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Thread: Psychological Force v External Resistance of Food

  1. #1
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    Default Psychological Force v External Resistance of Food

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    Given that very few weight trainees at any level want to be over-fat, why is it that many more trainees at any level find the “not being over-fat” part harder than the weight training part?


    Why is it that many trainees can muster up the discipline to lift heavy weights but not be over-fat and not be weak greedy pigs with food choices and volumes?

    More importantly:

    Why is it that some people can be big and strong and lift heavyweights but not get over-fat (either over-fat to their own dislike or to the rational neutral observer).

    It’s often the program (whether it be Starting Strength or any other program) that gets wrongly blamed for a trainee getting fat rather than their lack of control with a knife and fork.

  2. #2
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    The double-negatives are confusing me. Can you restate your question?

  3. #3
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    Regardless of training advancement, why do many strength lifters, weight lifters, powerlifters and bodybuilders get and remain fatter than they would like to be when they have the option of doing something about it?

    They can do the lifting part, but not the fat control part ie. too mentally and physiologically weak to resist AMRAP with the knife and fork and beer glass.

  4. #4
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    Quote Originally Posted by Michael Owen View Post
    Given that very few weight trainees at any level want to be over-fat, why is it that many more trainees at any level find the “not being over-fat” part harder than the weight training part?


    Why is it that many trainees can muster up the discipline to lift heavy weights but not be over-fat and not be weak greedy pigs with food choices and volumes?

    More importantly:

    Why is it that some people can be big and strong and lift heavyweights but not get over-fat (either over-fat to their own dislike or to the rational neutral observer).

    It’s often the program (whether it be Starting Strength or any other program) that gets wrongly blamed for a trainee getting fat rather than their lack of control with a knife and fork.
    If someone is getting "over-fat", they are putting on a much larger percentage of fat compared to muscle, therefore they are not putting on significant amounts of muscle, therefore they cannot be lifting much heavier weights and make progress. Mabye this is an exception for really advanced powerlifters. But you are talking about your average NLP guy who mistakenly thought that gaining bodyweight was an excuse to stuff himself full of pie, in which case, they cannot execute the program effectively, therefore they haven't mustered up eating OR training.
    If someone is making progress and lifting heavier and heavier weights, he is not putting on much more fat than muscle.
    This is my understanding.

  5. #5
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    Quote Originally Posted by Michael Owen View Post
    Regardless of training advancement, why do many strength lifters, weight lifters, powerlifters and bodybuilders get and remain fatter than they would like to be when they have the option of doing something about it?

    They can do the lifting part, but not the fat control part ie. too mentally and physiologically weak to resist AMRAP with the knife and fork and beer glass.
    Your assertion requires some data. How do you know that "many strength lifters, weight lifters, powerlifters and bodybuilders get and remain fatter than they would like to be"? How many of these people do you personally know?

  6. #6
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    I think the proximity between “I need to eat to get strong” and “This donut won’t hurt, I’m gaining weight to get stronger,” are not far removed. I’ve caught myself doing this before and I have to remind myself that when we’re told to get to a certain body weight, that’s not carte blanche permission to go on a junk food diet and eat like we’re also trying to get diabetes.

  7. #7
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    Part of it is probably the result of physiology. There are many survival advantages to storing fat that have developed over eons. The availability of excess calories is a recent phenomenon evolutionarily speaking. So the body has evolved to avoid starvation not to look like Frank Zane.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Michael Owen View Post
    They can do the lifting part, but not the fat control part ie. too mentally and physiologically weak to resist AMRAP with the knife and fork and beer glass.
    shows how little you know about things, I always AMRAP with my hands.

  9. #9
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mark Rippetoe View Post
    Your assertion requires some data. How do you know that "many strength lifters, weight lifters, powerlifters and bodybuilders get and remain fatter than they would like to be"? How many of these people do you personally know?
    My data is the many hundreds of members who strength train, bodybuild and powerlift at a popular black iron gym where I’ve trained for the last 27 years hearing them complain to me about being fatter than they want to be.

    If this data isn’t acceptable, here’s 2 questions along the same lines;

    1. Do you agree with my assertion that many people who weight train at all levels of advancement are fatter than they want to be? If
    you agree, why are they so?

    2. During your own lifetime of lifting weights, have you GENERALLY been fatter than you would like to be despite having the knowledge and options of doing something about it? If “yes”, why so?

    These questions arise from Baker’s recent podcast where he said a lot of lifters can do the training part but the find the diet part more difficult (be it gaining muscle or losing fat).

    I appreciate it’s not just a weight trainer’s problem being fatter than they would like to be, it’s a general population problem. However, given that many weight trainers carry a certain level of haughtiness towards those who are not big and strong (even if they don’t always directly convey their superior attitude), the haughtiness is unjustified if those big strong weight trainers are fatter than they want to be because they haven’t got the discipline to control their food choices. Strong yet weak as above is not good.

  10. #10
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    I think the level of advancement matters. In regular gym goers I see what you're talking about all the time and some of it is as Frank B said, they're confusing any weight gain with muscular weight gain and as such, an excuse to eat with reckless abandon. But at advanced levels, there aren't many powerlifters 275 or under who are fat. The days of the 275'er who should be in the 198 or 220 class are pretty much over. Same with weightlifting and it's weight classes. A fat bodybuilder who stays fat isn't really a bodybuilder as the nature of that activity requires exceptional leanness at contest time.

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