Fitness Scams: Are you Falling for Them?

Summer time is quickly approaching, and with this changing of seasons many people are starting to have some serious regrets about their diet and activity level during the long and dreary winter months. On the flip side, the fitness industry has the exact opposite reaction, waiting like hungry lions to pounce and capitalize off of regretful couch potatoes by revving up their marketing ploys. And with social media becoming a clutch marketing tool for businesses, it seems like everywhere you look you are bombarded with fitness tricks, tools, contraptions, programs, liquids, and shakes that promise you bikini-ready results in as little as a few week’s time. My question to you is: Are you falling for them?

In today’s post I have outlined some of the biggest scams I have come across and some things to watch out for before dishing out your hard-earned cash.

1. Before and After Pictures

You want evidence that what you are buying is actually going to work, so you will likely look for before and after shots before potentially wasting your time and money. However, I have found that these are one of the most effective tools companies use to lure people into buying their products or programs, which are sometimes totally ineffective. You should know… a transformation from overweight to completely shredded does not happen with body weight circuits. Maybe the person did go through a transformation, but what stops companies from lying about how long it actually took that person to achieve results? And what else were they doing to change their body? All you see is the person got from A to B using Z method, in X amount of time. Be skeptical and do a lot of research before buying a program. You don’t get a six pack, defined shoulders, a massive ass, and a toned back from burpees and modified push-ups for rounds. That requires months of serious weight training and clean eating. Side note: Adobe and a tan can go a long way.

Want to learn about my transformation? Click the picture above.

2. Waist Trainer

Holy shit, it is completely ridiculous I even had to include a waist trainer on this list, but I get asked about them all the time. For those of you lucky enough not know what a waist trainer is, it’s essentially a corset-like contraption people wear around their waist in the hopes of gaining an hourglass figure. I feel as though a lot of people KNOW this can’t possibly work but are so desperate that they buy it anyway and hope for a miracle. Think about your poor organs being squeezed into oblivion, completely displaced over time because you’ve attempted to achieve a tiny waist from a shoe string and piece of plastic around your waist. If you want a smaller waist, do your due diligence and eat cleaner, exercise more, and put down the garbage food. If the renaissance period stopped corsets due to medical issues, we as a modern society should not be bringing them back because Kim and Khloe K use them. Bottom line: A waist trainer is pure bullshit, a massive scam, and is straight up awful for you.

3. Skinny Tea

Skinny Tea’s are extremely popular on Instagram nowadays and they really grind my gears. People make many claims about these teas, such as promising that they’ll help you lose weight, feel great, detox, etc. Let’s imagine this scenario: I go to David’s Tea, grab a bag of oolong/green tea for $5, and then write the benefits of drinking the tea on the bag. Next, I slap the words “skinny,” “detoxifying,” “fat burning,” and “weight loss” on the bag. After I grab your attention with these buzz words, I endorse a super fit and ripped person to advertise it. I place it in a pretty package and name it “Bikini-Ready Tea.” Next, I charge you $30 for this bag of tea and instruct you to drink 2-3 cups a day over the course of one month. Trust me, I know you will run out of tea by the time the month is up, making you buy another $30 bag of tea. Would you buy my new Bikini Ready tea? Well, thousands of girls would—and do—which is completely bizarre to me because it’s just normal fucking tea you can get anywhere while reaping the exact same benefits. Save your money and do NOT get caught up with pictures of fit models claiming they got skinny drinking green tea. Bottom line: Yes, tea is good for you and has an abundance of health benefits, but those fit models did not drink their way to a six pack. You want a good detox? You have one; its called a liver.

4. Scamming Supplements

Some shady supplement companies are doing well advertising via Instagram to people who may be new into the fitness industry or working out. These supplement companies will pay the top bikini fitness models to pose with gimmicky supplements, making people believe they actually take them to look the way they do. I was personally blocked and deleted from a fitness model’s comment section after questioning a supplement called a “toner” she was advertising. I asked if they could explain the “toning” capabilities of the pill, in which no answer was given. If you read between the lines however, I feel as though blocking and deleting a comment questioning a supplement speaks volume, as I’m sure there is no evidence or research based answer to back it up. Unfortunately, these companies know girls love saying “I want to be toned,” thereby making millions off of calling a supplement a “toner.” Bottom line: Do your research on supplement companies. It may be gimmicky, expensive, and fake.

I know it may be a tough pill to swallow, but there is no quick fix, magic pill, or magic tea that can make you skinny in no time. Nothing will get you the results you desire other than dedication, commitment, hard work, and persistence to eating clean and working out with intensity and purpose. It takes a lot of time, sacrifice, and dedication, which is what the average person is definitely NOT willing to put up with. As a society, we want things immediately with as little effort as possible. It is these people who are the suckers, and usually get scammed into wasting their hard earned money on bullshit schemes. Please do your research, look deeper into what makes the product promise the results, and think about your lifestyle and what changes you can potentially make first before diving into pills and potions.

Don’t forget to stay in touch! Comment below and let me know what you are thinking. Have these exercise tips helped you enhance your workout? #DollTalk