After observing others and also asking myself some TOUGH QUESTIONS regarding
my own WORKOUT HABITS, I long ago came to the conclusion that one of the
toughest questions any hard trainer can ask themselves is, "AM I TRULY
GETTING STRONGER AND MAKING LEGITIMATE GAINS FROM THIS
EXERCISE AND/OR THIS ROUTINE?" TRUTHFULLY? Because we all tend to
rationalize and even alter the performance of our exercises in order to avoid
that truth. We often FOOL OURSELVES. And we do it subconsciously.
Now I'm not talking about the novice trainee who during his first two years may
DOUBLE what he can bench, curl, etc. and is obviously bigger and stronger, even
if he has loosened up his form considerably. I'm talking about the person who
has trained for years and years and is now at the point where increasing his ten
rep MAX, for example, in his favorite lift by a paltry five or six percent during
a whole YEAR of hard work, would still consider his program a resounding SUCCESS.
Case in point:
A few years ago I desparately wanted to increase my CURLING STRENGTH.
My exercise of choice at the time was alternate dumbell curls, suppinating
from a "hammer" position at the bottom to a palms-up position at the top.
I worked HARD and progressed in a matter of months from using a pair of
55s all the way up to the 70s for ten reps each hand. But I finally had to
admit that my BICEPS did not show one whit of improvement, and finally my
son commented that each time I moved up in weight I dipped my curling
arm's shoulder even lower, to pass through the sticking point. My alternate
curls were fast becoming a series of FREAKY LOOKING one-arm cleans --
and I KNEW that, deep down inside ...
But I wouldn't fully acknowledge the TRUTH because I was hooked on the
ILLUSION of getting stronger; and when I retested myself in a slow, NO
MOMENTUM regular curl, I found I had gained little to nothing in REAL
biceps strength. TIME WASTED!
Because people who work out year after year after year so deparately want to
JUSTIFY all that work and commitment with results, they often slide into the
trap of FOOLING THEMSELVES by loosening up their form or even abandoning
an exercise too soon for a different one for the same bodypart, so that they
can't be PINNED DOWN (not even in their own minds) regarding the TRUTH
behind the question, "AM I really getting stronger? REALLY???
The answer is to CONTROL ALL VARIABLES within each exercise, so that everything
is EXACTLY THE SAME each time, except their increasing strength. Same bar (or machine);
same warm-up; same speed of movement (because momentum is the enemy of truly
challenging your muscles anyway -- COUNT THE SECONDS UP AND DOWN); same seat
and support settings if using a machine; same angle, if using a sitting OR supine bench;
same amount of rest between sets AND ANYTHING ELSE YOU CAN THINK OF that
would ensure that the only difference between workouts is an increase in weight and/or
reps WHEN YOU ARE ABLE. That's the way any scientist would handle it if asked to
do a study assessing the effectiveness of a particular mode of training. HOW ELSE
CAN ONE TRULY KNOW IF WHAT THEY'RE DOING IS ACTUALLY WORKING?
Because we all tend to rationalize rather than admit something is NOT working
and that we should move on.
Of course one must GIVE A PROGRAM SUFFICIENT TIME, at least a month,
to really assess any approach we take, but don't be one of those scores of
people in every gym who have been training forever and yet are basically no
stronger and no more "muscled" than they were a year ago. They are that way
mainly because they can't examine their results honestly and empirically,
so, instead, they "change the variables" (subconsciously) to support their
self-deception.
By the way, the picture this time doesn't really have any real tie-in to my
theme, although any powerlifter THAT impressive probably is meticulous in
all aspects of his workout, including self-assessment.
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