Super Foods and 12 hour training days. Another day in WTF land.

Oh come on Ben, Leave the poor supp business alone!

Supp readers, thanks for thinking I have something remotely constructive to add, today’s blog begins with an all out rant. However, stay with me its gets constructive about 150 words in I swear!

I normally keep my opinions about the supplement industry to myself, there are a few reasons for this; one, this blog is all about offending the commercial fitness industry, just leave the poor little supplement manufactures’ alone hey? Two; I won’t sugar coat this; if it was not for the supplement industry none of us would be here reading this right now, supplements have propped up the fitness industry and left it swinging from a knife edge. However, I want to know one thing, what the fuck is this ‘Maca’ shit? Every time I log on to Facestalk, I see comments (mostly from girls) challenging each other to eat it from a spoon, or boasting about how much of this so called ‘Super Food’ they have consumed. I tried looking at the website, but all I saw was traditionally dressed Indians collected beans from fields. For all we know these could be the poppy seeds used to make crack.
Can anyone produce some kind of scientific evidence to support the benefits of these products? Honestly someone summarize this shit to 25 words or less because even a two minute Google motivated me to go Tito Ortiz on someone. For real, what was wrong with good ol fashion steak and eggs? Super foods what the fuck!

Meanwhile back at the ranch we are looking at Olympic Lifters

Olympic lifters are somewhere between baddass and just downright concerning, the sport originated back in the soviet era. The Russians would train for hours, days on end. Often up to 12 hours a day, those who were still standing by the Olympics were rewarded with the rights to travel, property and freedom of speech (Simmons, 2007). To this day many Olympic lifters still train twice a day, almost every day. Most I have spoken to claim it’s for neuromuscular adaptation however, the physiology behind these statements does not check out (Simmons, 2007). Furthermore; their high rates of injury cannot be ignored. 

This Mofo is Badass!

Now at this point I want to make a few points, one Olympic lifting did not save Olympic lifting. Cross Fit saved Olympic lifting from the scrap heap of dead sports. It is incorporated in to ‘workouts of the day’ because movements such as the Snatch and Clean and Jerk are perhaps the corner stone of force rate development. Furthermore, the high rate of speed is an awesome way to destroy your equilibrium and induce vomiting (Vomiting in Cross fit is strongly correlated to quality training but, that’s a different rant). Oly lifting also requires a high rate of neuromuscular activation and coordination. Not to mention, one of the most primitive tests of strength is ‘How much can you lift over your head’ (REF)

The problem with Olympic lifting in contemporary training, it’s so bio-mechanically complicated and requires such a high degree of flexibility that it becomes impractical and too time consuming in the application of sport performance. Therefore; I came up with some variations and options;

Kettlebell Clean & Press
Since this movement is performed with one arm at a time, it allows for a greater range of motion around the shoulder joint, taking load off the wrists. The rack position can be on the shoulder or further out on the bicep if you’re really inflexible.
Start with the Kettlebell between your legs, grip, rip, and rotate to the rack. Drop your hips and drive over head.

High Pull

These have always been a favorite of the world’s second most badass white guy Andy Bolton (Damian Slater will always be more badass). The awesome thing with High Pulls is you basically have to create the same force rate production as a clean or snatch but do not put your wrists or elbows in a weak position.

The Overhead press is perhaps the most common fucked up movement I ever see in the gym, I am guessing the overhead press became the standing incline bench press when Muscle & Fiction Magazine said so.
If you watch a really high level Olympic lifter at lock out, the bar is way back over the scapular not out in front of the face. For this reason in my programs I prescribe the military press from the back, at very least the bar starts on the scapular, reducing the chances spinal hyperextension and destroying your lower back

Fucking Body Builders Again!

Now go forth haters; either disregard everything you just read and move back to bicep curls in my squat rack or take it on board and try something new, remember when training was all about fun?

Don't Believe Everything You Read

We have all read Facestalk updates and blogs (much like this one) that sometimes make some pretty bold claims. It’s pretty frequent for personal trainers to make statements of position standpoints without backing it up with any real evidence. You would have seen this yourself ‘Eat food X to make yourself thin like Paris’ ‘Only train Biceps on Tuesday because physiologically this is the greatest time to do it’ and so on.

Do you trust a Tarot reader?

To make a valid statement you must provide some degree of evidence to support your claims, this is done simply by referencing where the idea came from. For example; Muscle spindles are surrounded by a myelin sheath (Marib & Hoehm, 2010). This in the land of the internet should be linked to the source data, or at the bottom of the document state the source title, authors, publishers and page numbers.

This alone however, will not secure validity in the author’s statement. It is up to the reader them self to investigate the said sources; so let’s look at some options:

 

Blogs, Facebook and website sites (such as this one) often have little to no credibility; they can be written and published by anyone at anytime with no scrutiny what so ever and there may be undeclared financial interests behind their writings (Body Building dot com anyone?)

However, if the authors of the site have referenced their said statements there may be some merit in what they say (such as 8 weeks out).

 

Mags should declare financial interest

Magazines; This is a hotly debated topic, as with websites mags pretty much always have some form of financial interest. For example Muscle & Fiction magazine rely on advertisement from supplement companies to finance their publications. Do you think they would ever write an article questioning the effectiveness of sport supplements?   

 

Books; remember that old saying ‘don’t believe everything you read’ it’s pretty much true here. Typically a book will not be published if the publishing company question its validity and merits (self published books are pretty much always bullshit!). So for the most part you are relatively safe. However, in the world of sport and exercise science the information can become outdated and superseded quite quickly. So check the date of publishing!

 

Case Studies; A case study typically contains a report of action upon a single person. For example; I personally did four weeks of sled sprints at a ratio of 1:2 and found my fat mass has visually decreased. This is fine and does have some merits. However a large amount has been left uncontrolled such as what my nutrition was like during this period and what other training did I partake? Furthermore; this concept may have worked for me, but if its trialled on 100 people what percentage will report similar results?

 

Mythbusters? Ah who cares its Kari Byron!

Scientific Peer Reviewed Journals: For something to be labelled a science it needs to be controlled, observable and repeatable (Red plus Green equals Yellow). For a journal to be published it must first be critiqued by what is known as ‘peer review’ this means other experts in the field will analyse the data and give it the all clear for publishing. Peer review is considered the gold standard in referencing. However, also check the author’s credentials before accepting their position as fact. This can been seen by the now discredited work of social psychologist Diederik Stapel

 

I have made it very clear before; personal trainers (& other so called health experts) simply can no longer make outlandish statements without a shred of evidence to support their theories. The old cliche 'There is no experience better than one thousand hours under the bar' simply will not cut it anymore.  However, since the internet remains completely un-moderated it is up to you the reader to investigate and formulate your own opinions!