DRUGS, LIES, AND FLEX APPEAL.

• Author: Whisnand, Bobby
• Position: LIFE IN AMERICA

IN THE FITNESS world, the unnatural has become the natural, and an industry that is supposed to be built on health and longevity instead has sold out to syringes full of shortcuts and synthetic successes. This is a multibillion-dollar enterprise built on the hopes and dreams of millions of people who want to live longer and look good doing it.

From the occasional exerciser to the hard-core gym rat to those who are allergic to working out, people all over the world are spending billions of dollars a year to jump head first into the fountain of fit--and waiting in every gym to sell you a six-pack are personal trainers, exercise class instructors, and "overnight health coaches" with promises of adding time and quality to your life as they take you to the land of lean and ripped.

If that is not enough, there are hundreds of thousands of fitness companies and individuals advertising simple--yet miraculous--exercise equipment, magic fitness pills, and the latest and greatest one-size-fits-all exercise programs (before and after pics included)... and if you order "right now" (insert siren), you can have guaranteed success just like the other people who have used these products, all in a matter of weeks.

This is exactly what the folks in the industry want you to believe: that if you exercise and eat like they tell you to, beast mode will be your new happy place, and you will end up looking all fit and ripped, just like your trainer does. This, my friend, is the biggest scam going in our world today, and millions are falling for it.

First of all, most "certified" personal trainers, exercise class instructors, and boot camp coaches have a greater knack for ripping rotators, breaking backs, and tearing cartilage than building healthy bodies, but hey, you really killed that workout.

Second, before you emulate the exercise routines and diets of competitive bodybuilders, women's figure and swimsuit contestants, or the big, strong, and completely unnatural looking people walking around the gym, just know the "juice" does not fall far from the tree. There is a lot more going on than exercise and eating right--and it often is found in a syringe.

In addition, TV, magazines, and the always-credible world of social media will attempt to lure you every few seconds with amazingly fraudulent fitness transformation stories, and, of course, those "one-of-a-kind" products and methods that work miracles.

In the wild world of supplements--between almost nonexistent...