Dumb Stuff I Once Believed

I enjoy helping newbies when I have the time, as long as they're receptive and put my advice to work. I think I'm good at helping people new to hard training and proper nutrition because I was a newbie twice.

The first time was in high school between my junior and senior years. I'd been involved in a few sports, but I never enjoyed the weight training part, mainly because I wasn't exactly inspired by the out-of-shape coaches screaming at me through a mouthful of Copenhagen. As poor teachers and coaches often do, they turned me off of training rather than inspiring me to make it a lifelong habit.

But one summer I decided to increase my chances of seeing a girl naked and figured weight training would help. I busted my ass the whole summer and even though I didn't really understand what I was doing, I made some progress. Sure enough I saw lots of naked girls soon after, so, being an intelligent teenager, I immediately quit training and never picked up a weight again until after college.

I plead youth.

By then I was a newbie. . . again. I'd been too fat, then too skinny. The weights called again and I haven't quit since. But along the way I fell for some really dumb shit. I had some stupid beliefs and held some stupid thoughts in my head about training and diet.

I don't feel too bad about it though. This is part of the learning process. If it wasn't for the Model T, we'd never have the Audi TT. You have to start somewhere then improve along the way. Luckily, T-Nation is here now, so at least the newbs have a quality info source. I sometimes wonder how much further along I'd be if T-Nation had been around when I was 16.

Anyway, in Dave Tate's new book, Under the Bar, he lists 50 common excuses you hear in powerlifting. Then, bravely, he admitted he'd used all of them! In that spirit, here's an incomplete list of all the dumb crap I once believed about training and nutrition:

* If you don't eat fat, you won't get fat. It's perfectly logical!

* The only way to train the arms is to curl.

* If you starve yourself, your body will use up all the fat and leave the muscle.

* You've gotta hit the calves and forearms as much as the other muscle groups or you won't be "symmetrical." (Don't you just love hearing 130 pound 15-year olds talking about symmetry? I just want to smack them. Of course, I did the same damn thing.)

* There's no need to train the legs, especially if you jog. Who cares about legs anyway? Girls don't look at legs!

* You have to go for long runs to lose fat.

* Deadlifting is only for football players and powerlifters.

* Explosive lifting is only for Olympic lifters.

* When you get really big you can just stop training and you'll stay that way.

* Fifty pound dumbbells are heavy. (Lesson: If you train in a limiting environment, your progress will be limited. If 50 pound dumbbells are the heaviest 'bells in the gym, you'll perceive 50 pounds as "heavy.")

* If you double the volume in Arnold's arm workouts, you'll get double the results.

Granted, I was 14 when I believed most of this stuff, and the muscle magazines even supported some of these wacky beliefs. But still, many of these "beliefs" were just thinly disguised excuses.

I think it's important we all think about what we -- intelligent, hardcore, dead sexy vets that we are -- used to believe. That makes it easier to help newbies without tearing our hair out or tearing them a new orifice.

Got any confessions about what you used to believe, smart guy?

Wow. That's a scary list. Why? Cause I can check yes to once believing all of those, too.

Really makes one appreciate T-Nation even more, when you look at how far you've come. Damn. Double damn.

Hey Chris,

Bob Tomlinson here. I had the chance to meet you in Austin, TX a couple weeks ago. Here goes:
-One set to failure is all that is required;
-SuperSlow is the safest and most productive way to train;
-Leg presses are safer than and superior to squats;
-deadlifting is ridiculous, not enough muscle isolation;
-Mike Mentzer knows EVERYTHING;
-Where would we be without Arthur Jones?
-If you can't lift on MedX or Hammer Strength, don't bother training;

A few years later,
-Mike Boyle and Mark Verstegen are to be emulated;
-Charlie Francis knows EVERYTHING;
-Box squats are superior to oly lift variations for building strength-speed;
-performing squats on a couple of Airex pads is a good idea, squatting on a swiss ball even better (oops, this line of thought preceded "Charlie Francis knows EVERYTHING").

You get the picture. Really great to meet you in Texas.

If you lift hard, and don't eat much, all the fat will turn into muscle :)

It was funny how when I actually started eating a lot again, the muscle came...

confession....

after lifting and training for a year, i looked in a mirror and believed i looked like one of those queer chippendale fuckers...dammit.... begin five year bender

ps

I was lucky enough to have a great football coach who was also our strength coach. I still think the guy is better than 95% of the "elite" trainers. So my freshman year I started lifting with someone of that caliber...

However, I started lifting about 2 months before I started high school...my training wasn't bad but I believed that:

-Weightgainers added nothing but tons of muscle.

-You needed to train yourself into the ground in order to make progress.

Easy...

- Squatting below parallel is bad for your knees.

- 4 sets of 10 reps is the ideal way to train.

lol I see alot of stick legs in my day.

Another old wives tale--

Don't get too big or all that muscle will turn to fat.

At the risk of being too simplistic, the biggest myth I worked under when I was younger was that gym time was all that was needed to see progress. I kept workout logs, spent two-hours plus in the gym three times a week, and still went nowhere.

For me, as an FFB, I now understand that 70% or so of what dictates my progress involves what I stuff (or do not stuff) into my face.

Oh, if only I had known that 20 years ago ...

That my chest and legs where week points, so I went on the first 6 months of my training doing bench presses and squats.

Eventually screwed up my shoulder.

I also believed that the more frequency the better. I was lifting 3 times a week, well now that progress is slowed I need 5 times, well 5 times didnt work I need 6 times, It was soon after this that I actually hurt my shoulder.

I believed that muscle magazines actually gave out valid training advice so that my 120 lbs 16yr old ass would grow to be big like the pros.

If T-Nation would have been around when I was 16, I may be in an entirely differnt place in my life. I have been reading it for 3 or more years now, and feel I am still learning how to apply all the knowledge to my own body to make progress. Only problem now is at 31, married, 2 young kids, and a job my variables are not as conducive to growing like they would have been back then. And that is a downer

There's no such thing as overtraining, as long as you eat enough.

I wish I was only 14 when I figured that to be untrue.

The more Muscle & Fiction magazines I get delivered to my door, the more muscle I'll build. (I'd worked myself up to a 4-mag-a-month habit).

Similarly, the more pictures of pro bodybuilders I hang on my walls (even the "aesthetic" ones), the more inspired I'll become.

Women who lift will get big muscles and look like a man.

Weider was all I needed...

My earliest thoughts on steroids (circa mid-1980's):

"If you're just patient, you can get Mr. Olympia results with hard work and time. No need for steroids unless you're in a hurry."

Thank you, Mr. Weider!

- In order to get in shape and build muscle, you MUST be in the gym working out at LEAST 3 hours/day. 4 hours is also better.

- posterior chain, smosterior chain! Be a man and do presses, curls, leg extensions, more curls, calf raises, and curls. When you are done with that, do some more presses and finish out with a couple more sets of curls. If you are having problems with your last couple of sets of curls, it will make them easier if you stand in the squat rack and do them.

- speaking of squat rack, don't do squats. They are bad for your already bad knees.

- beer will help you gain weight. If you are working out, the weight will be in the form of muscle.


But hey, I was a total newbie, so I get some slack, right?
Thank God for T-Nation!

How about: Eating too much protein will cause your kidneys to explode.

Yo Chris, when are you coming back down through El Paso?

Chris skip TJ and go straight to Ensenada or Rosarita, Papas and Beers best bar in the world.

When I wrestled that if i lifted wts I wouldnt be able to stay at wt a huge 145.

I always liked:

"If you can't see the muscle, you don't have to train it"

God 16 year olds are dumb.

Submitted for your approval/mockery;

-If I don't eat after a workout my body will burn fat until I eat, maybe I'll wait an hour...Couple that with the fact that my post workout meal more often than not in my first year of uni. was 2 Whoppers on the way home from the gym...Oh the shame...

Hey, if you do go to juarez, let me car pool with you. Gas is expensive! Just pick me up in colorado springs!!

Here's one I thought I'd repressed:

First time I ever picked up a bodybuilding mag (age 13 or so) I see a page with three pro's holding three different kinds of Weider weight gainer (read soy protein and sugar). These were those early 80's weight gainers that came in what looked like dry dog food bags.

Each bag contained some sort of different blend than the others, and each bodybuilder looked very different - one was massive and bulky, one was super ripped, etc.

I clearly remember thinking, "Okay, if I want to look like this guy I need this kind. And if I want to look like this guy I need that kind..."

God, thinking back to pre-T-Nation, pre-MM2k, pre-widespread internet access days, it was like living in a vacuum. The amount of info available now is staggering.