Crap I've learned.

[tex]

I'm pulling straight from the thread on the other board, because I want to bring more technical discussions to this forum, and don't want to repeat the basics that were posted there.

There's been a rash of new posters in here lately, but a definite absence of some of the more knowledgeable (and bigger, stronger & leaner) regulars. I've learned a lot from these guys, in addition to all the things I learned from failure, injury, and a strong Google-fu. Since I've got enough time on my hands, I'm going to pass along some of the info, sources, and theories I've picked up from guys here, and other places.

Motivation:
There is nothing more important than motivation, if you don't have a strong desire to improve, there is nothing in the world that'll change your body. No one can decide your motivation, and your motivation is what fuels your work, so if you don't have enough, find more. Doesn't matter if you want to get bigger, lean out, or increase performance, nothing is going to improve if you aren't motivated. Some board specific sources of motivated dudes: FunFordCobra and Mach1Nut. There are others, but those two are recent and impressive.

Measuring progress:
Goals are important. Seriously, how the hell are you going to continue improving towards a better body, if you don't have a quantifiable means of determining improvement? I spent YEARS dicking around in the gym for a few weeks or months at a time, because my friends were in there, or I was getting too soft, or newly single, whatever. Every time, I went out and bought muscle mags and picked up some creatine and protein, then got bored fairly shortly, and stopped. Each time I went back, I got bored more quickly, because as soon as the muscle memory brought back those meager gains, the desire to work went away because there was no end goal to work towards. Set goals, no matter what you choose, you need it. Body composition or weight (gaining or losing) never appealed to me, but performance goals sure as hell have. Just pick something concrete, aside from 'I want to get bigger or leaner.'

Nuts & Bolts shit:

Diet:
Paleo works. Why? In simple terms, because the body is most efficient when fueled by proteins and good fats (Omega-3s, Mono & Polyunsaturated), and cutting processed carbs from your diet forces you to eat more protein and fat.

Paleo references: I know the link is to a .com site, but it cites a long list of reputable sources, and it's worded simply. Feel free to wade through the reference material for more detailed information.

Good fat info from the Mayo Clinic.

More intense dietary info:
Keto diets aren't the devil. The biggest knock on keto is that it causes blood acidosis, which damages the liver. The rub on that opinion is that the ketones (what raises the acid levels) only raise the acid levels while waiting to be burned for fuel, which doesn't effect active people, because they're having to burn those ketones to fuel their workouts.

The trick is timing, Keto diets aren't supposed to be used long term, but rather in short runs, followed by caloric & carb overloads that trick your body into ramping up it's metabolism. The bible of effective keto dieting is [URL="http://www.amazon.com/Better-Than-Steroids-Warren-Willey/dp/1425103391"] "Better Than Steroids" by Warren Willey.

Plus keto runs have been linked to improvement in epilepsy and reducing/stalling cancer and reversing diabetes.

Carb cycling is another technique, that is nothing more than a modification of the keto theme, on a shorter time line. Basically you do a 2-3 day keto run, followed by alternating days of high-carb/low-fat and high-fat/low-carb, tricking the body into increasing metabolism. There's tons of anecdotal evidence of it's efficacy on BB.com and T-Nation and the like, but I don't remember seeing a scientific study, so I won't link anything. I don't care that much, plus it doesn't do much for my goals so I haven't pursued it, I just came across it researching ketogenic diets.

Other things to ponder:
Metabolic typing and Biological diversity. I'm not going to get into much detail here, because it's basically a means of determining what's the best means of fueling each individuals body, so if you want those details, Google is your friend. A recommended book on metabolic typing: "The Metabolic Typing Diet" by William Wolcott.

[tex]

P2:

Form, function and volume.

Proper form is important, but too often it's an excuse. If you aren't bouncing a bar off your chest, bouncing at the bottom of a squat, or doing stupid shoulder exercises that directly damage your shoulder, don't be afraid of a little momentum. Besides, there is no such thing as perfect form, simply because no two people are physiologically identical, so there is no way to reproduce another's form. The key is to not endanger yourself by doing something stupid, don't use 'strict form' as an excuse for not lifting heavier.

Some good sources of training info:
"Dinosaur Training" by Brooks Kubik
"Science and Practice of Strength Training" by Vladimir Zatsiorsky. This one is pretty technical and intense.

Function:

It's not rocket science that lifting heavier weights will recruit more muscle fiber, which will lead to more effective results. Heavier weights = more strength = more effective workouts. Simple. Now the tricky part: utilizing the biggest muscles results in more strength in those muscles... AND more testosterone. More test = more strength = more weight = more results.

Here's where the new/hardheaded guy comes in: "But I just want bigger arms." Without increasing hormonal response in the most efficient way (lifting heavy with the larger muscle groups) you're not giving the body any impetus to grow. Secondly, it's virtually impossible to isolate a muscle, no matter how hard you focus on concentration curls or preacher curls, your biceps aren't the only thing working. Since that's the case, pick up the heaviest barbell you can curl, and curl it. If your options are rocking your body some, or not lifting heavy weight, rock.

Side note: if you can't do at least 10 chinups, don't mess with pullups. And pull from your armpit, it'll help you focus on activating your lats.

Low weight, high reps for fat loss: I don't know why, but this concept drives me nuts. I tried it years ago to 'tone up,' realized it didn't work, but never had any proof. Now I do: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11932584. This study was conducted on a group of women, who, as we all know, naturally carry more fat and less muscle than males. There are many other reputable studies showing the same results, but I prefer the one using females as an example, simply because if it works for their physiology, it'll work for a guy.

Basically it says this: lifting heavier percentages of your max for a lower number of reps increases the load on your oxygen consumption compared to higher reps with a lower percentage. What's that mean? It means that lifting heavy essentially is another form of cardio. So not only are you getting stronger, you're priming your body to boost it's metabolism. Just an added caveat, muscle burns more calories than fat, even when not working.

Volume:
If you want to get big, hypertrophy is your goal. There are a couple ways to achieve hypertrophy, and they both involve a high workload.

Method #1: Body builder style set-rep ranges, focusing on specific areas of the body with 3-4 exercises per body part, for 3-5 sets, rep ranges varying from 5-12 depending on the lifter's specific goal in that workout, and a shit ton of other factors. Body builder routines are not pulled straight from the pages of a magazine, but are the result of that lifter's years and years of work, and his determination of what works for him.

Method #2: Powerlifter/strongman/olympic style work, more focused on a specific movement or event, with up to 10+ sets per exercise, with rep ranges from 5 reps down to singles. Lots of techniques that would be considered odd in your average gym are utilized, like bands, chains, boards, boxes, bumper plates and all kinds of other fun stuff.

Both methods work, the results differ in many subtle ways, but the key thing is lots and lots of lifting at high intensity, no matter what the rep range.

Recovery & overtraining:
Gains are made in the kitchen, in bed (in more than one manner) and with active recovery. Stretching, massages and foam rollers are all tools that increase the rate of recovery, allowing more frequent, intense workouts. If you're too sore, you can't get an effective workout, so work on getting rid of soreness.

Overtraining, theoretically, doesn't exist. What is true, is that you are capable of stressing your body to the point where you can't recover in an efficient manner. It's been said many times, that over training is just under sleeping and under eating. What it all means is that there is a balance to be found between work load, exercise load, dietary means, and sleep. Over training is talked about as if it'll make you weak and cause your muscles to shrink, which is bullshit. If you can take a week off and be back to the grind, then it wasn't over training, it was under recovering.

[tex]

And fret not, enduro geeks, I haven't abandoned the long distance/duration arts, you'll be included. Although, most of my info there was brought to light by OldGuysRule, so there may be some plagiarism.

[Strychnine]

This was key for me:


I spent YEARS dicking around in the gym for a few weeks or months at a time, because my friends were in there, or I was getting too soft, or newly single, whatever. Every time, I went out and bought muscle mags and picked up some creatine and protein, then got bored fairly shortly, and stopped. Each time I went back, I got bored more quickly, because as soon as the muscle memory brought back those meager gains, the desire to work went away because there was no end goal to work towards. Set goals, no matter what you choose, you need it. Body composition or weight (gaining or losing) never appealed to me, but performance goals sure as hell have. Just pick something concrete, aside from 'I want to get bigger or leaner.'


Just saying, "I want to do xxxx" wasn't good enough. I would just do whatever I felt like with no specific goal, just generalizations. Sure, I would get a little stronger of gain a litle endurance here and there but it didn't mean a whole lot.

Once I got into something i was actually passionate about and not just doing to fill time that changed. I'm an engineer, so by default I'm a numbers nerd. I now have spreadsheets, graphs, goals, plans, etc and I've never felt better (except for that whole winter-time-off weight gain thing)

[OldGuysRule]

Tex, have you ever been through:

http://www.marksdailyapple.com/

The older I get the more I listen to him. haha.

[tex]

I've seen the site and heard of his books, never really delved into anything, though.