Spend five minutes scrolling Threads and you’ll see it: coaches and PhDs arguing about “misinformation,” dunking on each other’s reels, and high-fiving each other in cliques about who the real experts are.
It’s exhausting.
The latest battleground is fasted vs. fed training. Instead of explaining how fueling actually supports athletes, the loudest voices use a single reel (hi, Stacy Sims) as target practice. The goal isn’t clarity—it’s takedowns.
And I can’t help but wonder—what if they just talked about the benefits of fed training instead of wasting all that energy?
The Forest for the Trees
Because when you zoom out, fed vs. fasted isn’t even controversial. Training with fuel in your system helps you push harder, recover more effectively, and preserve lean mass—which becomes a big deal in peri/menopause. It also helps you train your body to use carbs efficiently, which is essential for performance athletes.
That’s the forest. But instead of pointing athletes toward those benefits, these coaches fixate on one tree. They nitpick a phrase, twist it into a strawman, and pat themselves on the back for “debunking” misinformation. Meanwhile, athletes scrolling at home are left more confused than ever.
Why Coaches Do This
Part of it comes down to brand. Some coaches have built their entire online identity around opposition. They thrive on being “anti-misinformation,” so if they stop fighting, they stop existing. And let’s be real—nuance doesn’t trend. A simple, clear statement like “fuel before your workout for better recovery” doesn’t rack up views the way “this expert is lying to you” does.
The other move they love? Pulling out dramatic hypotheticals from history or war zones. “For millennia women hunted without breakfast.” “Soldiers went days without food.” These make for flashy talking points, but they’re smoke bombs. We don’t actually know the full context, and even if we did, those survival situations don’t apply to modern athletes navigating training, jobs, and families. You’re not prepping for battle—you’re trying to run stronger, lift smarter, and recover better.
And here’s the piece that almost never gets mentioned: emotional intelligence. The loudest coaches online can memorize studies and shout about thermodynamics, but they fail at the basics of human connection.
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They lack self-awareness—they think they’re being logical when they’re actually condescending.
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They lack self-regulation—they can’t resist dogpiling whenever someone challenges their worldview.
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They lack empathy—they mock lived experience instead of listening to it.
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They lack relationship skills—they invest more in cliques and takedowns than in the athletes they claim to serve.
That’s not coaching. That’s campaigning.
What Athletes Actually Need
The truth is simple: training fed doesn’t make you gain weight overnight. It helps you perform better in the moment and recover more fully afterward. Fasted training isn’t inherently bad, but doing it constantly—especially in peri/menopause—can blunt strength, recovery, and progress.
The body isn’t a calculator. Hormones, sleep, stress, and fuel all interact. If you feel better eating before training, that matters. If you don’t, that matters too.
And this is where emotional intelligence makes the difference. A coach with EI listens, validates, and adapts strategies to your real life. They don’t shame you. They don’t mock your experience. They meet you where you are and help you move forward.
If your whole coaching identity is built on dunking on other professionals, you’re not coaching—you’re campaigning.
Athletes don’t need another shouting match or some half-baked history lesson to justify calorie math. They need coaches with enough emotional intelligence to cut through the noise and actually teach.
So to every coach wasting energy online correcting each other: stop debating. Just teach.