How to find fitness advice you can trust for beginners

With so much conflicting fitness advice online, beginners can feel overwhelmed trying to figure out who and what to trust. Following poor guidance can lead to setbacks, frustrations or even injuries so it’s extremely important to be able to distinguish between the credible and the misleading.  

How to find trustworthy fitness information 

1. Check the source 

There’s an immense amount of content about health and fitness wherever you look, whether it’s social media posts, articles, podcasts or videos. Who are you supposed to trust when everyone is making a different claim? When finding fitness advice, make sure you are checking the source, who is giving you this information and where has it come from? A reputable expert is going to be more trustworthy than a random influencer.  

3. Avoid extreme claims 

It’s wise to maintain a level of scepticism when searching for beginner fitness advice and be wary of the many extreme promises you’ll see. Whether it’s rapid weight loss or extremely effortless muscle gain, if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.  

4. Look for evidence-based guidance 

Fitness recommendations should be backed by research, case studies and facts.  If the creator has linked their sources or conducted their own research, it’s wise to verify that the sources are reliable. If something doesn’t sound quite right or you can’t see any linked evidence, don’t be afraid to do a little bit of research yourself to fact check the information.  

5. Sustainability matters in fitness advice 

The best type of fitness advice will take sustainability into consideration and how you can continue living a better, healthier lifestyle in the long run. Promoting long term habits is much better than short term gimmicks, so try to avoid fitness fads or trends that promise quick and easy results as they may prove difficult to sustain on a regular basis. 

6. Consider multiple sources 

Upon finding reliable fitness advice, you can compare the different sources to see if they align with each other. You may discover that even the credible sources aren’t all suggesting the same thing, and that’s because some topics within the fitness world can be subjective, for example, two professionals may have differing opinions on which workout is the best for beginners. Taking many angles into account and forming your own opinion based on the trustworthy evidence you find should lead you towards a well-informed decision.  

Which sources can I trust for fitness advice? 

There are many trustworthy sources of fitness advice for beginners available. Here are a few examples:  

• Health and fitness organisations such as the NHS or Sport England offer brilliant evidence-based fitness advice. Backed by science, you’ll find lots of safe and effective fitness information to get you started.  

• If you’re interested in reading scientific and peer-reviewed journals for extra knowledge, you can find published articles and research about fitness from the British Medical Journal or Journal of Sports Sciences.   

• Other reliable resources include public health services such as LiveWell Dorset, helping to provide dependable and personalised advice on all aspects of fitness covering exercise, healthy eating and more.  

Looking for trustworthy fitness advice? 

At LiveWell Dorset, we have an amazing team of expert coaches and advisors to offer you fitness and health advice as well as support throughout your journey to live a happier, healthier lifestyle. Register with us today for a free, personalised health and wellbeing plan or contact us if you would like more information.  

Further reading

• How to stick to your New Year’s fitness resolutions 

• How does exercise help brain function 

• SUP: Why paddleboarding is a good exercise