At this day in age, many have seemed to stray from what has always worked for strength and conditioning. Lifters and athletes have become infatuated with the quick fix, in other words, the quickest way to get what sometimes turns out to be nothing more than a temporary benefit. Simply sifting through exersize and lifting forums you come across the same posted question millions upon millions of times, "What routine should I be on?" Also, "critique my routine!" is another very frequent, sometimes annoying question because of its constant frequency. Can you really blame the new lifter for asking this? How is a new lifter suppose to know? You've all seen it, "This routine is the best, only do 100 reps of this special exersize and you will get jacked up FASTER than if you workout on any other routine..only if you use our supplement though!" With all of the self-claimed know-it-alls, and sometimes self-absorbed "gurus" blurting out and formulating rediculous routines, it is easy to see where something that should be so incredibly simplistic turned into mathematical equations, calculations, and sometimes odd and awkward exersize combinations coupled with motions that nowhere near mimick the true motions or functions of the muscles of the human body. I'm all for progress, research, and finding more effective and efficient manners in which to acheive one's goals. However, over-complicating things to the extremes that many of the workouts have at the current time is doing nothing more than making things harder than they really should be. My whole life I have been absorbed and infatuated with sports and exersize. Throughout my years of working out, I've never strayed far from what my junior high athletics coach taught me. Yes, it's been used before, but KISS. Keep it simple stupid. It seems that no matter how far people stray from the old methods of packing on muscle, somehow many of the older methods of lifting are always reverted back to. The amazing thing to me is that back in middle school I started with the following routine which was created by my coach for muscle gains:
M/W/F
Bench press
Squats
Chinups
This, with varying rep ranges. I've constantly gained muscle for over 10 years now. Sure the gains have slowed somewhat, and I do add in methods that have proven some of the dated methods to be wrong, but most of what Coach taught me still stands firm today.
Compound movements. Heavy weights. Fullbody routines. Nothing fancy. I've been flammed millions of times for this "outdated" routine. I've always stuck to some variation of it, and I've constantly made gains in strength and size over the years. I know this routine is not for everyone. My point is, there is no need to worry so much about what routine to workout on, should you superset this exersize with this, will this exersize add half an inch to that little muscle on my forearm, and so on. You've all seen him. That guy that goes to the gym with the newest supplement, and that routine that the website he bought that newest supplement from recommends. He starts his workout pumping out some curls, supersets them with some incline flyes, moves on to a military press while balancing on a surfboard which is sitting on top of a basketball, all the while the lights in the gym are out so as to increase his sense of balance. Maybe the workouts today aren't that off target, but I've seen many that come pretty close! I personally believe many of us have just become too fancy. I read an article on T-nation in which CW explained total body training. The point really hit home with me. What has worked wonders over the years for tons of lifters has seemed to been cast aside like an old shoe. However, the funny thing is, many of the old methodologies are slow creeping back into the thoughts and minds of strength and conditioning coaches across the nation, and for good reason.
this doesn't really relate to the "good old days" of bodybuilding. The majority of the classic bodybuilders all trained with a bodypart split using very high volume and large exercise selection. I actually have never met or trained with a competative bodybuilder who trained with fullbody, 3 day type program.
I do very much agree though that people get so caught up in finding fancy quick fixes to their problems. basics work best and people over complicate the whole process.
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As somebody who is new to this website and working out in general... I felt very overwhelmed because there was soooooo much information out there... some of it was even contradicting to each other. Not only in the workout routine deptartment but also in the nutrition department as well. As a computer geek I tend to over analyze everything and I was pretty frustrated trying to figure out what I'm supposed to do. I finally just stepped back and forced myself to just do the basics; eat clean (this is a learning process) and goto the gym and do a routine from the FAQ area.
I do agree that people tend to over analyze all this stuff.
maybe you should throw in some dips, deads, rows and shoulder presses on the odd days. other than that I have to agree. most intermediate and advanced programs only have 2-4 exercises per workout anyway. how hard is it to find something you like?
jc
I think you're right. The basics are the best. But I think it takes some time and experience to fully realize this, and in fact to be able to understand why.
People just starting out couldn't know this. Someone must tell/show them. And the magazine and supplement companies know that there are thousands of newbies looking for this someone to "tell them how to do it"... and they exploit it. The internet has caused further dilution of the information (and of course provides some great things, like JP's... once you've filtered things out.)
I agree to an extent. The basics truely are the best but they don't make up the whole picture, especially depending on your goals. But that doesn't mean everything else is just total crap and not effective. Everything has it's place...well almost everything. The squat, deadlift, bench press, chin-up, and all the other beloved compound movements are all awesome. But does it hurt certain people to use an isolation movement, yes I said it, such as an external rotation for their rotator cuff to strengthen a weak point holding them back in a press movement? no. Does it hurt a bodybuilder to isolate his calves with calf presses? no. Is it going to be a waste of time for us to actually do some abnominal strengthening work? no.
So like I was saying, everything has its place, its just knowing when and where to put it that beginners do tend to mix it up. People are always saying weight training isn't rocket science, and no it's not rocket science, but lets not dumb it down to third grade math here, it is something I believe that should be trained and studied. I wouldn't frown upon all isolation and/or assistance work, it has it's place, and it does work. It has a time, place, and is goal specific. Don't block out everything other than your core lifts and some other popular compound movements. It's sort of like building a house...your compound movements are your foundation, your assitance exercises are your frame for the house, and your bodybuilding isolation movements are the sheet rock and paneling. Anology for the day. Peace. ~ rev
Danny and I had a similar conversation off line. It doesn't have to be hard, just go lift something or move your body regularly and you'll benefit to some degree. How you do it will determine the results but it's a myriad shades of gray, not a black and white "one best way" issue.
You have no hip-dominant excercises, no rowing movements, no vertical pushing... Simple isn't always the best, when it comes at the expense of important movements. I get what you're saying and do agree, more or less, but you seem to be missing the larger pictures.
You start with the basics (ie big compounds) and build off of them. You need to make sure you're actually working your entire body. Also, some people want to or need to give certain body parts or movements extra attention. That's important to keep in mind also.
Vandamme is Right on. The "good old days" of body-building in the 70's, 80's etc meant body part splits. BiggerThanYou, perhaps you're referring to the REALLY old days of the 20's? though I doubt it, because most of their methods have been lost.
Also, i AM being nitpicky here, but if you're really obsessed with something, you should learn to spell it properly. It's spelled "exercise".
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Actually I think the main point to come out of this is that consistancy beats a quick fix any day. Programs can be better or worse, but 3 months on a miracle program and 9 months of sitting on the couch wont beat 12 months of a decent program.
Also, i AM being nitpicky here, but if you're really obsessed with something, you should learn to spell it properly. It's spelled "exercise".
man...lol...you take no prisoners do you shark? You would make one of the most strict high school teachers of all time, "mr. shark can i use the bathroom?", "i don't know can you? it's may I, that will be 100 presses and squats, and to make it structurally balanced 100 sldl's and rows." [img]tongue.gif[/img]
Maybe when he said good ol' days of strength training and bodybuilding he was referring to good ol' Sigmund Klein circa 1930s (the dude was badass). Yet I don't know if he trained full body or not...I would like to know actually.
I agree with Bj, consistency is a must. Although 12 months on the same program? Forget adaptation issues, that would mentally drive me insane.
I may sound outta place here, but I do a body part once a week and I seem to get good gains (strength and size), shark and myself have discussed this extensively, although we do not agree on all point we do agree on some. I have stated before that you need to find what works for you.
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