One of the most vital things to know when developing a training program is to know exactly what you are training for. Even more importantly are knowing what you should be training for.
Let me explain. When you are, for example, writing a short novel, and someone asks how you are coming along on it, would you say, "great! I was ready to fall asleep after writing two full pages."
However, none of those things are actually relevant. You need to remember that training is about training, not working out. It's not an activity done for the sake of doing, but strengthening you for particular actions, and causing you to adapt. It's this adaptation that causes growth. In our example, we have no way of knowing whether the person who fell asleep after writing was mentally strained, bored, or narcoleptic. All we know is that perceived effort does not indicate progress per se.
Today I'm going to be discussing the methods often used to evaluate bodybuilding progress, and why they are (or at least can be) problematic.
1. "Intensity"/Soreness
This is essentially the same example that I gave above; we've all read articles by bodybuilders in the pro ranks talking about the crazy pumps they get in the gym, how unbelievably intense it is--"I got these intense, skin-splitting pumps, bro!"
Disregard this. These methods might sell supplements effectively, but they will not give you gains optimally.
Soreness is nothing more than a lack of adaptation to a new stimulus. In fact, people who train more frequently generally don't get sore as easily, simply because of the fact that they adapt quicker to stimuli. I don't have any citations to back that up...so go ahead, and try it! You'll notice a difference. However, that's for another article.
2. Scale
In linear terms, for a beginner or intermediate level trainer, there is definitely some value in measuring bodyweight with a scale--however, it doesn't tell you everything. Even if we assume you're gaining weight or losing weight in the right places, it doesn't necessarily mean we know for certain you're gaining (or losing) weight at all.
Even if you weigh yourself around the same time every week or two weeks or whenever you do so, at the same time, under the same conditions, this doesn't mean you're going to know whether it's just water or even food.
Consider this. It's entirely possible, for someone who's cutting, to get leaner, and lose very little weight until some more significant amount of that fat is gone--then, boom!--five or six pounds are gone. This is sometimes called the "woosh" effect, where you continue to lose fat, but retain the water stored in the fat cells. The water doesn't leave until the fat leaves. You can learn more about this over here, in this article by Lyle McDonald:
http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/of-whooshes-and-squishy-fat.html
Means that You Should Be Using
1. Mirror
The mirror will tell you everything. If the skinfold calipers you are using tell you you're 3% body fat (if that's even possible), but you don't have etchings and lines in your glutes, then you're not shredded. If it says 15% and you can still see your abs, even you though you vowed not to get fatter than 12% in the off-season, then whatever. It is what it is, and you'll be judged on how lean you look. Nothing else.
However, the mirror can still be tricky. Eating less one day can cause us to get a little freaked out and think we're losing muscle, when we're just a little flat. Likewise, suddenly eating off-season levels of calories and carbs can definitely cause a little bit of a difference in the way people perceive body composition--they might think they gained a significant amount of muscle, when it might be just water and glycogen. It usually is.
And Most importantly...
2. Gym Performance.
90% of the time, gym performance is going to be the biggest indicator of whether you are gaining, maintaining, or losing muscle. By gym performance, of course, I am not referring to the first line I mentioned in this article, the "that was intense" type of perceived effort.
What you need to ask is, am I or am I not progressing in:
-weight lifted?
-reps at a given weight?
-Is my form improving?
If you can say yes to any (if not all) of these, and you're not a complete beginner, the odds are you are gaining as much muscle as you realistically can. In fact, most recommendations for a NATURAL, advanced bodybuilder, say that gaining significant amounts of weight shouldn't even be a major goal. The focus should be on adding weight to the bar as best as you can.
Anyway, that's all for today. Also, an update:
We're starting the new Facebook page at the link bellow. The Facebook group will still be around, for discussion and the like, but if you haven't, be sure to like the Facebook page!
https://www.facebook.com/ManitobanMuscl
No comments:
Post a Comment