Placebo Effect – The Power of the Mind

Supplements are HUGE in fitness. While that may come as no surprise to most of you, I don’t mean that supplements are a huge factor to your fitness success, I mean they are a huge factor in the success of the fitness industry. Supplements fund the entire industry. Your favorite fitness magazine and web site: chances are they wouldn’t even exist without the supplements they sell.

To be honest, most of them are crap and do nothing. What the seller is counting on is the placebo effect. We’ve all heard of this and there’s no doubting that it exists, but for some reason, no one ever believes they could be victim of it. I remember back in high school, my friend had a New Year’s Eve party at his house. Tons of beer and wine and of course everyone started acting drunk after a few hours of drinking. I thought it was weird that his parents were letting us drink (they were there), and it wasn’t until everyone was falling all over the place that they announced there was no alcohol in any of it. Yeah, there were some embarrassed people at that party.

The point is, the placebo effect IS REAL! Chances are, if there are no real studies backing up the efficiencies of a supplement, then it doesn’t really work. When I say studies, I mean real studies, done by someone with no ties to the supplement manufacturer.

Of course there’s an up side to the Placebo Effect as well. If you believe something strongly enough, you have a much better chance of achieving success. I’m not big on the whole “what you can visualize will come to you” thing, but certainly in fitness, your body only goes where your mind leads it. Believe you can’t ever have a hot, fit body, and you never will, regardless of what workout you do.

It’s a little bit scary, knowing how powerful your mind is and how much you can deceive yourself, but it’s a fact we all need to deal with. For another great perspective on the Placebo Effect and fitness check out this article https://www.t-nation.com/training/belief-effect

https://www.vox.com/science-and-health/2017/7/7/15792188/placebo-effect-explained

I will probably be dong a few supplement reviews at some point but not as many as you’ll see elsewhere. There are a few that do work, but don’t count on miracles (unless you really like being the fool who pays money for a placebo).