I was training on a Monday before lunch time. The gym was packed as it was a holiday and everyone had the day off. As I was wrapping things up, I noticed a guy I had never seen at the YMCA before. He looked a little confused and out of place. I glanced over and saw he had somehow attached a chain to the weight belt he was wearing. That sucker was so tightly wrapped around his tiny waist and I was unsure of how he was breathing so easily. The chains being attached the way they were couldn’t have been remotely comfortable. In the midst of this mess, he was attaching a few 10lb plates to do some chins. I was impressed as I had not seen anyone else besides myself in the gym doing weighted chins before. Bravo.
Quick Fix
I pulled him aside and said “you know there is an easier way to do this right?” He looked at me kind of cockeyed and confused. I went over and grabbed the dip belt and attached the chain links for him. “See?” I said. He then attempted to detach the other chain from his newbie-rigged piece of equipment. He was grateful that he would no longer have to bear the pain of chain links being indented into his flesh in his attempt to build his physique. “Since I am bearing no more pain, does this mean I am not hardcore?” He asked. I laughed out loud.
Disappointment
After I finished a few more sets I asked him if he were new here. He stuttered a bit and explained he and his wife recently moved to this side of town and while he was a member of the YMCA, he hadn’t been to this particular location before. I welcomed him and asked him how he got started. He told me had been training for three years and briefed me about how some trainers from his old gym put him on a routine. After his sessions ran out they told him to tear out the workouts from (insert your favorite muscle magazine here) and follow the advice in the publication. He then admitted that he had been at it continuously without much progress. Whatever he had been doing the last three years was obviously not working as you could tell by his skinny arms, legs and lack of body mass. He honestly looked like a cross country runner. While he may have been a runner, I could tell he was utterly disappointed. He wanted to look great naked and was full of anger that he had been misinformed. Deep down, his desire was to at least look like he worked out. He knew that his physique should look somewhat different after training hard for the past three years. As conversation progressed, he admitted to gaining some strength but that was it. In his head he was saying “I was only doing what they told me to do, so why isn’t it working?”
Entertainment Only
This is why I don’t advocate using bodybuilding or fitness magazines as a source of reliable training information. Sure, there are a few articles now and then that are decent and worthy of reading, however most of what I have seen published may as well be in a comic book because the advice is almost never truly applicable to the general population. Sure the 6 day split may have worked for 1 out of 1000 people but they make it sound as if it it’s going to work for everyone. Guess what? It wont, and these fancy fitness magazines keep all of the newbs in newbie land forever more. I guess that might be the point though, as it keeps them coming back for the next best workout they can spin their wheels with until they start something completely different the following month. Oh yea, they sell a ton of worthless supplements to the newbs in the process. I digress.
I hate to see people being mislead and I equally hate it when people are unable to reach their goals due to having so much invested in ideas/methods that are ineffective. I am very confident that if he gave me 6-8 months, I could give him a much thicker, stronger and un-anorexic frame.
Interesting, I may have to give them a quick read.
I like the Scivation books, the Tri-Phase training program was interesting if a little intense volume when the loads got heavy, 3×2 on 6 exercises four times a week.
The gravitron is most likely not accurate regarding weight balance. It’s probably like most machines. 200lbs on one bench press machine may be easy while 200lbs on another may feel impossible.
Nope, but I’m getting there. Up to 95lb on the lat pulldown and I can do a chin up on the gravitron offsetting 60lbs. (dont’ understand the descrepancy there since I am 130lbs it seems I should only have to offset 35lbs.)
@Dorian: Yes, when you are naive, it’s very easy to get caught up in all of the fluff and dogma. I have not personally read any of McRoberts’ material, but I know it’s supposedly very good stuff. I know a lot of the principles and ideals he holds influenced Martin Berkhan and his training/approach, who in turn has inspired me in some aspects of developing my own thoughts/beliefs about training and diet.
Speaking of results, I am working directly with a guy(newbie) right now, whom I have on Starting Strength and he is making some really nice progress. He is an example of someone who wanted to improve and is doing what it takes to succeed. He has also done a very good job at maintaining an objective mindset despite being tempted to go back to old ways and consistently wanting to diet for fear of fat gain. He has come a long way and once we get done with the SS model I am going to start him on some bodybuilding type stuff.
The problem is that it is so easy to believe what these mags write because for some reason their “super new muscle building strategy” or “fat burning diet” are always supported by some kind of scientific evidence (whoever comes up with these I don’t know).
)
I was lucky enough to find out the correct path after just a couple of months thanks to Stuart McRoberts “Brawn” (have you read that one? Very similar to what you teach) and by observing other gym members. Now, 3 months later, I can say of myself that I achieved a pretty decent physique (and really mean it
Great post as always JC! Keep em’ coming!
@Dawn: yea the back pack idea will work just fine. Can you do a full chin up yet?
@James: Yes, books are usually better than magazines. However I have read a few not-so-good books as well.
@Nel: Glad to see you here! Some of those diets are the worst. I actually like to look at them every once in a while for entertainment purposes. I like to see what is being thrown around as optimal and superior.
Agree! I have seen some stuff that are pretty much impossible to do being advertised in mags…
The diets they publish are even worse!
Forget magazines and websites, just read BOOKS!
REAL BOOKS written by REAL BODYBUILDERS are always good!
PDF books too like http://www.scivationbooks.com
There’s too much rubbish in magazines and websites to even bother sending a newbie there. They’ll get way too overwhelmed by all the crap, even if there is a quality article here and there.
I think I like the back pack idea better. I do them on the Smith since I can just reach the bar, and keep my legs bent. So, this belt thing wont’ work unless I go to a different kind of bar.
Since I’m doing negative chin-ups lately, I have been wondering how to rig up some weight to add. I was going to use a back pack to put the plates in. But now I can do an image search for, what did you call it, a dip belt and see if there is one of those on the “rack ‘o stuff” at the gym.
@Akwaman: My point exactly.
@Fred: T-Nation has some good articles and also has their fair share bad ones too. However, that is not my first choice for quality information. I haven’t paid much attention to Figure Athlete, so I cannot comment on that one. My philosophy is that you should have an open mind and take what people say with a grain of salt(this goes with any website/forum you frequent) because no one person has all of the answers nor are they right 100% of the time. Just because they have a ton of posts on a forum does not make them an expert. I cannot provide the exact specifics to “draw that line.” You have to make the decision for yourself.
Sure, it’s reasonable for people to look at those magazines. However it’s not productive for the skinny fart who has never lifted a weight in his life to be doing the same routine the drugged up mass monster on the front cover of Flex is doing. My point is most people who read those magazines are not advanced enough to do the routines presented, nor are they willing to do the drugs that will give them an edge.
You’re right that some articles/writers have an agenda when publishing their content. They play on emotions and tell someone that
So what do people do? They let their emotions get the best of them and waste their money on useless products when they could get the same exact results elsewhere.
Yea, well I haven’t seen him since. He probably wouldn’t listen anyway.
Would you advocate websites as a reasonable place to find workout plans such as T-Nation or Figure Athlete then what about websites such as bodybuilding.com or ironmagazine.com? What about suggestions from posters on forums who have 1k+ posts who regularly give out advice yet have no pictures online? Where can people draw the line in the sand in terms of where they can get reliable information?
I think it is reasonable for people to look to magazines for workout plans after all those magazines are written by people who are in the know since the magazine is about the sport of body building, where better place to look.
Of course everyone who knows which is not everyone knows that this is not the case magazines and website articles, with some exceptions, are referenced to products that will get you more. A great example is the V-Diet 3.0, spend $500+ on supplements from our shop to go on a liquid diet and you will like X, whose is ripped muscular and defined.
I hope you take him under your wing.
“it keeps them coming back for the next best workout they can spin their wheels with until they start something completely different the following month”
I think this is an unintended result, but one that continues to work for them.
“Oh yea, they sell a ton of worthless supplements to the newbs in the process”
This is the point.