my train of thought on training

While doing some catch-up reading of this post at Mark's Daily Apple, I remembered a conversation that I had with Anna about a post on Tim Ferriss' blog about how he gained 30+ pounds of muscle in 4 weeks. My first reaction was, well, I'll just call it negative. But after reading his post, a lot of little nuggets of info I've read and seen elsewhere started popping into my head.

The first is that anything is possible. And secondly, he followed what roughly equates to a linear progression heavy lifting program. He very likely experienced what Mark Rippetoe calls The Novice Effect, as in: he had never before done a serious lifting program, which accounts for the large gains he made in such a short time.

He also focused on his recovery. He ate large amounts of protein (key for us skinny folk trying to get bigger), and even though he did a fair number of bodybuilding "exercises" - he also says he did deadlifts, the overhead press, and dips.

So, while my initial reaction was to wave the BS flag, I gotta say he's probably not full of it... and he should've done squats. ;)

The more I learn about fitness training, the more I find there is to learn. However what has stuck with me the most is that there are no secrets. You have to work hard, and make sure you focus as much on recovery as on training - that means actually doing what you hear (and see our) coaches at CrossFit Central talk about every day.

Climbing off my soapbox now. Have a great weekend everybody!