If you are devoted to pursuing your fitness goals and have a passion for exercising and eating right, then perhaps you have, at one time or another, had the unfortunate idea of making your very own fitness blog. If at any point you have considered such a thing, heed this advice: drop your plans immediately and never mention them again to anyone. Pursuing the path of the “fitness blogger” will only lead to a world of pain, frustration and shame.
-Self-Importance: Blogging about your fitness goals and successes will indeed give you a heightened sense of self-importance. As you begin posting your before and after pics people may start congratulating you on your weight-loss. This is only natural. However, once your site has built a slow but steady stream of traffic, these small complimentary comments can quickly lead to an inflated ego and an annoying “rock star” attitude. You may even find yourself saying phrases like “Pain is weakness leaving the body” or “Sweat plus sacrifice equals success”. If you hear these cliches leave you mouth, you’ll know that a line has just been crossed.
-Constantly Plagued by Sudden Post Ideas: This symptom of fitness blogging will worsen the longer that your site remains online. Soon, you will begin noticing the most random things in a different way (e.g. gym water fountains). You may even begin organizing ideas about these random things into posts ranging from mildly informative to totally useless (e.g. Top 10 Infections You Can Catch from the Gym Water Fountain or How To Use the Gym Water Fountain Like a Pro). This affliction is reversible as long as sustained contact with the blog has been minimal.
-Distracts from Real Fitness Goals: If you have spent all night working on your blog or have skipped a run or trip to the gym because you were publishing something that you just had to post, then the blog has become ironically counterproductive and must be killed at once. What good is it for a man to gain fitness credibility if he must forfeit his own fitness?
-Zero Satisfaction: Ultimately, the goal of the “fitness blogger” is to host their own TV show or to sign a 7 figure book deal. This, of course, will never happen. All attempts at monetization will ultimately fail and their branded t-shirts and bottled nutritional supplements will wind up donated to charity. Sometimes, the crash from this lack of validation is so severe that the blogger not only ceases all attempts at personal fitness, but also personal hygiene as well. This can lead to a very ugly and often times smelly situation.
If this post has awakened even one potential fitness blogger to the harsh truths of reality then my job is complete. While it may be too late for this blogger to change his absolutely futile ways, I urge you to live! Live for the both of us…
(photo by Marco Wessel)
