How do you distinguish between Good and Bad advice about training?

[Gymjunkie]

Hey guys,

been thinking about this... how do you distinguish it? T-Nation is obvious example of tons of marketing for bad product but most of the people wont know it is probably. Some websites just sell fitness products to earn money not because they tried it and believed it.. And in those sites you can see tons of AdSense ads, no creators photo. Some sell good product but some don't...

So how do you know when you see new product/routine/DVD etc?

[slashkills]

I look for big name athletes or coaches who have lots of experience and achievements in their field. I avoid any articles that only advertise a product like so many on t-nation do. And as a general rule of thumb i avoid anything on wikipedia.

All of the articles here and on elitefts are by experienced authors. Also a lot of athletes/coaches at elitefts have websites you could check out. The few ive seen had good info.

[Gymjunkie]

I look for big name athletes or coaches who have lots of experience and achievements in their field. I avoid any articles that only advertise a product like so many on t-nation do. And as a general rule of thumb i avoid anything on wikipedia.

All of the articles here and on elitefts are by experienced authors. Also a lot of athletes/coaches at elitefts have websites you could check out. The few ive seen had good info.

Sometimes just because person is big and muscular doesn't mean he knows much good stuff. And doesn't mean his advice is good for person with different body type for example. So i my opinion, people need to be careful here too.

[Off Road]

Beware of anything claiming to give you big fast gains.

[chris mason]

Big and muscular people may only be a result of good heredity, it is true, but on the flip side when someone is supposed to be an "expert" and looks like they don't even train I am not going to bother with their advice.

The best way is to give things a try and see if they work for YOU.

[skinny99]

Beware of anything claiming to give you big fast gains.

Too good to be true usually is! The only thing that will trully make you big is time under the bar.

Eat,sleep and train like it is your job.

[Daniel Roberts]

There are only a few principles to strength and growth, (a small set of rules, for the weight required, the reps performed, the sets, volume and frequency), enough that different successful programs can co-exist but not so many as to make it the minefield that the author of every new and outrageous program/supplement will have you believe.

There are no shortcuts.

Understand what causes muscular growth and you can tell very quickly who's worth listening to.

[Invain]

Big and muscular people may only be a result of good heredity, it is true, but on the flip side when someone is supposed to be an "expert" and looks like they don't even train I am not going to bother with their advice.

This really bugs me sometimes. Especially the guys with degrees in nutrition whom act like everything they say is the word of god despite the fact that they don't train themselves.

I definitely respect somebody with a b.s. or masters in a science related field but when the subject being discussed is bodybuilding related the first thing I'm going to do is judge the physique/accomplishments of the guy giving advice. I'm sorry but to a certain extent you should practice what you preach.

[soclydeza]

by products, do you mean supplements? if you know what supplements you need you'll know what supplements to stay away from. outside of protein and creatine theres not to many sport nutrition products you need. if an article is trying to tell you about a specific product, stay away from it. if you're unsure then do research online, and on here, to see what other "non-sales people" will tell you. unfortunately there probably more b.s. out there than truth, you just gotta know what to look out for

[Sensei]

Most people just have no idea what their goals, resources, and limitations are. Without goals and without self-knowledge, you are at the mercy of every shuckster that comes up w. the next best thing, telling you what you need and how to get there.

[underdog]

hey not sure if im in the right place, ive been given advice, i am a begginer and need to know if i should keep my repsm low and pile on the weight to really work my muscles, ive been told allsorts of mdifferent things, so whats better than to ask you guys

[Skalami]

You'll most likely get better as you go along about discerning good info sources from bad as well as products

[liferzach]

I try to get most of my advice from here!

So many times I have been given advice in the gym, even from guys smaller than me, and it ticks me off. I don't ask for it, so please don't offer. My favorite is when the guy starts his sentence with "I don't do legs anymore......"

[jAy_Dub]

There are only a few principles to strength and growth, (a small set of rules, for the weight required, the reps performed, the sets, volume and frequency), enough that different successful programs can co-exist but not so many as to make it the minefield that the author of every new and outrageous program/supplement will have you believe.

There are no shortcuts.

Well said.

[Gymjunkie]

Nice to see lots of people chiming in! Keep them coming!

And it's real hard to tell between supps, which are good which are not. Tons of proteins shakes or creatine stuff plus other stuff like Leucitine or other -itines etc.

If I had to give advice for a newbie then I'd say ignore ads, yo just need food, protein shake is helpful, creatine is helpful, and vitamins are good. Anything else is overdoing it. Stick to basics-first routines and sleep.

[Skalami]

Yeah completely ignore adds and dont go by whats a good "product" but whats a good substance and if multiple companies make a product with the substance. When you want to find out if somethings good research the substance(s) in the product not the product itself, for the most part anyways. And for me personally i find the more substances in the product the worse it usually is. If its a muscle builder and its crammed with a little bit of a whole range of things that MIGHT do something 90% of the time its completely useless.

Click on the link in my signature below:

[Gymjunkie]

Yeah completely ignore adds and dont go by whats a good "product" but whats a good substance and if multiple companies make a product with the substance. When you want to find out if somethings good research the substance(s) in the product not the product itself, for the most part anyways. And for me personally i find the more substances in the product the worse it usually is. If its a muscle builder and its crammed with a little bit of a whole range of things that MIGHT do something 90% of the time its completely useless.

Click on the link in my signature below:

Oh I've seen Bigger Stronger Faster... stopped using supps after it... will be back to using supps but be very careful..

[Bodyguard]

My opinon, If it claims to be easy, it does not work!

[Cards]

My opinon, If it claims to be easy, it does not work!

I agree with the above. I do read T-nation from time to time, but that's only to add variety to what I read. Obviously there's a lot of bull**** out there, but if you know what you're doing in the gym then it shouldn't be hard to distinguish good advice from bad advice.

As for advice given to beginners, some listen some do not. Most beginner just want to read and hear information that reinforces what they already believe. We've seen that here on this site plenty, giving countless examples of why people should squat and deadlift yet they still do not.

In my opinion it doesn't come down to what type of advice is given, more the person who is receiving that advice.

[rbtrout]

Ignore most of the mags, ignore any of the "get big quick" crap and like Invain said, if they're a little, skinny, weak person telling you how to lift, ignore that, as well. Eat, sleep, lift hard, protein, creatine and a good multi are the basics.

[Guido]

There are only a few principles to strength and growth, (a small set of rules, for the weight required, the reps performed, the sets, volume and frequency), enough that different successful programs can co-exist but not so many as to make it the minefield that the author of every new and outrageous program/supplement will have you believe.

There are no shortcuts.

Understand what causes muscular growth and you can tell very quickly who's worth listening to.

This is a big part of it. Know the science behond strength training and anatomy and that will help a lot. Learn how to read scientific studies and distinguish between studies that are clearly biased or use poor scientific basis for conclusions. The best way to know the difference, however, is just to have time under the bar itself. That kind of experience will go a long way toward helping you understand what works and what is complete BS.

[Ruff Riff]

If I do it or try it and it works... The funny thing about any advise is how different we all are and how we all know that but think that if someone has something we want that if we drink what they drink or lift like they lift it will Automatically work for us. More often then not it doesn't!

Trial and error, unfortunately that trial and error can cost money and time but that is how you learn,

My 2 cents

[Skalami]

Or how about this; the advice they give on training and maybe nutrition that isnt trying to sell you anything can be a little more trusted then advice on products. Usually the advice offered though is stuff most people know with a twist or two thrown in... just to make it seem like the mags arent only pushing what their advertisers want. I bet if you have 2+ years of mags built up you could go back and find very similar stories rehashed over and over.

[Scooter]

Also make sure you understand the science behind whatever someone is saying. If it sounds to easy to be true it probably is.

[drew]

When you keep hearing the same advice over and over from different sources, especially when those people are bigger/stronger than you are it's probably good advice.

When it comes to drugs/nutritional products there are some that work and many that don't. The one's that work will be around for a long time and usually have minimal advertizing (because they work).

Find people whose advice you trust. For me, those people are my training partners and a select other few. But for the most part there are only about 5 people who I will ever ask advice from when it comes to training and even then it's more of a discussion rather than: tell me what to do.