magic bullet sorry I hate to be the bearer bad news but I think deep down you probably knew that there is no magic bullets so don't buy magic bullet solutions all right and last but not least the number one ties into number two but it's it's really about the the time frame if they promise you unbelievable results unbelievably fast red flag you see this on magazine covers and it drives me fucking crazy get six back abs in just a month tone your tush in 10 days really really what if it took me 10 years for my butt to get this big you're saying I mean tone it in 10 days oh okay six pack abs in a month a one of a hundred pounds overweight right be very wary of lose weight fast schemes get strong fast schemes get rich quick schemes right get rich quick schemes anything that tells you they can get you results quickly without hard work right or even with hard work there are people that will tell you this program super intense right but they're but it only takes 30 days right I get the appeal right for a long time I was I was toying around with the idea of of releasing the 28 day fat blast the 28 day kettlebell fat blast it's actually where the name of this group came from because I was going to market a product that was a 28 day rapid fat loss program right that doesn't make it bad but I didn't want to go there because it's because it sets an unrealistic expectation there's not a 28 day solution to health and wellness right there's a 28 year solution right or a 28 week solution right but if somebody's promising you unbelievable results unbelievably fast that is my number one red flag and it again it plays on human psychology because we all want results now we want the thing that we want in instantaneously we want our amazon prime delivered right away we want it you know it went from five days to three days to two days now there are some things you can get within hours right we're in an instant gratification society we want what we want and we want it yesterday but especially when we're in pain and marketers are really good at they will say find the pain aggravate the pain and then present your your solution as the way to get out of pain that is what market that is what marketing does right that it that is taught in so many arenas especially in health and wellness right I was taught that when I started lifetime fitness you want to sell big personal training packages build rapport find the person's pain aggravate that pain and show them the solution now is that on ethical not necessarily because a lot of people are in pain and a realistic solution to that pain an actual solution to that pain I have no qualms selling that because you can actually help people build a sustainable lifestyle you can help people get healthier you can help people lose a hundred pounds and keep it off for a decade I've done it you can do that you can help people change their life permanently that's fantastic but if somebody finds that pain aggravates that pain and then tells you they can solve it like that in the snap of a finger they can solve it quickly run the other way don't walk run the other way right now if they're trying to sell you a rapid program you know a 10 week challenge or a 30 day challenge or whatever as a lead in to a more to a longer term program that's okay right of course people wanting I want to get my clients quick wins I want to get them progress right away build momentum get them feeling good about what we're doing right there's nothing wrong with wanting to see progress right away but we have to have realistic expectations on the back end of that there has to be an exit strategy there has to be a longitudinal perspective to it it can't just be about being fast so there were my my top 10 red flags and just to recount them back to you number 10 was anecdata number nine was non reputable sources number eight was pseudo science acclaims number seven was no no consultation or customization process or systems number six was severe deficit or extreme protocols number five was replacing requiring supplement purchases and or replacing real food with supplements number four was dogma and demonizing of anything that's outside of the dogma so demonizing any particular macro nutrient or other training protocol number three is lack of credentials or training necessary number two selling a magic bullet and number one was the promise of unbelievable results unbelievably fast so those are my top 10 red flags and I alluded to some of these tips as I went through these but I'm going to render them explicit for you so here are just five quick tips for you to to help you be able to assess whether these programs are a good idea number five check sources check their data sources ask them for sources right that's number four ask them for ask them for studies that support any claims that they may but then check those sources right number three is ask about their credentials ask about their training right do they have the necessary training right I I talked about some of the some of the credentials I have if you go to my website you can see the credentials that I have not gone list them here but I have credentials I have probably more than more than I've spent a lot of money a lot of a lot of credentials I don't really use that much but you know a lot of them I don't keep active anymore because of that but I still have a lot of credentials to back up what I do number two ask for references anybody can put social proof out there I love social proof don't get me wrong I love testimonials I love quotes on websites I love pictures before before and afters but those can be manipulated those can be synthesized they people use other people's before and afters can't tell you how many coaches I know who are like dude I saw one of my before and afters from one of my clients show up on some other randoms website or on their on their Instagram right like that is a thing that happens so ask for references to talk to actual clients and then call them actually follow up like this is like actually follow up because you know it's just one of those things that it's easy to fake and some people will fake it which is crazy to me but true some people will actually fake their their before and afters and their their testimonials and all of those things right so ask for references to actual past or current clients and then and then follow up and if the person doesn't have any or isn't willing to give you any then I would consider going elsewhere unless they're a brand new coach and hopefully if they're brand new coach that doesn't mean you shouldn't give them a chance I mean I was a new coach at one point right if you like them and you trust them and you think if they can help you but they but they're new they should tell you like hey I'm new I really don't actually have any referenceable clients at this point I would love for you to be my first you know that was honestly something that I told somebody when I didn't have any referenceable clients you know I'm brand new at this my first client was me you know and I told them my story you know but I I have clients from you know 10 years ago that are still fine with me using them as references you know I have clients from from this year that I know I could reach out to and then it would be references for me right so ask for references and check them and the number one is use your brain think critically be skeptical that's totally fine no one has ever offended me by being skeptical or asking me for my credentials are asking me about my process asking me why right ask ask coaches why they do things the way that they do and if they don't have an answer does it it's not very well thought out or maybe they don't they don't have the knowledge necessary to support why they're why they're doing something right so think critically the number one thing I would say is like if it seems to be good to be true it probably is but when you're thinking about a particular program right does this approach seem sustainable because what it takes to attain it is what's required to sustain it in a lot of cases right so really look at it from that lens is this approach sustainable and if the answer is no then you probably shouldn't do it all right that is it for me today thank you very much for tuning in if you caught this live on on the live stream thank you for for joining me and if not then I will see you on the podcast thanks and I hope you guys have a great weekend thanks for listening to this episode of the platform podcast I'm Jordan Kunde-Wright we'll be back with a new episode next week please don't forget to register for the Twinsidyskettable open on our website twinsidyskettableclub.com and if you have a question or suggestion please email me at twinsidyskettableclub at gmail.com follow us on social media at Twinsidyskettable club and of course if you want to step on to the platform and competing kettlebell sport please reach out to me until next time