Too Many Books, Supplements and ProgramsWritten by Marc David
If I read 1 good valid murder mystery book, would I really want that to be ONLY book on subject? If my 8th grade history book was considered to be accurate by majority would I really want to be limited to only knowing one author's thoughts on subject? Or how about browsers and music players? Do I just want to use IE? It gets job done well enough. So what's difference between those analogies and fitness ebook, supplements and programs? Really there's no difference to me. Let me explain as I know there's a million web sites, book, supplements, and training programs. And for a beginner it's like: Where do I start?! When I first started off, there were a few major books on subject (Arnold Encyclopedia) and of course main muscle magazines. That is where I learned my information from. And locker room chat and so called friends. I was on quest in 10th grade to put on weight. A guy who was bigger then me gave me some golden advice. He said "Just eat everything man. Candy bars whatever." With that, I agreed that in order to get bigger and more muscular, I needed to eat. So at break, I ate an Snickers bar every day. Needless to say, I didn't get any bigger, I probably put on a tiny bit of fat and dentist was happier. But when you don't have a lot of resources, it's pretty hard to judge. I look back on that memory fondly. With power of Internet and people coming out of woodwork as experts, now there's so much information, sometimes it's same situation, only there's many voices. But I still like fact that I have many choices. If a person was ONLY to read Max-OT guide, would they be alright? I'd say they would be better off then nothing but, they wouldn't be a good, well-rounded fitness type. And I'm not making any negative judgments about Max-OT. I love that program! But think of person who: Reads this message board for as much information as they can (conflicting or not) Buys eBooks and reads thru them to understand many perspectives Understand nutrition on a basic level as well as more advanced Knows of many training programs (can workout in a full gym or at home with nothing) Visits other sites to see videos of proper techniques Listens to advice in gym but has a foundation to tell if advice is accurate or base-less and knows of research outlets if it warrants further debate The person in first example only reads 1 eBook. It's a great eBook and it's free. But it cannot possibly cover everything. While this person will do well, they won't be as versatile as person who's read thru many books, posts and forums to really understand how body works, nutrition and more importantly, how it will affect them and their goals.
| | Monitoring Your Fitness Progress: Don't Guess- Measure!Written by Anthony Ellis
Any fitness program is incomplete without timely measurements to monitor Your Progress. The only way to know if your mass or fat loss program is successful is by monitoring your measurements, weight and body fat levels.--------------- 'One accurate measurement is worth a thousand expert opinions.' - Admiral Grace Hopper, U.S. Navy --------------- Depending on program, I recommend that everyone take their body fat levels every 1-2 weeks. There's a lot that these readings reveal to a trained eye! For example, I was recently on a fat loss diet, and I did not lose any weight for three weeks. At first I thought that I needed to drop my calories further because current levels were not working for me. I did not want to do this because as a hard-gainer, dropping my calories too low can result in too much muscle loss. So, before I committed to a more drastic diet, I checked my body fat records. Was I in for a shock! According to my body fat calculations I was actually getting leaner. Even though my weight did not change during that three-week period, my body fat levels went down 3%! Since I did not lose any weight during that time, fat must have been replaced by muscle (an added benefit, but this does not happen most of time). I would have never known this by simply looking in mirror. Another example is last year when I was on a mass cycle. I was eating a tremendous amount of calories and gaining weight like crazy. I stopped diet once I began to notice that my fat gains were larger than my muscle gains. I would never have noticed this if I had not closely monitored my body fat levels.
|
