Old School vs Alternative Training Methods PT 1
If you’re an old school bodybuilder and have been working out in dungeon-like gyms for decades, you know that workout catacombs are a dying breed. Today, high-tech health clubs have replaced the cellblock style/hardcore workout facility, and offer everything from computer body analysis to precision based dietary programs and all of the toys to get the job done. It would appear that when given the choice between a state-of-the-art facility and a God-awful rat hole, most people would choose the glitzy high-tech health club over the pit from hell. Wait. Not so fast.
There’s no doubt that the old dungeon-inspired gyms leave most people with rocks the size of Stonehenge in the pit of their stomach. After all, there is something unsettling—disturbing even—about the visible filth and stains, the odor, the lack of windows and the frighteningly primal hardcore noises that emanate from a basement gym. But here’s the part that eludes the spa set: That knot in the pit of a man’s stomach as he descends the stairs of a place like that is, for many hardcore devotees, precisely the appeal.
But it isn’t just a facility issue. It runs much deeper. This black-and-white difference in philosophy pervades workouts as well.
On one hand, hardcore aficionados who began training pre-1990’s wouldn’t dream of adopting newfangled training methods for fear that they might lose the original flavor of a 3 day split or an old-fashioned post-squat puke. No way would high rep training, pliometrics, or other heavily researched physiological methodology, find its way into the routine of someone who started off doing donkey calf raises with his training buddy on his back! To someone like that, the phrase alternative training methods makes the flesh crawl.
The question is, are traditional training methods more effective than another? Do technological methods of training offer faster, more comprehensive results? You decide with our Pros and Cons checklist:
TRADITIONAL TRAINING METHODS
PROS:
•You can work out in any facility and get the same results you might in your facility
• Other than gym equipment, there is no special gear required
• You always know ahead of time what you’re going to be training and how
• You can have a set routine and still get results
• Doesn’t require a partner
• Requires no real special skills
• 70 years of bodybuilding can’t be wrong—the sport’s legends all trained using traditional training methods, usual splits and the same dumbbells and barbells as you do!
• There are at least 10-12 different exercises per body part one can do—changing routines is easy and the combinations are many
CONS:
• Once you plateau, there isn’t anywhere to go but up in weight
• Boredom for your mind and boredom and lack of change for your body
• Injury
• Static exercise produces static results—only so many ways you can work your biceps, quads and abs
• Mostly promises just aesthetic results, not physical capability
TECHNOLOGICAL TRAINING
METHODS (Pliometrics, Pilates, Proprioception)
PROS:
• Can easily be combined with traditional methods to produce “super workouts”
• Creates a much more functional body
• Builds strength through less invasive/ aggressive means (less injury)
• Creates stores of strength in areas of the body not reached in traditional training (core strength, etc)
• Puts the body in balance by correlating and integrating the micro-muscles/ nerves of spine
• Many of these methods used in rehabilitation of injuries, so is more stable for the body than traditional heavy iron workouts
• Strengthens joints and tendons through motion-based, not static, exercise
• You’ll actually be faster and more agile in sports using these methods—no guarantee with weight workouts
• Aesthetically pleasing/ Physically functional
CONS:
• Most of the new training require study to understand form and function and why and how they work
• These methods often require a facilitator or partner for correct application
• Requires mental acuity and practice
• Best results require a basic foundation of traditional weight work
From http://www.maxmuscle.com/index.cfm?fa=article&doc_id=474&subcat=body_building