What does car shopping and working out have in common?

Come to find out, a lot! Every once in a while I'll take a trip out to the local big box gym to see what new or old and crazy things people are doing. It's usually a pretty successful visit as it gives me some good stories and plenty of ideas for blog posts. One thing I realized is, for most people, working out is a lot like buying a car.

Think about it... When people go to buy a car a lot of times they don't know what they want. They don't know what they need. They know what looks fun and what they see other people driving. They have been told via relentless marketing and advertising what the "best" is, but they don't do any real research on their own. They walk around the lot touching cars and looking at stickers until a salesman notices they don't have a clue; salesman enters picture, puts them in the driver's seat, explains they bells and whistles, and sells them on a piece of garbage that they use daily for the next 5 years.
Am I the only one seeing the similarities here? In the gym, the machines = cars. There are lots of them to choose from but most are just shiny and overrated. People walk around them, look at the little diagrams to see what should burn where, and touch it a couple of times like they're about to try it on. They think they're supposed to used it because they see other people on it and they've seen Jillian Michaels use it. Unfortunately they didn't come prepared. They don't have a plan and haven't done any research so in comes the trainer. Just like the car salesman they adjust the seat and start selling all the benefits. They give hope and promises to the unarmed victim instead of supplying cold hard facts.

I'm not bashing trainers. There are a lot of great ones out there. Car salesmen, I think there might be a few of you out there that are actually good people too. The takeaway is really for the average gym goer.. If at anytime during your workout you feel like you're at carmax you should probably reevaluate the situation. Go back home, figure out what you want, do some research, get a plan, and hire someone respectable to help you so you don't waste your time and money.