Top 5 Controversial YouTube Fitness Channels
There are many, many YouTube channels that share fitness, health and nutrition information, but some are different from the others. Whom to listen to? Here are five I feel don’t qualify on proving their claims, present information in a questionable way or raise unrealistic expectations.
5. Vince DelMonte
Mr. DelMonte’s videos primarily serve as advertisements for his fitness products, that supposedly show us how he gained “41 pounds of solid-steel muscle” in six months while “spending only 3 hours in the gym each week”, what “the shocking truth about the bodybuilding mafia and supplement cartel” is and what robs us of “90% of the muscle and strength gains” we should get. This makes his videos tedious to watch, as useful exercise advice appears not very often.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EPxIQnrKHmk
4. Charliejames1975
Let’s get it right out of the way: Miss Zuzana’s videos are made to show off her body to a juvenile audience, the fitness aspect is just pretense. Yet the appearance of fitness advice, but to my eye her erratic and fast movements aren’t healthy, nor do the structures of the workouts she proposes make much sense.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w4KuIp5bpzc
3. Psychetruth
Not primarily a fitness channel, but rather a mixture of alternative medicine and conspiracy videos, Psychetruth does put out the occasional fitness and nutrition videos, that have very little scientific evidence on their side and practically go through the entire catalogue of what Skepdic finds questionable.
2. UndergroundWellness
The channel’s description says it’s “a hub for alternative nutrition and exercise information based on truth, scientific research, and anecdotal evidence”. I’d say the most stress is on the last, as I can’t find any scientific evidence for Sean Croxton’s claims about “metabolic typing“, “metabolism boosting” or “detoxification” and all the rest.
For me Sean ranges ahead of Psychetruth, as his channel presents itself with the primary aim of fitness and nutrition and claims to use scientific research, but fails to do so.
1. diethealth
While on Mr. Croxton’s channel I see various links to dubious products off-site, diethealth takes it a step further: Not only does host Sarah Dusault tell people “how to learn squats in 30 seconds”, an exercise I repeatedly tell people to have shown to them by experienced trainers, that spot reduction is possible or that negative calorie foods exist. No, some of the videos are directly sponsored by supplement or fitness companies.
At least one of these products is very questionable. They sell it as a weight-loss-aid and one of the main ingredients is chromium picolinate, whose effect on weight control remains rather doubtful.
33 Comments
LOL if I sneeze I can find a million more 😉
No doubt, but these I come across again and again.
seen em all but number one… agrees on all of it. psychetruth and UG are like the venomfangxs of the health/exercise channels.
Interestingly, it seems that since I wrote this, all of UG’s videos have gone offline. No reason given.
I’m juvenile enough to watch Zuzana’s videos. And I agree that there isn’t much logic to their workout plans other than a generic smattering of muscle confusion, and some of her movements I fear would wear the joints or lead to injury if not approached safely.
But some of the combinations of abs/pushup work is good enough to throw into a routine for confusion.
It’s weird, it’s like she’s targeting a female audience with her workouts by trying to keep them quick, usually full-body and cardio-intensive; and self-competitive, but at the same time her portrayal seems alienating to women.
I doubt that targeting a female audience ever crossed her, or rather, her boyfriend’s mind.
Nonetheless, when it comes to business model for YT, they are spot on 😉
I’m female and started following Zuzana’s workouts last December. At 39, I’m fitter than I’ve ever been. They actually WORK (and yes, I started them because they were short, intense and I could do them at home for free. With a toddler and doing home daycare, I didn’t have time or money to get to a gym – and these workouts have worked BETTER than any gym results I’ve ever had.) I sound like an ad, but she’s not selling anything… I didn’t find her portrayal alienating – every woman wants to feel sexy! I checked with my chiropractor, my doctor about these workouts and done with proper form they have improved the stability of my shoulders and ankles – and I’ve had fewer injuries than before I started.
Congrats, Heather!
Sean’s videos are still up when I looked.. Maybe the Internet is mad at you?
And I think it’s odd evil didn’t mention susana spears is an adult film actress..
Honestly, day before yesterday it said “no videos available”.
I think you’re a bit too rough on Zuzana and Sean.
I’ve watched a few of Zuzana’s videos and she doesn’t seem to be the show-off-type. I’d say her videos cleverly invite people to click on her videos and then maybe make the watcher think about health and how it can be accomplished in your own home with little equipment. I don’t do her exercises, but the idea with them seems to be lean muscle and practical strength. That kind of movement with no weights does actually good for the joints.
As for Sean, I certainly think he does tend to believe things too easily (like the things you mentioned), but he’s also advocating plenty off stuff, that’s actually backed up by science. He does some very good interviews with respected medical doctors and researchers in his podcasts for example. The true value of his work for me is that he’s criticizing the status quo. I certainly don’t agree with him all the time but it’s ALWAYS good to look the both sides of things.
I find it really hard to find positive aspects in Zuzana and Sean. Let Zuzana show off her body, as it’s her rough movements what in my opibion aren’t healthy, and Sean pushes some very questionable products.
another two i dont like is scottherman and leehayward (who keeps sending me emails about this annoying 21 day bulking plan, getting like 21 pounds in 21 days or something -_-)
Which would top Mr. DelMonte’s implied 41 lbs in six months 😉
My personal favorite is Jenny. Check out her past episodes’ section for some nice (and free) workout suggestions. She suggests some exercises that can be very challenging and get you out of the usual weight up-weight down routine. Plus she always uses almost perfect form.
http://www.madefittv.com/
Thanks for the tip! I indeed plan an article with 5 YT channels worth watching.
Lee Hayward? He’s in league with Vince DelMonte. (They are friends in real life, and sell things together.) Many of his videos are advertisements.
But the weird thing is, he also has lots of videos that are just showing how to do an exercise, which are very Scooby-like until a 3 second plug of something he sells at the very end. You can go very far with his free stuff.
His website got me really far when I first started off, and I didn’t need to buy a damn thing.
I think half of his stuff is great, but should come with a warning: “Don’t buy anything from him, it’s not necessary. Just soak up the free stuff.”
Forgot about Lee Hayward myself. His channel does have some good information, it’s just heavily outnumbered by bro-science and advertisements.
Scott Herman google videos are great for showing correct form and excellent w/o routines but he is gym based and therefore differs from the Scooby mission. His website that he directs you to, well a mans got to eat and he may as well profit from his expertise as anyone else.
scott herman does have good videos – maybe a small advertisement here and there
He is a nice guy, but what I don’t like that much is that he charges for membership on his forum.
Why do you have one fitness channel on a vlog about fitness channels?
And, reading your about page, I find it interesting that you promote not having a gym, and using your home as your workout area. Sounds hauntingly familiar. At the very least, with Zuzana, at the very least she’s a certified personal trainer… vs your roman history research?
Do you bash crossfit workouts too? Zuzana’s workouts are very similar. Long story short, just because you get 10 views a week shouldn’t be a reason for you to attack others who are doing it well. Now, if you actually posted your credentials and listed some of your touted “scientific” and “unbiased” research findings, this site might have something to offer…
It is entirely up to you to decide whose advice you find more worthwhile.
Links to scientific research are all over the articles on here, including, in fact, this one.
I had not bothered to watch the Zuzana video, I ttrusted that Evil was right. In regard to the comments by Evil:
“Miss Zuzana’s videos are made to show off her body to a juvenile audience, the fitness aspect is just pretense. Yet the appearance of fitness advice is there and to my eye her erratic and fast movements are not healthy, nor do the structures of the workouts she proposes make much sense.”
In the video she is actually demonstrating a leg, core, abs workout (so the workout makes sense) to achieve in less than 20 minutes. Her movements are not erratic (she is utilising planes of movement-which is Strength and Conditioning training at a higher level), they are fast but she is working on a large rep range.
I feel that zuzana has indeed been done an injustice, based on the video here. And lastly, who are we to judge what she wears – we all know Scooby/scott herman does not wear a top and only wears shorts, perhaps some juveniles are thoroughly fascinated by them.
Yep, you just mirrored my thoughts exactly. Let’s just hope Evil doesn’t stick his nose into some martial arts class. Such a shocking overload of “erratic and fast movements” performed by 7-70 year olds. *rolleyes*
It is calisthenics and that is how calisthenics is meant to look like. Have you present primary school PE class, military boot camp, basic athletic conditioning etc.? There is not such a thing as a burpee performed in a slow controlled way. Of course it is not body building, but it is not meant to be.
And if you dared to check the blob on her webpage you would see that she appeals more to thirty-something-year old women than horny teenagers.
To each his own, I guess.
Well, it stands out that so far only men jumped to the rescue of the damsel in distress 😉
If calisthenics are worthwhile is a different matter, but I stand by my opinion that what she does doesn’t make much sense and is potentially harmful.
Hello evilcyber
what do you think about sixpackshortcuts.com.
Something is going on and their videos are always promoted by youtube thanks
I do have objections about him implying that he know shortcuts to the six-pack, because there aren’t any. But all in all I don’t think the videos are bad and my hat is off to him for some clever marketing 🙂
No leanbodylifestyle? This needs a part 2 😀
I think I may just need to do a top 100 😀
What a juicy post! I’ve only know of two of the channels you mentioned here, diethealth and charliejames, have to give the other one’s a looksie.
I know you mentioned something about Chromium Picolinate as a weight loss supplement, I actually take it from time to time but not for weight loss, but for sugar cravings. And it totally works, as soon as I start taking it 2-3 days later sugar cravings gone. I even send it to my grandma in Russia, and she loves it as well ( she loves her sweets but she can’t eat them ). I don’t think there is any supplement that can make people loose weight, in the end we have to work at it our selves.
Well, you now also know why I enjoy your channel and site 🙂
I’m a big fan of Scooby, and agree with your take on BodyRock, I don’t get why people subscribe to her. I mean, she has some good advice, but people watch it mostly for the boobs.
I think the one YouTube channel you need is: Scooby’s Workshop.
Although Scooby would disagree with that…
Also, you forgot to mention Chang’s channel, which is also pretty notoriously crap… but I guess you shouldn’t give it undue publicity 😛