Tip: Beware of Insta-Experts

People with no experience as trainers or coaches building a huge social media following, then using that to sell online training programs.

It is possible to do a good job with online coaching using the modern tools we now have. However, it's very hard and it requires a lot of experience and discipline.

Being truly effective as an online coach is much more difficult than being effective as a "live" coach. Why? Because coaches are problem solvers: You identify a problem and you solve it with the proper training decisions. It's harder to identify the problem when you can't see the client in person, and it's made more complicated by not seeing how he applies your solutions.

So, to be a good online coach you need to already be a very good "live" coach and have lots of experience. You need to have seen all the possible problems and know how to fix them.

Listen, I get it. When you have a nice body you want to cash in. And selling programs can be easy money when you have tons of Instagram followers and the look that everybody wants. But getting results with yourself isn't the same as getting results with others.

When I started out, I assumed that everybody was like me. I'd approach their training like I approached mine. As a result, some got great results, others didn't. We're all different and respond best to different applications of the methods. To understand that, and to be able to give people results, you need to have worked with tons of people from all different areas in the genetic pool.

People with very little training background deciding to do a physique contest and then marketing themselves as contest prep experts (after doing one show).

This is probably even more disturbing than the first one. I've seen people do one physique contest and suddenly market themselves as contest prep experts. This is even more common now that we have the bikini class and men's physique. In these two classes you can do fairly well in a local show without actually having paid your dues in the gym. You can know next to nothing about proper training and dieting and do well in lower level shows.

And these low experience, no-knowledge beauty pageant winners use their "success" to cash in by conning unsuspecting victims into believing that they are the experts that will get them ready for their first show.

Listen, under the best possible circumstances, under the supervision of someone with true experience as a contest trainer, contest prep is an extremely demanding and even dangerous thing. Can you imagine what could happen if you put this into the hands of a fake expert? It could very well destroy your health, along with your bank account.