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BodyBuilding

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By Frederick Hatfield, Ph.D.
Published by Contemporary Books
Chicago
Soft cover/276 pages/1984

With advances in science and technology, our lives are becoming easier and at the same time more complicated. And so it is with sport as science unveils new and fresh insights in improving human performance with the application of science itself.

Touted as the first book in the field of bodybuilding to look at the subject from a scientific point of view, it gathers, interprets and relates them to training advice. The reader is spared the tedium of wading through volumes of research materials, irrelevant data or obscure esoterica to get to the crux of bodybuilding as an applied science. Athletes today are better than their forebears because they apply science in their training. If you want to quickest possible results in the shortest possible time, this is the way to go… the scientific approach.

The author identifies 23 different sources of muscular strength of which only 2 are genetically predetermined (muscle fiber arrangement and musculoskeletal leverage). This implies that you can argument or in some way positively modify the other 21 through training and the book sets out how you do that.

For years scientists told us that genetic endowment alone would determine the number of muscle cells each one of us have and that nothing could be done to increase that number. Now, we are not so sure.

Tips for the experiment-oriented athlete:

• Hyperplasia (the splitting of cells induced by server overload observed in some animals) may be a reality but present bodybuilding methods don’t promote it.

• Laboratory animal studies together with research on champion swimmers, suggest that high-speed/high tension exercise is the only way to promote hyperplasia (or fast-twitch muscles)

• While high-tension/slow speed movements make the muscle bigger, they also end to make it slower in contraction speed.

• Hyperplasia does not occur in laboratory animals engaged in high-tension/slow speed training.

• It is unknown whether hyperplasia can increase the ultimate potential for a muscle’s size in humans or if it can even take place in humans in the first place.

• To derive the benefits of potential hyperplasic, you should incorporate both traditional muscle building exercises as well as compensatory acceleration training, which requires explosive movements against heavy resistance.

The key to promoting muscle growth is accelerated stress application or, going by another name, ballistic training techniques. The author makes no pretension that anaerobic power is the way to go, as opposed to aerobics. Virtually 95% of everything you do in life is anaerobic, i.e., without oxygen. In lay terms, anaerobic power is the ability to continue to perform maximum muscle contraction over time. By far the most effective way to increase the anaerobic power is to engage in high-intensity training of white fast-switch muscle fibers.

The book is divided into four Parts. Part I details basic concepts in bodybuiding and builds a case for heavy and high intensity training, the importance of isolation exercises , single rep, the overcoming the source of over-0training and injuries. Part II delves further into the systems and techniques of bodybuilding while Part III discusses drugs and nutrition, including sport supplements. Part IV concludes with the role of Psychology in motivation, bridging the mind-body gap and control of personal tension.

One may snicker at bodybuilding as a competitive sport without knowing how much discipline it takes. It goes beyond the aesthetics. I believe that weight resistance training is the only insurance against loss of skeletal muscle or bone density, a precursor of osteoporosis, joints aches, pains and such, although the author made no reference to this.

Those who think they have not time for bodily exercise will sooner or later have to find time time for illness. - Edward Stanely

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Training Wisdom (extracted from POWER A SCIENTIC APPROACH by the same author)

Note: Vince Lombardi was a legendary coach in the history of American football, so much so that after his death, the Super Bowl was renamed after him.

Vince Lombardi was a helluva man. Why, in his way, Ol’ Vince’s very presence would inspire an entire platoon of quasi humans to perform magnificent feats of sport prowess. He was a winner. By toady’s standard, however, Vine was a dinosaur.

Consider this. Vince is know for his statement, “winning isn’t everything, it’s the only thing. That’s what he said. Perhaps they were prophetic words back when he was alive, and Lord knows many top coaches believe those words to this day.

But we’ve learned much since then, a point to which I shall return later. Let’s peruse the gym wall slogans around the country, and have a look at what else Vince and his disciples have had to say about sports, training, and success in general over the years. You won’t be bored. Your training efforts, after all, are ‘ten percent perspiration and ninety percent inspiration.’

The wisdom of the ages is contained in the Bible. I suspect Vince was a student thereof.

In a race, every runs but only one person get the prize. So, run the race to win. – lst Corinthians 9:24

Could Vince have been a great athlete with an attitude like that? Maybe, but he was a gifted leader. He had a lot to give. However,

When a man has a great deal given to him, a great deal will be demanded of him. – Luke 12:48

The question is, can you becomes a great athlete by wanting to win badly? Remember that a vast majority of athletes want to win. The will to win is not enough. You must truly believe you can win!

Belief is the thermostat which regulates success.

The above was no doubt written by an inspired hearing equipment salesman. Vince, no the other hand, took belief a step further. He believed that commitment was all-important in traveling the road to winning.

We know how rough the road well be, how heavy here the load well be, we know about the barricades that wait along the track but we have set out soul ahead upon a certain goal and nothing left from hell to sky shall ever turn us back. - Vince Lombardi

Ah, character, Vince was one. Character is a blend of commitment, discipline, and pride. In equal parts. With a dash of ambition.

If what you did yesterday still looks big to you, you haven’t done much today.

Notice that I didn’t say anything about those fortune few who are gifted but never realize their true potential because of complacency.

Some men are bigger, faster, strong, and smarter than others – but not a single man has a corner on dreams, desire, or ambition. – Duffy Daugherty

Or, more pointedly,

Talents will get you to the top, but it takes character to keep you there. – John Wooden

No, talent alone isn’t everything, to paraphrase Vince. Neither is being disciplined.

Discipline is the refining fire by which talent becomes ability. – Roy Smith

But let’s not forget the dash of ambition in our stew that comprises the strength athlete’s the strength of athlete’s lifestyle.

Progress comes from intelligent use of experience.

Well, perhaps for some. Perhaps that was true in Vince Lombardi’s day. Experience is, at best, a poor teacher by today’s standards. For,

You are today where your thoughts where your thoughts have brought you. You will be tomorrow where your thoughts take you. – James Allen

Now, I don’t mean to pick on poor ol’ Vince. If he were alive today, he’d surely take exception to my ribbing. But, in truth, Vince had some strange ideas about what a man must do to win. And he had some stranger notions about why men fail. Said he, “Fatigue makes cowards of us all.” As in a previous chapter, I disagree. Fatigue is the spark that ignites. It is the means to an end. It is the vehicle to success. Fatigue only makes cowards of the uncommitted. Sure it’s tough. I like that word. I see it in practically every gym that hangs slogans on the wall. For example:

Nobody said life would be easy… and you only make it tougher if you feel sorry for yourself. – Morley Fraser

If it ain’t tough to get, it ain’t worth having.

Fatigue and tough both conjure images of hard work, and in truth, hard work is what it takes to become a champion.

If hard work is the key to success, most people would rather pick the lock. – Claude McDonald

The difference between good and great is just a little extra effort. – Duffy Daugherty

But it isn’t just hard work that ensures success, it’s smart work. To work hard, you have to be enthusiastic, but to truly get anything accomplished in your quest for the stars, you’ll also have to be a little smarter than the other guy who’s intent on making the same journey.

Enthusiasm without knowledge is like running in the dark.

What your predecessors, great men all, did to become great is no longer enough. You, my friend, have to battle with men infinitely more knowledgeable than the greats of yesterday fought with.

A closed mind is usually empty… because it won’t allow anything to enter.

Complacency is often the culprit in cases where athletes think they know enough to become the greatest thee ever was. Any complacency is preceded by vanity and misplaced pride.

Too many fellows think they can push themselves forward by patting themselves in the back.

Such men have made the cardinal mistake of losing sight of what the possibilities are:

There is no mistake so great as the mistake of not going on.

Men do no fail. They just give up easy.

A lot of people seem to be preoccupied with the possibility of failure. That’s another word I see often on gym walls. If I owned a gym, the word would never appear anywhere. Just look at the stuff I see!

Success is never permanent. And fortunately neither is failure.

When success turns a person’s head, he’s facing failure.

Defeat must be faced, but is need not be final.

Failure is something you know in your heart. Success is something that lies in the eye of the beholder.

Failure is the line of least persistence.

Even Vince Lombardi had failure on his mind when he uttered his famous statement: You cannot comprehend the concept of winning unless you first know of failure.

No Vince didn’t have the answer. Indeed, there is not a single gym wall on which the true answer is to be found. You can take all these quotes recorded here and else and stuff them. They’re cute, but ‘cute’ doesn’t cut it. Only passion does. For, passion is the ultimate ingredient in becoming the greatest there is, or ever will be.

posted by Victor Lai @ 10:39 PM