Perhaps this is a horribly ignorant question, but I want to ask it anyways as I have been quite curious about it lately. Do you all think there is a point when it comes to the science behind bodybuilding, where basically everything within reason is known? I mean from what we know now about training and nutrition, to me it just seems we generally have all the answers… we know that there is no perfect program and that periodization of all factors is key… we know that no diet is perfect and each person responds to different macronutrient ratios, calories, etc. It just seems that we are running out of things to know and that within not too many years, we will have all the answers, and that other than through supplementation there will be nothing much more to know. I can’t imagine how many more types of training or diet programs can be created than the ones we know rehashed again. Will this point of staleness ever come? Or I am as ignorant as that dude in the early 1900’s who stated that everything which could be invented has been invented already? Is it possible that in a hypothetical figure, say 5 or 10 or 20 years or whatever, that there will be a point where everything about training and nutrition is known? I’d really like to hear some opinions about this… Cheers, Anonymous.
Anonymous, some deep shit here, cool post…I have
been training since the 70’s and have read volumes
and have done just about every routine one could
imagine…It seems to me the more I know, the less I
know! As far as the mental aspect of training goes,
I don’t think we have scratched the surface, i.e. the
mind body connection!
Good question, no one can say for sure but i am sure it will be a very long time…just a example of one topic i would like to see some more research on is “Factor X” from JMB’s massive eating
Excellent post topic. BOdybuilding is a human concept which contains within it various sciences and technicalities. Since the core of conceptualization allows constant growth and variance, I don’t beleive there is a limit or cap on what can be learned, changed or omitted. Innovations in bodybuilding are a constant earmark of the science. The more we know about the human mind and body the less we realize we know. Lata.
"MB Eric: Your online Socrates since 1840."
-Eric
I personally think that lifting weights and bodybuilding have become far too “scientific” lately, and are just complicating an activity that is not that hard to understand. An effort to become more scientific seems to underly an evasion of HARD WORK. The more scientific something becomes, the less appetizing it is to me. I LIKE the duress of lifting weights, and I’m not looking for an easier or more “enlightened” way of doing it. I welcome shit that makes it more stressful to my body and mind, and so I abhor too much “science” because the body is such a powerful tool, and so if you want it badly enough, you should work for it, HARD. You already know everything and then some… Bench, Squat, etc. I feel that the limit of useful information was reached many years ago.
Excellent question, A.! My opinion is that what we learn of the fundamentals of bodybuilding, fitness and nutrition may be manipulated, but fundamentally unchanged. Sort of like growing crops. The fundamentals of growing crops hasn’t changed in thousands of years. You need to put a seed in the groud, you need to water and feed that seed, and you need to try as best as you can to protect that seed from the things that will impede it’s growth. Yes…we have gotton fancy on ways to control and manipulate plant nourishment, and even how to genetically endow that seed in such a way as to make it protect itself (some), but the fundamentals have not changed. In the IronGame, it’s much the same. We have gotten “fancy” in the ways that we attempt to reach an end result (e.g. PolPharmacy), but the fundamentals are unchanged; cals. in vs cals out; Progressive Overload; cardiovascular training, etc. etc.
Where I do think you will see changes in the field of Human Endurance, Nutrition and Exercise will be in 1)Genetic Engineering (the "Super Babies" if you may) 2)augmenting our responses to exercise and nutrition and 3)Supplementation...and as always...some "breakthrough" that we haven't even thought of...
I remember hearing somewhere that a very respected and famous person (I cannot remember who) said, at the dawn of the twentieth century, that everything that could be invented already was. Of course, now we all know we advanced more in the last fifty years than all of human history before it. I believe, as many of you do, that we have barely even learned the “basics” (well, compared to everything there is to know). From a basic glance, it may seem like we know all there is to know, or that we are at least close to getting there. But the Muscle Masochism article posted here at Testosterone showed that now scientists are studying how the immune system holds some keys to a more scientific approach to training. What’s next, specially modified steroids which are altered at the molecule level to give results without ANY negative side effects whatsoever, no matter how much quantity is used!?!?!?! Ok, maybe that’s pushing it, but the point is there is ALOT more to learn, and the sad (and funny) thing is that the more we learn the less we know.
When things start getting too hectic or when science is too crazy and too much to think about, I like to go back to basics. Lifting heavy weights with the basic exercises. Works every time!
some of what you said is known as fact is not, but anyway even if we did know EVERYTHING it would not matter because bodybuilding has turned into a religion and that puts it into a realm of faith, and nobody would believe these new “findings” if it conflicted with their faith. peace
I think there will always be something more to learn. And I believe Mufasa was right saying the next big break through would be in genetic engineering. Being able to change your genetics, so everyone could potentially have the genetics of the Olympia competitors. I remember reading an article in Scientific American about muscle fibers types and if star athletes are born with the right type. The article ended with a fictional story of a sprinter who used the perfect steroid, it changed his muscle fiber types at the genetic level. Something like that, of course to give the story the moral of ‘cheating is bad’, his powerful quadricep muscle snapped his femur in half mid-race. None the less, a cool idea and one I think will change everything about medicine.
Great Post!
I think that we get caught up in the search for the perfect program. We have more scientific studies trying to prove this or that. I believe that when I knew less I made more progress. We get stuck in this rut of trying everything new and exciting because it works better than last weeks program and what we forget along the way is that CONSISTENCY is what really made us the way we are. I’ve been on programs that many would say were not the best or latest innovation but they were effective. The treadmill, exercise bike, bench and Squat Rack have all been around for over thirty years, for one reason - they work! I don’t need science to figure that out. I believe in science and think trying different programs is a great idea but I think its very important as well to be dogmatic in your training for a few months to see if what your doing works or not. Maybe T-Mag should only publish new research once a month to give us time to try their last prescription. I know the more I learn the more confused I get and maybe writing this will help me clear up some confusion as well. Then again maybe it’s our job to read and take everything in but not let ourselves get caught up in always tring something new.
I’m not sure if this really had any relevance but I will post it anyway.