Things I've learned in the past year

As the year goes on, I should hope i continue to learn. there will be VERY few things that will completely change the way I think, but so far (and this should/will be updated as I remember things) this is the list of my revelations/wisdom I've gained for the past year/bit.

1) fruit might not be as useless as I once thought. yes, when it comes to getting superiorly lean, I believe it might not be the BEST choice, but in terms of the offseason/leaning down from relatively big weights, its a DECENT carb source. yes, I still hold true that for the most part it refills LIVER glycogen first instead of muscle, but it still seems to be able to convert well. I use this SPARINGLY (not as the only carb source) but its still another decent option from what I've been learning.

2) the FEEL of the muscle becomes increasingly important. I'm going off of my clients and most particularly myself in here. I tried out the "move the big weight regardless of feeling with still great technique per say". It came back to squash me. lets put it this way, if you can't FEEL the muscle, aka you're doing bench press, which does work the chest, and you can't feel the chest, AND YOU'RE NOT A RANK NOVICE, then you need something else if you're trying to train chest. In the past 3 ish months, my chest has grown more than ever by picking some exercises that I can actually feel the chest working. I have NOT ditched my philosophy on heavy weights and muscle mass correlating heavily, but if you can't get a proper contraction, you will need to pick an exercise that allows this. this is also NOT NECESSARILY ISOLATION, but maybe a "weirder" exercise, that is still a compound. I know this is confusing... but it is something that has changed my training of myself and clients a lot...

3)people overestimate progress they can accomplish in a month, and underestimate the progress they can make in a year. and for my advanced trainees, they overestimate the progress they can make in a year, and overestimate the progress they can make in 4-5 (in terms of becoming a bodybuilder/successful figure competitor)

4) genetics CAN be overridden, with the proper coaching and listening. NO, i cannot magically make you jamie eason or Arnold, BUT WE can take your crappy bodyparts/weaknesses to quite the new level with some very interesting exercises. usually, no you can't do this on your own. you have to have someone who has experimented with weird stuff (MEGA MARTY PLUG!) to be able to get those things up. this was the case for my chest, back width, and biceps. everything is going MUCH better from dumb little things I've changed that I would have never have done a year or more ago, because it didn't fit my heavy heavy heavy mandate.

5)Free Meals have a lesser purpose to me and my clients now. I unfortunately trusted a lot of the "community" on free meals, and unfortunately they offer very little (if any) physiological help. only psychological.. which still has its great uses.

6) this MAY be the biggest change so far, is my view on LISS (low intensity steady state) cardio. for men, everything DEFINITELY holds true... but for women.. things have changed. I'm recommending SOME (but no means solely) interval training (and i have my own version of intervals I use) to my women that I deem able/worthy. obviously not a 300 lb lady fresh off the boat. but yes, it is a tool im learning can really be effective for some women...

That is it for now, BUT I'll be adding more! If you know something else I have been talking about lately that I haven't mention, feel free to shoot it my way!!!