If You Don’t Know What You’re Talking About

….then please stop talking.

Stop giving advice.

Most of all, acting like you’re suddenly God’s gift to exercise form just because you passed a piss-easy certification.

Just because this seems to be such a common phenomenon, not just online but in the gym too, I thought I’d go over some ground rules for when you should talk.

When to Shut the Hell Up

1. You just passed the ACE exam. Or the ACSM-CPT. Even the CSCS for that matter. Congratulations: you passed a written exam with no hands-on component or real-life experience dealing with anyone. Yes, it gives you some form of “credibility” and allows you to get liability insurance. That’s about all it does. You are not an expert, stop acting like one.
2. You did well in a bodybuilding show/figure contest/powerlifting meet/figure skating. Congratulations: it takes a lot of effort, dedication, and sacrifice to do well in sports. That doesn’t mean you know a damn thing about how to take somebody else there, let alone to a different goal.
3. You just graduated from college with a BS in exercise science. Congratulations: going to college takes a lot of effort, dedication, and sacrifice. You’ve now got an expensive piece of paper from a program that very likely didn’t teach you a damn thing relevant about getting someone in shape. This goes double for you if you’re still in school. Saying “I’m taking classes” or “my professor said” doesn’t mean dick.
4. You’re the favored protege of a Guru, and he gave you a job. Congratulations: the Guru thinks you might offer something to make him more money. Might want to make sure that your Guru actually knows what he’s talking about first, though. Hanging around quacks, scammers and other assorted scumbags is rarely healthy for your training ability, and nobody that matters cares about your hero worship.