Good enough to get Blogged TWICE!

Okay, this is not a blog of mine, it's from Alwyn Cosgrove's blog. I just had to post it again since it is a CLASSIC blog post. I only hope that you folks out there realize that so much of the fitness and conditioning 'programs' found on the internet these days are complete bullshit.....

Do the math...
I've pointed out in seminars and articles before that there are a surprisingly scary number of individuals writing program sin books and articles that quite simply have not ever been performed by real people in real world situations.One I usually point out is featured in a "national" manual for a personal training certification.The exercise is Multi Planar Lunges and is performed for 3 sets of 25 reps each plane at a 422 tempo with a 90s rest.For those of you unfamiliar with the terminology - 422 means an 8 second rep.8 seconds x 25 reps = 200s200s + 90s (rest) = 290s per set3 sets = 870sBoth legs = 1740sThat's 29 minutes of lunges each plane! There are 3 planes! That would be 87 minutes of lunges!Bear in mind that this is only one of 13 exercises in that program....I also saw another "great" one the other day. This routine had beginners doing a chest and back workout that would consist, in total, of 35 work sets. The average rest period was 90s between sets. If you added up all the rest periods as prescribed in the program- they would add up to 54.5 mins.The author also points out that you should only work out for an hour. So you would have to get your 35 work sets done in 5 1/2 mins. Or about 9.5 seconds per set. With an average set of 10 reps in this program, you'd have to be moving some! Or using machines to do your exercises.Time machines.This is an example of what I call "hot-dog" programming. Looks good, lots of people like them, and they are quite popular. But when you start to look closely at what they are actually made of...And they come from "trainers" who write articles and don't, or have never, actually trained anyone.--AC www.alwyncosgrove.com

Ps - another quick BS indicator - anyone who thinks they have nutrition figured out to 1/100th of a gram of carb intake per pound of body weight. I'd love to see the data they have collected on clients who took 0.56g per lb instead of 0.54g before deciding what was too much and what was too little...

BTW, a reminder that Cosgrove will be on my forum answering your questions in the Q&A section so come over and post your questions for him this week! http://coachdos.activeboard.com/