Having worked in this industry for almost 20 years, from time to time we’re reminded of things we’ve said while teaching classes or working with clients that are just, as the kids say, sooooo cringe! 🤦‍♀️

Once in a while we’re smacked upside the head with a FB memory, old blog post or other reminder of some of the fitspo garbage we used to sprinkle around like toxic fairy dust earlier in our careers. 🤦‍♀️

Happily, we left our “fitspo” twenties in the dust and reminders are all that’s left of that version of us. In the last 10 years we’ve been learning from body activists and listening to people who have been marginalized by, well, industries like ours.

And we are 💯 committed to keeping The Reset a safe space for all bodies.

So let’s cringe together and discuss WHY these statements need to go to the diet culture graveyard. For good.

“Get your beach body ready”

Not only is this trope insulting, it’s downright harmful to frame exercise as a penance that people in “imperfect” bodies have to engage in, in order to be visible in public. You do not need to earn the right, EVER, to wear weather-appropriate clothing or engage in outdoor frolicking. Frolic away! 💦

“Burn off those calories”

It’s time to let the old “calories in, calories out” framework go. 👋 This old fitness chant perpetuates the myth that exercise is an effective weight loss tool (It’s not!) and keeps people spinning their wheels while sounding vaguely ‘scientific.’ Worse, it keeps us thinking exercise is meant to deplete you of energy, instead of feeling like a nourishing, entertaining and natural part of a weekly routine.

“Mummy tummy”

We’ve always had beef with this cutesy term. 🤐 Maybe it makes you feel warm + fuzzy, but when it’s used to sell you fat loss or “ab rehab” products it’s nothing but predatory and misogynistic. Not to mention that cutesy names for real bodily concerns like Diastasis Recti are keeping the emphasis on appearance instead of function, and those are NOT the same thing. It’s a no from us.

“If I can do it, you can do it”

Okaaaaay, this one screams “means well but hasn’t thought it through.” It’s just straight up nonsense that one person’s abilities or goals should dictate another person’s. An effective trainer will encourage you to listen to your own body and change the movement to suit YOU, not the other way around. Being told what to do will eventually have the opposite effect and tempt you to climb off that spin bike and punch them straight in the face…which we 100% do not recommend. 😆

“This will tone up those arms/abs/thighs…..”

Growing up as fit pros in the early 00’s, everything for women was high rep, low resistance, and all in the name of “sleek, toned muscles.” BUT we know better now! Toning is simply a codeword for fat loss, and muscle definition only comes from muscle growth, which requires resistance, consistency and rest. (Not 45 minutes of burpees.) 🦸‍♀️ You deserve to feel strong, powerful and pain-free, AND to know that there’s really no such thing as “toning.” Focus on getting strong!

We don’t mean it’s easy. We know how hard it is to peel your self-worth apart from how your body looks.

And we know it takes practice, and good coaching, to learn to see exercise as more than just a tool for ‘managing’ your appearance.

Grab a FREE TRIAL now and join us inside The Reset Movement Club and feel the difference body neutral training can make in the way you feel about exercise, and yourself!