mike was simply applying what doctors, neurologists and biologists discovered and applied it to weight training.
from first principles a muscle grows to cope with every increasing demand.
on the other hand the brain learns a repetitive job and recruits less and less muscle fibres to do the same work.
similarly the body will not respond to work that is sub maximal.
and for specific body parts full muscular recruitment requires moverments that are mechanically disadvantageous ro difficult. hence EX curl bar...ever wonder why it's called EZ?...its because the wrist is not pronated and ends up recruiting forearm and front delts to do the work.
mike went wrong when others tried to simplistically take each point he made out of context as well as show anecodotal evidence in the form of BBers taking copious amounts of agents which in reality can be adjusted themselves to alter the human body's needs.
assuming all is equal, any person applying these first principle tactics will grow superior to any other approach.
this is because all other approaches are further away from how the human body was designed.
its not a series of black unrelated boxes...here wehave the muscular system, the nervous system here, cardiovascualr system over there...they are all holistically and dynamically linked....
the human body is designed to deploy actions to cope with situations and that could be recruitment of any combo of any part of the body...sometimes muscular system growth isnt needed...
from there mike went on to explain how important it is to not just apply the principles, but how to objectively measure them.
by doing this, he argued, one can keep an eye on trends and things that are changing, and identify opportunities for adjustment.
as a trainer, we only can adjust several variables...but they are all we need.. sleep (or rest), food (qty/quality/calorific balance (i.e. fat/prot/carb), mineral and vitamin levels, and workout frequency.
think of a control board that is taking in results of a series of tests 24/7, 365/year..... you get all these results and then tweak some knobs and press some buttons to try and keep the results going in the right direction.
it getting obese was your goal, you could apply this same approach. obviously key indicators would be bodyweight and bodyfat levels.
hey you could use mike's principles to get the fattest ever in the shortest time frame!
so before you go ranting and bagging the great works mike did, please make sure you understand it.
the problem is that only bits of HIT went in to people's ears..and they couldnt grasp the complex nature of it.
its alongside the levels of a biomechanical engineer or practicing geneticist...not a BB monkey or physical trainer or pro bb even.
the guy deserves great credit and reward for patience in having to deal with people all his life who just didnt understand him. I'm sure he wouldve loved presenting to a graduate medical college of student and people who truly understood his work....unfortunately he was preaching to what is arguable one of the dumbest sub culture of sport known....a big task which is why this topic comes up over and over at getbig.
later.
