The Dream Lounge

When the Unconventional Works, is it Really so Extreme?

Posted on 26. Jun, 2009 by Anthony 'Dream' Johnson in Exercise

Not long ago I wrote a post about my experience with the University of Central Florida’s Recreation and Wellness Center (the gym) and a nutrition class I just finished taking.

The personal training lead from the RWC jumped in on the discussion, and I believe it turned out quite valuable- for everyone. Today I’d like to expand upon a few points.

Kenny (the PT lead) said…

Upon reading your posts on this site and judging by the fact that you almost religiously follow a book whose website is an Internet version of a bad infomercial makes me question your ability to discern useful information.

Now, my initial response to this comment was that of laughter- he’s right in a sense, and it’s quite funny.

Body by Science: A Research-Based Program For Strength Training, Body Building, And Complete Fitness is 12 Minutes A Week.

Sounds eerily similar to 6 Minute Abs, a Chuck Norris commercial, or the typical Bowflex ad.

But before we get into greater depth, let’s just examine the title.

Body by “Science”.

What exactly does that entail?

Unlike many other training modalities, this one is based on sound science. It is not based on emotional assumptions, romanticized Rocky IV training scenes, or what the latest pro sports/power lifting coach is doing on a whim.

The authors- from what I could tell- are primarily concerned with building muscle in the most effective, efficient, and safe way possible- which does not translate as throwing around heavy weights (objects?) like an animal.

Competitive sports (including weight lifting) are just that- sports. They are NOT the best way to build muscle (exercise)- many times in fact they can be quite dangerous which could easily HALT progress entirely due to an injury.

Or simply put, muscular hypertrophy is more about producing inroad in the muscles than actually moving weights- weight training is just the best way to produce inroad. Hence they strongly recommend against mechanical assists such as momentum build up, valsalva, and encourage the practice of proper form (and using only the intended muscles for a given exercise).

You could easily bounce a barbell of your chest to have a higher bench press and look cool in the gym- but this has absolutely nothing to do with building muscle.

Further examining just the title…

A “Research-Based Program”

Doug Mcguff has stressed this concept many times over when discussing the sub title of his book as seen here, and here.

The basic premise being that the book is not based soley on his or John Little’s word- but on massive amounts of research and recent studies. The last ~25 pages of the book are, literally, citations of the research used to support their logical conclusions about exercise.

Never before has anything like this been done in the field of exercise. Body by Science is the accumulation of years (or perhaps decades depending on the viewpoint) of hard work, from many if not nearly all well known High Intensity Trainers from around the world.

It is, by far- and to the furthest extent of my knowledge- the most well backed piece of literature available on the subject of exercise ever written. If you disagree with something in the book, you aren’t disagreeing with one or two authors opinions, you are literally disagreeing with mountains of properly performed research- studies that directly contradict the conventional wisdom surrounding exercise, which was for the most part created by bad science (IMO) and irrational assumptions.

It is directly due to this fact that I’m such a massive supporter of the book- and may appear as a “fan boy” or “zealot” at times. The truth being again though, that this book is nothing short of incredible- a massive leap in the right direction for the notions we practice as a society concerning exercise.

Does that mean it’s the only book of it’s kind? That it’s a lone fish, or some revolutionary new method of training?

No, quite the contrary actually. High intensity training has been around for nearly 40 years- the founder actually living much of his life right here in Central Florida.

Furthermore, there have been dozens of books published over the past few decades about high intensity training- Body by Science being the most recent, with Drew Baye’s coming next.

Getting into further depth, I believe Kenny simply fell into the age old trap of judging a book by it’s cover- quite literally in this instance. Immediately questioning my ability to discern useful information- while warranted at first glance- is without any real foundation.

Again, Body by Science is a remarkable piece of writing, backed by an enormous amount of research, studies, and so on.

As for religiously following it- simply not true. I reference it relentlessly because it is such vast source of practical (and scientific) information on exercise. At the moment, there is no better source IMO.

Doug’s videos are also one of a kind- not only demonstrating correct application of the exercise protocol advised in BBS, but also verbalizing what’s said in the book on camera during various seminars hosted around the country. For many people, this is a significantly faster way to absorb the information.

Back to following the book “religiously”-this is not true. A simple example would be the cadence I use for my repetitions. BBS recommends a cadence of 10/10- I practice somewhere around 4/6 usually- 4 seconds for the positive contraction and 6 seconds for the negative.

The point of debate being the amount of micro trauma caused by the number of reps within a given TUL (time under load). Is it better to do 6 reps in 60 seconds using a 5/5 cadence or 3 reps using a 10/10 cadence or is there no significant difference, or is it independent to each individual…

Admittedly though, I practice most other concepts in the book to the T. Some of which I was already doing in alignment with their suggestions however, such as eating a “hunter-gatherer” diet. In a sense, that decision was independent of reading Body by Science- although they did provide further points of interest about the diet I was previously unaware of and how it pertains to HIT.

In conclusion…

Kenny said

You seem to be a person who thinks in extremes

My response to that now being the title of this post- when the unconventional works, is it really so extreme?

In the case of high intensity training- brief, intense, infrequent, safe, logical exercise- no, it is not extreme. In fact, following training philosophies that are not as effective, efficient, and safe, is the “extreme”. Other people doing it- like in the case of the popular p90x program (not that Kenny does such a program to my knowledge)- makes it no more “acceptable” or unacceptable- it’s just irrelevant.

The fact that HIT is the minority of what is practiced currently among the general population IMO makes it that much more credible- despite sounding like a fantasy (12 minutes a week, or even less in my case now) come true. This is compounded by the progressively more obvious failure of the conventional lore surrounding exercise and nutrition- we are literally getting fatter by the day as a nation.

Is high intensity training perfect? No, not by any means- but as once said “perfect is the destroyer of the good”. HIT has thus far proved effective for me personally, and the principles are more than sound enough to continue working for everyone (because they have done so for decades, not just select individuals.

Body by Science is the best introduction to be found for this type of exercise, and I can’t recommend it enough.

“Balanced”, “functional”, and “non extreme” protocols concerning exercise and nutrition sound nice (that is, they fit into already existing incorrect assumptions) on paper, but more often than not pale in comparison to what actually works.

Again, is something really extreme if it works? And perhaps what doesn’t work but is widely (falsely) accepted as the norm, is really the extreme (insane?) hiding behind blind, untested assumptions.

Something to think about next time you look at the Food Pyramid and that long line of “cardio” machines.

-Dream

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