In the years that I’ve been training, there is one question that always pops up. I’ve never quite grasped it, and I’ve been asked it many different ways.

That question is, “Do you believe?” It is phrased several ways:

Do you believe in machines?

Do you believe in bench pressing?

Do you believe in cardio?

Do you believe in eating carbs?

Now, this is where I don’t get the question, because the person isn’t asking if I believe in USING the bench press or machines, or cardio. They are asking if I believe in that actual thing. They are phrasing this as a yes-or-no question. And while this could be me just being a jerk over denotation and grammar, I’ve realized it's not. This is because practically everyone that’s ever asked me this has been completely surprised by my “it depends” answer. Usually when I'm asked this question, I’ll answer either at length or clarify what they are asking, and when they listen to me, I always get the same reaction along the lines of “Wow, I didn’t know there was that much to it" or "I never thought of it that way.” And then they often will share with me why they thought it was a yes-or-no kind of question.

This isn’t just regular gym-goers that ask these questions. It's also other trainers and fitness professionals that ask if I “believe” in XYZ. Now, here is the first issue with this. The first definition of “belief” is defined as a state or habit of mind in which trust or confidence is placed in some person or thing. So, certainly there is nothing wrong with trusting or having confidence in something, BUT nowhere in that definition does it say that belief is “an incontrovertible and unchangeable truth that cannot be questioned."

Yet almost everyone uses it in that way. Once you have a belief about something, it cannot change. EVER. Everything someone believes in becomes a yes-or-no conviction of opinion. And this doesn’t just turn into yes or no, this belief morphs into right or wrong. It becomes a moral judgment that if you believe in something and say, "yes," that must mean it is good. And if you don’t believe in something, you must think it is bad.

So, having a belief about something doesn’t just mean you have an educated opinion, it means you have an unshakeable everything or nothing faith in the goodness of what you know. And this leads to many, many arguments, misunderstandings, and ridiculous accusations. Many a thread and comment section has turned into a flame war because someone said they believed in something, and hence this makes an idiot, a savior, a guru, or a terrible human being.

Here is the thing, though: there are multiple definitions of belief.

Most suitable for the field of fitness, belief can also be defined as “conviction of the truth of some statement or the reality of some being or phenomenon, especially when based on examination of evidence.”

Let's paraphrase that as, a conviction of truth or reality, especially when based on the examination of evidence.

Examination of evidence. This means that your belief is supported by something that can be called evidence. So, when we believe in something, we trust that belief because we hopefully have evidence for it such as experience, education, study, etc. and not because we want that thing to be more “gooder,” as I jokingly like to say.

Yet everyone seems to ignore this definition or be completely ignorant of what the word really means. Most people have no real evidence, then, for their beliefs, and they will refuse to change them even when presented evidence. They believe things on the basis of good or bad, not evidence for or against. Not only that, but they then assume that everyone else thinks like they do.

For example, I recently had a literal shouting match with a new colleague over squatting. He was adamant that ALL squats should be shoulder stance with toes forward, and I disagreed with this for a long list of reasons. My initial goal was not to argue with him. I simply had seen him squat, he asked me how it looked, and I recommended that he widen his stance and work on hitting depth. What surprised me was how insistent he was that he must be “right” and that I must be “wrong.” Eventually, I won. As I pulled up evidence from many sources, his argument fell apart, and he could no longer support it without looking ridiculous.

I’m not sharing this to brag in any way, but to illustrate a point. His mindset was this, right and wrong, everything or nothing mentality. His belief had no evidence behind it, though. He had been taught to squat a certain way, never really educated as to why, and by Crom, that was how squats were to be done, ALWAYS. And what was really ridiculous was that his thinking extended into assuming anyone that disagreed had the same mental premise. So when I made a suggestion that was different from what he believed, he didn’t interpret it as suggestion. He took it as an attack, and that I was telling him he was “bad” for thinking what he thought, so therefore he had to defend himself by attacking my beliefs as well.

You see this type of thinking often in the fitness field, and while this may provide for unintentional comedy at times, it honestly concerns me. If people new to powerlifting or lifting in general adopt this mentality, they are closing themselves off to a lot of learning and knowledge. Likewise, I have new clients that have this mentality all the time when they start training. The majority of the work we do is really not about exercise, but about how to think critically and break out of this mental paradigm. How do we not trap ourselves with this? Here are few things. These are only my personal suggestions, so take what you will from them.

First thing, consider to whom you are listening. Are they telling you to do something, or are they are trying to teach you how and why to do something? How does this person handle being questioned? If they blow off anyone that disagrees with them, that’s not a positive sign.

Secondly, is this person describing things in terms of better or worse, more or less optimal, or are they referring to things in absolutes, like never or always? Absolutist thinking doesn’t give much room for progression of evolution of any kind, especially if something doesn’t work.

Third, for or to whom are they speaking? Is this information meant to apply to EVERYONE, or just a select few? Information needs to be considered within an appropriate context. If I say nutrient timing is very important for muscle hypertrophy and performance, but I am speaking to bodybuilders and competitive athletes, that is within the context of those athletes. I could easily be misquoted, though, if someone thinks I apply this every client I work with. It also would be a cause for concern if I think that there is ONE way to do something and that this applies to EVERYONE.

Lastly, what is their background and experience? If I’m telling you to do something for your in-season athletes, despite the fact that I do not work in the S&C field, and I’m talking in absolutist terms that EVERYONE should do this while not wanting to be questioned, there are three possibilities: I’m trying to sell you something, I’m full of shit, or both.

So, hopefully you can see that an effective training mentality is about asking the right questions and not just finding the right answers. It is my personal belief that the most successful coaches, athletes, and clients are the ones that think for themselves and develop this type of mindset.

I want to people to THINK, not just turn off their brain and treat training as some mindless, "it's stupid simple" process. For everyone that I work with, this is what I really emphasize over everything else. Anyone can go into a gym and throw around weights and beat their chest. Anyone can stop eating carbs and drinking dairy. But if you don’t know why, and you don’t know how, that process is not going to get you anywhere. There are no universal answers, just discoveries that fulfill questions. You have to ask the questions first.

To put this all into summation, don’t hesitate to question what you believe, change what you believe, ask questions, or be wrong about something. The training process should mirror your personal evolution as a person. It should be filled with growth, learning, and built upon itself. There is no end-all, there is no be-all, and there certainly is no right or wrong. There is no "more right" or "good way" for me to say how you should go about this.

Like all things, it depends.