Machine
04-05-15, 9:01 pm
I've framed this comment from a piece of advice I gave someone for BB Rows; I really believe that this issue can provide important context for a discussion which many athletes need to have.
Weightlifters are far too linear; they obsessively track:
Training poundages
Sets within a session
Repetitions per set
Exercises which comprise the session
Order of exercises within the session
...and on and on and on.
All these are tracked to a seriously counterproductive degree. Yet they don't see fit to limit session length or drop unproductive movements at all. I see this as emulation paralysis; just because Johnny Badass does X, Y, Z in his/her routine does not sanctify those movements within your athletic framework...weightlifting is not a catechism.
Drop exercises which do not allow for effective performance of repetitions from your routine immediately; there is no one movement that an athlete cannot do without (especially if you're not formally competing). For example, take BB Rows, I am not convinced that rows of any variety are the holy grail of back development. I know I know...I'll get the Ronnie Coleman, Dorian Yates, and Lee Haney crowd all miffed on this one...but I must digress. Those guys got to the dance...take away BB rows and they'd still be in the winner's circle.
By the time people get done fucking around with grips, overhand vs. underhand, wide vs. narrow...and all the rest of it, I could have trained a fucking regiment in that time. It's not worth the time to perfect, and just about everyone I've ever seen doing rows can neither maximize the contraction nor control the negative to any reasonable degree. We as weightlifters (however you see yourself) are highly susceptible to confirmation bias; we attribute our success with specific movements or mechanical formulations. Athlete has well developed Biceps; he/she attributes that to an exact prescriptive method. But how will he/she know which movement, or stress, or position created the whole of the development? And which movement is surplus to the total plan? The tough truth is that he/she would have developed good Biceps with any movement, or combination of movements, or stress.
I’ve said it before and I’ll scream it again…Where the lack of absolute belief in a movement threatens the supremacy of the overall plan...the movement must be substituted without delay.
If there were only 4 days in a week, would you still be able to train your body? If there were only 2 movements to train the biceps, would there be no 21" arms?
MACHINE
Weightlifters are far too linear; they obsessively track:
Training poundages
Sets within a session
Repetitions per set
Exercises which comprise the session
Order of exercises within the session
...and on and on and on.
All these are tracked to a seriously counterproductive degree. Yet they don't see fit to limit session length or drop unproductive movements at all. I see this as emulation paralysis; just because Johnny Badass does X, Y, Z in his/her routine does not sanctify those movements within your athletic framework...weightlifting is not a catechism.
Drop exercises which do not allow for effective performance of repetitions from your routine immediately; there is no one movement that an athlete cannot do without (especially if you're not formally competing). For example, take BB Rows, I am not convinced that rows of any variety are the holy grail of back development. I know I know...I'll get the Ronnie Coleman, Dorian Yates, and Lee Haney crowd all miffed on this one...but I must digress. Those guys got to the dance...take away BB rows and they'd still be in the winner's circle.
By the time people get done fucking around with grips, overhand vs. underhand, wide vs. narrow...and all the rest of it, I could have trained a fucking regiment in that time. It's not worth the time to perfect, and just about everyone I've ever seen doing rows can neither maximize the contraction nor control the negative to any reasonable degree. We as weightlifters (however you see yourself) are highly susceptible to confirmation bias; we attribute our success with specific movements or mechanical formulations. Athlete has well developed Biceps; he/she attributes that to an exact prescriptive method. But how will he/she know which movement, or stress, or position created the whole of the development? And which movement is surplus to the total plan? The tough truth is that he/she would have developed good Biceps with any movement, or combination of movements, or stress.
I’ve said it before and I’ll scream it again…Where the lack of absolute belief in a movement threatens the supremacy of the overall plan...the movement must be substituted without delay.
If there were only 4 days in a week, would you still be able to train your body? If there were only 2 movements to train the biceps, would there be no 21" arms?
MACHINE