THE METHOD IS THE GOAL

Writing my titles in all caps actually handicapped me on this one, because I want to place emphasis on the word “is” here, to state that the method IS the goal, in much the same way that chaos IS the plan.  This is something I realize has always set me apart from the majority of those pursuing physical transformation in this current era, and, truthfully, I cannot explain where or why I developed this mindset: it just always seems to have been there.  Perhaps it was from years of growing up watching training montages, because that’s what the majority of movies were in the late 80s and early 90s, but it’s very much been a matter for me of focusing on the journey rather than the destination.  But even under that lens, we observe trainees who may purport the same ideology and still come to differing conclusions, claiming that the end state will merely be a consequence of the methodology yet still end up mired in all the wrong details and, subsequently, the wrong methodology.  Honestly, I’ve dug myself into a hole with this introduction, so now, allow me to dig myself back out by explaining what the hell it is that I am talking about.

It's so obvious

 

In the realm of physical transformation, there is an abundance of methods out there that one can employ to achieve success.  In this post internet boon especially, there is no shortage of training and nutritional protocols available to anyone, completely free and instantly accessible, for any possible training goal.  Some of these are even good!  While some are, of course, and absolute dumpster fire put together by a charlatan with no qualifications whatsoever relying purely on the naivete of neophytes in the world of physical transformation who are easily hookwinked and refuse to put in a minute of research before buying off on the next miracle snakeoil.  But grumpy old man ranting aside, even before the net, there was STILL a wild abundance of training and nutritional methodologies available, from the wild musings of part time genius and part time lunatic Vince Gironda to Arnold’s (most likely ghostwritten) Encyclopedia of Modern Bodybuilding to the Bob Hoffman York Barbell Club approach to the works of John McCallum in Strength and Health, etc etc.  And again: ALL of these methods were achieving success, so long as one variable was controlled: compliance.  Yes, as I wrote quite recently: compliance remains the science.

 

Ok, so THAT having been established, here is where trainees tend to fall off a cliff.  A trainee decides that their goal is to gain muscle.  In doing so, they determine that the method to get there is to put on .5lbs per week, because that is, apparently, the maximal amount of bodyweight one can put on in a week to ensure that they are gaining maximal muscle and minimal fat.  Minimal fat gain is, of course, crucial for the muscle building process because…actually, I’m not sure why.  Isn’t that the reason we follow it up with a cut phase?  OH, that’s right: no one wants to do those anymore because…well, the reason they SAY is because it’s better to have longer sustained gaining cycles so it’s ideal to put on as little fat as possible so one can gain indefinitely…but I surmise the truth is because they perceive cutting as “hard” because it means NOT eating yummy food all the time.  And though it feels like I’m digressing, this actually takes me right to my point here: the goal has been lost because the method was never really established in the first place.  This trainee started off with an alleged goal of “muscle gain” which instantly transpired into a goal of “minimize fat gain”: NOT the same thing as “gain muscle”.  Because one of the BEST ways to minimize fat gain is to LOSE fat by undereating…which is EXACTLY what these trainees end up doing in their alleged muscle gaining phases.  They undereat, in fear of exceeding their .5lbs per week threshold because they’re actually working a separate sub-goal that opposes the primary goal and end up squandering an entire training phase, spinning their wheels for months on end and NOW they’re just exhausted from all the hard training without adequate nutrition.

We found their ideal physique 

 

For some reason, this wasn’t how I operated.  Instead, I always focused on the method.  I’d state that my goal was to gain muscle, and then I’d pick a PROGRAM that was supposed to get me there.  5/3/1 BBB, Super Squats, Mass Made Simple, Deep Water, Tactical Barbell Mass Protocol, DoggCrapp, Building the Monolith, etc, all of these methods were the methods for success.  From there, outside of Super Squats, wherein I was specifically seeing if I COULD put on 30lbs in 6 weeks (spoilers: I got 12, which was still awesome), I honestly never bothered to weigh myself during the process.  My goal was to gain muscle, and my method was selected, and, in turn, NOW my goal was to FOLLOW THE METHOD.  And, in truth, with so many of these programs being just psychotically challenging, my goal was to SURVIVE the method, which meant that the eating portion sorted itself out completely.  I just dedicated myself to eating as much as I needed to eat in order to be able to get through the next workout and, eventually, through the entirety of the program.  I didn’t care about my bodyweight: I cared about building enough muscle to be able to tackle the weights of the next workout.  And, in turn, whenever I completed these methods, there was never any doubt that I had put on muscle at the end.  For 5/3/1 BBB specifically, I remember that my physique had so radically transformed that my wife’s co-worker, who hadn’t seen me since I started the program, legit thought that my wife got divorced and re-married since I’d last seen him.  He then immediately demanded I share the program with him, and in my mind he set off on his own 5/3/1 journey and achieved success…it’s at least a good story.

 

But making the method the goal doesn’t have to relate to psychotically challenging gaining programs: this can totally fit in with Dan John’s “park bench” workouts AND nutrition for that matter.  So often, trainees end up in some sort of state of ennui whenever “the big event” ends.  It could be an actual physical competition, or some sort of beach vacation where they wanted to look their best, or the completion of one of the above programs, but either way they find themselves listless and lost yet NOT looking for yet another challenge to overcome.  Well why not make the method the goal here?  Why not say “For the next 6 weeks, I’m only going to allow myself to miss 1 workout, and only 2 meals will be off-plan”?  What will be the results of this level of dedication?  Who cares: don’t worry about the outcome, don’t make THAT the goal: make the method the goal.  Because, in truth, we ALL know that dedicated compliance TO training and nutrition will always yield SOME sort of positive: it just simply doesn’t need to be one that is stringently measured.  If you tell yourself that you HAVE to lose .5lbs a week or else your diet and training has failed you, you’ll end up stressing yourself out with every small jump up in water weight or accidental salt overload.  But if you decide that you’re going to give the Warrior Diet a fair 30 day trial of strict adherence while hitting Easy Strength for Fat Loss 5 days a week, at the end of those 30 days you’ll absolutely see positive results of SOME type and, from there, be able to dedicate yourself to the NEXT method.

This is more like "park bench space shuttle bench"

 

Perhaps this is, in reality, a discussion of faith.  When I undertook these programs, I had full faith in their ability to produce results, so long as I followed them diligently, in much the same way those that ascribe to a religious dogma believe they will be granted their eternal reward with their own adherence, or how those bonded by marriage (ideally) have faith in their partner to remain…faithful.  And, continuing on with that analogy, you have those in marriages held together by the thinnest of strings wherein one or both partners are constantly doubting the faithfulness of the other, constantly checking on them, spying, doubting and, ultimately, not experiencing marital bliss, or the follower of a religion who finds their faith shaken, full of doubt and angst.  Those latter people are the ones chained to the scale, constantly monitoring the results of their “adherence” to the method, questioning all outputs and wondering if they are actually moving toward their purported goal.  If these folks simply had faith in the method, they could make the method the goal, prioritize compliance, and observe the outcome that results from putting consistent effort in over a long enough timeline. 

 

And, to question these questioners: why WOULD you undertake a method if you had no faith in its ability to succeed?  Therein is the first mistake on this journey.  I never assumed it was the method that was broken: I figured I had to be the one that was screwing things up if I wasn’t getting the results I wanted.  And if there WAS a method I had no faith in (hello Mike Mentzer’s HIT and high carb diets), I didn’t follow them.  It didn’t matter if the whole world told me that something HAD to work: if it didn’t win my faith, I wouldn’t follow it.  It’s why I HAVE gone off on some of the wildest training and nutrition protocols possible, to include my current approach wherein I’m explicitly ignoring the excellent advice by K. Black and following his Mass Protocol with a Carnivore Diet: because I am, quite frankly, not a smart man but I am VERY good at being absolutely loony tunes bonkers and bending reality to my will to make my kaleidoscope of fractured reasoning achieve my desired outcomes.  I am drawn to these wild and whacky methods, I invest my faith in them, and I make experiencing them the goal, and in doing so I achieve the goal I set out for.

Sometimes faith can be a little confusing

 

Make the method the goal.  Make it your goal to see it through to the best of your ability, and observe the outcome.