I can’t help myself. I’m posting more shit that WARRANTS further critique of Abel’s writing.
One of the things that bother me as an intellectual involved in this industry, is how one-dimensional everything about the industry has become. From magazines to contests, to the bodybuilders themselves, this industry is dominated with one-dimensional thought processes. One way to publish, one way to promote, one way to grow. The bodybuilders themselves and their industry’s gurus are the worst offenders of all. It galls me that the only “real” thinking and talking about progress in this sport surrounds drugs and supplements. Training has taken a back seat or is a non-consideration because “everyone trains hard” and hardcore bodybuilders “already know how to train”. This is probably the most abounding myth existing in the sport today, and it infuriates me.
I have spent the good part of fifteen years studying all aspects of anaerobic training, and the one thing that becomes perfectly clear through a “proper” interpretation of the research, is that bodybuilders professional and amateurs alike, haven’t got the slightest idea how to monitor or vary their training to get maximum results. Why? They have never been taught. Because it is out of mainstream sport, there has never been any real applied coaching in bodybuilding circles. The key word here is real. Bodybuilders are traditionalists. The training and the training myths that correspond with tradition are simply followed generation after generation. Because training is based on tradition alone, rather than applied traditional knowledge, bodybuilders are also trendists. They will follow any current “trend” borne out of the “opinion” of any current reigning champion, because they do not know any better. Right now, the current vogue is the Heavy Duty, or Dorian Yates style of training which everyone follows because “this guy’s Dorian Yates and he is Mr. Olympia; therefore, he must know”. I hate to burst anyone’s bubble but when you win a show the award is no applied knowledge award. Lightning does not strike upon the winning of a contest imbuing the winner with years of sound theoretical and practical knowledge. No. Most elite athletes in every sport are born to be elite athletes in their sport. The only difference between bodybuilding and other sports is that other sports are strongly steeped in knowledge based coaching and bodybuilding is not.
Take the Dorian Yates style for an example. How many people who take up this “style” of training ever critically address it before doing so? For instance, how do we know Dorian isn’t the exception rather than the rule? That is, maybe that style of training suits Dorian and only Dorain (maybe a select few other). How do we know that Dorain couldn’t look better and progress better using other training “styles”. If he did, would that automatically make that training style the new “vogue” training style and therefore the “new correct” one. Dorian himself has abandoned “that” style of training and has gone back to other “traditional” training styles. Why? Because longevity for Dorian is important. That former heavy-duty training style also resulted in one of the most hurt and injured athletes in the sport.
The question then begs, “if a training style is going to risk severe strains, and career threatening tears, how effective is it in the long term daily scheme of things?” These are obvious questions about training strategies that bodybuilders never address. They are satisfied with tradition and trends. However, they are missing one of the most critical aspects of this sport, which could affect their progress. Training. Yes, there is a right and wrong way to train. There is a right and wrong technique to employ while executing movements. In the coming issues I will destroy many of the training myths and “guru voodoo” knowledge that exists in this sport. I will prove that as the research shows there is a right way and a wrong way, to plan and carry out training programs.
I have always been amazed at the simplistic and often moronic logic employed by bodybuilders. They all seem to think that if they win a show, then they must have done everything right. When you win a show it just means that you were better than the other competitors that day! It doesn’t mean you were at your best, or you knew what you were doing. It just means you were the best specimen that day. Enough said.