The fit skinny Tracy Anderson walking with celebrity client, Madonna.  The “best exercise genius of all time” lacks muscle tone, but makes up for it in the skin-and-bones department.

Have you ever wondered what makes one trainer better than another?  Why is Jillian Michaels so popular right now?  Is it because she is so much better than everyone else out there?  Why do trainers to the stars command a higher hourly rate than most doctors and lawyers do?  Are they really that good and worth the $400/hr price tag?  Common sense, says no.

Plenty of websites tout their stable of celebrity trainers; Exercise TV comes to mind.  They are hoping to sell you on the big names and pretty faces, NOT on the quality of the workout.  Having 20 different famous fitness trainers is all well and good, but are you really getting a better workout?  Does the fact your trainer has their face on 5 different magazines this week mean the squats she/he is having you do are burning more calories or building more muscle?  Of course not.

Lets take a look at trainer to the stars, Tracy Anderson.  She works closely with Gwyneth Paltrow, among others, to help her maintain her Hollywood figure.  Paltrow stated about Anderson, “she’s a pint-sized miracle and the exercise genius of all time”.  Now, with these quotes splashed across US weekly and the like, millions of impressionable readers start thinking that Tracy Anderson and her workouts are the real deal.

The problem is, these workouts from these so-called fitness experts are designed to make you lose weight fast and in a very unhealthy manner.  When ordinary people try to go on these workout programs, they sacrifice far too much in the name of weight loss.  Take for example the following excerpts from an article written by the very average, size-12, Rebecca Wilcox:

“So I bought into the Tracy Anderson Method, got hold of her DVDs and books, and ordered her latest boxed set Metamorphosis: A Complete Body Transforming System, a 90-day programme you graduate to after completing the 30-Day method, and which is available only from Tracy’s website”

“I have to say, Gwyneth made it look rather too easy. On the 30-Day Method you have to do to three hours of exercise a day, which decreases to one hour on the 90-day plan.”

“It basically involves doing jazzy leaps, star jumps and aerobic moves in my living room.  Tracy is totally against other forms of cardio, such as running, where you repeat your movements over and over. That, she says, will bulk muscles. Along with the aerobics you must do a series of 40 toning Pilates-style moves, which change every ten days. It is gruelling and also mind-numbingly boring. I find myself staring at pictures of Gwyneth in her bikini for ‘thinspiration’.”

“On the downside I feel woozy and find it difficult to concentrate. At first I had loads of energy but now I’m always tired and am told I’m horribly grouchy to boot.  My skin is terrible and my nails are flaking and weak. And  -  how can I put this  -  my system has become, shall we say, somewhat sluggish. Normally I’m as regular as clockwork. Not any more.”

For the full story check out the link: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1367879/Gwyneth-Paltrows-personal-trainer-Tracy-Andersons-diet-plan-gave-blackouts.html

So, as the story illustrates, these type of workouts and trainers aren’t always the best.  Of course this is only one individual experience, and it doesn’t “prove” anything.  It does however, hopefully begin to open peoples’ eyes to the unhealthy and risky workout and diet plans these celebrity trainers are feeding us.  Further, these workouts aren’t even engaging.  If some Joe on the corner told you to do calisthenics for 3 hours a day and eat little to no carbs, you’d better believe you’d lose weight.  Does that make Joe a great trainer?

A great trainer and/or training website is one that seamlessly makes fitness a part of your life and something you can incorporate into your lifestyle for a significant period of time.  Crash diets and insane workout plans may work a bit faster, but will leave you miserable while you are on them and crushed when the weight comes back as soon as you go off their strict schedules.

The problem with celebrity trainers is the fact they are themselves a business.  Their goal is to make money, and I’m not going to fault them for that.  However, you need to be aware that they are in this to make money.  If these trainers had a solid plan for losing weight, why are they coming out with a new way to burn fat every few months?  Answer: because they know people will buy whatever they are selling.  Be smarter than this and don’t buy into their junk.

Something else to keep in mind; a large proportion of these “expert” celebrity trainers have no educational background in fitness.  Many have never seen the inside of a college classroom.  A trainer with advanced kinesiology degrees and 10 years practical experience is going to be better qualified and more knowledgeable than any trainer on the cover of some magazine.

This is what Share It Fitness was built on.  We’ve spent (and still are) a great deal of time trying to find the best of the best to create video workouts for us. Our instructors’ workouts are built on practical experience in a gym and educational backgrounds that have provided our trainers the depth of knowledge required to create effective workout routines that you will actually stick with.  That doesn’t mean they aren’t intense, it just means they know how to incorporate their training methods quite seamlessly into your everyday life.  Remember, anyone can tell you to workout three hours a day and starve yourself, and you will undoubtedly lose weight.  That doesn’t make them a good trainer.  Good trainers work with you and figure out the best way to attack your specific goals.  Nothing is uniform at Share It Fitness; our workout plans are different for each individual that visits our site. Next time you see some brand new celebrity workout that you are considering, remember this: generic workout plans from these so-called ”experts” are seldom the answer to lifelong health and fitness.