Finding trustworthy fitness content can be a challenging endeavor, which has prompted former two-time Figure Olympia Erin Stern to guide fans in the right direction. In a recent YouTube video shared on August 28, 2024, Stern warned against following influencers who have ulterior motives before sharing a banded back and abs workout.
According to Erin Stern, the fitness community is ‘barraged’ with influencers who often hand out contradictory advice, making it hard to distinguish between facts and falsehoods. With over a decade of experience navigating the fitness sector on YouTube, Stern has become familiar with discerning between inaccurate information and helpful tips for health optimization.
“We are just barraged with influencers. The internet is flooded with experts and everyone is telling you something different. They are telling you to do something different, to live your life differently, to incorporate certain lifestyle tricks and tips.
They are influencing you to buy certain things that you absolutely have to have this supplement and I’ve been doing YouTube since 2008 and I’ve seen so much. It kind of started as the wild west. It was a little bit crazy, a little bit wholesome, but I find now things are just out of control. It can be so hard to really know what to believe and who to trust.”
Erin Stern Reveals Which Influencers You Can Trust
Erin Stern’s Trusted Influencers
- Dr. Rhonda Patrick
- Dr. Brad Schoenfeld
Influencers That Erin Stern Doesn’t Trust
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- David Sinclair
- Dr. Andrew Huberman
Stern believes there’s no room for absolutes in the fitness sector, specifying that advice and/or recommendations should always be ‘taken with a grain of salt.’
“If you have an expert or a guru tell you hey you always need to do this or never do this and this goes with exercises, it comes down to food, if someone says hey never eat this food or never do upright rows for example because it’ll destroy your shoulders.
I think all of that needs to be taken with a grain of salt. There are no inherently good foods or inherently bad foods.”
Oftentimes, online personalities and influencers are trying to sell a product. Stern says to steer clear of any influencer with ‘ulterior motives.’
“Here’s something to look out for, really make sure that the influencer’s video you’re watching, they don’t have ulterior motives, they don’t have something to sell, because there are a lot of influencers out there I can name a couple of names because they are larger influencers and I doubt that they’ll even see this video.”
Who can’t be trusted? Stern says to be wary of listening to advice from David Sinclair and neuroscientist Dr. Andrew Huberman as both have attempted to push products that are simply ‘not helpful for a lot of people.’
“But David Sinclair for example, he has taken a supplement, a nutritional supplement, and tried to classify it as a drug, hence now, it’s banned and we’re not able to get it on sites like Amazon and developing this as a drug, he is trying to corner the market which I think is really unfair.”
“There’s another influencer, Huberman, and unfortunately, I’ve followed both of these scientists, I guess. And I incorporated some of their protocols and really bought in to a lot of the things they were saying but over time, their ulterior motives started to show, shilling Athletic Greens for example, is something that is not helpful for a lot of people. The ingredients are not great. A lot of the stuff you can get from whole foods,” she shared.
As for doctors and influencers you CAN trust, Stern credited cell biologist Dr. Rhonda Patrick and hypertrophy expert Dr. Brad Schoenfeld as two leading names in fitness, who back up their information with scientific studies.
“I like Dr. Rhonda Patrick, some of the stuff she says can be taken with a grain of salt, just like anything else. But she provides a lot of research-backed information.
Very helpful along a myriad of topics, so it’s weight lifting, it’s diet, it’s time-restricted feeding, sauna, so she’s focused on a more holistic approach which is kind of cool. Another doctor I like to follow is Dr. Brad Schoenfeld. He is excellent, he’s on the cutting edge of hypertrophy, he has a great book and these are two doctors and scientists that I rely upon.”
Stern’s ‘Band Back and Abs Superset Workout’
Check out Stern’s workout below. Despite an Achille’s rupture, she is still finding unique ways to get in her training.
“Band back & abs superset workout 🔥”
A) pulldowns
B) l-ups
A) rows
B) vacuums (hold as long as you can)
A) pull aparts
B) reverse crunches
A) pullovers
B) plank
Whether you’re trying to grow a specific body part or working around injuries, Erin Stern provides easy-to-understand content on building a next-level physique. She urges her fans to think critically when accepting advice from influencers and to always watch out for ulterior motives.
RELATED: Erin Stern Shares ‘3 Key Exercises for Creating a Smaller Waist’: ‘These Help With Core Strength’
Watch the full video from Erin Stern’s YouTube channel below:
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