Quiet the Noise

by Kris Pitcher

There is a lot of information out there. A LOT. Some of it's good. Some not so much. Some based on science. Some based on scams.

Some information is twisted around someones personal philosophy (someone who might be wrong). Some information is straight forward. And every gym dork is a complete expert.

Poke my eyes out. Go ahead. Shove pencils in my ears. I can't take it any more...And I bet it's just as frustrating for you to wade through the sources of information too. So, I thought we should take a breath.

Inhale positive energy...and exhale ridiculousness. There. That's better. Here's the thing. Everything you read, you see on the internet, or someone says to you at the gym isn't necessarily true.

It isn't necessarily true, or true for you. Sure, they may have read their bro-science, or had an uncle who had fill-in-the-blank ailment, but whether that information applies to you is a whole other story.

Being able to take information, understand its relation to science, and apply it to the athlete, or the average exerciser, takes an expert. You need to have a comprehensive understanding of the body, of anatomy, physiology, exercise science and be able to apply the information to those and other systems.

If you don't have a full understanding of the chemistry happening with your nutrition, of the appropriate ways to elicit the desired response, of the ways to manipulate outcome...you might want to leave that up to your coach.

My point is you need to trust the process, trust your advisers, and trust your coach has your best interest at hand. If they don't, you need a new coach. I'm constantly flabbergasted (yes, that's my grandmother's word) by the suggestions of competitors.

And it's not just you. I'm not speaking directly to you (even though you think I'm in your head). It's everyone. We could ask all of our colleagues and they would say the same thing, everyone is self diagnosing.

You hired an expert for a reason. Let the noise of all that incoming information quiet itself. Let it roll right over you. Don't give it a second thought. Smile and nod at that gym dork who thinks he's helping by telling you what you should eat.

He's not helping you. You need to keep your head together if you plan to get to the stage. This means quieting the noise. I'm not saying don't take an interest, I'm saying watch out for information overload and don't try to do your coaches job. Learn along the way absolutely. But don't go looking for disease and craziness.

Communicate with your coach. Let them know that you heard "X" and were wondering if that had anything to do with you. They need to know what's going on with you. But don't jump to conclusions, change what you're doing, or lose the faith. There is just too much information coming in. Simply, quiet the noise.