Comments on: 5 Things That Really Grind My Gears

By: Mark McManus

Mark McManus — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 08:05:42 +0000

@Brandi. Yeah I’ve seen that a lot. An hour of cardio, then the weights. Huh? You’re really not going to get any kind of meaningful intensity after that much cardio.
@Joey. I did the same thing many years ago 🙂

By: Joey

Joey — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 05:59:35 +0000

Your article just gave me a pat in the back for cancelling my Men’s Health subscription LOL! Thanks for your help to the bodybuilding community. 🙂

By: Brandi McAtee

Brandi McAtee — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 23:48:01 +0000

Love the article, Mark! And thanks for mentioning mine! I agree with most of these posts! Hogging machines, talking, watching t.v., stinking, yelling, flexing (although I do practice my posing some leading up to competition, but usually in the unoccupied aerobics room), telling me I should lift lighter, asking my advice then jumping on the treadmill (obviously NOT my advice)…I could go on and on!
I DO like fasting cardio early in the morning when I’m in that stage of my TSPA…don’t knock it ’til ya try it, right Dog? It actually seems to help my 1st dose of Fibro meds work longer too. BONUS!

Anyway, I guess my biggest ass chapper would be watching someone, not only, spend 45mins on the damn treadmill, but THEN go lift weights! How are possibly training with any kind of intensity after 45 mins of cardio? WTF?

O.K. I’m done! 🙂

By: Brandi McAtee

Brandi McAtee — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 23:40:20 +0000

By: Mark McManus

Mark McManus — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 17:00:45 +0000

@rjk02. If it’s in the middle of the screen obscuring the article, you need a new browser. Get Google Chrome, it’s awesome.

By: rjk02

rjk02 — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 13:27:35 +0000

Grinds my gears that the Facebook, Tweek, and other social networking box follows you all the way down the screen while reading articles on this site.

Please fix. Good Reads!

By: Mark McManus

Mark McManus — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 12:48:10 +0000

@Jason. LOL. Hope your cortisol levels are down again 😉
@shounak. You can’t spot reduce love handles. You just have to lose overall fat and your body will take it from your love handle area when it decides it’s time to do so. Unfortunate but true.
@Matt. Yep. Most gym guys that do standing cable bicep curls do 1/2 reps. The lowest point in the rep in a 90 degree arm bend. Oh well, kinda explains why their arms never change.
@Arjun. hehe.
@Zac. Something tells me that girl wasn’t there for the right reasons.

By: Mark McManus

Mark McManus — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 12:41:59 +0000

@Jim. That’s exactly the game. They make it complicated and purposefully bring out new and varied routines to keep you buying.
@Graham. All good points, buddy.
@BiL. Congrats on your THT success in only 6 weeks. Just keep going!
@Mike Huber. Yep. What gets me sometimes is that people say it’s easy for me because I don’t LIKE chocolate, crisps, or sweets. YES I DO! I’d eat them all day if I could. I just don’t. I know that stuff tastes good, but I’ve got goals. I’ve just learned to live this way in order to achieve what I want. It’s a matter of priorities.

By: Mark McManus

Mark McManus — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 12:35:24 +0000

@Andrew. Nice list. I think it’s a really good sign that someone is serious if they are recording their reps/weight. It’s the only scientific way to know you’re making progress.
@Joe. Weighted dips are one of my favorite exercises too.
@Ross. Thanks for the “Good Reader” recommendation.
@Taylor. For real!
@Zipper. that would be awesome, bud! Hackers-only gym. No douchebags, everyone lifting with intensity, everyone friendly and helpful, and everyone in and out in an hour 🙂

By: BigNoseDog

BigNoseDog — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 12:17:07 +0000

What grinds my gears is people who insist that cardio, especially morning fasted cardio, will cause you to lose muscle. The truth is that we all respond differently to exercise. One person might need to do more cardio than someone else just as one person might need to cut out carbs more than someone else. Yes, there are certain fundamentals that apply to all of us. But most of us have to figure out what works for us as individuals. That involves a lot of trial error. Anytime I make a change to my routine, I watch to see what happens. If that change moves me in the right direction, even if I’m breaking one of the so-called rules, I’ll stick with it. I’m willing to bet that a lot of people against fasted cardio have never even tried it because they’re paranoid about losing muscle. But really, what do you have to lose by trying it for a week or two. If you start to lose muscle, then make a change. Maybe you’re not getting enough protein. Maybe you’re just not getting enough calories. But to dismiss something outright without even trying it is foolish. Imagine if you were a woman and you kept hearing that weight training would make you bulky. Well if you listened to them and never tried it, you’d really be missing out. The bottom line is be open-minded and dare to question the supposed experts. You may find that you know your body a lot better than they do.

By: Zac

Zac — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 12:16:32 +0000

I’ve seen all this stuff that pisses off you guys. I try to ignore it as best I can. What I can’t ignore is the bad TV they show in my gym which sometimes breaks my concentration because it’s so loud. I try channelling my anger into the workout.

I’m the only dude in my gym writing down on my log and using a stopwatch. It’s so funny when fat people tell me going to the gym 5 times per week is too much. It’s not even 5 hours per week working out and they spend 5 hours watching TV per night!!

True story, young girl doing lateral pulldowns turns 180degrees mid set to face the TV because ‘I love this song’.

Respect to you always, Mark

By: Arjun

Arjun — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 11:50:29 +0000

What pisses me off is the amount of unwanted advice by guys who clearly do not have a clue.

For instance, the other day some guy saw me doing high pulls. In between sets he walks up to me and very piously told me I’d hurt my back doing that. Then he very graciously showed me the correct form – he taught me upright rows :/

By: Matt

Matt — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 08:54:52 +0000

What grinds my gears is when people slap on extra weight, whether it be ez curl bars for their biceps or a leg press machine, then proceed to do about 1/4 the range of motion and think that they are actually completing that weight.

Then they proceed to give fitness advice to others after showing off “their great strength”.

I just want to tell him to take all the weight off and do it correctly.

By: shounak

shounak — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 07:59:40 +0000

Hey Mark
Can u put some article on reduction of Love handles ( gut around waist)…am getting tonned but not able to get rid of this ..please help

By: jason

jason — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 07:18:29 +0000

the way i see it is that you either have it or you dont. people want results but they dont want to put in the effert even before setting foot in the gym. they are to lazy to record weights and stick to consistency, they are like lost farts in a perfume factory with no clue of what to do but yet they will tell you which is the right way to train!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! mark, this post has increased my cortisal levels..lol!!!

By: Mike Huber

Mike Huber — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 01:29:04 +0000

Fat people who tell me I look muscular and they are fat because of genetics while they are shoving a Donut Into Their Fat Piehole, aka Their Mouth!!! WOW, that felt good to get off my mind. Thanks Mark.

By: BiL

BiL — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 23:32:25 +0000

great post. I’m not a bodybuilder by any means but in the 6 weeks I’ve been doing THT i have lost fat and gained a visible amount of muscle. I’m the only guy i see with a notebook, and the only one i see timing my rest periods. even the guys with obvious ‘roid “help” don’t write anything down! that’s crazy! it’s science, dude! document!

By: Graham

Graham — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 22:27:28 +0000

Mark,
I think you can judge the success of a post by the reaction you get back.
And boy have you got a reaction here! 🙂
Anybody ever seen a guy who comes in the gym and proceeds to do 30 mins’ of arms first and then goes on to train the the rest of the upper body not realising that you are only as strong as your weakest link. How can you lift weights with a pair of tired arms?
I’ve been training for nearly 30 years and still don’t know everything there is to know about lifting weights, so why does the guy who’s been on a weekend course to become a personal trainer keep pestering me like a stuborn fly telling me how I need to do this and that to improve?
Anybody tried the the 7 minutes a day workout on the web that I’ve seen advertised here in the uk. does it work? cos’ if it does I gonna ditch this training to failure lark co it’s too damn hard!! LOL.
Keep lifting guys and if you want to get some inspiration, take a look at some of the old lifters physiques like Steve reeves, and see real symetry not someone that has been overblown on roids who actually puts more people off from taking up the sport than anything else!

Regards, Graham

By: jacob

jacob — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 18:46:38 +0000

just a comment on anthony alley’s comment. nutrition is definitely a big part of fat loss and body comp. i dislike the continuing phrase ” you can’t outwork a crappy diet”. why not? i workout hard and reward myself by eating whatever i want and i have 6 % bodyfat at 174 pounds. and before someone says something about genetics, i used to be an obese kid. great article mark

By: Garrett

Garrett — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 18:33:50 +0000

Sigh, my gears are ground by pugdy friends who think that *weightlifting* is unnatural and pointless …and then go run another half-marathon.

By: Jim Cutler

Jim Cutler — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 18:02:15 +0000

Totally agree that ‘Mens Health’ workouts are bollocks.
They make everything so complicated and confusing, so that the reader continues to read as they attempt to sift through the piles of bullshit for a nugget of truth!
Simple, high intensity, full body workouts combined with simple, high quality, complete diet is all you need.
Once you get the idea, it actually becomes difficult to see how you ever went wrong!

Thanks for the great content,

Jim

By: Antonio Wright

Antonio Wright — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 17:29:17 +0000

Mark, fantastic post!

By: Zipper

Zipper — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 15:56:22 +0000

Guys,

This is probably my new favorite post! Good on all of you! Now wouldn’t it be great if it were all of us at the same gym? We’d all be in and out in a timely fashion. Mark, if your trend of “proper education in training” grows, please open a gym franchise and open one in Vancouver BC, call it MuscleHack. How great that would be? 🙂 That dream being said, I have to agree with Adam’s top 9, I’m right there with you. I’ve been asked by roid idiots 3times my size how I’m able to Lift so much for my size!? Hah! I tell them I don’t juice. I’m not kidding here. Another added rant, the idiot guys that walk around the gym after a bullshit set “not to failure and just stare at you and continue to walk around for 15min. WTF are you here for?? Cheers everyone.

By: Taylor

Taylor — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 15:52:34 +0000

People who ask for advice and then proceed to ignore it (as if they’re asking simply to validate their own I’ll-informed decisions)

People who ignore perfect logic in favour or dogma/ tradition, i.e. People who read THT 4 and continue to use pyramids, ineffective exercises, do lots of cardio, etc :-p

By: Ross Daigle

Ross Daigle — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 15:40:35 +0000

The “higher reps for definition” thing always drives me bonkers, as well as “cardio is efficient”.

I’m a very social person and can be a “chatterbox” sometimes among friendlies, but I generally break and do sets when the timer goes off. I’m also in training to be a Pastor, though, so it could even be expected that I can talk a lot :p.

I love using the knowledge you provide, Mark, and I’m excited to start my second TSPA cycle. I keep all the PDFs and spreadsheets on my iPhone and I use Good Reader for te PDFs and Numbers to read/record my numbers on the spreadsheets. Good Reader I think costs a couple $ and Numbers was $10, but it’s worth it to me not to have to carry a clipboard and pen with me (for space-saving purposes).