When I was young, I took many things at face value. I just
didn’t think there was a whole lot of written
material meant to entertain me at best or mislead me at
worst. I eagerly perused bodybuilding periodicals from
cover to cover in search of what would satiate my desire to
obtain a muscular physique. I spent thousands of dollars on
supplements that were probably all worthy of the fate that
befell a bottle of colostrum I purchased in 1990. I chucked
that half-used product in to a ravine near where I lived.
So naïve was I in my quest for muscle building success
that I easily adopted counterproductive training methods
along with the worthless supplements. One of these, a
protocol claiming to add an inch of arm size in 24 hours,
sent my arm training progress backward for no less than two
entire months. It called for any muscle building enthusiast
who could devote one long day to the gym to perform biceps
and triceps workouts every hour for an eight-hour period.
This left my arms so over-trained that they performed about
as well as wet noodles for seemingly endless subsequent
workouts.
Seventeen years later, I’m seeing much of the same
hogwash I fell for in my youth as it’s reformulated
for new audiences. The reason I know this is that I
subscribe to a couple of popular bodybuilding newsletters.
I make it my business to keep up with what’s out
there and, putting it mildly; some of it’s looking
less than scrupulous. Without mentioning any names or
products, here’s a synopsis of some of the possibly
dubious presuppositions I’m expected to believe in
order to shell out the bucks for today’s
‘hot’ bodybuilding products:
• “Secret” protein formulas from the past
can speed up muscle growth.
• Increasing a muscle’s “pump” will
cause an anabolic effect.
• Eating liver tablets will increase muscle mass.
• “Bulking up” (i.e. gaining fat with
muscle) is necessary for muscle gains.
The first on this list would be funny if it weren’t
so friggin’ maddening. I’m asked to believe
that a mid-twentieth century nutritional guru possessed a
since-lost secret formula that accelerates muscle growth.
But what should I expect in an era of ‘The Da Vinci
Code’ and ‘The Secret’? Many seem wont to
believe something vitally important was lost and buried in
the historical shuffle.
In the marketing for this secret formula, it’s
implied that the guru’s mid-century
protégé went from bodybuilding obscurity to
stardom by using a protein formula of precise amino acid
ratio balance. Funny thing; when I look up more objective
online information about the relationship between this
bodybuilder and his mentor, I find the bodybuilder
attributes his success to an effective training protocol
instead of an esoteric protein formulation.
This is not surprising to me. As I’ve shared with so
many people who’ve noticed my unimpeded muscle
building gains: Until you get your tissue
breakdown/recovery ratio mastered, everything else is just
money-wasting BS. Once you do get it mastered, you might
not notice much difference (convenience notwithstanding)
between the effects of an exotic protein powder and those
of an over-stuffed turkey sandwich.
And now even more marketing buzz is being built around
nitric oxide products for their ability to create a
‘pump’ in the muscles. Interestingly, I
actually like these products for the value I can extract
from them. If you’re doing a photo op, this increased
pump can have your musculature appearing just a bit more
swollen. Anyone who sees my latest pictures posted on my
blog can witness the decent vascularity that’s
partially attributable to my trial of this product.
This doesn’t mean, however, that getting a pump will
equate to better bodybuilding gains. Believing so kind of
reminds me of the economic fallacy referred to as the
fallacy of composition. It’s the mistaken belief that
what’s true for the part is always true for the
whole. If you consider ‘the part’ as being your
workouts during which your arms feel bigger than before you
began the training, it doesn’t stand to reason that
your arms are necessarily recuperating faster between
workouts (the whole). Remember, full and
strength-compensatory recuperation between workouts is what
results in muscle growth.
Moving on to the third item on the list: Yes –
I’ve even received newsletter advice to buy liver
tablets. Damn… I never thought this one would work
its way back to the bodybuilding shelves. The belief that
special benefits can be derived from eating specific animal
organs is a throwback to nomadic tribes believing they
gained courage from eating the hearts of lions. Does
desiccated liver contain protein? Sure – but so does
a dozen egg whites. Bottom line: protein synthesis for
muscle recuperation will take its sweet time even if you
have excess protein in your body – regardless of the
source of that protein.
This leads us to the final bullet point mentioned; the
bulking up myth. Many of us thought this died in the 90s,
but it seems to be making a current comeback via the
Internet. Personally, I’m frustrated to see so many
underweight individuals being mislead toward excessive
calorie intake when they haven’t even conquered the
challenge of ‘how to gain muscle’. If you
don’t first get an effective muscle
breakdown/recuperation ratio in order, excess calories will
only bog down your system. Not only can this cause fat
gain, it can slow down muscle growth. Think about it: Your
body needs energy for all its functions – including
building muscle and digesting/processing food. You
definitely don’t want the latter to start competing
for energy with the former. That’s a prescription for
becoming fat, lethargic, and un-muscular.
If you want to build a nice physique, beware of what
misleads so many into the frustration of plateaus and
unfulfilled desires. Look first at your workout strategy
and make sure your tactics are sound. This can prevent you
a lot of natural bodybuilding heartache; the kind of
frustration that leads to chucking a thirty-dollar bottle
of supplements from your backyard into a distant ravine.
----------------------------------------------------
Scott Abbett is the author of HardBody Success: 28
Principles to Create Your Ultimate Body and Shape Your Mind
for Incredible Success. He is a certified fitness trainer
and a Master Practitioner and Trainer of NLP. To see his
personal transformation visit http://www.hardbodysuccess.com
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