Top Broscience Myths

Broscience is overrated

Broscience

I am privileged to work with many good athletes, and I interact with many excellent coaches. I last worked in the Health and Fitness industry  15 years ago (pre Internet boom). It therefore came as a shock to me the other day when I assessed some Personal Trainers in their fitness studio with their clients.

What I had thought was common sense and sound coaching principles was absent from these young men. I had stumbled into the world of Broscience (Yes, they were wearing tights, had baseball cap turned backwards, did say Bro and referred to water as “H2O”).

Whilst well-meaning, the levels of misinformation were astounding. Rather than mocking, I shall layout some of the key points of differentiation between that world and mine.

Broscience myths

1. 

   Tuesday is biceps day

   Today is chest/ back /legs day. Whilst this may be appropriate for bodybuilding, it is inappropriate for athletes. We “Train movements not muscles” (Gambetta). Our resistance training must be whole body and enhance coordination. Rather than supersetting pull ups with curls, think pulls and throws or squats and jumps.

2. YouTube is the fount of all knowledge. There are some good videos and explanations on YouTube. However, watching videos without understanding the context leads to random exercise generation. I have an MSc in Sports Coaching, four post grad certifications, read hundreds of journal articles and scores of books every year and I still question what I do.
3. “But real athletes do this“. I train real athletes. Watching someone famous do something on the internet and copying it rarely succeeds (unless you try to emulate their actual sport technique). If you think that Rory McIlroy is brilliant at golf because he runs on a treadmill wearing an altitude mask, think again. Cristiano Ronaldo has an underwater bike in his home pool: but rich athletes are suckers for gimmicks and fads like the rest of us! Instead, look to see what coaches who train many successful athletes are doing.
4. Wearing tights / gloves makes me look like a pro. Compression tights are for recovery. If you wear them during training, you are making them looser, and potentially overheating. How can you train and recover at the same time? Why are you wearing them if you are doing “chest day“? Gloves can be worn if you are cold outside. Inside the gym there is no need to wear them. Use chalk if you sweat.
5. 

   Battle ropes at altitude!

   Sleds, ropes, parachutes and other paraphanalia are essential for top level training. Quality of movement is essential in top level sport. If you have bad movement mechanics, and then you load that movement, you will have bad, slow movement. Dragging a sled backwards to “work on your VMOs” has minimal correlation with top speed running forward. Battle ropes may get your arms tired, but what sport uses that movement?

6. “Activate and engage muscle X” . The body is a self organising system. The P.T. world is full of internal coaching cues that actually inhibit learning. Every child has learnt to walk, sit and roll without knowing what their transversus abdominus, gluteus medius or multifidus was. Work on tasks such as sitting, jumping, running and throwing, rather than trying to isolate individual muscles.
7. If someone looks good naked, they must be a good coach. If you are taking advice on how to train for sport from someone who has their top off in every selfie, good luck. if you are looking on body composition advice, then fair enough.

What is the antidote to Broscience?

Wearing gloves won’t help bad technique

Apart from nuking the Internet? Look to get advice from someone who has helped other people get better. Ex athletes may be a good source of advice, but only if they have helped others. What worked for them once, may well be unsuitable for you.

Read more books from coaches. Yes, read books. Broscience rarely makes it into print.

Get qualified yourself. A weekend spent on a strength and conditioning course  wil be a worthwhile investment for someone who wants to spend their next 40 years training.

Here is an example of me coaching dumbbell exercises for golfers using some of the principles above:

(Thanks to Cole Peterson for introducing me to the term).