For the most part, I only pay attention to strength, fitness, fat loss, training stuff that both I and some of my personal training clients can benefit from.

Other than that I stopped paying attention to most of the clutter that fills up the fitness industry in general. After all, there is so much stuff out there to be distracted by that I can’t possibly pay attention to it all and prefer to stay in my lane, focused on what I and my personal training clients want to achieve.

However, having been a personal trainer for well over a decade, having been through and even taught at personal training certifications I’ve developed a large network of friends in the industry, many of whom I respect.

This morning I saw on my facebook feed someone mentioning a “controversial commercial for Peloton”

Huh? Though I don’t pay much attention to fancy exercise bikes because I really don’t have a use for them, the whole controversial bit caught my curiosity. So I looked it up to see what the fuss was about.

When I first watched it, I wasn’t even sure I had the right video. I mean, who would be offended by this?

So I started digging around to see what the big deal is, and saw what people were saying. “sexist, dystopian” blah blah blah blah.

Oh for crying out loud. There is plenty of real stuff in the world to get outraged about…and you choose THIS to be the source of your ire? Come on now. Get real.

First, whoever is watching it is making assumptions. What if the woman in the ad asked for this? You don’t know, so don’t assume. And besides, it’s a fictional scenario.

Second, and this is also about assumptions, is that they are assuming that he is subtly saying “she’s not good enough for him, so he gets her an exercise bike to raise her to his standard…when he should love her for who she is.”

Maybe he does love her for who she is and what shape she’s in. But here’s the thing, there are more reasons to train than simply looking good in a bathing suit.

When you train, you feel better about yourself. You feel confident to take on life’s challenges, it releases feel-good hormones and you have more energy for the day. Wouldn’t you want someone to feel good?

I know for me personally, training changed my life. Before I trained, I lacked confidence, lacked energy, lacked focus etc. Once I picked up the weights and lifted them a few times, got stronger, the weights got heavier I started feeling good. I loved it in fact and had started a career as a personal trainer to help others feel the same benefits from the training that I did.

Most of the personal trainers I’ve talked to over the years are the same way. They didn’t get into it because the money is good, there are far easier ways to make money. They got into it because they had a passion for it, that was created by their own experiences.

If you want to train and get the benefits of feeling good that come with it, I actually recommend you focus on getting stronger, more so than the aesthetic side of it. Get strong, feel good, watch as the weights get heavier as you become more capable of lifting it and you’ll see how training transforms your life, not just your body.

Don’t do it for anyone else, do it for you. And don’t listen to the wimps that are offended by the Peloton commercial. They need to focus on themselves after all.

Eric Moss is a world-record-holding professional performing strongman, author, motivational speaker, and personal trainer. In the tradition of the strongmen during the turn of the century, he performs feats of strength such as bending steel and breaking chains as part of a show and speaks on goal achievement for corporations, nonprofits, government as well as for schools and universities. His exclusive personal training studio is located on Main Street in Boonton New Jersey, is close to Mountain Lakes, Denville, and Parsippany New Jersey.