“He told me to tuck my chin to keep my spine neutral”
“Am I doing it wrong?”
“But I don’t feel anything wrong with my current form?”

I was recently approached by an apprentice with a dilemma, apparently someone approached him in the gym and figured it would be a good idea to give an unsolicited advice regarding his deadlift form. In an era wherein information is available at a press of a button, influencing and inspiring people to do good by themselves has never been easier. This however doesn’t filter out the credible ones from the pile of garbage which is what the majority of fitness tips are nowadays.

Going back to my apprentice, he was told to tuck his chin in as that would promote a neutral spine.  I had a lot of follow up questions most of which were urgent from the moment he finished his sentence, the first being “Did you do it? Did you listen to his advice?” In a state of panic, I immediately told him “DO NOT LISTEN.”. You see, about a few months ago, I helped this apprentice fix his form and I didn’t know as to how the entire “tucking the chin” to promote a neutral spine came about but one thing’s for certain, whenever I would correct anyone’s form, I would always look at it individually. Sure sometimes cues may help from time to time but that shouldn’t be the determining factor in deciding as to how someone’s form should be. There is such a thing as individual leverages and as for my apprentice, his spine is neutral when he would look straight or rather slightly gaze down a little bit in a 45 degree angle whenever he deadlifts.

This actually posed a serious threat to my apprentice’s well-being as he lifts heavy at least relatively heavy for his body weight and a hyper-extended neck would be a sure ball for disaster, he could be paralyzed or worse, die from such a blunder.

“But he didn’t die”
“Why make a big deal out of it?”
“So what? It happens all the time?”
“He could have just ignored”

I think these people don’t realize the full extent of the dangers surrounding false information. Should we really wait until someone gets severely injured before we should speak up about such an atrocity? The main reason as to why a lot of people are doing this is because they think that just because they look big or good, regardless if it’s natural or enhanced(anabolic steroids) gives them the authority to irresponsibly issue tips for other gym goers and in return they’ll look even better in the eyes of their fellow gym mates. This is a classic example of inferiority complex or fame whoring. They think they’re doing the other party a favor but in reality, they’re actually causing more harm and for as long as people continue to tolerate such actions, then it will continue to thrive.

So how do we combat these miscreants from spreading false information? Well for one the best solution is for you to be INFORMED. PROPERLY INFORMED. Ask about the person’s credentials and as to “WHY” he’s asking you to do something different from your usual routine. If you continue to grill him, chances are sooner or later he’ll go around in circles since he doesn’t really understand nor have the necessary background to know as to why things are done this way or corrected to be that way.

Things to look for before listening to someone’s advice :

Education – Is the person a graduate of a sports science/nutrition course? Chances are they worked blood sweat and tears to get their diplomas, while I do not believe that having a degree in sports science automatically makes a person a good coach, but that is still BETTER than listening to someone without any credentials at all

Certification – Is the person duly certified by an internationally accepted certifying body? In-house certifications such as those being done by one of the top gyms in the country(hint : It’s a shiny metal) don’t really mean much in the eyes of the international community. These are only accepted in their other branches both local and international but not by the other gyms. There are a number of other gyms who try to employ the same tactic. Do not be fooled.

Results – I discourage everyone to use a person’s own results as a means to check his credibility, however I do encourage you to look at the results of his or her clients or apprentices. The measurement of a good coach isn’t really as to how well he’s able to transform himself but rather as to how well he’s able to pass on that knowledge onto others. If someone’s giving you advice, chances are he’s trying to be a coach and so this definitely applies to him. Also a majority of people nowadays cannot distinguish as to what’s achievable naturally vs something only attainable with the use of anabolic steroids or other controlled substances. I recently called out the guy who gave my apprentice his chin-tuck unsolicited advice and he had the audacity to deny that he uses steroids. When confronted with his knowledge on the matter all he was able to give me was a link to the video explaining as to why chin tucks are the way to go. Clearly this guy doesn’t even have the means to personally explain the video and he had the audacity to try and correct others without a clear understanding as to what he’s saying. So just because a guy looks decent or huge does not necessarily mean he has the knowledge to guide you, these enhanced individuals have a MUCH bigger room for error vs the natural lifters we see at the gym.

Let’s try to make the local fitness scene better by combating these fake coaches and influencers. Listen to the CERTIFIED coaches in your gyms, they worked hard to get certified or the necessary diploma to gain all these knowledge and it would be a waste if you would choose these fake coaches over the former.

Have you ever encountered a fake coach before or would you want me to evaluate if your coach is legitimate? Drop me an email and I’ll do what I can on my free time to try and evaluate them for you.