Header Image: Copyright: kentoh / 123RF Stock Photo

Is there too much science involved in training methods in this era of lifting?

This makes me laugh because everybody's assuming that there was no science in the past. What a discredit to all the people that were researching this shit 40 years ago. And fuck the Soviet Union for that matter, going back even farther.

Science is a good thing. The trick is knowing how to utilize it to enhance your training and/or education. There are two common paths that I see all the time.

People that only look at research that validates their own beliefs (which is pretty easy to do). If my bias is Conjugate Training or Westside Training, and I go through all the research I can find including; Mass, Strength and Conditioning Research,  Research Review and Examine.com, I could always find information that validates my own beliefs and disregard the rest.

* BTW - These are not affiliate plugs. I pay for each of them and do read or skim them all every month. Even if I was offered them for free, I wouldn't accept. This industry needs quality publications and reviews like these and the best way to keep them around is to subscribe to them.

 Then I could write articles and make social media posts and quote those reviews (or the research they used), and make myself look like a superstar.

You know, because I got all this research validating my beliefs.

This is more common than people know. The reality of this is they are spending time trying to find resources and references to make them look like they're better than they are!

On the opposite end of the spectrum of people using science to inform their training are the ones that are looking at studies that disprove what they're doing and what they believe. Because that changes their frame of references and introduces new ideas  that they can implement in addition to their own personal bias to be able to make their training program better.

That place that lies between your bias and what you don't know- you only get there by thinking! When people tell me it's too "confusing" trying to get through it all, yes, this may be true but how can something that makes you THINK be bad?   However, I find this is usually not the case. The ones who feel the most confused are not educating themselves enough and are looking for others to do it for them. The ones who REALLY should be confused are those who are doing all the research and the ones who have been around 20-30 years. That's confusing AF because you start to see how little you really know.

NOTE: I should note that I tell anyone who is competing to stop all of this as soon as they begin locking down for the competition. They should be reading to relax and by no means reading anything that may question the plan they are using for the competition. They should have zero stimuli that will create doubt or discredit their belief in what they are training for or how they are doing it.

Conclusion

Are we in an era where people are relying too much on science? I don't think so. I think people aren't fucking looking at it enough and when they do, they are only looking to show themselves and the world how awesome they are, not to become better.

More Blogs & Articles From Dave Tate Here