Friday 16 December 2011
Building Outer Sweep to the Thighs
I just read a question to an elite Bodybuilder about building the outer sweep of the quads. His answer, as always, centered around the angle and position of the feet during squatting and leg pressing type movements. The theory is that you can train to change the shape of your thighs (and other muscles) as distinct from training to gain regular muscle 'mass'. Apparently you have to choose whether you want shape or mass and train accordingly. I want to give a more basic answer with a bit of math and common sense instead of voodoo and “bro science”.
Firstly, with any goal you should attempt to quantify what you are aiming to achieve. It is safe to assume the average thigh (ie femur) of even a short bodybuilder is at LEAST 50cm in length. As such, a 1cm increase in the width of the thigh when viewed the front - ie just 2% of the length - is probably not going to deliver the kind of body-shape-changing effect desired. Im going to assume we want at LEAST 2cm of width added to the thighs in order to actually be visually noticeable.
Now lets say a 50cm long thigh is 70cm in circumference at the largest point (a respectable, 27 1/2 inches). Using very simple math, 2cm added only to the width of this thigh (ie not the depth) requires an increase of ~6.3cm (~2.5 inches) to the circumference. Thats 6.3 cm - 2.5 inches - of overall thigh growth for a tiny 2cm increase in ‘sweep’!
For this 70cm thigh to increase 6.3cm to 76.3cm (30 inches), the cross-sectional area - and therefore mass of muscle in the thighs - needs to increase by a massive 18%! That is an awful LOT of muscle growth for a mighty small 'shape' training outcome! But it gets worse!
Physics - not my opinion - tells us that the force generating capacity of a muscle is directly proportional to its cross-sectional area. Which means that when this thigh increases just 2cm in 'sweep', its force output - ie strength - will increase, give-or-take, by around 18%!
In order to train for a 18% increase in quad strength you could rely on luck, hope, voodoo or HEAPS of drugs. Or you could train to achieve an 18% increase in your maximum training loads! Assuming a man with a 70cm (27 1/2") thigh can squat ~250kg (550lb), a 18% gain equates to a hair off a 300kg (660lb) squat! I can promise you that strength gain does not come from pointing your toes awkwardly! For most of us, it comes from bloody hard work and utter determination to squat 300kg. I've done it. Once. Its FREAKING hard! And it sure as hell didnt come from visualisation, squeezing my leg extensions or changing my foot placement on leg presses!
So next time you read that you can significantly develop the outer sweep of your thighs by turning your toes during a leg press or squat, slowing things down, and reducing the weight to 'feel the burn', ask yourself just how likely that strategy is to add 18% more muscle mass to your overall quads and quad strength?
Muscle building isnt rocket science. But it isnt voodoo either. You do have significant control over the shape of your muscles and overall physique; but that that control is largely limited to manipulating the SIZE of the tissue you have (ie growing the muscle and shrinking the fat).
Significant muscle size increases result in massive strength increases. While everybody wants to debate whether strength gains equate to muscle gains, NOT getting stronger means you are definitely NOT gaining muscle! I recommend training for strength because the alternative is to fail outright!
So if changing your foot position during squats and leg presses allows you to make more rapid strength GAINS then it will probably help you increase the 'sweep' of your thighs faster by helping you grow the massive amounts of muscle you need. But if that silly foot placement makes you incapable of gaining strength - which for most people, it does - then that tells you all you need to know about its ability to help you grow muscle anywhere: it WON'T!
(PS: Perhaps you think my over simplified math is grossly incorrect and you believe that you can actually add 2cm to the width of your thighs without a change to the circumference - ie without adding extra muscle? To do that is to suggest that the position of your toes will cause your body to disassemble millions and millions of proteins in one area of the thigh and reassemble them in another area with absolutely no physiological benefit or impact on physical performance. If you believe that, good luck! Because that is voodoo)!
Visit www.BiologicLabs.com.au for Body Recompositioning diets, training programs, strength coaching, supplements and hormone balancing. Extreme fat loss and muscle development that Personal Trainers and Fitness gyms cannot achieve.
Monday 28 November 2011
Socialism and Obesity
I don't normally repost viral emails but the one below is particularly relevant both to contemporary politics and peoples attitudes towards body composition.
As the population has gotten fatter, attitudes have become more accepting of unacceptable obesity. Even science is helping people justify their knowingly atrocious dietary habits by suggesting that obese people are 'victims' of an inexplicable misfortune (such as the study suggesting obesity was "contagious" like a virus). They even gave obesity and its associated health issues a new name - Syndrome X - to highlight that it was something inexplicable that happened TO people and not because of anything they did to themselves.
With people regarded as VICTIMS of obesity - rather than personally responsible for the mess that they made of themselves - they are regarded as needing and deserving 'help' while being incapable of helping themselves. This then establishes a reward process for failure: stay fat and receive help and empathy. Lose the fat and you lose the attention and the support.
So the wonderful, warm, caring, philanthropic socialist attitude does what socialism always does: erodes the motivation and power for people to take responsibility for their actions and enjoy the rewards of their own achievements. Not only do the initial 'victims' fail but the problem spreads like a contagion, fulfilling its own prophecy.
And if you dont know what Im talking about, do some research on Lap Band surgery in Australia...
With people regarded as VICTIMS of obesity - rather than personally responsible for the mess that they made of themselves - they are regarded as needing and deserving 'help' while being incapable of helping themselves. This then establishes a reward process for failure: stay fat and receive help and empathy. Lose the fat and you lose the attention and the support.
So the wonderful, warm, caring, philanthropic socialist attitude does what socialism always does: erodes the motivation and power for people to take responsibility for their actions and enjoy the rewards of their own achievements. Not only do the initial 'victims' fail but the problem spreads like a contagion, fulfilling its own prophecy.
And if you dont know what Im talking about, do some research on Lap Band surgery in Australia...
An economics professor at a local college made a statement that he had never failed a single student before, but had recently failed an entire class. That class had insisted that Obama's socialism worked and that no one would be poor and no one would be rich - a great equalizer.
The professor then said, "OK, we will have an experiment in this class on Obama's plan. All grades will be averaged and everyone will receive the same grade so no one will fail and no one will receive an A."
After the first test, the grades were averaged and everyone got a B. The students who studied hard were upset and the students who studied little were happy. As the second test rolled around, the students who studied little had studied even less and the ones who studied hard decided they wanted a free ride too so they studied little.
The second test average was a D! No one was happy.
When the third test rolled around, the average was an F.
As the tests proceeded, the scores never increased as bickering, blame and name-calling all resulted in hard feelings and no one would study for the benefit of anyone else.
To their great surprise, ALL FAILED and the professor told them that socialism would also ultimately fail because when the reward is great, the effort to succeed is great, but when government takes all the reward away, no one will try or want to succeed.
Could not be any simpler than that.
Remember, there IS a test coming up. The 2012 elections.
These are possibly the 5 best sentences you'll ever read and all applicable to this experiment:
1. You cannot legislate the poor into prosperity by legislating the wealthy out of prosperity.
2. What one person receives without working for, another person must work for without receiving.
3. The government cannot give to anybody anything that the government does not first take from somebody else.
4. You cannot multiply wealth by dividing it!
5. When half of the people get the idea that they do not have to work because the other half is going to take care of them, and when the other half gets the idea that it does no good to work because somebody else is going to get what they work for, that is the beginning of the end of any nation
Friday 28 October 2011
HOW TO BECOME A SPORTS NUTRITION SPECIALIST WITH THE ISSN
INTRODUCTION
The Sports Nutrition Specialist (SNS) qualification is the entry-level certificate from the International Society of Sports Nutrition (ISSN). It was designed specifically for Personal Trainers and Coaches who do not have a related degree qualification.
As the Australian Ambassador for the ISSN, I organise ISSN exams in Australia. Visit my Recomp website to learn how it ties into Body Recomposition Specialist Certification.
GETTING SNS CERTIFIED
Certification is awarded for achieving 70% or greater in a 100 multi-choice question exam. There is no long-winded and expensive course to attend because the ISSN assumes you will already possess a solid background in nutrition and exercise science before sitting their exams. If you do not have such a background, the ISSN is not for you; yet. You will need to do some study and develop some experience first.
HOW TO STUDY FOR THE SNS
The content of the SNS exam is self-studied from the ISSN’s textbook: the Essentials of Sports Nutrition and Supplementation (ESNS). To the average coach studying for the SNS, the textbook is overwhelmingly technical! So much that many competent coaches have been scared off sitting the SNS when they actually had more than enough knowledge to pass.
It needs to be understood that the ESNS textbook was written for the much, much more technical and difficult CISSN exam; not the SNS! And this is why the textbook goes so far beyond the depth required for the SNS.
The SNS exam tests understanding of how to APPLY the latest science described in the textbook. But there is not a single question in the SNS requiring the memorization of biochemical processes, names of chemicals or details about research studies. The questions are not cryptically designed to trick, confuse or baffle. The SNS questions are the sorts of things a good Sports Nutritionist should know in order to correctly advise their clients on what to do. For any Trainer who has been competently advising their clients on diet, the SNS is not hard.
THE TEXTBOOK
The textbook is divided into 5 sections. The first 2 sections cover Exercise Science and are relevant only to the (significantly harder) CISSN exam; but not to the SNS. Only the last 3 sections of the book need to be studied for the SNS. They cover Sports Nutrition, Supplementation and Special Topics.
The 5 sections of the book are further divided into chapters and at the end of every chapter are 30 multi-choice questions. Again, these questions are designed to help with studying for the CISSN; not the SNS. Though a few of the easier chapter-end questions reappear in the SNS, mostly they are much more difficult (and confusing) than the questions in the SNS. In some cases, the questions at the end of the chapter cannot be answered from the chapter in which they appear. And in a few cases, the questions cannot be answered from anywhere in the textbook! It is further proof of the ISSN’s expectation of pre-existing knowledge before you sit the CISSN.
RECOMMENDATIONS
My personal recommendation for a busy coach who understands nutrition and wants to do the minimum study to pass the SNS exam is:
1. Ignore the first 2 sections of the book. There are no questions from them in the SNS.
2. Ignore the study-guides. They are aimed at developing the deep technical understanding required for the CISSN but are way beyond the SNS.
3. Ignore the almost 100 pages of references. Again, it is a tremendous resource to have available; but there are no questions in the exam about study names or their authors.
4. Ignore the almost 100 pages of the Supplements section that describes the biochemistry behind numerous supplement ingredients. It makes an exceptionally good reference guide. But for the purposes of the exam, you do not need to memorise all the different names, doses and chemical processes described.
5. Do not dwell on the complex biochemistry or chemical pronunciations. Focus on understanding the outcomes and the relevant action points – if there are any - as that is what is being tested.
6. Do not dwell on the America-centric content.
7. Possibly ignore the questions at the end of the chapters. They seem to do more to sap confidence in sitting the SNS than help understanding. They are mostly far more difficult than the exam itself.
8. Make sure to read the Sidebars! Not only are they fascinating; many of the questions come from the sidebars.
9. Make sure you know the ratios/doses of carbs, proteins, fluids and their timings that studies have shown most effective for athletic performance. These are the sorts of practical prescription issues that you do need to know.
10. Do not put the exam off for a month or more. The people who should be sitting the SNS already advise people on nutrition and already understand the principles questioned in the exam. Spending more than 2 weeks studying the textbook will only result in getting bogged down in the scary biochemistry you don’t need to know. If you need to learn nutrition from scratch then you probably need to get some experience and practice dieting for your own sport or body composition before sitting the exam.
PERSONAL FEELINGS
Having sat and passed both the SNS and CISSN exams, I cannot overstate the difference in difficulty between the two. The SNS is basic. The CISSN is biblically hard! Having passed both exams I can also reveal that I could not easily answer many of the questions in the textbook itself. Some were so obscure I failed to find the answers even by searching the Internet! So do not be put off by the questions in the textbook.
FINAL WORDS
The SNS is a fair test of relevant knowledge. An inexperienced Personal Trainer who has only been exposed to the nutrition taught in Cert 4 will struggle tremendously with the content and test. Even a degree-qualified dietician would probably not pass without study as the latest science discussed in the ESNS contradicts university curriculums. But for any experienced trainer who has, for example, prepared figure or bodybuilding athletes for competition will find the textbook interesting and the exam simple.
If you follow my recommendations above you will have barely 200 pages of textbook to read which is only 15 pages per day for 2 weeks. Its only 1/2 an hour per day of reading and that’s all you should do to not panic about not completely understanding the biochemistry.
Given that there are only 100 questions in the exam, there is only one question per 2 pages of relevant content. Obviously this leaves no room for highly technical questions or irrelevant questions to pad out the exam. It really is a very fair exam that any good coach with an interest in sports nutrition will not find hard.
Visit www.BiologicLabs.com.au for Body Recompositioning diets, training programs, strength coaching, supplements and hormone balancing. Extreme fat loss and muscle development that Personal Trainers and Fitness gyms cannot achieve.
The Sports Nutrition Specialist (SNS) qualification is the entry-level certificate from the International Society of Sports Nutrition (ISSN). It was designed specifically for Personal Trainers and Coaches who do not have a related degree qualification.
As the Australian Ambassador for the ISSN, I organise ISSN exams in Australia. Visit my Recomp website to learn how it ties into Body Recomposition Specialist Certification.
GETTING SNS CERTIFIED
Certification is awarded for achieving 70% or greater in a 100 multi-choice question exam. There is no long-winded and expensive course to attend because the ISSN assumes you will already possess a solid background in nutrition and exercise science before sitting their exams. If you do not have such a background, the ISSN is not for you; yet. You will need to do some study and develop some experience first.
HOW TO STUDY FOR THE SNS
The content of the SNS exam is self-studied from the ISSN’s textbook: the Essentials of Sports Nutrition and Supplementation (ESNS). To the average coach studying for the SNS, the textbook is overwhelmingly technical! So much that many competent coaches have been scared off sitting the SNS when they actually had more than enough knowledge to pass.
It needs to be understood that the ESNS textbook was written for the much, much more technical and difficult CISSN exam; not the SNS! And this is why the textbook goes so far beyond the depth required for the SNS.
The SNS exam tests understanding of how to APPLY the latest science described in the textbook. But there is not a single question in the SNS requiring the memorization of biochemical processes, names of chemicals or details about research studies. The questions are not cryptically designed to trick, confuse or baffle. The SNS questions are the sorts of things a good Sports Nutritionist should know in order to correctly advise their clients on what to do. For any Trainer who has been competently advising their clients on diet, the SNS is not hard.
THE TEXTBOOK
The textbook is divided into 5 sections. The first 2 sections cover Exercise Science and are relevant only to the (significantly harder) CISSN exam; but not to the SNS. Only the last 3 sections of the book need to be studied for the SNS. They cover Sports Nutrition, Supplementation and Special Topics.
The 5 sections of the book are further divided into chapters and at the end of every chapter are 30 multi-choice questions. Again, these questions are designed to help with studying for the CISSN; not the SNS. Though a few of the easier chapter-end questions reappear in the SNS, mostly they are much more difficult (and confusing) than the questions in the SNS. In some cases, the questions at the end of the chapter cannot be answered from the chapter in which they appear. And in a few cases, the questions cannot be answered from anywhere in the textbook! It is further proof of the ISSN’s expectation of pre-existing knowledge before you sit the CISSN.
RECOMMENDATIONS
My personal recommendation for a busy coach who understands nutrition and wants to do the minimum study to pass the SNS exam is:
1. Ignore the first 2 sections of the book. There are no questions from them in the SNS.
2. Ignore the study-guides. They are aimed at developing the deep technical understanding required for the CISSN but are way beyond the SNS.
3. Ignore the almost 100 pages of references. Again, it is a tremendous resource to have available; but there are no questions in the exam about study names or their authors.
4. Ignore the almost 100 pages of the Supplements section that describes the biochemistry behind numerous supplement ingredients. It makes an exceptionally good reference guide. But for the purposes of the exam, you do not need to memorise all the different names, doses and chemical processes described.
5. Do not dwell on the complex biochemistry or chemical pronunciations. Focus on understanding the outcomes and the relevant action points – if there are any - as that is what is being tested.
6. Do not dwell on the America-centric content.
7. Possibly ignore the questions at the end of the chapters. They seem to do more to sap confidence in sitting the SNS than help understanding. They are mostly far more difficult than the exam itself.
8. Make sure to read the Sidebars! Not only are they fascinating; many of the questions come from the sidebars.
9. Make sure you know the ratios/doses of carbs, proteins, fluids and their timings that studies have shown most effective for athletic performance. These are the sorts of practical prescription issues that you do need to know.
10. Do not put the exam off for a month or more. The people who should be sitting the SNS already advise people on nutrition and already understand the principles questioned in the exam. Spending more than 2 weeks studying the textbook will only result in getting bogged down in the scary biochemistry you don’t need to know. If you need to learn nutrition from scratch then you probably need to get some experience and practice dieting for your own sport or body composition before sitting the exam.
PERSONAL FEELINGS
Having sat and passed both the SNS and CISSN exams, I cannot overstate the difference in difficulty between the two. The SNS is basic. The CISSN is biblically hard! Having passed both exams I can also reveal that I could not easily answer many of the questions in the textbook itself. Some were so obscure I failed to find the answers even by searching the Internet! So do not be put off by the questions in the textbook.
FINAL WORDS
The SNS is a fair test of relevant knowledge. An inexperienced Personal Trainer who has only been exposed to the nutrition taught in Cert 4 will struggle tremendously with the content and test. Even a degree-qualified dietician would probably not pass without study as the latest science discussed in the ESNS contradicts university curriculums. But for any experienced trainer who has, for example, prepared figure or bodybuilding athletes for competition will find the textbook interesting and the exam simple.
If you follow my recommendations above you will have barely 200 pages of textbook to read which is only 15 pages per day for 2 weeks. Its only 1/2 an hour per day of reading and that’s all you should do to not panic about not completely understanding the biochemistry.
Given that there are only 100 questions in the exam, there is only one question per 2 pages of relevant content. Obviously this leaves no room for highly technical questions or irrelevant questions to pad out the exam. It really is a very fair exam that any good coach with an interest in sports nutrition will not find hard.
Visit www.BiologicLabs.com.au for Body Recompositioning diets, training programs, strength coaching, supplements and hormone balancing. Extreme fat loss and muscle development that Personal Trainers and Fitness gyms cannot achieve.
Tuesday 21 June 2011
Don't Hate the Fitness Industry
For the longest time I despised the fitness industry. I hated it for the way it certified people who had never trained with weights or achieved any sort of athletic accomplishment. I hated that out-of-shape people were given the same formal recognition as World Champion athletes. I hated that the content of the Fitness training course is utterly irrelevant, horribly obsolete and almost cannot be failed. I hated that the Fitness industry shunned intense weight training while promoting rehabilitation exercise for people who don't need rehabilitating. In short, I hated the institutionalised mediocrity of the Fitness Industry.
But then one day it dawned on me that the problem was actually my misunderstanding of what ‘fitness’ is. Like most people, I thought fitness was all about being in the best physical condition you could be. I thought it was about having an exceptional body and athletic ability.
But fitness is none of those things. Being ‘fit’ is to be ‘adequate’ or ‘suitable’ to perform the most basic functions a human should be able to fulfil. Being fit, in a general sense, is being able to walk, sit up, jog lightly, throw a ball, crawl etc. It isn’t about being an athlete. It isn’t about being best, brilliant, exceptional or even good. To have ‘general fitness’ is actually to be the LEAST a human can be without being sick, injured or handicapped. ‘Fit’ is simply: to not be ‘unfit’; to not require rehabilitation. To be ‘fit’ is to be average; mediocre; exceptionally unexceptional.
Realising this simple fact was hugely liberating for me. Suddenly the fitness industry made sense. Suddenly it made sense why all those personal trainers were prescribing therabands, swiss balls, walking on treadmills and other low intensity rehabilitation exercise that is utterly useless for improving the body. Suddenly I understood why Personal Trainers worked in parks doing primary school PE exercise with their clients. Suddenly I understood yoga, Pilates, bosu balls, ab rollers, the endless Les Mills franchises and fitness fads. None of it ever was about creating a great body or athleticism. It was all about the masses of fat, unfit people achieving the lofty heights of mediocrity!
I have realised that there never was a problem with the fitness industry when it came to delivering the average-ness 'fitness'. In fact, given the disastrous physical state of the majority of Australians, the fitness industry has never been more relevant! The problem that remains is the general misunderstanding and misrepresentation of what ‘fitness’ is.
I am not the only one who has mistakenly thought that ‘fitness’ was synonymous with ‘body recomposition’. In fact, almost every single person I have ever spoken to – inside and outside of the fitness industry – has never considered fitness NOT to mean body recompositioning. Worse still, the vast majority of people I have ever spoken to - inside and outside of the fitness industry – have never even considered what the definition of fitness actually is at all!? I cannot think of another aspiration that is so widely sought after yet so amorphous that hardly anybody paying for it can even define what it is?!
So the greatest fault of the fitness industry is not that its education program is full of content that is irrelevant and obsolete for body recomposition. It is not that the so-called ‘profession’ of Personal Training is one of the most unaccountable vocations with a staggering 95% failure rate for body recomposition. It is not that the fitness industry aggressively directs people away from the type of weight training and dietary practices required for efficient body composition control. No, the greatest problem with the fitness industry is its ongoing, mendacious implication that fitness IS body recompositioning when nothing could be further from the truth!
Visit www.BiologicLabs.com.au for Body Recompositioning diets, training programs, strength coaching, supplements and hormone balancing. Extreme fat loss and muscle development that Personal Trainers and Fitness gyms cannot achieve.
But then one day it dawned on me that the problem was actually my misunderstanding of what ‘fitness’ is. Like most people, I thought fitness was all about being in the best physical condition you could be. I thought it was about having an exceptional body and athletic ability.
But fitness is none of those things. Being ‘fit’ is to be ‘adequate’ or ‘suitable’ to perform the most basic functions a human should be able to fulfil. Being fit, in a general sense, is being able to walk, sit up, jog lightly, throw a ball, crawl etc. It isn’t about being an athlete. It isn’t about being best, brilliant, exceptional or even good. To have ‘general fitness’ is actually to be the LEAST a human can be without being sick, injured or handicapped. ‘Fit’ is simply: to not be ‘unfit’; to not require rehabilitation. To be ‘fit’ is to be average; mediocre; exceptionally unexceptional.
Realising this simple fact was hugely liberating for me. Suddenly the fitness industry made sense. Suddenly it made sense why all those personal trainers were prescribing therabands, swiss balls, walking on treadmills and other low intensity rehabilitation exercise that is utterly useless for improving the body. Suddenly I understood why Personal Trainers worked in parks doing primary school PE exercise with their clients. Suddenly I understood yoga, Pilates, bosu balls, ab rollers, the endless Les Mills franchises and fitness fads. None of it ever was about creating a great body or athleticism. It was all about the masses of fat, unfit people achieving the lofty heights of mediocrity!
I have realised that there never was a problem with the fitness industry when it came to delivering the average-ness 'fitness'. In fact, given the disastrous physical state of the majority of Australians, the fitness industry has never been more relevant! The problem that remains is the general misunderstanding and misrepresentation of what ‘fitness’ is.
I am not the only one who has mistakenly thought that ‘fitness’ was synonymous with ‘body recomposition’. In fact, almost every single person I have ever spoken to – inside and outside of the fitness industry – has never considered fitness NOT to mean body recompositioning. Worse still, the vast majority of people I have ever spoken to - inside and outside of the fitness industry – have never even considered what the definition of fitness actually is at all!? I cannot think of another aspiration that is so widely sought after yet so amorphous that hardly anybody paying for it can even define what it is?!
So the greatest fault of the fitness industry is not that its education program is full of content that is irrelevant and obsolete for body recomposition. It is not that the so-called ‘profession’ of Personal Training is one of the most unaccountable vocations with a staggering 95% failure rate for body recomposition. It is not that the fitness industry aggressively directs people away from the type of weight training and dietary practices required for efficient body composition control. No, the greatest problem with the fitness industry is its ongoing, mendacious implication that fitness IS body recompositioning when nothing could be further from the truth!
Visit www.BiologicLabs.com.au for Body Recompositioning diets, training programs, strength coaching, supplements and hormone balancing. Extreme fat loss and muscle development that Personal Trainers and Fitness gyms cannot achieve.
Friday 20 May 2011
Bodybuilding Training: What Am I Missing?
For several months I was struggling to focus on my training for a variety of reasons. I still trained every week and I trained hard and heavy when I did. But when you measure your performances like I do it makes it very hard to lie to yourself that you aren't going backwards when the numbers prove that you are, in fact, going backwards. So I decided to do something new just to do something new. Ideally I needed to change my training so that I COULD lie to myself that I wasnt going backwards, and not know otherwise. So I decided to do bodybuilder training.
Bodybuilder training means I train more often and do more 'stuff' but never worry about how much weight I lift because apparently weight doesnt matter. Apparently worrying about the weight on weight-based exercises in the activity known as 'lifting weights', well, that is 'powerlifting'. And Bodybuilding is not powerlifting... and that is all... You don't need to know why weight doesnt matter other than to know that weight=powerlifting and bodybuilding is NOT powerlifting!!!
So I strut around commenting on my "insane pump" and "feeling the burn" and how its all about the "quality contractions". I keep reminding everybody that "this is bodybuilding, not powerlifting" as I put really light weights on exercises they all know I can lift more on. Then I explain how I'm "carving in the separations" by "squeezing the muscle" and that I'm "using my mind to make 20lb feel like 200lb" because the "muscle can't see the weight". And though I'm quoting verbatim all the stuff thats written in bodybuilding magazines, people still look at me with a knowing smirk that I am being a dickhead and everything I am saying is idiotic rubbish.
But I can't help that a tinge of sarcasm comes through in my voice when I announce during 15kg dumbell curls that I am "visualising my biceps being like the craggy mountain peaks of the Alps". I'm trying - Im trying hard - to do the bodybuilder thing and say the bodybuilder things but it really is the most ridiculous crap. So its hard to keep a straight face.
I do like that when I just cannot be bothered working hard that I can blurt out some random, stupid, closed-statement like "2 plates per side is enough for growth". Because with bodybuilding your statements dont even need to make sense. Like I can say "Im using a close grip to make my pecs go more outwards and not so much wide" and in bodybuilding gyms, people seem to nod like its the spoken word of Confucius. So long as its always "about the quality contractions and not the weight", its all good. But when I say it, people laugh at me and the stupidity of the statements. What AM I doing wrong?
I also like the ridiculous excuses I can make for pathetic performances. Like the other day after I'd "smashed my pecs til they were totally on swole, man" and I then "destroyed my delts". I started with rear laterals to bring out the rear head of the shoulder and get that "real cannonball" look to the delts. Yeah, those rear laterals really round out my delts. Then I "worked on my width" with a few sets of laterals to "bring out the side head" and build the "cap" on the delts to emphasise my V-taper. Of course I made sure to twist my little fingers to "work the trap-delt tie-ins" (to be honest, I still dont actually know what it means to 'work the tie-ins' assuming the 'tie-in' is the gap between 2 muscles. But hey, who am I to use common sense)? I pyramided up each set, of course, and kept my reps in the "8-12 range for hypertrophy" (cos 7 reps is powerlifting - and bodybuilding is NOT powerlifting!!! - and 13reps would be... I dunno... triathlon or something).
After I "pre-exhausted" the delts I went to the Military Press for "my main mass builder". I was "smashed" so I barely got 9 reps. Phew. I just made it into the growth range. Nevermind that I'd normally do the same weight for 30. Weight doesnt matter and 30reps is aerobics. Military Pressing 110% of bodyweight for 30reps aint impressive; its just... confusing. 9 reps with a weight I can normally do 30 reps with is making my muscles increase in size - but not strength - cos I stopped at 9 and thats between 8 and 12 which is hypertrophy. And hypertrophy is good; like brocolli. Its just good. See, its all about doing the right number of reps and stopping. You don't want to go over or...um... honestly, I have no idea; but you just don't!
Next set I only managed 6. Damn. No growth. 6 isnt enough for growth. But I did get some strength. 6-8 for strength see. Or was that 3-5 for strength? Dammit! I got it wrong and now I won't know what I got til... again, I'm not really sure when I am supposed to actually 'get' something out of this? Oh yeah, "the mirror never lies"... I don't know how that relates either but bodybuilders seem to just throw in those closed statements all the time as though the relevance was self-evident; though it never is.
So try as I might, I can't pretend NOT to know that everything I just said there was just plain stupid. Its ridiculous stupidity. I'm honestly TRYING to say it the same way that the bodybuilders do but I just cannot help notice that it still sounds idiotic.
And yet apparently I am the crazy, radical one. I have crazy ideas about training because I believe that training hard and eating perfectly is the most effective way for looking your best. Apparently THATS crazy. Apparently what I suggest is really confusing. But all the bodybuilding stuff I wrote above, that makes sense? I just don't know what I am missing?
Visit www.BiologicLabs.com.au for Body Recompositioning diets, training programs, strength coaching, supplements and hormone balancing. Extreme fat loss and muscle development that Personal Trainers and Fitness gyms cannot achieve.
Bodybuilder training means I train more often and do more 'stuff' but never worry about how much weight I lift because apparently weight doesnt matter. Apparently worrying about the weight on weight-based exercises in the activity known as 'lifting weights', well, that is 'powerlifting'. And Bodybuilding is not powerlifting... and that is all... You don't need to know why weight doesnt matter other than to know that weight=powerlifting and bodybuilding is NOT powerlifting!!!
So I strut around commenting on my "insane pump" and "feeling the burn" and how its all about the "quality contractions". I keep reminding everybody that "this is bodybuilding, not powerlifting" as I put really light weights on exercises they all know I can lift more on. Then I explain how I'm "carving in the separations" by "squeezing the muscle" and that I'm "using my mind to make 20lb feel like 200lb" because the "muscle can't see the weight". And though I'm quoting verbatim all the stuff thats written in bodybuilding magazines, people still look at me with a knowing smirk that I am being a dickhead and everything I am saying is idiotic rubbish.
But I can't help that a tinge of sarcasm comes through in my voice when I announce during 15kg dumbell curls that I am "visualising my biceps being like the craggy mountain peaks of the Alps". I'm trying - Im trying hard - to do the bodybuilder thing and say the bodybuilder things but it really is the most ridiculous crap. So its hard to keep a straight face.
I do like that when I just cannot be bothered working hard that I can blurt out some random, stupid, closed-statement like "2 plates per side is enough for growth". Because with bodybuilding your statements dont even need to make sense. Like I can say "Im using a close grip to make my pecs go more outwards and not so much wide" and in bodybuilding gyms, people seem to nod like its the spoken word of Confucius. So long as its always "about the quality contractions and not the weight", its all good. But when I say it, people laugh at me and the stupidity of the statements. What AM I doing wrong?
I also like the ridiculous excuses I can make for pathetic performances. Like the other day after I'd "smashed my pecs til they were totally on swole, man" and I then "destroyed my delts". I started with rear laterals to bring out the rear head of the shoulder and get that "real cannonball" look to the delts. Yeah, those rear laterals really round out my delts. Then I "worked on my width" with a few sets of laterals to "bring out the side head" and build the "cap" on the delts to emphasise my V-taper. Of course I made sure to twist my little fingers to "work the trap-delt tie-ins" (to be honest, I still dont actually know what it means to 'work the tie-ins' assuming the 'tie-in' is the gap between 2 muscles. But hey, who am I to use common sense)? I pyramided up each set, of course, and kept my reps in the "8-12 range for hypertrophy" (cos 7 reps is powerlifting - and bodybuilding is NOT powerlifting!!! - and 13reps would be... I dunno... triathlon or something).
After I "pre-exhausted" the delts I went to the Military Press for "my main mass builder". I was "smashed" so I barely got 9 reps. Phew. I just made it into the growth range. Nevermind that I'd normally do the same weight for 30. Weight doesnt matter and 30reps is aerobics. Military Pressing 110% of bodyweight for 30reps aint impressive; its just... confusing. 9 reps with a weight I can normally do 30 reps with is making my muscles increase in size - but not strength - cos I stopped at 9 and thats between 8 and 12 which is hypertrophy. And hypertrophy is good; like brocolli. Its just good. See, its all about doing the right number of reps and stopping. You don't want to go over or...um... honestly, I have no idea; but you just don't!
Next set I only managed 6. Damn. No growth. 6 isnt enough for growth. But I did get some strength. 6-8 for strength see. Or was that 3-5 for strength? Dammit! I got it wrong and now I won't know what I got til... again, I'm not really sure when I am supposed to actually 'get' something out of this? Oh yeah, "the mirror never lies"... I don't know how that relates either but bodybuilders seem to just throw in those closed statements all the time as though the relevance was self-evident; though it never is.
So try as I might, I can't pretend NOT to know that everything I just said there was just plain stupid. Its ridiculous stupidity. I'm honestly TRYING to say it the same way that the bodybuilders do but I just cannot help notice that it still sounds idiotic.
And yet apparently I am the crazy, radical one. I have crazy ideas about training because I believe that training hard and eating perfectly is the most effective way for looking your best. Apparently THATS crazy. Apparently what I suggest is really confusing. But all the bodybuilding stuff I wrote above, that makes sense? I just don't know what I am missing?
Visit www.BiologicLabs.com.au for Body Recompositioning diets, training programs, strength coaching, supplements and hormone balancing. Extreme fat loss and muscle development that Personal Trainers and Fitness gyms cannot achieve.
Tuesday 10 May 2011
GHRP-6 & The Peptide Hormone Craze
It seems everyone is raving on peptide hormones as the amazing 'new thing' in lazy, drug-induced muscle growth and fat loss. The fact is, injectable peptide hormones have been around for decades. The diabetic hormone Insulin is a peptide hormone and it was first available in the 1920's!
When Peptides Came To Fame
But Growth Hormone (GH) was the peptide hormone that changed everything. GH was credited to creating the new era of muscular bodybuilding monsters from around the time Lee Haney arrived in the 80's. And demand for the drug - and its reputation as being THE underground 'secret of the pros' - was bolstered by its mind-blowingly expensive price and rarity.
Then IGF-1 hit the black market before it was even an approved drug and the mystery and rumors surround GH, Insulin and IGF reached fever pitch. Steroids were old news. Now, if you want to look like a pro bodybuilder you just need to get enough of the right peptides.
GHRP-6
Which brings us to GHRP-6. GH Releasing Peptide is cheap and... well, currently not illegal to purchase over the internet. As the name suggests, it causes GH release; so people figure it must be exactly the same as GH and therefore will make them look like a pro bodybuilder in no time, with no effort and without all the rest of the drugs. Unfortunately, you won't look anything like a pro bodybuilder from using GHRP-6. The only reason it is so HUGELY popular is because finally Mr Average can AFFORD something that looks like the hardcore 'gear' the pro's use... except not.
I don't know anybody who got anything out of GHRP-6 whatsoever! At least, nothing over and above what might be expected from the other 'things' they were doing/taking at the time. In fact, when really pressed, nobody I know seems to know of anybody else who got any great benefit out of it either. All of the guys I know who still use it only do because it is cheap and they don't want to risk not taking it, 'in case it helps'.
So Why Use It?
Everybody knows that pro bodybuilders use lots of drugs and, these days, are as lazy as sin in the gym. The conclusion for many people is that drugs or injecting/boosting your naturally occurring hormones is the only way to build muscle.
Supplements are selling like crazy in response to the belief that the solution to an awesome physique is in a bottle. And if your muscles don't arrive you don't blame your hopeless training or disgraceful diet. You just got the wrong bottle of magic potion.
Many young guys will inject anything they possibly can afford and get and then strangely believe they are transforming into a pro bodybuilder just by being so 'hardcore' as to be taking a drug. I knew a guy who kicked in the door of his own car in a claimed 'roid rage' only minutes after injecting himself with some cooking oil that he thought was a steroid.
Here is a story to illustrate what I mean about the seriously deluded misrepresenations that bodybuilders make about their drugs and supplements:
The PGF Experiment
A few years ago I followed with interest the writings of a hardcore drug abusing bodybuilder as he did a 4 week experiment with PGF-2; one of the newish growth factors that is one of the most potent muscle building hormones in the body and WAY more significant than GHRP-6 could ever dream of being.
He wound up having to take most of the 4 weeks off work because the explosive diarrhoea and acute flu-like symptoms that he - and everyone using PGF - got after each of his 5 daily injections made work impossible.
The whole time he couldnt hold down any of his food or it went straight through him and 'out the back door'. He could hardly train either because the drug caused massive muscle pain; not to mention the muscle pumps from minimal training were apparently crippling.
He had stacked the drug on top of an especially 'heavy' cycle of very high dose steroids, GH, Insulin, T3 and a bunch of other stuff I can't remember. He did so to give the PGF the "best chance of working". But he used all of these drugs all year round so they "weren't doing anything" for him any more.
Despite the pain and discomfort he was in, he persisted with the PGF because he was quickly "blowing up" AND getting "shredded" all at the same time. In all his years of drugs he'd never seen anything like the transformation that was taking place. He was getting bigger and leaner everyday. Muscle was literally piling on him as the fat melted away. It was incredible.
At the end of 4 weeks of diarrhoea, vomiting, stomach cramps, headaches and all over muscular pain his conclusion was that it had been more than worth it. He had grown so much muscle and lost so much fat that it had transformed his physique. He even measured it; his total body composition change totalled:
2 pounds of muscle gain and 1 pound of fat lost.
Yep. All that hell and he gained 900grams of muscle while losing 450g of fat. Yet in his own mind, he got MASSIVE and RIPPED!
When Peptides Become Relevant to Bodybuilding Training
It all comes back to what I've always said: its all about your training. Train and diet properly and a drug-free athlete should be able to achieve about a 260kg deadlift before things become extremely hard to go further. If you can't get a natural 260kg deadlift then you are training and eating wrong. Some guys can even acheive a 260kg deadlift without ever actually doing a deadlift or training hard!
But if the physique of a lean 260kg deadlifter is not muscular enough for you (eg typically around 95kg at 8% bodyfat at 180cm) then you are going to probably need unnatural means to achieve your unnatural goals. Very low dose, testosterone optimisation therapy can help a successfully training athlete to achieve a 300kg deadlift and a great physique (eg around 105kg at 8% at 180cm).
If you still want more unnatural levels of muscle then you probably need to break the law and cycle higher doses of testosterone and/or add GH. Beyond a 340kg deadlift (growing bigger than around 115-125kg at 8% at 180cm) you'll probably need to stay on higher doses of steroids year round.
By the time you reach the muscularity capable of a 360kg deadlift (ie over 130kg, lean at 180cm) as a career-criminal steroid user, then progress will probably be determined by cycles of insulin with GH and IGF-1 and all the rest.
This is the point at which these peptide growth factors become relevant: the pro-bodybuilder level. Without the heavy base of steroid hormones, though, they are a mostly a waste of time and money. And if you are already using all of these drugs to achieve a lesser physique then you need to take a serious look at yourself, your diet and your training!
Conclusion
When you hear from a bloke that GHRP-6 is MIND-BLOWING AWESOMENESS in a bottle, just remember my story above about exactly how mind-blowing PGF2 was! Whoever you are, GHRP-6 is definitely NOT the solution to ANY of your physique or training problems!
Visit www.BiologicLabs.com.au for Body Recompositioning diets, training programs, strength coaching, supplements and hormone balancing. Extreme fat loss and muscle development that Personal Trainers and Fitness gyms cannot achieve.
When Peptides Came To Fame
But Growth Hormone (GH) was the peptide hormone that changed everything. GH was credited to creating the new era of muscular bodybuilding monsters from around the time Lee Haney arrived in the 80's. And demand for the drug - and its reputation as being THE underground 'secret of the pros' - was bolstered by its mind-blowingly expensive price and rarity.
Then IGF-1 hit the black market before it was even an approved drug and the mystery and rumors surround GH, Insulin and IGF reached fever pitch. Steroids were old news. Now, if you want to look like a pro bodybuilder you just need to get enough of the right peptides.
GHRP-6
Which brings us to GHRP-6. GH Releasing Peptide is cheap and... well, currently not illegal to purchase over the internet. As the name suggests, it causes GH release; so people figure it must be exactly the same as GH and therefore will make them look like a pro bodybuilder in no time, with no effort and without all the rest of the drugs. Unfortunately, you won't look anything like a pro bodybuilder from using GHRP-6. The only reason it is so HUGELY popular is because finally Mr Average can AFFORD something that looks like the hardcore 'gear' the pro's use... except not.
I don't know anybody who got anything out of GHRP-6 whatsoever! At least, nothing over and above what might be expected from the other 'things' they were doing/taking at the time. In fact, when really pressed, nobody I know seems to know of anybody else who got any great benefit out of it either. All of the guys I know who still use it only do because it is cheap and they don't want to risk not taking it, 'in case it helps'.
So Why Use It?
Everybody knows that pro bodybuilders use lots of drugs and, these days, are as lazy as sin in the gym. The conclusion for many people is that drugs or injecting/boosting your naturally occurring hormones is the only way to build muscle.
Supplements are selling like crazy in response to the belief that the solution to an awesome physique is in a bottle. And if your muscles don't arrive you don't blame your hopeless training or disgraceful diet. You just got the wrong bottle of magic potion.
Many young guys will inject anything they possibly can afford and get and then strangely believe they are transforming into a pro bodybuilder just by being so 'hardcore' as to be taking a drug. I knew a guy who kicked in the door of his own car in a claimed 'roid rage' only minutes after injecting himself with some cooking oil that he thought was a steroid.
Here is a story to illustrate what I mean about the seriously deluded misrepresenations that bodybuilders make about their drugs and supplements:
The PGF Experiment
A few years ago I followed with interest the writings of a hardcore drug abusing bodybuilder as he did a 4 week experiment with PGF-2; one of the newish growth factors that is one of the most potent muscle building hormones in the body and WAY more significant than GHRP-6 could ever dream of being.
He wound up having to take most of the 4 weeks off work because the explosive diarrhoea and acute flu-like symptoms that he - and everyone using PGF - got after each of his 5 daily injections made work impossible.
The whole time he couldnt hold down any of his food or it went straight through him and 'out the back door'. He could hardly train either because the drug caused massive muscle pain; not to mention the muscle pumps from minimal training were apparently crippling.
He had stacked the drug on top of an especially 'heavy' cycle of very high dose steroids, GH, Insulin, T3 and a bunch of other stuff I can't remember. He did so to give the PGF the "best chance of working". But he used all of these drugs all year round so they "weren't doing anything" for him any more.
Despite the pain and discomfort he was in, he persisted with the PGF because he was quickly "blowing up" AND getting "shredded" all at the same time. In all his years of drugs he'd never seen anything like the transformation that was taking place. He was getting bigger and leaner everyday. Muscle was literally piling on him as the fat melted away. It was incredible.
At the end of 4 weeks of diarrhoea, vomiting, stomach cramps, headaches and all over muscular pain his conclusion was that it had been more than worth it. He had grown so much muscle and lost so much fat that it had transformed his physique. He even measured it; his total body composition change totalled:
2 pounds of muscle gain and 1 pound of fat lost.
Yep. All that hell and he gained 900grams of muscle while losing 450g of fat. Yet in his own mind, he got MASSIVE and RIPPED!
When Peptides Become Relevant to Bodybuilding Training
It all comes back to what I've always said: its all about your training. Train and diet properly and a drug-free athlete should be able to achieve about a 260kg deadlift before things become extremely hard to go further. If you can't get a natural 260kg deadlift then you are training and eating wrong. Some guys can even acheive a 260kg deadlift without ever actually doing a deadlift or training hard!
But if the physique of a lean 260kg deadlifter is not muscular enough for you (eg typically around 95kg at 8% bodyfat at 180cm) then you are going to probably need unnatural means to achieve your unnatural goals. Very low dose, testosterone optimisation therapy can help a successfully training athlete to achieve a 300kg deadlift and a great physique (eg around 105kg at 8% at 180cm).
If you still want more unnatural levels of muscle then you probably need to break the law and cycle higher doses of testosterone and/or add GH. Beyond a 340kg deadlift (growing bigger than around 115-125kg at 8% at 180cm) you'll probably need to stay on higher doses of steroids year round.
By the time you reach the muscularity capable of a 360kg deadlift (ie over 130kg, lean at 180cm) as a career-criminal steroid user, then progress will probably be determined by cycles of insulin with GH and IGF-1 and all the rest.
This is the point at which these peptide growth factors become relevant: the pro-bodybuilder level. Without the heavy base of steroid hormones, though, they are a mostly a waste of time and money. And if you are already using all of these drugs to achieve a lesser physique then you need to take a serious look at yourself, your diet and your training!
Conclusion
When you hear from a bloke that GHRP-6 is MIND-BLOWING AWESOMENESS in a bottle, just remember my story above about exactly how mind-blowing PGF2 was! Whoever you are, GHRP-6 is definitely NOT the solution to ANY of your physique or training problems!
Visit www.BiologicLabs.com.au for Body Recompositioning diets, training programs, strength coaching, supplements and hormone balancing. Extreme fat loss and muscle development that Personal Trainers and Fitness gyms cannot achieve.
Friday 29 April 2011
Cardio and Fat Loss: Why don't they Measure it?
Interestingly, for all of the deeply scientific explanations for doing low-intensity-endurance-exercise ("cardio") for fat loss, nobody practicing the theory bothers measuring their planned change in body composition. They invest in all sorts of complex gizmos for measuring heart rate and calories burned and calories consumed and VO2 max and stuff; but they don't measure their bodyfat.
The few trainers who do measure fat-skinfolds typically refuse to then calculate a bodyfat percentage. They argue that bodyfat equations are inaccurate; yet ignore that their calorie equations never, ever work for them.
The even fewer trainers who bother to calculate a bodyfat percentage refuse to use it to calculate out how much actual fat and lean mass has changed. They have the data right there but simply cannot face the inconvenient truth it exposes: cardio is horribly inefficient and ineffective for improving body composition and lowering bodyfat.
Visit www.BiologicLabs.com.au for Body Recompositioning diets, training programs, strength coaching, supplements and hormone balancing. Extreme fat loss and muscle development that Personal Trainers and Fitness gyms cannot achieve.
The few trainers who do measure fat-skinfolds typically refuse to then calculate a bodyfat percentage. They argue that bodyfat equations are inaccurate; yet ignore that their calorie equations never, ever work for them.
The even fewer trainers who bother to calculate a bodyfat percentage refuse to use it to calculate out how much actual fat and lean mass has changed. They have the data right there but simply cannot face the inconvenient truth it exposes: cardio is horribly inefficient and ineffective for improving body composition and lowering bodyfat.
Visit www.BiologicLabs.com.au for Body Recompositioning diets, training programs, strength coaching, supplements and hormone balancing. Extreme fat loss and muscle development that Personal Trainers and Fitness gyms cannot achieve.
Wednesday 23 March 2011
FAQ: Training Like Everyone Trains
QUESTION:
There are so many guys getting good results with the 1 bodypart per day, 5 day per week routine (training each bodypart once per week). Why do you recommend 3 days per week and training bodyparts more often?
ANSWER:
There are guys who are better built than you and me who don't even workout! There are guys out there stronger than you and me who have never lifted a weight! There are guys out there who don't need to lift heavy weights or train very hard to become capable of lifting insanely heavy weights! And there are guys out there who suddenly become one of those other freaky guys as soon as they inject a few drugs.
The issue is, you are writing to me because you are NOT one of those guys. I am NOT one of those guys either. In fact, very few of us are one of those guys. But we all look up to those guys. We all WISH we were those guys. So we make the logical but stupid mistake: we ask those guys what they did and then try to copy it. And the inevitable result is: we fail to look like those guys cos we just aint those guys. And we fail to get strong by doing pumping training with light weights and lots of exercises like they do because it doesnt even make sense why a human WOULD get strong training like that!!!
So the reason I don't recommend the standard '1-bodypart-per-day' program is because so many guys ARENT getting good results with it. In fact, MOST trainers arent getting good results with it. In fact, the ONLY trainers that ARE getting results out of it are those rare individuals who get results out of ANY program! And even they tend to get MORE results out of any other program than the standard 1 bodypart per day regime.
Almost EVERY trainer who comes to me for a program is using the '1 bodypart per day' program and has failed to achieve anything for YEARS! But they stick with it because every monday they train chest and they get a big pump and it feels good and they look swollen the next day and are sore for 2 days after. By the time they arent sore its monday again and they get a big pump and feel good and get swollen etc etc. But after a year they havent changed AT ALL! They just swell up and down every week in every muscle and go nowhere overall. But its easy, it feels SOOOOO good, it looks good and everybody does it. And that is why everybody does it: its just lazy, feel-good, lemming behaviour.
I was lucky enough to realise early on that the really muscular guys are really muscular because they are CAPABLE of lifting HUGE weights; even if they rarely bother to. It just makes sense - muscle exists to exert force. It doesnt need to do it for very long or very often. Its just there in case a lot of force is needed. Big muscles equal big strength; even if they don't mean strong work ethic!
Given that I was very weak and I wanted to become very strong, ASAP, it was obvious that I needed a training program that made me able to lift heavier and heavier weights EVERY time I trained. With SO much strength to be gained, it made no sense to waste time on any program that gave me no strength gains each week. So I rationalised and then trialled every combination until I found the ones that gained strength well.
Quickly it became obvious that a program like "the pro's" use - 1 bodypart per week with lots of half-assed 'stuff' - wasnt, in any way, relevant to what I needed to achieve. And it didnt take much trial-&-error to find out how poorly it worked. I am just lucky to be an argumentative, contrarian SOB who doesnt do what everyone else does just because its what everyone else does! ;-)
So by trying stuff and then thinking about it, the logical programs proved to work best: push heavy weights to failure and plan your WEIGHTS given that the WEIGHT is the purpose and outcome of training.
The rest is just logical. I don't recommend doing flyes after bench press because I can't understand how doing light-weight flyes, when I'm tired, is going to help communicate to my body that it needs to become capable of doing a 200kg bench press? Some guys can do that. Most of us can't. If you can do that then keep doing what you are doing. If you can't do that.... it doesnt take too much brainpower to understand why!
I hope that helps. Its not rocket science. Its just pretty obvious. Focus on your end goal - lifting a crazy deadlift, squat and bench! Doing so should make you realise how dumb the standard 'routine-of-the-pros' is!
Visit www.BiologicLabs.com.au for Body Recompositioning diets, training programs, strength coaching, supplements and hormone balancing. Extreme fat loss and muscle development that Personal Trainers and Fitness gyms cannot achieve.
There are so many guys getting good results with the 1 bodypart per day, 5 day per week routine (training each bodypart once per week). Why do you recommend 3 days per week and training bodyparts more often?
ANSWER:
There are guys who are better built than you and me who don't even workout! There are guys out there stronger than you and me who have never lifted a weight! There are guys out there who don't need to lift heavy weights or train very hard to become capable of lifting insanely heavy weights! And there are guys out there who suddenly become one of those other freaky guys as soon as they inject a few drugs.
The issue is, you are writing to me because you are NOT one of those guys. I am NOT one of those guys either. In fact, very few of us are one of those guys. But we all look up to those guys. We all WISH we were those guys. So we make the logical but stupid mistake: we ask those guys what they did and then try to copy it. And the inevitable result is: we fail to look like those guys cos we just aint those guys. And we fail to get strong by doing pumping training with light weights and lots of exercises like they do because it doesnt even make sense why a human WOULD get strong training like that!!!
So the reason I don't recommend the standard '1-bodypart-per-day' program is because so many guys ARENT getting good results with it. In fact, MOST trainers arent getting good results with it. In fact, the ONLY trainers that ARE getting results out of it are those rare individuals who get results out of ANY program! And even they tend to get MORE results out of any other program than the standard 1 bodypart per day regime.
Almost EVERY trainer who comes to me for a program is using the '1 bodypart per day' program and has failed to achieve anything for YEARS! But they stick with it because every monday they train chest and they get a big pump and it feels good and they look swollen the next day and are sore for 2 days after. By the time they arent sore its monday again and they get a big pump and feel good and get swollen etc etc. But after a year they havent changed AT ALL! They just swell up and down every week in every muscle and go nowhere overall. But its easy, it feels SOOOOO good, it looks good and everybody does it. And that is why everybody does it: its just lazy, feel-good, lemming behaviour.
I was lucky enough to realise early on that the really muscular guys are really muscular because they are CAPABLE of lifting HUGE weights; even if they rarely bother to. It just makes sense - muscle exists to exert force. It doesnt need to do it for very long or very often. Its just there in case a lot of force is needed. Big muscles equal big strength; even if they don't mean strong work ethic!
Given that I was very weak and I wanted to become very strong, ASAP, it was obvious that I needed a training program that made me able to lift heavier and heavier weights EVERY time I trained. With SO much strength to be gained, it made no sense to waste time on any program that gave me no strength gains each week. So I rationalised and then trialled every combination until I found the ones that gained strength well.
Quickly it became obvious that a program like "the pro's" use - 1 bodypart per week with lots of half-assed 'stuff' - wasnt, in any way, relevant to what I needed to achieve. And it didnt take much trial-&-error to find out how poorly it worked. I am just lucky to be an argumentative, contrarian SOB who doesnt do what everyone else does just because its what everyone else does! ;-)
So by trying stuff and then thinking about it, the logical programs proved to work best: push heavy weights to failure and plan your WEIGHTS given that the WEIGHT is the purpose and outcome of training.
The rest is just logical. I don't recommend doing flyes after bench press because I can't understand how doing light-weight flyes, when I'm tired, is going to help communicate to my body that it needs to become capable of doing a 200kg bench press? Some guys can do that. Most of us can't. If you can do that then keep doing what you are doing. If you can't do that.... it doesnt take too much brainpower to understand why!
I hope that helps. Its not rocket science. Its just pretty obvious. Focus on your end goal - lifting a crazy deadlift, squat and bench! Doing so should make you realise how dumb the standard 'routine-of-the-pros' is!
Visit www.BiologicLabs.com.au for Body Recompositioning diets, training programs, strength coaching, supplements and hormone balancing. Extreme fat loss and muscle development that Personal Trainers and Fitness gyms cannot achieve.
Tuesday 8 March 2011
Fit, Flexible & Fat
Check out this girl who has been training hard to get fit, flexible and fabulous. And she succeeded! Check out that flexibility. Wow! Thats really fit.
Doesn't she just make you want to run to your nearest yoga class to achieve the same sort of fitness?
No. Me either. In fact, I think she could benefit by dropping the Fitness work and engaging in some Body Recompositioning. Click here if you don't know the difference...
Visit www.BiologicLabs.com.au for Body Recompositioning diets, training programs, strength coaching, supplements and hormone balancing. Extreme fat loss and muscle development that Personal Trainers and Fitness gyms cannot achieve.
Doesn't she just make you want to run to your nearest yoga class to achieve the same sort of fitness?
No. Me either. In fact, I think she could benefit by dropping the Fitness work and engaging in some Body Recompositioning. Click here if you don't know the difference...
Visit www.BiologicLabs.com.au for Body Recompositioning diets, training programs, strength coaching, supplements and hormone balancing. Extreme fat loss and muscle development that Personal Trainers and Fitness gyms cannot achieve.
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