In the article “It Won’t Come Off” (Part 2) , I spoke about the 4 Pillars of Fitness, and purposely omitted the fifth, and the reason why will soon become apparent.
A colleague who I have trained with in the past, made what I thought at first was an innocuous statement, but the more I dwelled on it, I realized it had a double meaning.
What I was being asked to explain, if we were working out together, doing the same exercises, why didn’t he looked like me. In order words, to put it in plainer language, there must be something that I was hiding and not sharing with him.
I was flabbergasted, and somewhat miffed that the person could harbor such a thought. The more I thought about it, the reason behind the increase questions of supplements became clear. The person had not taken into account the disparity in our years of training. The sheer amount of accumulative volume, training intensity, and recovery techniques would make any comparison between us untenable.
The individual had not taken any of these factors into consideration. He reasoned that because we worked out together and did the same exercises, my success in building my physique was attributed to the supplements I was taken. He mistakenly believed that if he took them as well, his results in building his body would be equal to mine.
Not one to sugarcoat anything, I invited the individual to work out with me. I wanted to dispel his false reasoning and show rather than tell, the truth behind my gains. He informed me that he had taken his propriety blend pre workout, and was ready to crush the weights that morning.
I informed him that this would be a push workout, consisting of chest, shoulders, and triceps. We would be doing a couple of feeder sets, before moving on to our working sets. The goal was to pick a weight, where we could only do six reps with good form. If the weight picked was too light, we would increase it, until the goal of six could be accomplished with strict form.
I reached for a set of 50-pound dumbbells, and did only 6 reps, explaining that I had left a few reps in the tank, while working up to my working set.
He reached for 25’s.
I picked a set of 60’s, and once again did only 6 reps. Next 70 pounds, and did a set of 8. I followed that with 80 pounds, completing 6 reps. I could have probably done one more, but reasoned that my form would have gotten sloppy.
He followed my lead, but did 35 and 45 pounds. He struggled with the 45’s, and I had to help him on the concentric portion of the lift to get to 6.
“I’m confused,” I said, after helping with the 45’s. “Did you not take your pre work supplement?”
“Yeah, I did.”
“Then why aren’t you lifting the same weights as me?”
B.M.Booth
Strength & Vigour 