MODERATION THROUGH EXTREMES

A recent conversation I had online got me thinking about this, and it seemed worth getting down “for real” somewhere.  Frequently, moderation is praised as a virtue while extremism is considered a vice.  “Everything in moderation” is given as “advice” that’s honestly trite at this point, right up there with “lift with the knees” and “stay safe”: platitudes that have long since lost their meaning.  But perhaps it has become necessary for us to utilize a long enough timeline to have an appreciation for what “moderation” actually refers to.  Moderation is not, necessarily, a case of remaining moderate 100% of the time, but, instead, can (and dare I say, SHOULD) refer to the notion of achieving balance by spending 50% of our time on one extreme and 50% of our time on another.  It is with this “moderate” approach that we actually realize and achieve our goals, whereas the lesser form of moderation is what results in being average and a fate of mediocrity.

"It's my 1 cheat meal a week!"

Examples abound my friends!  The current trend that I find absolutely maddening is the desperate attempt of trainees to never accumulate an ounce of bodyfat by attempting a “recomp”, “maingain”, “gaintain”, “lean bulk” or any other buzzword you care to employ that effectively refers to gaining muscle without fat.  “I’m ok with putting on muscle at a slower rate if it means I don’t have to go on a cut later”.  For one: coward!  What other word would I have for someone who willingly takes the less effective approach in order to spare themselves from a very SLIGHT discomfort later?  But along with that: silliness.  Do you even realize the insane degree of nutritional accuracy necessary for you to ensure that you’re gaining only pure muscle from your training?  There are people whose livelihood is solely dependent on their appearance who STILL have not figured out that one trick, but here you are with a $4 foodscale and a free calorie counting app and you’re going to make it work eh?  We would simply call this “wheel spinning” in polite company, with even more choice words among friends.

Look to how any actual big and strong person achieved their goals and it’s the same story: phases dedicated to weight gain and phases dedicated to weight loss.  And when it’s time to gain: it is time to GAIN.  “No half measures”, as per the amazing “Breaking Bad” quote.  No, don’t be stupid: this isn’t license to eat a box of poptarts a day.  You’re an adult: no one needs to tell you to eat like one.  This is a discussion on LIVING weight gain during the weight gain phase and weight loss during the weight loss phase.  We do not attempt to do both, we do not concern ourselves with the next phase while in the current one: we exist in THAT moment and, in turn, maximize our time while we are in it.  We train very hard, we eat very well, we grow, and when we are done, we lose.  And after enough times, we achieve something significant.  And from there, we find our “moderation”.  Between fat and scrawny, we found jacked.  Meanwhile, those that were trying to STAY moderate through the process remained where they started: for what catalyst was placed upon the body to ever change?  Physical transformation is just that: a transformation.  The process of transformation is an EXTREME process: it will not occur gradually with half measures.  

Running the program with 10 rep squats will not get you only 15lbs of muscle in 6 weeks...

And as to be expected, training dovetails into nutrition.  Anyone with the basic understanding of training already knows where this is headed.  Training exists in phases, and phases of training are examples of these extremes.  We do not simply do the same program of 3x10 for 2 decades and end up jacked: there are phases of accumulation, and phases of intensification/realization.  Which is WHY we must not employ half measures in our nutrition: we need the necessary recovery in place to SUPPORT these extremes of training.  And it’s WHY those who concern themselves with fat gain while attempting to build muscle ultimately sabotage themselves in the process: they WASTE an entire phase of training by refusing to live the extremes necessary to support the eventual return to moderation.  When one engages in the brutally hard training necessary to elicit muscular growth from the body, they must in turn give the body the nutrients necessary to get said growth.  And, in a bit of self-perpetuation, the absence of this nutrition will also PREVENT a trainee from being able to perform the very training necessary to cause muscular growth to occur.  

But, of course, this requires venturing into the terrifying world of programming rather than simply having a routine.  Which requires a necessary degree of learning such that one is ABLE to program.  Because as charming as the story of Milo of Croton is: it’s just a story.  Were we all able to simply add weight each time we trained, everyone would bench 800lbs.  It’s so much more appealing to just keep doing the same thing every time we go to the gym because there is a sense of security in the known, to the point that trainees will stall for months, if not YEARS, re-running the same 12 week “program” over and over again vs actually trying something new, different and extreme.  Moderation in extremes.  Do Super Squats, and then spend 6 weeks doing crossfit WODs.  Dogg Crapp one phase, Deep Water the next.  Easy Strength followed up with Smolov.  Through these extremes we achieve REAL moderation: through “moderate” training, we achieve meager results.

I'm not just making this stuff up folks

Find your balance with extremes.  Spend half your time doing what you weren’t doing with the other half of your time, to the point that, when your time is up, you cannot WAIT to do something RADICALLY different.  In doing so, you will achieve an average of “moderate”: it just so happens that what you deem moderate will end up being what so many others deem “extreme”.