The Role of Individualism in Fitness
If its working, Keep on doing it
As we proceed in this series, you will discover some recurrent themes, one of the foremost being that your results from training will ultimately be determined by your individual genetics and physical abilities. This will be expressed various ways
-Do what works for you
-Try it and see
-Always be willing to Experiment
-N=1
its this last one that I want to expand on.
N=1 is a term in the scientific fitness community that is popularly used, but is largely unknown to the general population.
N=1 originates from the scientific world, it refers to an experiment in which one test subject is the entire experiment.
N=1 is also used in medicine, where it is referred to as “anecdotal medicine”.
Anecdotal Medicine: An incomplete description of the medical and treatment history of one or more patients. Anecdotal reports may be published in places other than peer-reviewed, scientific journals
N=1 in academic medicine and science is not usually taken seriously, but in practical fitness, it has real relevance.
Regardless of how much scientific analysis and systemizing goes into Fitness, what ultimately matters is what works best for the Individual
Hence, N=1.
As I am fond of saying, if something is working for you, and getting you measurable results, then keep doing it!
Genetics will always play the biggest role in training outcomes
But there is not way to determine your genetics without TRAINING.
Hypothetically genetic testing could be done, but even then, genetic testing cannot tell you specifically how much or how fast you will adapt, how much or how little training you need, and you would not truly know what worked for you until you actually worked out
When you are trying to make sense of training recommendations and why there is so much contrasting information, keep in mind that every method works for SOMEONE
And this applies to ALL training disciplines, not just lifting weights and resistance training.
In all sports, you will discover commonalities, principles and heuristics, and outliers.
There will always be a middle way, that works for most people, most of the time.
And there will be two extremes, a minimalist way that delivers superlative results to few people, and a maximalist way, that seems barely survivable, yet some people thrive on.
The Best way to learn is by DOING. There is no substitution for this
Prescriptions are useful, guidelines are helpful, heuristics and principles allow us to make informed decisions based on logic and evidence,
but it still falls upon to do the work, assess the results, and decide whether a tactic, strategy or system works well for you.
In the next post, I will discuss the role of BIOFEEDBACK, and how to maintain objectivity in training.
This was in the early 80s, but I knew a guy who was on a power lifting team at Auburn University, AL. (I was a student there). Auburn had a kinesiology department also. And there was a guy in town everyone knew named Bill Kazmaier who had won power lifting and strong man competitions. Anyway, I was a fledging lifter and asked him the "best program"...and he answered this: "There are 14 guys on the powerlifting team and each one does something different. You have to find what works for you."