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By
Charles Staley, B.Sc, MSS
Director, Staley Training Systems
* Paraphrased from Wikipedia:
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Occam's
razor (sometimes spelled Ockham's razor) is a principle
attributed to the 14th-century English logician and Franciscan
friar, William of Ockham. The principle states that the
explanation of any phenomenon should make as few assumptions
as possible, eliminating those that make no difference in
the observable predictions of the explanatory hypothesis
or theory. This is often paraphrased as "All other
things being equal, the simplest solution is the best."
In other words, when multiple competing theories are equal
in other respects, the principle recommends selecting the
theory that introduces the fewest assumptions and postulates
the fewest entities. It is in this sense that Occam's razor
is usually understood.
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What's that? You're
confused? Here's a little news-flash: I'm confused too! The only
difference between you and I is:
I take action
in the face of confusion, and you don't.
In my experience, "paralysis
by analysis" is the most common barrier to action, and by extension,
successful action. Because after all, analysis is the preface
to action- it isn't action itself.
Analysis can certainly serve a useful
purpose, but for many, it's both a crutch and an excuse for delaying
action. Here's a typical brain-twister that novice lifters often
find themselves confronted by:
Should you do 6 sets
of 2, or 4 sets of 3?
My advice? Don't even think
about starting a training program until you've resolved this critical
conundrum, because after all, both options involve 12 reps
with the same weight, so obviously if you go down the wrong path,
you'll be screwed, glued, and tattooed.
Another critical decision:
should you bike or row for cardio on Tuesdays?
God help you if you should happen
to choose the wrong exercise or repetition bracket, or if you stupidly
decide to train 3 times a week instead of 4. Because now you're
stuck for the rest of your training career. Too bad you didn't think
that decision through more carefully before you got all irrational
and went and wrote yourself a stupid program.
OK, on a more serious note…
I really like the old carpenter's
adage "Measure twice, cut once." But this philosophy is
absurdly over-cautious when applied to training program design.
A program isn't a piece of wood- if you make an error, you have
my permission to edit it. Honest.
And don't even ask me to evaluate
your 18-week off-season developmental conditioning cycle, because
it'll make my eyes glaze over faster than last night's episode of
Oprah where that Dr. Oz guy is telling me to do some kinda meditation
stuff for stress-reduction.
Because let's face it- 18 weeks from
now, lots of things can happen. You could get sick, or even injured.
You might break up with your girlfriend. Or find a girlfriend.
Or lose your job. Or join some extremist religion that forbids the
use of barbells. Or even more likely than any of the above, you
might read some new article or book about some new training program
that seems a hell of a lot more interesting than what you're doing
now.
So look: let's just focus on the here-and-now,
and further, let's focus on the "big rocks:" the stuff
that really matters. The rest we can figure out later- maybe next
week, maybe next month, but later. Now obviously some of
you are now expecting me to tell you what a big rock is before you
can ever touch a weight again, so here are a few examples of big
rocks (stuff that matters) and small rocks (stuff that doesn't matter):
| Big Rocks |
Small Rocks |
| Squat Heavy |
How much? How
often? How deep? What kind of squat? |
| Eat Protein |
How much? How
often? What kind of protein? |
| Set Goals |
How many? How
hard should they be? In writing? |
| Record Your Training |
How? Why? What
kind of paper? |
Now in most cases,
people worry about the small rocks without even getting the big
rocks in place- they've got the cart before the horse. So look-
just squat. In the beginning, you'll probably do it all wrong,
but even that's a lot better than not squatting. Then, little
by little, you'll figure out how to do it correctly, and guess
what- you're already great progress will get even better!
And eat protein. Don't worry about
how much- just eat a lot. Don't worry about what kind, we'll get
to that later. Get your big rocks in the jar first, then we'll worry
about the little rocks, and maybe someday we'll fill the rest of
the jar with sand. Maybe.
In Summary:
- Action precedes progress; analysis
precedes more analysis. Act first, analyze later
- It's easier to go from something
to something better, than it is to go from nothing to something
- Ever notice how lots of people
make great progress doing "stupid" stuff? It's because
they're doing while you're
not doing. Doing stupid stuff will always beat not
doing smart stuff.
That's it - you're done. Go squat
and eat some protein.
About The Author
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His colleagues call him an iconoclast,
a visionary, a rule-breaker. His clients call him “The
Secret Weapon” for his ability to see what other coaches
miss. Charles calls himself a “geek” who struggled
in Phys Ed throughout school. Whatever you call him, Charles’
methods are ahead of their time and quickly produce serious
results. His counter-intuitive approach and self-effacing
demeanor have lead to appearances on NBC’s The TODAY
Show and The CBS Early Show.
Currently, Charles competes
in Olympic-style weightlifting on the master’s circuit,
with a 3-year goal of qualifying for the 2009 Master’s
World Championships.
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Learn More
About
EDT Training!
Charles Staley’s
training package "The Complete
Video Guide To Escalating Density Training" is available
now!
Click
here to learn more
and get your copy today!
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Click
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Charles' Article Index
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