I DON’T KNOW

Alright folks, I’m not gonna try to go full Socrates here (and, if you grew up watching Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure, you read that as “so-crates”, which is awesome), but I think some of you need to start embracing his wisdom.  And for my readers familiar with classical philosophy, you had a chuckle at that opening sentence, because Socrates was a hack as far as wisdom went, because his big shtick was that he knew nothing.  There was, of course, a method to that madness, as otherwise he wouldn’t rank up there as one of the forefathers of philosophy, but honestly let’s just take a step back and admire someone actually admitting (even if for their own intentions) that they don’t know something.  These days, that’s a monumental undertaking to have anyone make that claim.  Why?  What’s wrong with admitting you lack knowledge in something?  We can’t all be experts in everything, and even WITH the internet at our disposal, there can STILL exists knowledge gaps, because information still needs to be understood, processed, sorted and interpreted before it can actually be “known”.  Folks, some of you need to learn that, when asked a question, it’s ok to reply with “I don’t know”.

Pleading the 5th also works

“I don’t know” is a totally legit response to a question, and people refuse to employ it, and what it has done is significantly pollute the dialogue as it relates to training.  This is especially the case amongst “experts” in the realm of training.  And already, let me start developing a caste system here in this dialogue, because you’ll note I had to put the word experts in quotes.  There are so many youtube and Instagram stars out there whose expertise pretty much relates to video editing and finding good lighting and angles to make paltry physiques look impressive.  Their expertise lies in manipulating social media to make income.  However, even amongst those that are credible in their field, their credibility only relates TO their field, and in the realm of training, there can be very unique niche’ fields that one can be a master in and yet totally clueless in all other things as it relates to training.

What do I mean?  Again, we think this is all just lifting weights and eating good, but when you got a guy who decides he’s going to be “the glute guy”, and then they decide to start talking about what a trainee needs to do to deadlift more…and they only deadlift 400lbs and have never coached anyone in the deadlift, they’ve gone outside their realm of expertise.  “But the glutes are in the deadlift!”  Yup, and somehow the guy who has mastered the training of that muscle can’t deadlift for crap, so there must be more to it than that.  Or if a guy who specializes in training beginners in the 3 barbell lifts decides their going to expound on how to training the US Olympic Weightlifting team, or talks about how conditioning is a sham, that guy stepped outside his realm, and it’s obvious.  There’s a good chance these folks are saying things just for the sake of having their words make them some money, but the truth is, when it came time for that discussion, the real answer to those questions was “I don’t know”.  Because an “I don’t know” from those folks is FAR less destructive than a definitive AND absurd answer.

This trainer definitely needed to exercise those 3 words...

And again, I get it: the masses see these folks as the experts of all things fitness, rather than recognizing where their expertise exists.  And I also get it that it’s human nature to not want to appear stupid when asked a question, and one is compelled to offer an answer.  But owning what you do and do not know is incredibly valuable, it keeps the dialogue open, and it identifies your own knowledge gaps.  HOWEVER, what it ALSO does is identify what you HAVE needed to know in order to get to where you are.  Folks, I am completely and totally honest when I say that I cannot do hard science to save my life.  My background is political science and philosophy, I got Cs and Ds in my high school science courses, and I legit almost did not graduate undergrad because I was failing an Earth Systems Science course referred to by my tutor as “rocks for jocks”.  I’ve never taken an anatomy course, or an exercise science course, I’ve never measured my TDEE, I haven’t counted calories since 1 day in 2004 where I did it was a gee-whiz, etc etc.  When asked questions in regards to any of these topics, I reply with “I don’t know”, but I’ll also continue with “I’ve never needed to know that to reach my goals.”

That’s the point.  We’re not going full Socrates in that we say we don’t know something and then we keep asking those in the know until they admit that THEY don’t know something.  That’s a modern day internet argument, with people screaming studies at each other for 400 posts and no one backing down.  We’re admitting our limitations and staying inside our realm.  We want a bigger realm?  We go learn something.  However, consequently, what we also get to do is claim to know the things that we DO know, irrespective of the claims otherwise.  I’ve had people who “know” inform me that single set work isn’t effective.  That’s fine: I know it is.  Same is true with only training a movement once a week.  That’s fine: I’ve built a 650lb deadlift training the deadlift once every 2 months, I know it’s effective.  You wanna talk protein synthesis rates and what’s considered a low amount of testosterone, I’m not your guy, but if you ever wanna discuss getting bigger and stronger, let’s chat, because that’s something I know.

I also know a thing or 2 about training around injuries...

And, in turn, it’s a very unsatisfying dialogue for the modern day wannabe Socrates that want to push the discussion further.  “Well you do you KNOW these things?”  Because these are the things that I know.  I have been there, and done them, and now I know them.  “But can you prove it?”  Nope: but I still know it, and I’m willing to let my results speak in that regard.  But when you go in the inverse, it’s also a much more efficient dialogue.  When they ask how much protein you need to gain muscle and you reply with “I don’t know”, you avoid the 12 day war between the 1 gram per lb bodyweight vs 1 gram per lb leanmass vs .8g per kg camps who all “know” their answer.  Be willing to identify and accept where you are ignorant, and then observe what you’ve achieved in spite of that ignorance.  If it’s a paltry result, maybe you need to learn some more.  If you’ve come far, maybe it wasn’t worth knowing, and maybe when you get asked about it, you can proudly declare that, in regards to that topic “I don’t know”.