In the fitness social media world, you can scroll for more than 5 minutes without seeing some sort of overly complex HIIT workout, strength combo, or something else to try and keep your attention.
You’ve probably seen someone on Instagram take simple movements, make them far more complicated than necessary, then insert some flashy name for it with a million emojis and some overly dramatic caption like, “The best 20 minute workout you’ll ever do!!!” All for it to be, lunges + bicep curls.
Ugh. I hate them. I hate them all.
Fitness influencers use complexity bias to try and keep your attention, spark your interest with novelty, and then sell you a plan that has too many moving parts for it to truly be optimal, or even effective.
But what IS complexity bias?
Complexity bias is our tendency to look at something that is easy to understand, or look at it when we are in a state of confusion, and view it as having many parts that are difficult to understand.
We often find it easier to face a complex problem than a simple one.
In this case, fitness and exercise really is pretty easy/simple to understand. We need to workout consistently each week, and make sure that these workouts are in line with the values that we hope to see for our future. If you’re reading this, you’re probably wanting to live a long time, be durable/pain free, have more energy, etc etc. For that reason, we follow progressive overload strength and conditioning, and we keep it simple.
Yet for some reason, we humans gravitate like moths to the flame when it comes to solving our fitness problems. We get distracted by “shiny object” workouts on social media rather than committing to consistent simplicity.
Online fitness personas and marketers in general love to capitalize on our complexity bias so we think they have the solution (and ONLY they) to our problems… even though our problems can be solved with very simple steps. Look at any of the even slightly polarizing figures on social media, and they will over-complicate fitness and health to the point where you find yourself saying, “This can’t be real.”
But they are SO good at marketing, at communicating, and perpetually pushing out content that you can eventually start finding yourself thinking, “You know… maybe I should eat raw liver. I mean, it’s working for that guy right?” (Fun fact – that was the steroids, not the liver).
And the funniest part? Most of these influencers achieved their high levels of health and wellness by following exactly what we do at Yellow Rose. They’ve just been doing it for a very, very long time (and then put a camera crew behind them and a huge marketing budget).
My friends, don’t fall for it.
Don’t fall for “my way or the highway” kind of health, fitness, or nutrition.
Don’t fall for complexity.
Don’t fall for the fear mongering around food or exercise.
If something seems overly complex and unnecessary, it absolutely is.
What do you really NEED?
– Consistency in your effort
– Strength training (actual strength training too. Push yourself with heavy weights.)
– Cardiovascular training
– Varying levels of intensity (hard days, medium days, easy days)
– Sleep
– Stress management/mitigation
What do you absolutely NOT NEED?
– More than likely, any product or cookie cutter program being peddled by an influencer. (Just unfollow them. Life is better that way).
Don’t fall for the complexity bias. Keep your workouts/lifestyle simple, repeatable, and sustainable. The true path to progress is in the mundane done each week, forever.
-Coach Clark
OK OK OK. I don’t actually hate everyone.
There ARE some really great people to follow on social media, even the ones with hundreds of thousands, even millions of followers. These people actually practice what they preach, aim to HELP (not sell), and provide peer reviewed and evidence based facts, not just anecdotal thoughts.
Here are some of my favorite follows on Instagram:
@dstanleyfit – Derek Stanley
@mikedoehla – Mike Doehla
@soheefit – Sohee Carpenter
@bdccarpenter – Ben Carpenter
@rcrosckeryfitness – Ruairi Croskery
@itscoachgoodman – Jonathan Goodman
