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Other/Mixed Why

Other strength modalities (e.g., Clubs), mixed strength modalities (e.g., combined kettlebell and barbell), other goals (flexibility)
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yorkshirecomrade

yorkshirecomrade

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Why do so many people in the world feel they're capable of giving advice?

Never challenged?
Ego?
Genuine knowledge?
Ignorance?
Desire to be noticed?

It's easy to make the observation and this amazing place seems to get the odd few (not naming names ) but it tickled me so thought I'd type it..

Find it bizarre on here with lifters/trainers that aren't even amateurs, though it's great we all come together in our shared interest, is it only me that it bugs?
 
@yorkshirecomrade, I would like to think that at least some people give advice because they wish to help others. Everyone can and should fill out their profile here so that others, if they're interested in learning more about the source of the advice that's been posted, can have a look and read about the person offering to help.

-S-
 
yorkshirecomrade said:
Never challenged?
Ego?
Genuine knowledge?
Ignorance?
Desire to be noticed?
Click to expand...

Sure. All of the above.
It's hard to know what you don't know. We also have a tendency to over estimate how much we know about things that we really like. I know I'm guilty of that, in quite a few areas. If you like something, you research it. After some research, you think you know it. Maybe you do, maybe you've just seen the tip of the iceberg. Our personal assessment of how much we know has very little to do with how much we actually know. The inherent risk of public forum is that you are exposing yourself to people who know very little as well as those who know a lot. You can assume that anyone who is commenting on something is doing so because they feel qualified to comment, but that has nothing to do with the quality of their information.
Be skeptical of anything on the internet, but if you take your time you can figure out who's putting out good information and is worth listening to. There's a few people (on this forum and elsewhere) whose opinions I take very seriously, even to the extent of changing my own opinions. Everyone else's opinion has to go through my BS filter ;).

And yes, occasionally it feels like my filter's getting clogged up. That's a good sign that it's time for me to get off the internet and get some real stuff done o_O.
 
Depends on where you go for said advice. However, seems there are a lot of Chiefs and not enough Indians in the world, so tread carefully. People have difficulty with admitting they're wrong, I see it everyday.
 
I try not to give advice especially on here as there's more I don't know than I know.
But I'm glad those who do know more than I know freely give their advice :)
 
Snowman said:
Sure. All of the above.
It's hard to know what you don't know. We also have a tendency to over estimate how much we know about things that we really like.
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Omg, this is me!!!

Love your post Snowman.

Also its easy to overestimate ones level of ability.
I just found the training logs section today, there are some amazing people on this forum. It was very humbling to read what some of the members here are doing. I wish we were members of a gym and you could see what everyone was doing.

But even in the gym, a desire to help others seems to be a natural talent and not something based on how experienced or knowledgeable a person is. Maybe the internet emboldens those who like to help, but I second Steve's sentiments, I too would like to think that at least some of the advice is given in an attempt to help others.

P.s. York you look crazy strong from your pic, do you keep a training log on the forum, I didn't see it when I was reading them.
 
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Advice is free here, the offer-er gives, and the recipient is always free to take it or leave it. Sounds like a win/win to me!

I find that giving advice clarifies my thoughts. I might have some observations or ideas about what someone should do based on a post where they are seeking input, but it's forming those into something resembling advice that advances my own learning by taking it to another level. "I am a student of strength." If my advice is challenged, all the better; I learn more in the process.
 
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@Anna C has great points. I agree 100%.

I also find that even if this message board is great, as in learning by trying to help others, coaching works really well with it as well. I managed to coach my friend, a sedentary middle-aged man with no physical training background at all apart from the occasional cardio, into a 2x bodyweight deadlift in little more than two months. I thought it was a good job from both of us. Coaching him at the gym often gives me great glimpses on my own training, and often makes me quote Dan John, who (paraphrasing?) said that a man who coaches himself has an idiot for a client. It's really easy to make the trainee do something uncomfortable or make the trainee accountable to the coach. Those are two things that I find significantly more difficult to do to myself. I can see great progress, and a great way or scheme to train, and then start thinking why I'm not training that way. What is it that makes me think differently for myself and for others? I have to consciously try to think of my own training objectively. And it's even worse if I don't have any specific plans, self-made or from elsewhere, to follow. I think this is the biggest obstacle I have had to my progress in my training experience, and I've only recently become seriously aware of it.

Sorry for the rambling, it may have been a bit side tracked from the original post, but then again, I'm afraid I'm not qualified to really comment on the original post. Although I do have studied psychology for my degree, I'll leave this matter to the ones who actually have a proper degree in the matter or other qualifications.
 
I love this discussion, it really has posed questions and highlighted that we are all passionate about the same thing, our training and developing.

You've all provided amazing insights into your own benefits and your own perspective on your training, let alone the benefits the strongfirst way and forum gives you.

I'm learning, I like it. I suppose I'd like to challenge people more and maybe I should based on the discussions, that way we all learn something, i'm either right or wrong or they are and we all learn from the discussion.

Be strong and learn
 
It might sound odd, but the best way to learn is to teach. Of course, you must have a working knowledge of the thing you are teaching, but, as Anna said, through teaching you take your learning to another level. I think the most difficult thing is to stay humble, and realise that there is always someone out there who knows more / better than you.
 
@yorkshirecomrade

I've consciously tried to back away from giving any advice that isn't based on personal experience and/or observation. There are LOTS of times I've actually written a long post and then decided to delete it because I decided it was too speculative or based on secondhand knowledge (also quite a few times I've gone ahead and posted anyway...).

On the other hand it's easy to go wrong giving advice to others extrapolated from n=1.

In any case, I do think most posters are genuinely trying to help so I try not to judge, although I do shake my head at times.

@Anna C's point about clarifying my thoughts by posting about something definitely applies to me, whether the topic is something I think I understand well, or something I'm trying to get a better handle on.
 
Kiacek said:
Omg, this is me!!!

Love your post Snowman.

Also its easy to overestimate ones level of ability.
I just found the training logs section today, there are some amazing people on this forum. It was very humbling to read what some of the members here are doing. I wish we were members of a gym and you could see what everyone was doing.

But even in the gym, a desire to help others seems to be a natural talent and not something based on how experienced or knowledgeable a person is. Maybe the internet emboldens those who like to help, but I second Steve's sentiments, I too would like to think that at least some of the advice is given in an attempt to help others.

P.s. York you look crazy strong from your pic, do you keep a training log on the forum, I didn't see it when I was reading them.
Click to expand...

I don't keep a log, I should, in fact I will.

Kind words and thanks but looks can be deceiving, I'm happy with my training though and my long term goal is to get stronger, slow and steady, no rush
 
Steve W. said:
I've consciously tried to back away from giving any advice that isn't based on personal experience and/or observation. There are LOTS of times I've actually written a long post and then decided to delete it because I decided it was too speculative or based on secondhand knowledge (also quite a few times I've gone ahead and posted anyway...).
Click to expand...
Same experience for me.
I too try to only give advice based on personal experience, but sometimes I also give it without having experienced it myself, for example giving advice about a routine I haven't done myself. When I do that I'm not making up stuff, but giving advice based on things I read about the topic at hand or what I consider to be just basic common sense. That still doesn't change the fact that a good amount of it is "hearsay".
Afterwards I'm like "Why the f.. do you even post? You haven't done it so you can't know!".
This even went so far that I wanted to quit the forum for a couple of months and just focus on my own and a couple of my friends and families training and then only comment on things I experienced.
The thing is even when I comment on things that I don't have first hand experience with, I get a lot of good feedback from people on the forum, so I decided to continue to do so to a certain extend.
To answer @yorkshirecomrade 's question, I genuinely want to help people. The forum gave me a lot of good things and I want to give something back. @Anna C said it right - advice is free. Nobody has to take my advice, but I'm putting it out there, because it might help someone. Even if it's just one single person who benefited from something I wrote, it was worth posting it.
 
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It feels like most of the folks on this forum want to help others. The bulk of those seem to have experience, formal education/training or at least logic to back up their opinions.

For the others, there is the "Ignore" feature. It magically makes those you don't want to hear from disappear. It's a game changer. :)
 
It is a good question. When I see a question on here that I feel like I can answer in a useful way, I feel compelled to answer. I enjoy helping people. That is about all there is to it. To be honest, it is probably to my detriment. If I seek a job in academia again, it could work against me. You rarely see PhDs posting on non technical forums because it is frowned upon (unofficially). But I feel like the knowledge I have gained is wasted if I don't share it, so I do. To keep myself honest, on any forum I have participated in, I always post using my real name and I fill out a profile. it's pretty easy to figure out who I am. You can find me on facebook or my own webpage. This means I have to live with whatever I post.

I have stepped in over my head on a couple of occasions and learned my lesson, like many have. This was especially true when I was younger. Using my own name in forums kept me in check though. Forums are a new social phenomenon and all of us are still sorting out how to interact properly here. I feel like most forums, just like getting advice in person, are best approached with "caveat emptor." When you ask a question on a forum it is like casting a wide net. Sometimes you catch good stuff, but often it is mostly just bait fish. But this forum tends to be a good one. Silly advice is quickly corrected by those who know what they are doing. And the corrections are civil.
 
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