1. It’s all you! (Usually
followed by some form of bro or bra)
This one has been addressed so many times I’ve lost
count. However, the problem persists, so
I may as well cover it again. The primal
“It’s all you” chant is usually heard in close vicinity to the bench pressing
station and oddly enough, is exclusively applied to only those repetitions that
are in fact, not all the person doing the actual exercise. Here’s a hint, if you are spotting and you
have to physically touch the bar, it’s no longer all them. Let’s stop inflating egos; there are enough
big heads in the gym to begin with.
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| Got my traps from spotting my buddy's bench |
2. If you’re not
sweating, you’re not working!
I hear variations of this quite often. For some reason or another, we have a
tendency to equate sweat rate with workout effectiveness but it’s simply not
the reality of the matter, and in some situations could be a particularly
dangerous way of thinking.
Physiology lesson - While evaporation (i.e. sweating) does
represent the body’s primary means of temperature maintenance during exercise
(adults especially, kids are a slightly different story), it is not our only
avenue for heat dissipation. The others
include convection (loss of heat by way of the movement of fluid or air across the
skin), conduction (loss of heat through direct molecular contact with another
object), and radiation (loss of heat to the area directly surrounding the body). Dry heat loss (convection, conduction,
radiation) can be influenced by factors such as amount of clothing worn
(insulation), humidity, air temp, shade and / or air movement (wind, fan). Basically what I'm trying to get at is this;
the body has multiple cooling mechanisms available to it and these mechanisms
can be influenced by environmental factors.
Simply because someone is not sweating all over themselves does not necessarily mean
they are not working hard.
Now that I have “nerded” out on you, let’s take a moment to look
at this from a slightly less science geeky point of view. Imagine the last workout that made you get
your sweat on. Got it? Good. Now envision doing that same workout in a
sauna with a sweatshirt and sweatpants on, did you sweat more? I’m guessing
the answer was yes. If it was no, you
need to make an appointment to visit your doctor, there is something wrong with
you. Now imagine that workout again,
but this time on a winter day in two inches of snow with a wind chill of -15
degrees and you’re in your underwear.
Did you sweat profusely?
Hopefully by now you are starting to catch my drift
here. If not and you still believe that
sweating is the best indicator of a good workout, boy do I have a training plan
for you. Here is how it goes, 1-visit Arizona
in July or August (Mesa area, I’ve been there, it’s nice), 2-Wait for noon to
come around, 3-lock yourself in your car (not running) on the blacktop in a
spot that will assuredly not receive any shade, 4-sit for an hour and enjoy
your workout. There you have it. Oh and
do me a favor, let me know how buff you get from this. Thanks.
 |
| Hard at work, just getting their swell on..... |
3. What supplements
should I be using?
Here’s how this one generally goes:
Athlete / Client –
what supplements should I be taking if I want to get jacked?
Me – How has your
diet been?
Athlete / Client –
It’s pretty good, not perfect. Well, I guess It could be better……trails off
Me – Uh-huh, and
how consistent have you been with your training?
Athlete / Client –
I’ve been pretty good about it…..for the most part……I’ve only missed x number
of days last week…….
Me – Thud, Thud,
Thud (sound of my head banging against a brick wall)
Here are some of the words that my computer thesaurus supplied
as synonyms for the word supplement: extra, complement, add-on and extension. It baffles me as to why we are so fixated on
supplements (extras, complements, add-ons) when we struggle so mightily to get
the basic building blocks right. If your
diet is crap don’t worry about supplements, get your diet right. If your training is crap, don’t worry about
supplements, get your training right.
Once those two areas are set, then we’ll talk extras, add-ons and
complements.
4. WOD
This one came along with the whole Crossfit craze. It’s actually an acronym for “workout of the
day” but all it conjures up for me is the actual word “wad”. When I hear “wod” I think wad of gum, spit wad and /
or various other uses of the word that are less than appropriate for discussion here. In reality, “wod” simply annoys me. I mean really, what’s wrong with just calling
it a workout? Whatever the reasoning, I
ask that you please avoid the use of “wod” while around me, or I may just wad
up my fist and PYE (Punch You in the Eye).
You’ve been warned.
5. Water Makes You Weak!
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| "A water break? Water is for cowards. Water makes you weak. Water is for washing blood off that uniform and you don't get no blood on my uniform, boy you must be outside your mind!" |
Wow really? That’s weird;
I seem to recall something about water being relatively important to, oh I don’t
know, our existence. Denzel must not
have taken time to study his exercise physiology. After all, water does make up 73% of our
muscle content, 93% of our blood volume and 50-70% of our total being (Kalman and
Lepeley, 2010). Furthermore, water loss
has been found to negatively impact athletic performance, endurance, muscular strength,
mental acuity and coordination (Kalman and Lepely, 2010). Look, I get it; it’s a tough guy thing. But remember, on this occasion, there’s a
fine line between being a hard-ass and being a dumb-ass.
 |
| Want to become a real hard-ass? Drink your water! |
References:
Kalman D. S. and Lepeley, A. (2010). A review of hydration. Strength and
Conditioning Journal, 32(2), 56-63.
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