AmpedTraining Blog
2010 April 1 | 1 Comment »
By Matt
Earlier, I was in a Twitter-chat about the Paleo/Primal style of eating.
(BTW, shameless plug: follow me @ImpulseStrength if you aren’t already. Just do it.)
Now, I want to preface this by saying I really have nothing against Paleo diets as a way of eating – or lifestyle, if you’re one of “those”. It will work if you follow it, because it’s not a bad collection of rules.
But that’s actually what I want to talk about. Where does the validity of an idea stop? Even if Paleo eating is a good idea, can we use that fact to extrapolate, speculate, and/or justify other claims associated with the concept?
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2010 March 24 | 4 Comments »
By Matt
So the other day I wrote a post talking about how science and experience both fit into our outlook on this whole “lifting weights” thing. Just to expand on that, I wanted to give a few examples to show where science and personal experience or anecdote would fit into the picture.
Case Study #1 – Diet Bro Magic
I figure that this is as good a place to start as any.
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2010 March 23 | 2 Comments »
By Matt
The eternal debate: what’s more valuable, scientific research or the wisdom of experienced lifters?
Simple minds like simple dichotomies. Black and white is easier to deal with than shades of grey. The unfortunate problem for our friends is that the world isn’t so easily classified. It would be a lot easier if it were.
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2010 March 13 | 3 Comments »
By Matt
I know the updates have been a little, well, nonexistent lately, but there’s actually a good reason for it this time. I’ve started up my own training/consulting business, in real life even, and that’s been taking up a good chunk of my time recently. I figured I’d go ahead and make the announcement now that it’s officially sorted and I’m getting settled in.
My new website for this venture is here:
Impulse Strength & Fitness
Also you can become a fan on Facebook and follow the new Twitter account, too.
I’m working out of a pretty nice gym I found, which is run by a really good group of people and has a heavy strength & conditioning emphasis – right up my alley, in other words. I’m hoping for good things over the next 6-12 months.
All you faithful readers, don’t worry. Amped isn’t going anywhere, as I still plan for this site to be my online presence for (semi-)regular updates, articles, and whatnot. Impulse is going to be more focused on my real-life training ventures, including the squat-and-bench clinics I want to start putting on at some stage.
2010 February 23 | 7 Comments »
By Matt
From here: http://www.physorg.com/news185738503.html
There’s some interesting points raised, regarding inherent genetic limitations, the greater involvement of athletes from a wider talent pool from across the world, and the influx of both drugs and “technological solutions” into sports.
Most interesting:
“Future limits to athletic performance will be determined less and less by the innate physiology of the athlete, and more and more by scientific and technological advances and by the still-evolving judgment on where to draw the line between what is ‘natural’ and what is artificially enhanced,” [Berthelot] wrote in his paper, published in 2008 in the British Medical Bulletin.
If this is true, then it’s going to mean some very obvious – and depending on who you are, troubling – implications in the coming years, namely in the area of performance-enhancing chemistry and gene-therapy.
Of course, this says it all:
But performance based on science, not natural ability, may have less public appeal. And athletes who never improve may no longer hold our interest.
That’s always the catch-22, ain’t it?
2010 February 19 | 5 Comments »
By Matt
Most of us know the Deadlift as an exercise that works the lower back, along with its effects on the glutes, hamstrings, traps/mid-back, and just about everything else.
Nearly everyone stresses the importance of keeping the lower back extended or at least neutral while deadlifting, or doing any other movement for that matter – that is, keeping your back arched or, better, flat. Stuart McGill, one of the foremost experts on the spine, considers that neutral spine position to be both the strongest (from the standpoint of minimizing damage) and thus the healthiest.
Accordingly the deadlift is taught with a flat lumbar spine. The rationale is to protect and stabilize the spine – which is the role of both the spinal erectors, the numerous abdominal muscles, and most everything else in the trunk. This is good advice, in general. However, there’s reason to question the notion that you must never let your back round under any circumstances.
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2010 February 17 | 11 Comments »
By Matt
Everybody likes to have a plan. A well-written, well-designed workout means you don’t have to think too much when you go to the gym. You just show up, do what the plan says, and go home.
I won’t lie; I like a good spreadsheet. It’s fun to fiddle around with the numbers and see how things crunch when you put them together in a program. It’s a useful way to track progress and see how things work together.
Here’s what prompted me to write this piece, though. What I want to know is how you’re using a spreadsheet to calculate percentages for the 5×5 routines, when those programs specifically state they don’t use percentages to calculate weights.
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2010 February 5 | 3 Comments »
By Matt
I’m guilty as hell when it comes to spreading the use of the term “bro-science”. I don’t know for sure that I was one of the originators of the term, but I strongly suspect I was. This isn’t a bad thing all around; people need to be more aware of how they’re thinking about topics, instead of just repeating things or making things up like most fitness “professionals”. The term “bro-science” is a convenient way to package up a specific collection of fallacies that are almost always trotted out in any debate argument over exercise-related subjects.
“Bro-science” itself was a term originally coined to note the complete absence of science and/or logical reasoning to back up a claim – the “bro” came from the habit of people on forums referring to everyone else as “bro”, and since it was usually one of these guys making the argument, the term just kinda stuck.
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2010 January 23 | 5 Comments »
By Matt
It’s in vogue these days to hate on bodybuilding and the training methods bodybuilders use. The trend these days is to play up the role of strength-based training and ‘functional’ (sic) training methods, getting away from the older bodybuilding culture that’s dominated the popular conception of weight-lifting since at least the 1960s.
It used to be all about the pump, about feeling and shaping and all of that. These days, it’s more about ensuring proper movement, developing well-rounded fitness, and putting strength-based methods at the center of that balanced program. Specialized goals are then added to that framework, in the same sense that your house can look different from your neighbors even if they have the same blueprints.
I can’t say there’s a real problem with this, because that’s the gist of my philosophy, and in general I think that’s how things should be done. However, this takes us to a dangerous place, a thought process that can be counterproductive; in other words, you don’t want to throw out the baby with the bathwater.
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