My good friend Todd Durkin did a gust post for me last week (check it out HERE) where he challenged us all in 2011 to be the most positive person you know.

I think that’s a great goal and one I’m going to really strive for. I think I’m a positive person overall, but maybe not the most positive person I know (which is tough because I know Todd – he’s the most positive person I’ve ever met!)

That said – it’s really easy to write a blog post slamming the Biggest Loser show. There are probably a zillion posts out there from fitness professionals talking about how bad it is, and how Jillian can’t swing a kettlebell properly.
It’s EASY. They make it easy to do, but that’s not what this blog post is about.

I’m accepting Todds challenge and am only looking at what the show does well.
So let’s look at the positives…

There are some good things about the Biggest Loser show that smart trainers can learn from:

1. They train people in a group and show how valuable small or large group training can be (it’s not just one-on-one)
2. Whether you like the methodology or not — the contestants on the Biggest Loser get great results (100lbs in 6 weeks is the shows average result – which is better than most any trainer or gym out there).
   Yes I know they get multiple hours of training per day, but rather than focus on the “why that won’t work for me” let’s focus on the “what actually happened”
3. The trainers on the Biggest Loser train people HARD – very hard — and overweight people are a demographic that the fitness industry has traditionally babied…
   In fact, one of the leading fitness certification organizations has a recommendation that overweight people begin with 20mins of walking at 40% of maximum heart rate (e.g. 72bpm for a 40 year old). That’s REAL advice from a reputable fitness certification! I think most sedentary people could get their heart rate over 40% of max just watching a sporting event or a scary movie?
4. The Biggest Loser contestants use high intensity circuit training, kettlebells, battling ropes, the prowler, the TRX suspension training, sandbags and free weights.
   This educates the general public that it’s not about fixed axis machines, supplements, acai berry juice or, as I stated above – walking slowly….
5. They use circuit training and resistance training on the Biggest Loser – not just low intensity cardio

I know it’s easy to talk about how bad the show is (it’s actually hard for me NOT to talk about how bad it is…..) – but I’ve accepted Todd’s challenge to be positive.
There are a lot of things about the show that I dislike, but it’s also fair to point out that there are good things too.

If we learn one thing from the show it’s that we can train overweight beginners harder than we traditionally have.

Instead of immediately slamming the show – try to find something positive from it.
Maybe we can all focus on being positive.

–
AC

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