New book that I highly suggest you check out

BigTomW said:
I hate work internet!!!!!

''ACCESS DENIED'' to f**king everything!
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I'll email it to your hotmail
 
blackbeard said:
Yes its free but as the authors are unable to explain what is in this book that is not in existing material, I'll probably pass. Thanks though.
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From the latter half of page 6: said:
Regarding the book itself, I'm making a departure from the standard weight-training and exercise books. Generally those all follow the same template: lay out some science, then give you some pre-formatted workouts to do along with some pretty pictures showing how to do all the nifty exercises. These days, the market is pretty much saturated with these things, and even worse, the programs they give you aren't all that different from one another. Which isn't bad in itself, but it's a bit shady when said book is predicated on selling you that particular program (even going so far as to claim said program as proprietary information).

This isn't a step-by-step manual with nicely-formatted tables of workouts and pretty pictures of exercises. It's an analysis of why. My premise is not that solid information is hard to come by; my premise is that people
aren't even thinking about the subject with the right mindset. I want to tear down all your preconceptions and start from sturdier ground.

There's four chapters in total, and the very first is where things start to deviate from the usual path. I'm going to touch on the concepts of logic and reasoning as they apply to the fitness industry. I want to examine where
both research and anecdote fit into the picture, and why a lot of assumptions the general public tends to hold may not stand up to scrutiny. This may bore you, you might hate it, but in its own way critical thinking is
necessary considering my thesis. Information isn't the problem and never has been. How you look at information is the piece of the equation that's so often missed, and worse, the Fitness Industry is complicit with this problem. That's going to be chapter one ..
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Chapter 1: The Logic Of Exercise said:
You see, anybody can write about 'science'. You see it all the time. One of the most common things you'll see in fitness publications is some author grazing over the abstracts of a few papers, jumping to some hasty
conclusions, and then claiming that his or her thoughts are based on science.

That's not what I'm after here.

Anybody can write about strength training, or diet, or bodybuilding. While there is some science involved in many cases, a lot of it is based on anecdote and on guys that are simply working to 'prove' conclusions they've
already assumed are true. That's not productive - that's just reinforcing old myths and creating new ones

This isn't just about science, about relaying all those sound-bite factoids and slogans that the fitness industry seems to build itself on. Yes, I'll be quoting research; quite a bit of it. At the core, I want it to be more than that.
I want to go over the hows and whys of my reasoning. If you don't understand my thought process, then we won't be on the same page. One thing I find myself saying repeatedly is that having opinions and drawing
conclusions is as much about the journey as the destination. What you think is not necessarily more important than how you think.

There's something to be said for having a rational thought process and having the tools required to evaluate information. If you aren't able to filter information, then you can come into a situation where even the broken
clock is right just by coincidence. Is it really 6:42pm, or did you just happen to glance at the clock at the right time?

You may have the right facts, but you have no way to objectively know if you're really correct. This leads to an unfortunate situation; without the ability to separate the ice cream from the manure, you can fall into the trap
of assuming that every viewpoint is equal and worth attention.

As unpopular an idea as it seems to be these days, some viewpoints are objectively more correct than others. Just because someone believes something or holds an opinion does not mean that viewpoint is right. If there is an overall theme to this book, besides 'get jacked', that would be it. My goal here is not just to give you information. My goal is to make sure you understand why I draw my conclusions.

To do that and make sure we're all on the same page, I'm going to raise the bar a little. This isn't just a matter of copying abstracts off of Pubmed and cherry-picking data that supports my pet conclusions. That happens enough already. Instead, we need to look at the tools of critical thinking. Everybody talks about science, but nobody actually looks at the underlying thought process. I'm a firm believer in using logic and basic common sense to cut through the garbage out there. If you can do that, then you've got a leg up on most people.
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Version 1: MY NAME IS BLACKBEARD AND KNOWLEDGE THAT ISNT PROCESSED INTO THE INTELLECTUAL EQUIVALENT OF BABY FOOD AND FED GENTLY TO ME WITH A BLUNTED IMPLEMENT WHICH OBLIGATION CLEARLY EXISTS BCOZ I WILL OTHERWISE HURT MYSELF ATTEMPTING TO DIGEST IT IT DOESNT EXIST

ALSO I LOVE LAMP

Version 2: Sometimes, with human animals, the shame of being consistently, publicly wrong is enough to coerce conformational behavior. Sadly for the rest of us, you and others too dumb even to apprehend, and in so doing experience the healthy and consequent pain of, your complete divorce from reason are now for the most part safe from the predations of natural selection on the terrestrial level.

You and those like you are devolving so quickly that what few of us are still capable of recognizing and rightly treasuring the metacognitive faculty that along with a notable superiority as regards physical stamina has given rise to man's supremacy by means of overmastering our environment can't help but wonder if you will even be able to claim membership to our species for much longer.

Version 3 ("focusspeak"):

metaloooooooooooool bcoz starving man has certain knowledge fishing pole cannot possibly be different from let alone more useful than fish

Please feel free to "reply" to this "unwarranted" assault on your character. I'll be sure to pay about as much attention to you as an albatross does a Shih Tzu speaking authoritatively on long-distance flying.

Edit: @ Todd - A link would've been nice, there. :p
 
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Love the post Focus, but would adding the occasional Comma kill you?

Sorry, picky I know, but seeing as everyone's getting all petty and pissy over the internet I thought I should join in :D

Feel free to add an assault on my character too, I might even enjoy it ;)
 
Typhon said:
Love the post Focus, but would adding the occasional Comma kill you?

Sorry, picky I know, but seeing as everyone's getting all petty and pissy over the internet I thought I should join in :D

Feel free to add an assault on my character too, I might even enjoy it ;)
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A comma isn't a random character to chop up text for your reading convenience; neither is it a proper noun worthy of capitalization. The comma has a specific use to which I employ it masterfully. How dare you, you ****ing chimp.

Please feel free to consider yourself chastised. :p
 
you better FOCUS on what's important dingaling Focus!

are you doing the full 70.3 this month in Calgary, or just the swim with my relay team?
 
[Focus] said:
A comma isn't a random character to chop up text for your reading convenience; neither is it a proper noun worthy of capitalization. The comma has a specific use to which I employ it masterfully. How dare you, you ****ing chimp.

Please feel free to consider yourself chastised. :p
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Hahaha, love it!!! I wasn't disappointed

And to PMDilly - The more I read of your book, the more I love it. I'm afraid I was a bit of a GFH (and still am a little) but looking to move past that so hopefully your book will help me out a little
 
Thanks guys.

I'm open to any feedback, including critique/criticism, so don't be afraid to speak up if I messed up somewhere or you need some clarification on a point. This thing is kinda designed to be web-interactive, in a sense.

I'd just prefer you to have actually read it before critiquing ;)
 
i downloaded it last night. i am very grateful for it. i am only onto page 21, but it seems very intelligent. however, i am wondering when i am actually going to start learning about muscle growth lol

im sure it will be worth the read.
 
I've read about 50 pages only so far but very interesting stuff. I'd admit, the first 10-15 pages are repetitive and dry but once you get into chapter 2, it's good stuff.
 
Finished reading the book from cover to cover. It's a true gem. Made a small donation to the cause as well. Thank you Stoutman for posting the information.
 
Glad you guys enjoyed. Matt's top notch.
 
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