Forum Discussion

Attack the post and not the poster please. And if you have any personal grievances against a member of the board, keep it off the board.

Hanley wrote: »

FWIW, if you're looking to build muscle and lose bodyfat then a bodybuilding inspired routine should be one of your first ports of call, since it what those guys dedicate their lives to doing.

I'd actually recommend a powerlifting program ahead of a bodybuilding routine for building muscle. I see so many beginners get so bogged down in creating the "ideal program" (always talking more about what split they're doing than actually training!) that they lose focus.

Concentraining on getting stronger in the basic lifts (bench, squat and deadlift) would focus their attention and they'd soon forget about getting a "good pump"!

Nearly all of the bodybuilding mags consist of 6 days a week split routines ghost-written by journalists and endorsed by huge bodybuilders who take "supplements" which you're unlikely to find in any shop. Not useful for a drug-free novice IMHO.

I always recommend "Brawn" by Stuart McRobert as a great place to start.

“He has a right to criticize, who has a heart to help.” - Abraham Lincoln.

This topic of the state of the board arises time after time after time, and the fact that it does proves to me what a succesful forum this is. The ability for posters to engage in discourse and healthy debate and constantly challenge what we think means that we haven't lost the ability to look forward. It would be a very, very dull place altogether if we just accepted everything on sight.

Racing Flat - we have a number of people on the board who offer a variety of services to the members. Techinically, yes, it can be validly argued that there is free advertisement involved and Dragan and myself have had lengthy discussions about this very recently with the Admins and other Mods about whether or not these posters should be allowed "tout" their wares, be it exercise assistance or supplements or various physiological treaments. Each "advertiser" is allowed to post on a case-by-case basis. Those people who sign up and whose first 5 posts are pure shills or blatant adverts get banned. Those who sign up with the primary purpose of engaging in the forum's discussions and introduce a product/ service as an addition to their contribution (perhaps as a Sig Link for example) will generally be given some leeway. While supplements/ PTs/ treatments/ classes are not an inextricable part of Fitness, they are an important addition to it, and we believe that the fairest way to offer the full spectrum of health and exercise advice to posters is to give them option to explore information from people who are "in the business" as it were.

Medical advice is just a pure no-no though - a legal nightmare as far as we're concerned. This is a privately owned board after all, and the notion of "Freedom of Speech" doesn't actually exist.

There are a lot of ego's on this board, some bigger, more obnoxious and more stubborn than others. I'm sure that not everyone agrees with what I say all the time, just as I know I don't agree with everything else that's said. But so what? There's room for everyone. If someone has issues with CrossFit, suggest an alternative. In all fairness to Colm, while I don't think that CrossFit is the be-all and end-all of Fitness, he's one poster who absolutely goes out of his way to answer queries. Criticise to your hearts content (just don't get personal and keep it civil) but why not make it productive and suggest an alternative? Some of the most important things I've learnt have been when people challenge the doctrines I believe in and I'm forced to question them myself - sometimes it turns out I was right all along, other times I make modifications and see what happens.

So, Hanley, much like you I tend to post about experiences that I've been through and lessons I've learned - I guess we all do. That doesn't make them right or wrong, simply that they've worked for me. My opinions on certain things have changed dramatically over the years but I don't see anything wrong with that, it's a natural progression. And if other posters choose to parrot what you or I or Dragan or Roper Or Boru. or Colm or t-ha or rubadub or wasabi or Vegeta or amazingemmet or hunnymonster or hardtrainer or Transform or tribulus advise then so the hell what? All of these people are speaking from experience - powerlifting, bodybuilding, acrobatic, marathon-running, personal-training experience. And at the end of the day when it comes down to it, we're all singing from the same hymn sheet - eat well, get moving, enjoy exercise i.e. we really do keep it simple. Arguing and debating over the 10% that's different from person to person is what keeps the forum alive.

We can only tell someone so much - it's up to them to read a bit more and put a plan into action. Of course there are the people who come, ask questions, leech the forum dry with those questions and disappear into oblivion never to be heard of again, but there are also the people who stick around and decide to learn a bit more. I've noticed too that the "next generation" of Fitness posters have begun to echo the addvice they were given three months ago, but again so what? they, too, will begin to ask questions of their own and challenege their doctrines.

Racing Flat wrote:

Hanley wrote:

The typical reply would seem to be read the stickies, lift some weights, do some crossfit and avoid supplements at all costs. Half the time it's regardless of a persons goals.

What gets my goat is when someone posts advice and they are asked - 'What are your goals' but I wonder why bother asking them that if the answer is the same for everyone anyway. I expect the advice to be individually tailored based on the individual goals, but the advice is more often than not the same regardless of goals, so I repeat, Why bother asking them their goals if there's only one way to do things anyway? In the medical world it's known as 'recipe' treatment.

Is it not fair to say that the vast majority of people who come here to ask questions fall under the same broad categories: they want to 'tone up', lose fat and get fit, or in other words they all have the same goals? While there are "typical replies" for sure, doing crossfit and avoiding supplements is only something that has cropped up recently. CrossFit crops up primarily because, as I said before, very often Colm is the only person to reply to a poster. And avoiding supplements? I'd argue that there's a 50:50 opinion on that one, both sidees making great arguments.

Individual, tailored porgrams are by and large not necessary for the average poster. Merely getting off their arse, moving more and eating less sugar will go a long way towards improving their situation. For the more advanced lifter or for someone who wants very, very specific questions answered they'll probably go to a specialised forum or source of information. Hanely would you come to this forum to find out information about how solve a problem you were having with your bench shirt? Or would a National-level athelete come here to find out how to knock another half a second off their 200m sprint time? God no, becuase the pool of people on this board who are capable of answering those kinds of questions with good knowledge are far and few between, even if they exist at all.

But what we do have is (in my very humble opinion) a very friendly, welcoming and warm environment where people af all levels can shoot the sh!t a little bit and talk about Fitness strategies. And if you don't like the way the forum is, make changes otherwise - if the posters like it, they'll make it known, if not they'll make it known even louder. That certainly isn't a call for the Mods to make - all we do is keep things tidy and safe. And if you don't want to make good changes... then frankly go away - complaining and whining without doing anything about it is just annoying.

Gill
- really can't understand why people do this thing under their name