If you follow me on Twitter or Facebook, you know that I say a lot of “ridiculous” sh*t, especially when it comes to nutrition. Things like, “if my fatloss stalls for a week, I increase my calories, not decrease them.” Or, “I ate a family size package of brats over the weekend and lost a pound.” When it comes to training, people don’t understand why I would EVER do 13 sets of 8 reps on just 1 lift. Why is it that I do the “crazy” sh*t I do?
Listen, I do say that stuff mostly to troll for a response from all the clean eating, follow a rigid program fanatics out there, but I really am doing everything I say. What I’m not doing is giving you any background information as to how and why I get away with it. Why? Because I’m trying to distance myself from all the experts and gurus out there. F*ck those guys. Who wants to eat clean 100% of the time? Who can afford the lifestyle to be able to eat 6 perfectly portioned, all-organic meals throughout the day? Not hardly anyone in my experience. So rather than fight it, why not work within what your body will allow? Why not try to optimize yourself in order to eat the way you want to eat?
I don’t think anyone will ever say that eating clean is bad for you. In fact, if they do, I would probably consider them more of a ritard than the people pushing a 100% clean diet all the time. Eating clean is NOT bad for you…..it’s just extremely difficult to stick to and very intrusive on most people’s lifestyle.
So why wouldn’t you want to eat the foods you like and still accomplish your physique goals? It is freakin possible people. After years and years and years of experimenting, meeting the right people, and doing a little research, I’m pretty sure I’ve found the way to eat what you like, when you like, and still progress in your training and physique goals. There’s no miracles here. I won’t promise you that you can lose 40lb. in 2 months. That was, as all the infomercials say, “results not typical”. If you eat and train the way that I’ve finally figured out, you will see results, get to ENJOY food, and NOT have your life impacted by your diet. Why not do what works for YOU, not what someone else says will work for you?
The next thing that absolutely freaks people the f*ck out is that I don’t foam roll or do any static stretching.
“Well, that may work for you, but it won’t work for everybody. Not only that, but you’re probably inflexible and just don’t know it.”
O’rly?!?! When I do a sitting toe touch, which only shows the flexibility of the hamstrings and lower back in isolation (which almost never occurs in real world movement btw), I can plant my face directly between my knees. I can do a bodyweight squat ass to grass without falling backwards. I can rattle off more than 10 pistol squats ass to grass. I can catch an Olympic Snatch behind my head. How much more flexibility/mobility do you need? Why do I *HAVE* to stretch? Because some guru said it was good for me? F*ck those guys. If you address your weaknesses in your training, there’s no need to do extra stretching.
“You must follow a rigid program with exact percentages, reps, sets, rest periods, and exercise selection.”
Why? If your goal is to squat more weight, why not let your body (using biofeedback) tell you the best way to do it? If you look at any program out there: Westside, 5/3/1, 5×5, DeFranco’s WS4SB, they will ALL have you doing different variations of a squat at some point in time. The difference is, they will take some block of time and say, “ok, for this phase, you’re going to front squat. After that you’re going to do a phase of safety bar squat, and then we’ll go back to a regular back squat.” So, what if your body could tell you each and every workout which one of those variations you should do? It can! It does! Just because you’re not specifically setting up blocks of time to do them, doing a front squat one session and a box squat the next session within the same week will both transfer to a bigger back squat as long as you have progressed since the last time you did them.
It is good to know an approximate percentage of your 1RM but only for reference sake. Instead of following a program that makes you increase your weight by 5lb. the next week, why not do what your body tells you to do naturally? Maybe your tissue hasn’t grown and adapted for a 5lb. intensity increase. Maybe it has only adapted to allow you to do more volume or density at that same weight you just did. If you can increase the volume (reps) or density (decrease the time), have you not still progressed?
There’s a reason why we measure everything in volume, density, and intensity, and it has to do with physics. The definition of work done (as performed by the muscle) is mass x (distance/time)^2. So, if you increase the mass (intensity), you increase the work performed. If you increase the distance (reps and/or sets – volume), you increase the work performed. If you decrease the amount of time it takes to lift the same amount of weight with the same amount of volume (density), you increase the amount of work performed.
In the end, the amount of work performed is all that matters. If you can increase the amount of work your muscles can perform, your body will continually adapt in size and strength (given that you’re not starving yourself in an attempt to lose weight).
“Progress cannot be stopped, but we can slow it right the f*ck down” – Adam T Glass
love it…
what i wander tho if like you say do what th body tells you to do…
so if someone is obviously a endurance (slow twitch) then what happens if you train with alot of fast twitch workouts? can you “change” your body? does it improve the slow twitch even if u train the fast twitch? what if your body always tells you to train for more endurance? do you listen to it? maybe its trying to tell you something to stick with what its “built” for?
all just thoughts in my head lol
i still should look into biofeedback… but wouldnt that potentially put trainers out of business is everybody knew what to do and when to do it by “listening” to there body?
People have both types of muscle fibers in their body’s, but if your goal is to train for endurance, then your Type II’s will “atrophy”. However, that doesn’t mean that a long distance runner could never turn into an explosive athlete. Let your goals dictate your training.
If you read the sales page for Grip & Rip, yes, it could put trainers out of business. But then again, there has been unlimited, good advice on the internet for ages, yet trainers are still around.
Good blog today Bro! My nutrition diet is the hardest for me. Your explanation about eating is very helpful. I’d love to purchase organic food for myself, wife and son, but I don’t have the financial means to do it every week or day. It is difficult to maintain. I’m trying to lose 50lbs. I’m trying to figure it out on my own based on what my body tells me.
Love the F** bombs for emphasis! Very good blog!
Good stuff man! I agree!
Try to get someone motivated by telling them that they need to eat chicken and rice the rest of their life–good luck!
Yep, biofeedback points you in the right direction. Trainers beware.
Derrick,
There are some cool studies were instead of “wife swap” they did “nerve swap” and swapped the nerves going to some muscles to get them to change; so it is possible. As Dave pointed out, how much of a change can happen? Not quite sure.
Either way, as Dan John says “do your behaviors match your goals?”
Structurally, I am more of an endurance type, but personally it does not do much for me, so I prefer weights instead. Providing the correct stimulus will change my structure (even bone) over time.
Rock on
Mike T Nelson PhD(c)
http://extremehumanperformance.com
When it comes to diet I don’t agree with eat whatever the F you want. Like working out I think discipline is involved. The more the better. Some people have it some don’t. It sounds good to say eat whatever you want and still lose weight/see results, however imagine if they were more disciplined in their diet what results they would see. Same is true for working out. I could do x workout and see results or do y workout and see better results. It comes down to discipline. In response to endurance athletes not doing speed work… Not a good idea. You can keep increasing your endurance, but if your goals are a specific time – say 4 minute miles and you only run a 16 second hundred meter dash, your goal is impossible no matter how much endurance training you do. You still need speed training to lower your running times. That is my thoughts.
Thanks for the comments everyone. Hopefully I get some more to roll in over the next couple of days. I love poking the hornet’s nest.
@Troy
Like I said in the post, there’s some things going on in the background that I haven’t divulged yet (it will come soon enough). And don’t you think that a “better” diet is one that allows you to see results AND eat what you want? If you are 100% super strict and absolutely agonize over your next meal, do you think it will be effective long term? I know I would rather eat bacon cheeseburgers and still rock a six pack. I’m not sure who would disagree. To me, that’s a “better” diet.
But as you say, you could do diet X and see results or do diet Y and see better results. However, what are the costs associated with doing Diet Y? Morale? Ketosis? Emotional binging?
I like your comment though, it let’s me know there are still minds out there to change! 😉
Good post, Dave. I’ve long theorized (as someone who’s actually thinking when they go to the gym) that nearly all workout programs are far too rigid. The designers of said programs come up with some formula that works, sort of, for a majority of their test subjects, and then preach that as gospel. But the human body is not a machine, it has no mathematic certainties, so why would you treat it as such? While I may lack the academic background to fully explain why, it seems common sense to me that changing your workout up, going light on days where you feel like you need to, and other such deviations are normal, and even necessary. Sounds like this BioFeedback thing is really geared towards that idea.
Looking forward to more, man!
Pete
@Pete
You are absolutely right. BioFeedback is what reinforces your intuition, it’s the path forward. The Grip & Rip DVD explains it all in such simple terms. I think you’d be amazed how simple and how effective it is. Check out the link on the right.
as far as nutrition.. liek troy said it does take discipline.. and for most of us.. eating healthy AT ALL is using discipline lol
but most people aren’t trying to become the next cover model so we don’t need to eat 100% all the time..
its almost a shame that 99% of people, including myself dont eat healthy to be healthy… we do it to look good…
but what i want to ask dave is, if you can eat cheeseburgers and maintain a six pack its a good diet.. obviously.. but what about your insides, malnutrition, etc.. etc..
@Derrick
You’re getting closer! You’re right, I DON’T eat cheeseburgers everyday. In fact, I still eat “cleaner” than most people out there, but it’s by choice. But because I’ve conditioned my metabolic flexibility, if I DO want to eat a cheeseburger (or multiple cheeseburgers) during the week, it’s no big deal.
Also, you’re finally drilling down to the micro level. If you notice, all of my claims lately have been at the macro level (carbs, protein, fats), which determine our external appearance.
The final piece of the puzzle is coming soon…
Well said 🙂
Regarding fitness and health my mantra is: To each their own. By eating ‘clean’ 100% all the time,, maybe you’ll get better and faster result. But it’s not for everybody. Because eating ‘clean’ all the time is like walking on a thin ice for some people. The best way is to find the most comfortable and do able healthy life style that we can keep up our entire life without getting psychological problem in the long term. That’s why I hate when trainer insist their way is the only way. I mean,, they should give their clients options [as well as predicted result of their choices] and let them decide 🙂
Devy, I wish everyone took this common sense approach. Sadly, we’re all brainwashed by media and doctors hucking fatloss pills that it’s not our fault. And if it’s not our fault, that means we don’t have to change. Sad state of affairs…