Now as inspiring as it is to a lot of people I do have mixed opinions of the show the Biggest Loser. Why? Well I don’t agree with everything they do. Now not all of it is wrong but some of their training programs are atrocious and dangerous.

A couple weeks back one of the events in the biggest loser was this big jump rope type of thing. It was automated and if I remember correctly the thing lifts up higher from the ground. If they don’t jump high enough they knock the block off of the device and are out of the running. Now as much fun as that would be for the regular Joe the contestants of the biggest loser are not regular Joe’s. They are seriously over weight individuals. Now you have people that are carrying excess of a hundred pounds coming down with all that force on already weakened frames. That is a terrible thing to do to their joints. Secondly it is so easy to over train the deconditioned, obese person. If you haven’t broken their body I am very surprised they haven’t broken their minds.

Another episode (it might even be the same one since I am not an avid watcher of the show). They had them doing plyometrics. Plyometrics are excellent for developing speed and power in athletes. As useful as they are they need to be used sparingly mainly to “shock the system”. A lot of coaches use them too much. So why exactly are they being used on the Biggest Loser? In the Biggest Loser as part of a fat loss program they should be kept in a state of whats called in the sports training world as general physical preparation (GPP for short). Plyometrics are supposed to be used as part of a more specific program or when they are lower in body weight.

This evening of the Biggest Loser they had a competition in extreme heat where they had to run up a hill to find a key to give them access to the gym. Some of the moments that I don’t think are conducive to their success is 1) Making that guy with the bad knee run up the mountain. Fitness programs need to be catered to individual capacities and restrictions. 2) One person was pushed to go until they threw up. Well I guess anything to lose calories. The winners went to the gym to find their hamster wheel cardio equipment where they basically slacked off since it seemed to me they had no one there to guide them. The Loser’s so to speak had to workout outside as if that were some sort of punishment. A memorable speech by Jillian Michaels about why she hates the outdoors led people to believe that training outside is bad or dirty. Airborne bacteria doesn’t live as long outside in the sunlight as it does on the inside. Now I personally think Bob Harper’s team (I think that is his name) ended up the winners tonight since they learned a new way of doing things and breaking up the monotony. Keep your treadmills, it is in our genes to train outside and you don’t need advanced equipment to fit into your jeans. Watching that one group of people they seemed to have a lot of fun training outside and it was refreshing to hear that person saying “It just goes to show you you don’t need to have a multimillion dollar gym to get a good workout.” That is practically my motto since my bootcamps are run with whatever I pull out of my car which is sometimes nothing at all. And my bootcamp members are getting a more effective workout then all the sheep that flock to the closest health spa.

Now what are they doing right? They are inspiring people. They are making the contestants accountable and motivated by putting them on tv. They are teaching them how to cook healthy, nutritious food so they don’t pick up a bag of Doritos. They are teaching them to lean on each other for support when it feels like the chips are down.

What would I do different? Well for one thing I would probably have more swimming. Swimming is a good full body workout for extra calorie burning and in addition to that it is much easier on their joints then running on a treadmill. I would do a lot of band work as well since that tends to be easier on the joints. When I felt they were ready I would incorporate kettlebell training but I would make sure their ticker is in ok shape. I would have included A LOT of the good old kettlebell swing since it loads the body pretty evenly. I would include more full body movements like Olympic type lifting and I would make them earn their calories through individual challenges. Afterwards I would have surprise visits to make sure they retained what they lost. Good luck to them and good luck to you.

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