Wildfires, Water Pistols, and Buried Bars: The Danger of Misleading Fitness Articles

Ah, welcome. In ancient Norse tradition, they’d call this a thing, a gathering of minds and power, leading us today to confront an inconvenient truth fitness articles dangling low-hanging fruit so enticingly that it’s no longer on the branch, but lying on the ground, overripe and rotting. “One 20-Minute Workout Per Week Might Be All You Need!” it proclaims, a shiny bauble of convenience. At first glance, it seems like a gift. But as with all things too good to be true, there’s a catch.

This isn’t an indictment of simplicity,

simplicity has its place. This is about the dangerous allure of an accurate yet sorely misrepresented idea. Allow me to explain why this article well-meaning though it may be likely no longer serves you and why embracing it now would be nothing short of a disservice.

The articles, drawn from the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, boasts impressive first-year results: chest-press strength increased by 50%, leg-press strength by 70%. Extraordinary gains, on the surface. But dig deeper. This seven-year study reveals that those stellar numbers dwindle over time. Why? Because the human body is a brilliant adapter. It rises to meet the challenge, but without progression, it plateaus. At best, it stagnates. At worst, it begins a free fall.

This article’s promise is designed for the young and the uninitiated, for those taking their first tentative steps into fitness. For them, it’s a starting line—and a poor one at that. For you? It’s more likely a step back, a retreat, a white flag of surrender.

Here lies the larger problem. By the time we reach our 40s, our muscles are no longer passive assets. They’re battlegrounds. Sarcopenia, the gradual loss of muscle mass, is a relentless foe. It doesn’t ask permission; it simply takes. And one short session a week? That’s akin to fighting a wildfire with a squirt gun.

What’s required isn’t the least you can do it’s the most you can do efficiently. Two or three sessions a week. Compound lifts. Functional movements. Progressive overload. A diet rich in protein to fuel recovery. A regimen that blends strength, mobility, flexibility, and cardiovascular health.

Articles like this, with their low-hanging fruit, may be well-intentioned, but they do more harm than good. They whisper the sweet lies of mediocrity to those who should be reaching higher. They’re a permissive parent, swapping the broccoli of truth for the green gummy bears of convenience, simply because they’re the same color. They’re not a roadmap; they’re a cul-de-sac.

These types of articles, well-meaning as it may be, paint a ridiculous picture that has real consequences. It doesn’t lower the bar; it buries it in the sand and encourages others to bury their heads right alongside it, only to wonder later why their time feels wasted and their results are minimal. Thus, they slide backward even further.

This article doesn’t apply to you anymore. You’ve outgrown it. And that, my friends, is not just progress it’s triumph. It's time to Make Life More

Gamification vs. Grit Finding your truth in fitness

Picture this: a crisp afternoon, a backyard football game with rules so simple they practically begged to be broken. Two-hand touch, flag football—a promise of order in a world that thrives on chaos. Inevitably, it only took about five plays before everything devolved into full-contact chaos. Shirts ripped, egos bruised, and someone usually ended up limping home all part of the unspoken ritual that made those afternoons unforgettable. It wasn’t just a game; it was a chaotic dance of pride, grit, and the raw energy of youth. It wasn’t because we didn’t understand the rules; it was because rules were never what drew us to the game in the first place. It was the thrill of the tackle, the unrestrained competition, and the instincts of what brought us to the game. Scores were settled, anger dissipated, and some of us even found peace in the chaos. No amount of structure could hold back what the game was  for us at its center. It always came back to its roots depending on the individual. No let me be clear here that didn't meant it was always a smart thing,  But as an adult we need to acknowledge the emotion honesty of those moments as we move on to better decisions. 

Fast forward to today, and I see the same attempts to impose structure on the chaotic beauty of fitness. The growing obsession with gamification—VR workouts, glowing apps, leaderboards—feels like an attempt to dress up something simple and timeless, to put cheese around a pill. As one recent article noted, Gen Z is particularly drawn to these immersive and interactive experiences, with gamification serving as a way to attract younger demographics who prioritize fun and novelty in their fitness routines. It’s a clever distraction for those who think they need it, but here’s the truth: once the shine wears off, you’re left with what fitness has always been about discipline, effort, and connection. Much like those luxury amenities  in condo complexes that often sit unused, gamification offers the allure of something enticing and new the promise of making exercise feel effortless, immersive, and engaging in a way that taps into our modern need for instant gratification and if that gets one going then fabulous but be prepared for when the game becomes boring or expensive or not interesting or Denise from the office moves on to something else leaving you alone at 5 in the morning on a rower. More often than not, it ends up underused and forgotten, a passive generator of fleeting interest rather than genuine engagement.

Fitness, like that backyard football game, always returns to its roots. It’s not about the bells and whistles, the fancy tech, or the promise of effortless progress. It’s about showing up, moving your body, and finding joy in the work itself for whatever unique reason you bring to the table. The tools we add might make the process easier or more enticing for a while, but they’ll never replace the satisfaction of putting in the effort for its own sake.

And here’s where the analogy deepens. If the passion isn’t there and you’re only showing up because the doctor said so or the scale demands it, you’re no longer creating; you’re manufacturing. And that’s okay manufacturing has its place. It brings consistency, structure, and reliability. But it’s not where fulfillment lives. Passion is the lifeblood of creation, and when you’re in that space, you’re not just building muscle or burning calories. You’re making something meaningful a stronger body, a clearer mind, a better version of yourself.

The problem with chasing trends is they prioritize novelty over authenticity, production over creation. They’re designed for short attention spans, not for the long haul. And when the shiny objects lose their luster as they always do what remains is what’s always been there: the fundamentals. The basics of effort, discipline, and a little grit. The real challenge isn’t finding the next big thing to get you motivated. It’s rediscovering the roots that keep you moving forward when the glitz fades.

At the end of the day, fitness—and life—is about making things more. Like that backyard football game, it’s about stripping away the excess and finding the purpose, the connection, and the raw effort that make it all worthwhile: more meaningful, more connected, more alive. Don’t settle for distractions. Find the roots, embrace the work, and make life more.