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View Full Version : Go with Science not Bro Science



drtbear1967
08-14-2017, 08:20 AM
by Matt Weik


With so much information out there today, it’s difficult to weed through the BS “Bro-Science” and the legitimate research backed science. These days everyone who picks up a weight is a fitness guru in their own mind. Everything they read in magazines is taken as gospel and these goons will hang onto every word that the biggest guy in the gym says. “I just read an article that showed Phil Heath’s workout on how to get 20+ inch arms! Now I can finally look like ‘The Gift’ himself!” Cool bro, I have a needle of the highest quality oxygen for you to inject into your vein too that will make you huge. Actually, don’t attempt that last sentence, it’s a sure way to end up dead—but you get the sarcasm, right? Come on, get real people. Snap out of it. Stop listening to the opinions of individuals and start looking into the actual concrete research.



I get it, everyone trains differently and every training protocol is different. What works for Arnold might not work for Ronnie Coleman. What works for Ronnie Coleman might not work for Jay Cutler. And what protocol they all use might not work for you. Half of the battle of getting the physique of your dreams is figuring out your own body. What rep range and total working sets give you the best results. And better yet, like what this article covers, what frequency of training will yield the best results.



For a while the idea of hitting each muscle group extremely hard once a week was floating around in just about every gym across the US. Why? Because just about every bodybuilder out there was following such a routine. They explain that if you hit the muscle hard enough, you’ll need a full week to rebuild the torn muscle fibers before you can step back in the gym and hit that muscle group hard again. While that might work for them, it isn’t the case for majority of the people going to the gym these days. In fact, professional bodybuilders can get away with that style of training due to their steroid use. Heck, with their steroid use, they could actually go in and train at a very low intensity and still put on more size than most of the people in there lifting heavy—it’s just the nature of the drugs. You can’t let it crush your motivation to get in there and train like an absolute beast.


Now with all of that being said, here’s the really cool part… new research has come out that talks about the best way to put on size (muscle hypertrophy). You don’t have to worry about “bro-science” this time, this is a legit study done by BJ Schoenfeld and his team. While many people assume that you would be overtraining by hitting the same muscle group multiple times a week, Schoenfeld’s study shows the complete opposite. In terms of resistance training frequency, this study tested a group of subjects training anywhere from one to three times a week. What they have come to find is that training twice a week yielded more hypertrophy than simply training one day a week. With that said, they aren’t exactly stopping there and slapping high-fives. There’s more work to be done. The next piece of data they plan to seek out is how training two days a week per muscle group compares to training the same muscle group three times a week. In doing this future study, it will give us all a better idea of the best overall training frequency in terms of putting on muscle and training for hypertrophy.


In the meantime, don’t cut yourself short by following the workouts you read in magazines and through quotes your favorite bodybuilder says. Utilize the data found in this study and change your workouts to allow each muscle group to be hit twice a week. Combine this training routine with a clean diet and you’re on your way to some very impressive gains. Don’t miss out by using old school bro-science, buy your research confirmed ticket now for the gains train and hop aboard!

Source:
Schoenfeld, B., Ogborn, D., & Krieger, J. (2016). Effects of Resistance Training Frequency on Measures of Muscle Hypertrophy: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. Sports Medicine. Retrieved April 26, 2016, from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/27102172/

yellow snow
08-14-2017, 04:49 PM
This post is dead on, but then again always be wary of the testing/studies used. Is it a low number of people used in the study, are they in a controled environment, what else are they doing on the side, who is funding the study (this is a big one!!)etc............................it makes my head hurt.

Iron Game
08-14-2017, 11:11 PM
This post is dead on, but then again always be wary of the testing/studies used. Is it a low number of people used in the study, are they in a controled environment, what else are they doing on the side, who is funding the study (this is a big one!!)etc............................it makes my head hurt.

Agreed this is a good post but I will never discount bro-science. How long ago was it that science said testosterone did nothing for athletic performance? Studies can be misleading.

QUESTION EVERYTHING! LET YOUR OWN INTELLIGENCE AND LOGIC HELP GUIDE YOUR DECISIONS. BRO SCIENCE COUNTS, IMHO!

drtbear1967
08-15-2017, 09:51 AM
Question everything, I like that.

yellow snow
08-16-2017, 07:36 PM
Question everything, I like that.

I am a big question everything which kicks my ass since my kids have caught on, haha!

I love it back in the day when schools were doing the say no to drugs and tobacco thing.....................my kids come home and tell me that there is arcenic in cigarette............really did you know that there is arcenic in that tomato you are eating? arcenic is a natural substance in the soil that plants pull up in themselves in very small amounts...........love how the anti smoking nazi's use it to imply that cig companies are adding poison to their product.

Iron Game
08-16-2017, 09:40 PM
I am a big question everything which kicks my ass since my kids have caught on, haha!

I love it back in the day when schools were doing the say no to drugs and tobacco thing.....................my kids come home and tell me that there is arcenic in cigarette............really did you know that there is arcenic in that tomato you are eating? arcenic is a natural substance in the soil that plants pull up in themselves in very small amounts...........love how the anti smoking nazi's use it to imply that cig companies are adding poison to their product.Damn I didn't know that about arsenic.

drtbear1967
08-17-2017, 08:29 AM
One of the biggest scams to hit the states in years... organic. I was raised on a farm and we killed our own beef for years. No way what they have in the stores is the same thing. Doesn't even look the same. Total BS.

Masher59
08-17-2017, 08:48 AM
I believe in variety and confusion. I may go 4 weeks hitting one group per day then I go 4 weeks hitting two groups per day low intensity. Then 4 weeks two groups high intensity. Then a upper/lower split for 4 weeks. Changing up the secondary lifts also. If your muscle always knows what's coming it will build resistance. That's my bro science tip of the day.

The Survivor
08-17-2017, 09:30 AM
This sums it up at least for me, a rather famous quote

"Modern bodybuilding is ritual, religion, sport, art, and science, awash in Western chemistry and mathematics. Defying nature, it surpasses it." Camille Paglia

It helps to know the science behind anything, but old fashioned hard work and hands on along with your own journals and feedback from other men in the gym that are doing the same thing as you, is the only way I know of. set the books down and lift!

The Survivor
08-17-2017, 12:14 PM
I subscribe to Jerry Brainum's monthly newsletter called Applied Metabolics, its only $10/month via email and its not only science based but Jerry is an old school BB from the golden era and had authored hundereds of articles for many muscle mags over several decades, he really know his shit! The art's are almost too long as they go into great detail on nutrition, lifting and anything that pertains to BB. They are really like a mini book every month.

I highly recommend looking into his stuff, goggle him and you'l see his web site, youtube vids and other cool stuff. No advertising on his newsletter so Jerry not embolden to any supp company unlike the mags where the ads are 80% and content/pic are only 20%

Iron Game
09-04-2017, 04:12 PM
I subscribe to Jerry Brainum's monthly newsletter called Applied Metabolics, its only $10/month via email and its not only science based but Jerry is an old school BB from the golden era and had authored hundereds of articles for many muscle mags over several decades, he really know his shit! The art's are almost too long as they go into great detail on nutrition, lifting and anything that pertains to BB. They are really like a mini book every month.

I highly recommend looking into his stuff, goggle him and you'l see his web site, youtube vids and other cool stuff. No advertising on his newsletter so Jerry not embolden to any supp company unlike the mags where the ads are 80% and content/pic are only 20%Sound pretty interesting. I'm going to check it out.