Some regs regulate while other regs promulgate.

Each of the points in my above post has either been explicitly or tacitly endorsed by a reg.

Full disclosure: I once endorsed Graston without any good evidence for it. I was wrong. When I realized it was unsupported and there was no good evidence, I stopped touting it.

Highland,

At this point, a lot of us use the term "accessory" to describe what is essentially vanity work targeting hypertrophy. Which is fine as long as you keep in mind what our goals are; to get stronger and get bigger. So 12.5# DB kickbacks probably aren't an accessory to our strength goals, but they might be for our size goals. However in a purely performance based program (either strength or power or speed) I would have a hard time categorizing them as an accessory movement.

Anyways to answer your question (we'll say assuming strength based goals) the addition of assistance work can probably be looked at as a solution to two potential causes of a stall;

1) Because of anthropometry or fiber mix or technique or even accumulated fatigue a certain muscle group is too weak and has become a clear point of failure in an exercise. If I dialed the weight back a bit to reset and worked my way back up with perfect technique it would likely lead to that muscle group working in a manageable intensity/volume and slowly catching up, allowing me to make further progress. Example: stalling while on SS.

2) Because of advanced training age and extremely slow progress, the stimulus that I am applying to a certain muscle group no longer elicits a supercompensation. I am working at a high intensity for a volume that I can recover from, however since I've been struggling at this same 5rm weight for a year my body is totally adapted to the specific stress and thus I get no stronger. Example: an extended stall while on TM.

In the first scenario I agree with your assessment that accessory work might not be all that useful. If you are struggling to progress past a 3x5xMax weight while squatting 3 times a week it is unlikely that adding some additional stress will get you over the hump but not push you to the realm of overreaching because it is a recovery-based issue. Resetting, or reducing frequency, or doing something to improve recovery is likely a better course of action. However in the second scenario the problem is not with recovery but rather with the stimulus that you are applying. Altering that stimulus by adding specific accessory work (while still being mindful of its impact on your recovery) is a valid course of action.

On the bolded: I assume that's true. It's unfortunate if bad information is propagated and not challenged by other regs, though I'd argue the problem will vary in seriousness depending on how wide spread said bad info is (# of regs, how often it's repeated unchallenged etc). H&F would probably benefit from more thrempian i.e. regulatin' posting though (minus the obnoxious part). I certainly don't call out everything I see as bad just cause I know it might turn into a huge time sink and frankly I can't be bothered most of the time.

I had graston done after reading about it here. Lost out on $250 and 5 hours of my life (over multiple sessions) just to get a few superficial bruises.

Yup, there is a responsibility to call out nonsense, particularly on a forum read by lay folk and noobs, since they will have a harder time deciphering science from pseudoscience and sense from nonsense. I try, but generally stick to the Beginner Q&A thread, and sometimes the LC thread when I see something really silly. There are some logs that are bastions of pseudoscience and magical thinking, but I try not to hijack a personal log.

Outside of thremp, some other regs are pretty good with this- (old) MilesDyson, DT, (reformed) KC, phatony, ISF, Ra_Z come to mind. Others do it infrequently, and often with noobs but not regs- SM, 00S, Aidan, Syndrom, saw, freddbird, etc. (I might have missed a few in both categories.)



Yup, there are many real costs to the promotion and acceptance of nonsense- in this case, time and money. It can be far worse, and cause physical and mental harm and anguish.

http://whatstheharm.net/acupuncture.html
http://whatstheharm.net/alternativemedicine.html
http://whatstheharm.net/naturopathy.html
http://whatstheharm.net/homeopathy.html

Thanks, DF.

This was exactly my plan in my comeback after a severe ankle sprain. I'm pretty imbalanced due to years of max effort bilateral jumping while fat and doing 0 resistance work, so I need lots more form resets when my weak-ass core fails, but the weight does actually make it all the way up.

Have any good book references with this type of information in it? Also interested in developing more power later on, after my strength base is better.

Yeah but how many of those were Assani?

FWIW I am definitely of the belief that this forum is too quick to disregard something as either a tiny rock or having no benefit whatsoever just because science thus far has failed to find an effect. Not so much on the general health and wellness side because there's a ton of money behind that sort of research, but not so much with training so a lot of the research is ****ty, underfunded, and incomplete.

examples, DF? Training is too hard to pin down. There's not much science behind any training imo beyond some very basic stuff. Mostly anecdotal. And somewhat rightfully so.

Stuff like rest intervals, optimal time under tension per set, supersets, value in catching a pump, varying exercise selections, prioritizing activation over loading, etc. IE stuff that gets labeled "broscience" because it appears to be FPS and there's little to no research supporting it.

Obviously I'm not a proponent of doing away with heavy compound sets of 4-6 as the core of a workout, but I also seem a little less prone to lolling at the guy with stick legs and huge arms doing endless rest pause sets of barbell curls, because per his goals (no matter how ****ed they are) at least he seems to be getting results.

As far as testosterone boosting supplements are concerned, what are the agreed upon best options around here? I think Cha and Fredd were talking about DHEA or something at some point?

I got an interesting idea recently of possibly getting away with a suboptimal fat intake for a brief phase of a diet and using a test booster to possibly mitigate damages in that department. Anyone have any thoughts on that?

It isn't a good lacrosse ball replacement. It is more of a replacement for a roller. I was wondering the same thing you were but got it anyway and have been using it a ton on quads, psoas, abs, hip flexors, hams, calves, glutes, arms, pecs, shoulders. Still use ball for spot work on hams, glutes, back, first rib/neck stuff, and feet (if I ever did feet). It's obv MUCH more compact than a roller too.

Thanks. F that S then. $3 lax ball here I come.

Christ I'd rather do cardio than intentionally push my fat consumption that low.

Yea in general probably me too, although I love protein + carbs and could easily stuff myself on <50g fat/day. Just lean meats + potatoes + veggies all day every day. Basically what I used to do and enjoyed it. But I guess I'm also thinking about the application in an RFL setting, where cardio is strongly advised against.

I think you'd get better results by min-maxing teh gainz and using the supplements with a more optimal fat intake. Anyway, here's a link from the website I posted earlier up itt for people to reference for supplement and nutritional information:

http://examine.com/stacks/increasing-testosterone.html

Cliffs: DHEA, Vitamin D, Zinc, and Fenugreek

Yea it occurred to me Examine probably had something like this, so I just read that page. Seems like Vitamin D and Zinc are just to prevent deficiencies (I take vitamin D, no clue what my zinc intake looks like, I'll figure that out soon). DHEA is pretty understudied in young populations it seems. The Fenugreek description kind of confused me. The way I read it was "It will stop some of the testosterone->DHT conversion (meaning more test), but DHT is good too so..." haha. But good to know, I'll probably read more about DHEA.

About your first comment, I would think that your testosterone levels would be fine with a healthy fat intake, and with healthy test levels, I'm skeptical about any test booster benefits. However, test can still drop in prolonged calorie deficits even with healthy fat intakes, so you may have a point in certain phases of dieting even doing things right.

softballs are ~10-15 bucks, fwiw, if diameter is the concern.

I was thinking of some counterarguments to the higher volume/frequency for natties vs lower frequency/volume with higher intensity for druggies.

Jamie Lewis - trains heavy 6 days a week, though not much volume. Also doesn't realize he's probably not in keto with his diet since he consumes huge amounts of protein.

Dan Green: Not as much volume or frequency as someone like Mike T, but I think he's hitting all his movements 2x a week with decent volume per session.

A lot of the russian guys: I think guys like Belyaev and company hit their lifts pretty often and are obv juiced up.

I don't think juiced guys lifting often has much relevance tbh. The point is that juiced guys can do anything, nattys cannot. So the important counterexamples are natties lifting once/week. But of course no one's natty, and examples are dumb anyway, so we're back to theorywanking. And that brings me back to my protein synthesis argument.

Certainly no expert but I agree with Saw. I want to hear from guys on gear about gear, not training and certainly not diet.

lol gear

So this is the yearly Hyperextension Cat Thread?

Welcome to Scratch City

Its a great tool for hip flexors including psoas, quads and abs. Yugo likes it for his puny hammies. It does nothing for my hammies, but its great for the other stuff I mentioned.

I take 25 mg / day of pharmaceutical grade DHEA. Its something that your body uses to produce testosterone.

If you dont get pharmaceutical grade supplements, you dont really know for sure what exactly is in them. I think you're probably wasting money if you get the cheap stuff, and I dont know what the right dosing would be for anyone else.

Cha,

Pharma grade link?

That examine article has pretty much convinced me that stack is something I want to try. Maybe add some ginger as well.

So, Cha joocing now. A scholar, a gentleman, a S&F legend.
And DFII contemplating.

What is this world coming to?



ETA: Oh, ****. DHEA classified as a controlled substance (doping) and via-prescription-only here in lolland. Quick googling would suggest freely available in the home of the brave and the land of the free #1 ldo.
Is that true?

Not that I need such things (going by "waking up w/ a raging boner every morning" -metric here) but apparently I could pay a visit to our Mexico (Estonia) to get some of that if I so wished.
Might become something to consider somewhere down the line.