{"id":48303,"date":"2025-08-06T16:38:08","date_gmt":"2025-08-06T16:38:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/48303\/"},"modified":"2025-08-06T16:38:08","modified_gmt":"2025-08-06T16:38:08","slug":"my-petty-gripe-why-do-fitness-instructors-lie-about-rep-counts-who-hurt-them-fitness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/48303\/","title":{"rendered":"My petty gripe: why do fitness instructors lie about rep counts? Who hurt them? | Fitness"},"content":{"rendered":"

I do a lot of exercise. Consider this less a brag and more a heralding of middle age. If I don\u2019t do yoga, my back hurts. If I don\u2019t do weights, my back hurts. If I don\u2019t do reggaeton<\/a>, well, that kind of makes my back hurt.<\/p>\n

I prefer class-based workouts because I\u2019m naturally lazy and respond well to authority. No matter the modality, offensively attractive fitness instructors wield numbers as weapons to torment and torture me.<\/p>\n

Numbers have always been a source of struggle for me. I can barely add up, frequently forget my own phone number, and yesterday I messed up an interview time with someone in Tennessee, despite using a time conversion app.<\/p>\n

Why can\u2019t they just be letters?<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, there is no escaping the shapely little bastards, and in few corners do numbers taunt me more than the fitness industry.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat\u2019s your BMI?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHow far can you run?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHow much do you bench?\u201d<\/p>\n

Whoa, sir, I\u2019m just trying to order a smoothie.<\/p>\n

In every exercise class, from boxing to ballet, step to spin, Lycra-clad young people with AI-worthy abs personally victimise me with numbers.<\/p>\n

\u201cEight reps to go!\u201d sings a painfully perky barre teacher, repeating several numbers twice, even thrice, in the countdown.<\/p>\n

\u201cHolding for 3, 2 \u2026\u201d breathes a tattooed yogi, stopping to adjust someone\u2019s twisted triangle, while I wait for \u201c1\u201d and wish for death.<\/p>\n

\u201cOnly 30 more seconds,\u201d promises a rare male Reformer instructor, keeping us in forearm plank for seven more hours.<\/p>\n

Why are they like this? Who hurt them? Was it Les Mills? I know hurt people hurt people, but why do they have to hurt me, specifically? All I offer them is love. And a strong core.<\/p>\n

The fitness industry has a lot to answer for: untenable beauty standards, intolerable influencers, toxic gym culture, Zumba. Misinformation is rampant, scam products abound, and don\u2019t get me started on the cult of wellness. Must its henchmen also torture us with numbers and lies?<\/p>\n

If they say eight reps to go, there should be one rep per count, not two, nor four. If they count down from three, it should be illegal to have a chat between two and one. And 30 seconds means 30 actual seconds, measured by a clock, not a vibe. I\u2019m not requesting much; I don\u2019t think I\u2019m being unreasonable. I\u2019m just a girl, deadlifting in front of a boy, asking him to count correctly.<\/p>\n

(Also, it turns out Tennessee has two different time zones, so that\u2019s on them.)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"I do a lot of exercise. Consider this less a brag and more a heralding of middle age.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":48304,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[46],"tags":[6647,102,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-48303","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-fitness","8":"tag-fitness","9":"tag-health","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom","12":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48303","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=48303"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48303\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/48304"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=48303"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=48303"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=48303"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}