Leinster Heineken Cup winner describes how social media is “fu**ing up the fitness industry”

“We are fucking up the industry by simply fucking with people’s heads.”

At the start of this year, Gary Brown wanted to get something off his chest. A Heineken Cup winner with Leinster, Gary played for the Ireland A and Ireland 7s teams during an impressive career as a professional rugby player. He’s been involved in the health and fitness industry as a physio and strength and conditioning coach for the best part of the last decade. Gary celebrating Leinster's 2009 Heineken Cup win with Brian O'Driscoll And recently, he hasn’t liked what he’s been seeing. As one of the founders of Origin Fitness, Gary has noticed the explosion in the fitness industry in Ireland, but the role social media plays in “brainwashing” people and creating unrealistic expectations for people trying to get fit had been bothering him and he felt the need to vent. Usually a fairly mild-mannered chap, Gary let rip in a blog post titled ‘How we are guilty of fucking up the fitness industry’. As introductions go, this was pretty explosive. Photos of ripped guys with bowls of broccoli in their hands. Tanned girls with sprayed on leggings and tops that are like half bikini half sports bras “sprakinis” with bright pink shakers in their hands. “Hey you, eat this and drink this, guess what, you get to look like me… I know, I know, it’s crazy, like 8-12 weeks you’ll look like this I promise and then guess what, I’ll follow you back on Instagram because at that stage you’ll be ripped like me.” As a 35-year old fitness professional and physiotherapist, I don’t think I want to coach people who want to be coached by me because they saw how ripped I was on Facebook the day before. Am I ripped? Only I will be the judge of that. The question is, how are we fucking up the industry? We are fucking up the industry by simply fucking with people’s heads. The blog post struck a chord. Irish rugby players shared it on their Facebook pages. Fellow coaches got in touch to tell Gary that what he had said had needed to be said. Gary scoring a try for Ireland at the Rugby World Cup Sevens in Dubai in 2009 Gary is no fan of cursing but the power of his post had the desired effect and when JOE spoke to him recently, he elaborated upon his experience of seeing what he was writing about first-hand. “My problem is that I find that you see people in the gym on their own and you can nearly tell from their body language why they’re in there,” Gary says.

“I saw this girl come in one day, for instance, and she was stood in front of me where the mirrors were. She walked in and she had all this gear on – I’d say she was only 16 – and for 12 minutes she took photos of herself from different angles and then walked out."

“She could have been on her way to another class or she could have been going upstairs to exercise but I was thinking ‘Holy shit, this is the power of this stuff’.” Gary is adamant that he has no problem with people taking photos of themselves. If that’s what motivates them, then great. But it’s a different story when gyms or fitness professionals are putting out photos of ripped individuals and promising similar results for clients. Is that realistic? “Are people posting these photos for the right reasons?” Gary asks. “When you’re taking selfies, what’s it for? Is it to sell your products? “You’d be a fool to think that a person who posts pictures like that doesn’t work their ass off and doesn’t know what they’re talking about. My worry is that you need to find a balance. “Everyone is looking at everything physically and how their physical health is and not looking at the other elements of their lives. The key is to get the balance right.” The prioritising of one’s physical condition above other individual factors is something Gary is particularly keen to address. As a coach, the challenge for him is to assess each client individually and respond to their needs; a catch-all approach doesn’t work. For Gary, creating and changing a person’s mindset is far more important than helping them to sculpt a six-pack. “Balance” is a word he comes back to again and again. “I see people in front of me every week and you can see that the people who come in, who are smiling, who train very hard and head off are the ones in control of the different things going on in their lives,” Gary says.

“Those who aren’t (in control of what's going on in their lives), you can spot them a mile away."

"One day they might come in with an attitude towards training and another day the attitude will have changed completely. They haven’t found consistency or balance yet and that’s the battle for coaches. “It’s not how you can coach a squat or a deadlift but to figure out what’s in front of you. “How can I change a person’s mindset on any given day? “The best coaches can do that; they can get the best out of their clients on any given day and they can figure out what to do with them individually.” The range of options available to people all over Ireland trying to get on the road to fitness is huge. Think of any type of class or gym imaginable and there’s a good chance you’ll find it within a short distance of where you live. Gary in action for Leinster against Ulster's Chris Henry in 2008 As Gary says, “I might actually lose weight from the search alone”. While choice is good, he argues, it’s also “a scary prospect”. “Are all gyms and classes full of these beautiful physiques? Surely I can never look like him or her?

“We’re shoving far too much information in people’s faces when most people just want to burn some energy, let some steam off and go home for a hug.”

The danger of the quick-fix is one that will never go away, but when asked about what advice he’d give, Gary says gradual improvements are key. “The best advice I can give anyone when it comes to exercise and nutrition - because I always link the two together - is to look at where you’re at and try to make improvements in both departments,” Gary says. “Sit down and ask yourself, ‘Where are you physically as an individual?’ I can do that, you can do it, your mother, grandmother etc. “For instance, my grandmother might walk downstairs and go to the kitchen and exercise for her would be going up and down three times a day. You might be doing box jumps and squats and you might think, ‘Well, I’ll get a little stronger so I can do more box jumps and squats’ and move on from there. “Ask yourself where you are in your physical timeline and wherever you might be, try to make it a little more difficult day to day and enjoy that process.” The message is clear: Manage your expectations and try to keep them realistic. As a former professional rugby player himself, Gary even reaches for a famous Paul O’Connell line to warn of the dangers of becoming overwhelmed by what they see elsewhere. “You’d worry that people will go and overwhelm themselves and their nervous system and that they’ll be physically shot, burnt out and put off exercise; that you’ll put the fear of God in them with unreasonable demands,” he says. “If you’re starting off, maybe have a plan of a gym or something down the line. If you’re already in one gym and are going to approach another one then that’s fine; you know where your baseline is. “If you haven’t done anything at all, reach out to someone for advice without them taking money out of your pocket. Good coaches will do that, they’ll give you a few tips; I’ll do that for anyone.

"People might come and say ‘I need a personal trainer’ and often it’s a case of ‘no you don’t, figure out how to do a shopping list and come back to me in six months’."

Getting back to the theme of his original blog post, Gary warns of being seduced by the sexiness of what you can see in front of you. To paraphrase a line of his own, don’t let your head get fucked with. “Listen to people who you trust and who have a balanced lifestyle with exercise as a part of it. Ask them if they have heard of anyone who has a good approach and can point you in the right direction. “Don’t just jump into something because the fire looks good or because it looks sexy or sounds amazing. Make sure you’re ready for what it involves and not just the results that it’s going to give you.” You can check out more of Gary's blogs on originfitness.ie.