Why do I call out people for giving bad advice to competitors? Why don’t I just keep scrolling and mind my own business?

Because I take this seriously.

Coaching is my chosen profession and because there are no licensing regulations and literally ANYONE at any level can claim to be a prep coach and take money from unsuspecting competitors because we like to think that people wouldn’t charge for a service if they actually aren’t experts. But mostly because I’ve been on both sides of the aisle.

I’ve been the judge sitting there watching a competitor literally BOMB on stage because their physique that they have worked so hard on (as I’ve seen on social media) looked terrible on stage because they trusted a bro-science “coach” whose only credential is having been a competitor themselves and sometimes having some sort of personal training certification. Well….I happen to also have a personal training certification and this means that I had the same sort of education and testing to get it as they did and I know full well that it is great for helping the general population get healthier but it is NOT enough to successfully lead a competitor into and out of a competition.

This is a sport that is rife with body dysmorphia. That is literally what we do. We take a great physique and pick it apart to find all the flaws that NO ONE ELSE SEES AS A FLAW. You MUST do things the right way because you are screwing with the mind, body, and metabolism of a person who is already inclined to walk away with a warped sense of what they look like.

That is a HUGE responsibility.

I can’t let people, even if they are super sweet and well meaning, pass along junk science or “this is what I do with my clients because everybody’s different” and just keep scrolling. My conscience just doesn’t allow it. And I think that doing what some think is “professional courtesy” and just turning a blind eye to that sort of thing is watering down our profession. Then when some young girl leaves the stage and ends up hospitalized with an eating disorder, or worse, if I saw that she was getting crap advice and said nothing, I’m partly to blame as well.

I’m not that person. It may not always earn me friends and it might ruffle some feathers, but you will always know where I stand. And for the love of God, coaches, please stop just answering clients’ questions with a lazy “trust the process” and explain to them the how’s and why’s since you are being paid to COACH them. Don’t coaches teach too? And competitors, stop accepting that as gospel if a coach tells you that. You deserve better. ~Natalie