Weekend Archives: Rip: Doctors and Exercise Advice

[Mark Rippetoe]

Doctors and Exercise Advice | Mark Rippetoe

[Alexander Dargatz]

Every single word in that article is the pure truth.
Enjoyed reading it again, thanks Coach.

The bad advice short list reminds me of bullshit bingo. Well, in this case, I cried "BINGO!" years ago. There is not a single prejudice in that list that I haven't been confronted with in the past 25 years, though usually not by doctors.

A couple of months ago I had to go to the bi-annual obligatory check-up with our company doctor at the hospital I work - as a doctor. Now, I'm not very patient when confronted with this kind of bullshit, but I wasn't going to nod politely and keep my mouth shut.
When she saw me and deducted I "exercise", she asked me if I take steroids (I don't, thanks for the compliment), but she didn't believe me. Then she just kept repeating her stupid, one-size-fits-all "advice": don't lift too heavy (I asked her how heavy too heavy would be - no clear answer), not too much protein (same), heavy weights are dangerous for my joints, and as I age, I should use lighter weights, or my bones will break (seriously!?). I tried to educate her about training, stress and adaptation, but I might as well have talked a bit about the hair on my ass. "Everything in moderation" was her standard, fall back reply to everything she couldn't answer. The total immunity of that uninformed woman to my arguments riled me up. She never stopped a second to think about what I just said.
Ah, mini-rant is over, thank you and sorry.