When it comes to the health benefits of exercise, the science is clear.
Consistent exercise significantly improves your health.
Regular physical activity is associated with lower risk of developing chronic disease like diabetes, heart disease, and cancer. Consistent exercise has also been shown to improve blood pressure and cholesterol, and it's even associated with lower all-cause mortality - meaning you can literally expect to live longer if you exercise regularly than if you don't. Based on the science, researchers and major health organizations have developed exercise guidelines to help Americans improve their health with consistent exercise.
But unfortunately there's a major disconnect between the fitness industry and the scientific community.
What do we mean by this? Again, scientists and healthcare professionals agree that exercise is very good for your health. These findings are communicated to the scientific and healthcare community in the form of scientific literature, research journals, conferences, etc. This information is further communicated to the public in the form of news, articles, education, social media, personal trainers, gyms, etc. By the time exercise and fitness recommendations reach the general public, it's often a very different story than what researchers and doctors intended it to be - why?
There are 3 primary reasons for this disconnect:
1. Lack of Educated Fitness Professionals
This is the primary reason for the disconnect between the fitness industry and the scientific community. Literally anyone can deem themselves a personal trainer or a fitness coach. As a result, many of America's fitness professionals have little or no education in exercise science. These are usually individuals who enjoy working out and have achieved a high level of fitness one way or another. These "personal trainers" then apply what they know to be effective exercise to people in the general population.
Unfortunately these anecdotal exercise recommendations rarely align with scientific exercise guidelines. If your trainer wants you to do burpees until you get sick, he or she probably needs to brush up on science-based exercise guidelines.
2. A Profit-Driven Fitness Industry
Telling the 70% of Americans who are overweight that there are simple exercise guidelines recommended for weight loss and better health would not be very profitable for the fitness industry. Instead, you're told you need a large commercial gym in order to lose weight. Or you need expensive group classes in a boutique fitness studio, or even a "personalized" plan that only a personal trainer can deliver at 60 dollars per hour.
Well, the truth is you don't need these things - but they DO sell. So the (billion dollar) fitness industry is going to keep telling this story until it's no longer profitable to do so.
3. "Extreme" Fitness and Fitness Fads
Unfortunately celebrity trainers and fitness giants with multi-million dollar marketing budgets do a much better job of speaking directly to consumers than researchers and scientists. Self-proclaimed fitness gurus come up with the "latest and greatest" program to get you into shape, and they invest heavily in the marketing needed to spread this information.
Well if you're overweight, have a chat with your doctor. It's unlikely that he or she will suggest "extreme" home fitness as the solution.
How do we bridge the gap?
When we study exercise in the scientific community, we put a large sample of individuals on a single exercise plan - a systematic plan that is carefully designed to meet currently accepted exercise guidelines. We consistently find this safe, effective exercise to improve health and reduce weight in research studies - so why shouldn't we prescribe exercise to the general population in the same manner?
Well, we should. And at HelloFit, we do. Much like an exercise program used in a scientific study, HelloFit offers a comprehensive, 90-day exercise program based on currently recommended exercise guidelines. The result is a safe, effective, PROVEN exercise plan that can help virtually anyone reach their fitness goals.
HelloFit is bridging the gap between the fitness industry and the scientific community by bringing a research-based exercise program directly to your computer, phone, or tablet.
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