Robert K. Merton, a twentieth-century sociologist, identified five potential causes of unintended consequences:
- Ignorance
- Error
- Immediacy Of Interest
- Basic Values
- Self-defeating Prophecy
All five of these points can be attributed to exercise, and why you might not be getting the results you're striving for.
Ignorance: The fact that you probably don't train people for a living, lack of knowledge, interpretation, or poor resources could result in negative outcomes.
I'll give you a great example.
People constantly tell me that they're going to run a marathon. Once I start asking questions about why they've decided this, I usually find out it's because they associate running with being fit. These people have been told that if they do aerobics, they will be fit, lean, and healthy.
This is flat-out not true and not going to happen. But here's what will:
- They will lose some weight, but most of it will come from muscle.
- They will slow down their metabolism and potentially damage it from losing to much muscle.
- They will increase free radical damage from the oxidative stress associated with the long duration of training (especially if performed outside in the big city because of pollution).
- They will increase the aging process because of number 3.
Error: Again, incorrect analysis of a problem often leads to negative outcomes, as does adopting habits or behavior that may have worked in the past but may not apply to the present.
As Albert Einstein observed, "The significant problems we face cannot be solved at the same level of thinking we were at when we created them."
What you've done with your training that got you where you're currently at, won't work forever. So if you're doing the same thing over and over again because you've been told it would work, and it's not, probably won't magically start working all of a sudden.
Immediacy of Interest: Acting for self-serving reasons or acting with the immediate payoff in mind rather than your long term interests, is a major problem with achieving your desired results. This is more of a willful ignorance than a true ignorance. I'm sure you've heard this before: The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. I personally think it might be better associated with stubbornness and stress.
Whether your negative unintended results come as a result of ignorance and error, or immediate interest, these unwanted outcomes cannot always be controlled or entirely avoided.
Knowledge, awareness, and experience can reduce these negative effects created by true ignorance, lack of experience, insufficient data / resources, and incorrect assumptions.
After training people for over a decade and making boat loads of mistakes myself, I can save you a lot of time, money, and energy.
"Chris has taken me to the next level by holding me accountable. He is so passionate about the personal programs that he develops that I feel I owe it to him as much as I do myself! No one will push you harder and no one has the combination of knowledge and experience that Chris Grayson possesses. He has taken my training to the level I have always wanted, but was unable to achieve by myself. Working smarter and more efficiently has actually cut the amount of time I was spending at the gym, and also cut out the boring cardio. Chris will get you the results you want, and allow you to reach goals you thought were unobtainable!”
Shane Rickman - Business Executive
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