Muscle Magazine Myth and You
January 25th 2007 05:41
The questions for anyone who steps into the weight area of a gym to workout are legion.What muscles should I work in a given workout? How often should I return to the individual muscles in my body? How many sets should I do for my body parts? Should I do the same number for each body part or is each to be treated differently? What are the proper exercises for each body part? How many repetitions of each exercise should I do? How long should my workout last? Is there a time of day that is better to workout? Would a training partner help or divert me? How long should I wait between sets? If this confuses you, it should.
The reality is that you do not have to answer all these questions correctly to get tremendous benefits from weight training. That is because your body does not have brain. It marvelously adapts according to its patterns regardless of how uncertain the brain attached to it is of the efficacy of its methods. It is also abundantly clear that we humans are variable in our physical endowments that the answers to training questions are as idiomatic as are our bodies and personalities. This simply means that each weight trainer has to work out his/her own system of training. You can't avoid making all kinds of decisions when you undertake to train with weights.
Enter the myth: the people who know the most about training have the most muscular and proportional bodies. If I want to improve my physique all I need to do is do what they are doing(within reason) and I'll get at least some of their results. This has all been worked out by these people and look at the results! All I have to do is "monkey see, monkey do!"
This is the myth that sells muscle and fitness magazines. Their pages all share two characteristics: really built people plastered from cover to cover and gobs of articles about how they got that way. I would never say that you cannot learn plenty from these articles; I do say that trying to mimic the workouts is insane.
I'll go further. God is responsible for the endowment of those magazine people. Their bodies are as adaptable to exercise as it gets. They are like NFL football players who represent the tiniest fraction of those high school players most of whom aspire to play at the highest level and are not gifted enough. You could adhere to the tenants of weight training with a fanatical fervor and never even approach the quality of a "minor league" physique star. Trying to imitate their workouts and lifestyle is ludicrous.
I do recommend reading muscle magazines though (with a slightly jaundiced eye), every one you can afford and cover to cover,because they contain the wisdom that will help you evolve a training strategy that through trial and error will eventually suit your body's design and make it the best it can be. This will not be a quick process,but it will be necessary if you wish to attain and maintain a fit body with shapely muscles. Keep knocking and it will be opened unto you should be your motto. Learn and work. Your servant, as always
What if she tried his workout?
Or he tried hers?
The reality is that you do not have to answer all these questions correctly to get tremendous benefits from weight training. That is because your body does not have brain. It marvelously adapts according to its patterns regardless of how uncertain the brain attached to it is of the efficacy of its methods. It is also abundantly clear that we humans are variable in our physical endowments that the answers to training questions are as idiomatic as are our bodies and personalities. This simply means that each weight trainer has to work out his/her own system of training. You can't avoid making all kinds of decisions when you undertake to train with weights.
Enter the myth: the people who know the most about training have the most muscular and proportional bodies. If I want to improve my physique all I need to do is do what they are doing(within reason) and I'll get at least some of their results. This has all been worked out by these people and look at the results! All I have to do is "monkey see, monkey do!"
This is the myth that sells muscle and fitness magazines. Their pages all share two characteristics: really built people plastered from cover to cover and gobs of articles about how they got that way. I would never say that you cannot learn plenty from these articles; I do say that trying to mimic the workouts is insane.
I'll go further. God is responsible for the endowment of those magazine people. Their bodies are as adaptable to exercise as it gets. They are like NFL football players who represent the tiniest fraction of those high school players most of whom aspire to play at the highest level and are not gifted enough. You could adhere to the tenants of weight training with a fanatical fervor and never even approach the quality of a "minor league" physique star. Trying to imitate their workouts and lifestyle is ludicrous.
I do recommend reading muscle magazines though (with a slightly jaundiced eye), every one you can afford and cover to cover,because they contain the wisdom that will help you evolve a training strategy that through trial and error will eventually suit your body's design and make it the best it can be. This will not be a quick process,but it will be necessary if you wish to attain and maintain a fit body with shapely muscles. Keep knocking and it will be opened unto you should be your motto. Learn and work. Your servant, as always
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