Do your weight training results suck?
February 6, 2008 – 12:49 pm
Did you do any weight training in the past? Did your results suck?
Doing any weight training currently? Do your results suck?
Planning on starting weight training in the future? Want to prevent your results from sucking?
If you said “yeah” at least once, today is your lucky day. I just wrote up a list of the most common causes of sucky weight training results. And if anyone knows about that, it’s me. From about 2000 - 2002, “sucky results” was my middle name. Luckily for me, I was able to fix the causes of these not-so-great results and then legally have my middle name changed. And, guess what? I want to share what I learned.
Check it out: 8 Reasons Your Weight Training Results Suck
Questions? Feedback? Leave it in the comments.
2 Responses to “Do your weight training results suck?”
Even though I am completely unqualified to say so, i think this is the greatest article ever written on weight training. Most articles seem to be adverts for supplements disguised by hyper-masculinity.
My one question is about recovery. I’ve gotten great results from a 3 day workout week (MWF), but I always feel I have recovered much faster than my training partners. Moreover, my strength increased much more quickly than my buddies’ and while they were still feeling fatigued, sore and stiff on Sundays, i was itching for more, but never did because I was told it would be harmful to my results and my body. Can some people really recover and gain strength significantly faster than others? Or is my body playing tricks? I’ve always thought i was a bit of a freak of nature for being able to recover so fast while increasing flexibility and strength while having such a short recovery time.
By Nate on Mar 9, 2008
Nate: Thanks, glad you liked it. About your question… hell yes. People most definitely do recover slower/faster than others. Genetics play a huge role in this, and the differences in stuff like muscle fiber types, testosterone levels, work capacity and more from person to person can range from pretty small to “Holy crap, this guy isn’t even human compared to me.”
There is indeed a class of people who can be considered freaks of nature, like you said. Whether or not you fit this class is hard for me to say, but going by what you’ve told me… it’s definitely possible. On the other hand, it could just be that you have fairy average genetics, and your friends are below average. Either way, the differences in the rate you could increase muscle/strength/etc. and recover compared to them could be pretty big.
The best advice in the history of weight training advice is this… listen to your body. If your results suck… change something. If you don’t feel like you are recovering in time, change something. If you feel like you can handle more work than you are currently doing… change something. And then, after the change, listen some more. So in your case, if your body appears to be telling you that you are a freak that can handle more… give it a shot (gradually, of course) and see what happens.
By aCalorieCounter on Mar 9, 2008