Bodybuilding: The Evolving Approach
In almost every profession, we
look to the latest research and technology to help guide us to more efficient and productive outcomes. However, if that same research and technology were to be misinterpreted or applied incorrectly it would be wasted.
Bodybuilding is hard. It’s VERY hard. But in my opinion, most bodybuilding athletes and their coaches often make it even more complicated than it actually is. Since training and nutrition are simply a means to an end it only makes sense for the athlete or coach to seek out ways to make them easier, more efficient, and more practical while producing optimal results.
Fiction can be defined as an assumption of a possibility as a fact irrespective of the question of its truth. Bodybuilding has often been an arena for absurd and unsubstantiated beliefs. In other words, an arena for fiction. Over the last 20-plus years, I’ve seen a number of trainers, diet gurus and diet coaches who offer advice that has either no physiological rationale at all or simply consists of only misinterpreted portions of research. Sometimes what they say is misleading and many times it is completely false. They have the “This is the way it’s always been done” rationale. And then there’s the “This is what my clients do and they always win” approach.
Now, I am not saying that anecdotal examples and practical ex
perience are useless. To the contrary, I consider practical experience both valuable and necessary. Training and nutrition programs shouldn’t be dictated entirely by research studies and I am the first to admit that bodybuilding is far from an exact science. In fact, sometimes what’s practiced in the gym is ahead of what research has validated and science in and of itself does not mean absolute certainty.
In many ways bodybuilding could be viewed as a continuous – although uncontrolled – experiment of the capabilities of the human body. Therefore, I believe it is important to keep an open mind and understand that practical application and experiences should help generate further research.
That said, bodybuilders should understand the basic principles of nutrition and human physiology and respect scientific evidence as a good reference point. At the same time, researchers should not completely discount the training methods of elite-level bodybuilders simply because research doesn’t support them. Each community can learn from the other and ultimately it makes both better.
During the early part of my bodybuilding career I admit I believed and religiously followed a number of training and nutrition strategies that I learned via my gym heroes and magazine articles. I totally bought in. However, much of what I was learning in college and through research was in conflict with the theories I’d picked up in the gym and I was the first in my class to argue with my professors in favor of their validity.
Later in my career I began to think more critically about these strategies and the rationale behind each of them. So I did my own research and relied on my own logic and practical experience, which resulted in the realization that much of what I had been doing was likely unnecessary or simply flawed.
As I furthered m
y education and completed my graduate studies, I learned more about sports nutrition and physiology and did even more research. And while working in higher education, I was privileged to work closely with some world-class physiologists, sports nutritionists and brilliant academics. As a result of my experiences I became more enlightened about the many flawed assumptions in both the scientific community and especially in the bodybuilding world.
Having more than two decades of professional real-world experience as well as advanced academic training has helped me to better understand the science-based information and how it applies to real-world settings so my audience and clients can maximize their benefits. But the truth is, after all these years, my philosophies on training and nutrition are STILL evolving.
What I believe today could change based on new research, new information, or even more experience. I am continuously learning and gathering knowledge from multiple resources. By utilizing scientifically-based information as well as my many years of personal experience, I have developed some unique perspectives on how many well-established principles might best be applied to bodybuilding. My hope is that it will enable me to bridge some of the gaps between science and application as I continue to utilize an eclectic approach.
Finally, to all the trainers, coaches and bodybuilders who are reading this… if you think you have all the answers, I promise you don’t. And if you’re asked a difficult question regarding training or nutrition, it’s perfectly fine to sometimes simply say “I don’t know.” I encourage you to use this as an opportunity to learn something new, to seek the truth, and be prepared to change your mind.
Train Smart and Good Luck!
