Science versus Bro-Science

[sar014]

I read a book titled "Body By Science" written by Dr. Doug McGuff and John Little. It's a fascinating read. One thing I find interesting is the science and that everyone is not the same. I know that when I was younger and would try a workout I found in a magazine, I never saw the results. But as he says in his book, the bodybuilders are paid to put their name by it, not actually do it.

I subscribe to the notion that less is more. People I talk to don't believe me, but I had started keeping track of my progress and the progress of my fiance for 3 weeks then the COVID lock-down started. However for the first three weeks (her not having lifted) and me more experienced, we both gained. I tracked our progress by using 5 lifts. Two pressing lifts and two pulling lifts and legs. We also used super-slow protocol and didn't use any momentum or resting with joints locked. Also, reps were not counted, but total time under load was the measurement along with weight. Our goal was to reach positive failure at 60-90 seconds.

My fiance increased total weight (total time in seconds multiplied by weight) by 18% from visit one to visit two (7 days of rest in-between). From the second to the third week total weight increased by 24%.

I had different results, as I would go to the gym on my lunch and the second week I did some lateral shoulder raises and also biceps. My second week results went down in seated row, seated pull down, and shoulder press. During the following week I went to the gym mid week and did chest fly's. The third week I only went down in the chest press. I was really looking forward to seeing what would happen when I went with 7 days of rest, but things shut down.

Anyone else do super-slow HIT with one set to failure? Total time spent in the gym for the both of us was less than 30 minutes.