Some what O/T Giving advice when you don't look the part

[bodyhard]

I registered on another site to see how other sites operate (wow there are so many bodybuilding sites I didn't think there were that many)

Anyway I have been a member for while now like 2 months maybe and I have been talking bodybuilding/training and giving/receiving advice.

What I noticed in that site is, people generally listen more to the people who;

1) Have an Avatar and 2) have some size.


The bigger you are the more respected your advice is. So I did some experimenting, I didn't have an AV so most did not know what to think about me but I guess judging from what I was writing they took me as someone who knew his **** giving me the benefit of the doubt I would assume.

I posted my three pics (side back and front) and guess what? My status my went down.

Not only did the forum members stop agreeing with me on some topics (even though they were obvious) I got called out on some of my beginning threads, like how to build your arms or how to gain mass etc etc.

So it just goes to show you, from an old post I put up here some time ago on this very subject, that people tend to take advice from people who look the part.

[GnomusMaximus]

Didn't you just drop a crapload of size after being in a big accident? I don't know thing one about Bodybuilding, but anybody that still looks pretty good after spending 1/2 a year (from what I'm gathering) forced on their arse, must know his stuff.

[tomdana]

I would be interested to see the pics you put up as I would want to know how you don't look the part. Interesting observations, for sure. I would think from reading your advice on training one could ascertain that you know the part. One more piece of evidence that I have not figured people out yet. Take care.

[JOHN GARGANI]

JOHN: I think that is what makes this Over35 forum and at many times, the Exercise forum a little special compared to many other sites.


yes, we have had many a long thread concerning this not the least of which was your recent one.


let me use an analogy: I was fortunate, when I first got into Bass fishing, to have been introduced to a wonderful but aged gentleman, Jack, of whom had a lifetime of incredible fishing knowledge and experience. When I met him, he was already 73, and as the years went by, his physical condition deteriorated, so that, he was not nearly as capable of fishing the way he had, as bass fishing, for those that know it, is more physical than one would imagine.


In spite of that, he imparted to me a wealth of knowledge: taking what he taught me and adding my own endeavors, I quickly surpassed him, as if often the case with student/teacher.

The point is that, anyone who might have fished with this man, as he approached his 80s, might easily have discounted him, due to his waning physical ability, but, in reality, he was a wealth of knowledge that I was so fortunate to tap into at that time of my life.


The same is true of all athletic endeavors: people accumulate knowledge that is very helpful for all that can "see" it, regardless of what they are or look like now.


I have occasionally visited other BB sites: the small mindedness there is even more prevalent at times than what you see on here.


here is how YOU have to look at it: IT IS THEIR LOSS NOT TO TAKE ADVICE FROM YOU!!!!


I am here at this site solely to help, asssist, prevent mistakes I and others I have known make, and to give encouragement wherever possible.

for those that can "see" that, it is their gain: for those that might look at my age or my avatar and not read what I have to say, it is their loss.....


that is the same way you should approach it.....here, on BB.com, and especially on the over 35, you have JUICE!!!!


recognize it and enjoy it!

[John Prophet]

thats a mixed bag.

some guys look the part and know their stuff. That would be a guy with good learning skills AND good self discipline and drive

some guys look the part, but dont know jack crap. one of the biggest guys in my gym thinks the biceps has 3 heads. He thinks the 45 degree leg press is a hack squat machine

some guys look good and know their stuff, but they cant teach anyone else because they only know what works for them and they are simply not a teacher. Doing and teaching r two different things.

some guys know, but dont look due to bad dieting habits. Knowing how to build muscle and being disciplined to eat correctly 24/7 are two totally seperate things

its like pro golf teachers...guys who teach the pros. Can any of the teachers actually beat the pros they teach?? nope. So why do the pros go to them?

how do coaches who never played in a superbowl coach teams who win a superbowl?


what if a guy was big and cut and then he pigged out for 2 months and got fatceps....would he then somehow "know less" than he did when he was cut?

Then, when u bring in steroids, it all goes out the window...u can ask a guy how he got big and he tells u al kind of ying yang but he doesnt mention the dbol/test etc

Then u have genetics. a guy who started at 135 and ended up at 185 may know way more than a guy who started at 185 and ended up at 215...yet everyone automatically assumes the 215 guy knows more

calves r a great example. u can spot great calf genetics a mile away....so why would u bother to ask that guy how he built his calves? I have a client who is short with big calves. We trained his calves the first week then I realized it was a waste of time because they were already 2" bigger than his arms. So now, over a year later, his calves r still among his best bodyparts yet we never train them. Meanwhile, the guy struggling and fighting to add 1/2" to his calves would know a lot more than my client even though my clients calves "look the part"

[Bob45]

So it just goes to show you, from an old post I put up here some time ago on this very subject, that people tend to take advice from people who look the part.

I agree!

I sure don't believe the one's that look the part know more though. Most bodybuilders use trainers and nutrition experts with far more knowledge to get them where they are. They all don't look their part either.

[Hound53]

Last week I headed over to the squat area to do some squats and one of the early morning regulars that I am on a conversational basis with was watching me between his sets and offers me some friendly advice on why I should not go below parallel because it is bad for my knees. Now he has 4 45's on each side of his bar and I have 1 on each side of mine working trying to correct my form. Not that I could squat 400 + on my best day even with a half squat .

So here is this youngin who is as nice as they come, has a great physique and is always ready to give a hand with a spot and I did not want to offend him or come off as a know it all. On the other hand I wanted to keep doing my ATG's and form. So I explained as nicely as I could on why that was a old wives tale and not only one of the gym's trainers who is also a 500+ squatter and also Mark Rippetoe explained why ATG's are actually better for the knees than the 3/4 squat.

Take that story for whatever it is worth and remember the thread the other day on mis information that is spread as gospel in most gyms.

[gbg]

This is to big for the key board. All I have to say is,
"It's what's on the inside that counts" I think if we are all honest here we would have to say that we're all guilty of this in one way or another.
Example: I didn't have an av up and I put one up, well, guess what? people started to respond to me more after my av went up.

[bodyhard]

I guess it pertains to any sport in life, a strength coach, batting coach, trainer in boxing, so fourth and so on.

I did not discuss my accident and I did not post older pics of what I used to look like. The pics I posted were the ones after my accident, (the ones I have in my journal) why did I do that? Just to see how others judge your knowledge base on your physical appearance , I thought about putting pics of somebody else altogether but that would be totally misleading.

Anyway what all of you wrote has merit, but it is still such an open topic to say the least. Being train/get advice by somebody who looks the part or knows the part.

[ntrllftr]

This is to big for the key board. All I have to say is,
"It's what's on the inside that counts" I think if we are all honest here we would have to say that we're all guilty of this in one way or another.
Example: I didn't have an av up and I put one up, well, guess what? people started to respond to me more after my av went up.

To be totally honest for the MOST part in my opinion

No avi means they are hiding something.
There could be those that don't have a camera though., but now a days that is far and few between. Then again I don't have a cell phone. hmmm...

I will however read the post of a no avi poster and make my opinion based on their respons.

So I guess I make my mind up by the post not the avi now that I talked my way through it.

I always tell myself this: internet forums are open to anyone not just begginers, intermediates or hard core lifters.

[bodyhard]

To be totally honest for the MOST part in my opinion

No avi means they are hiding something.
There could be those that don't have a camera though., but now a days that is far and few between. Then again I don't have a cell phone. hmmm...

I will however read the post of a no avi poster and make my opinion based on their respons.

So I guess I make my mind up by the post not the avi now that I talked my way through it.

I always tell myself this: internet forums are open to anyone not just begginers, intermediates or hard core lifters.

Yes but will you take advice from someone who you had no clue what he/she looks like but yet makes alot of sense in their statement? Then when you see them and they don't fit the person you kind of had in your mind based on their post, will you still take advice from them?

[ntrllftr]

Yes but will you take advice from someone who you had no clue what he/she looks like but yet makes alot of sense in their statement? Then when you see them and they don't fit the person you kind of had in your mind based on their post, will you still take advice from them?

If it makes sense then yes. I also go into the profile page and dig up other info. Usually how long they have been lifing and the accomplishments that they have done if any.

I have been up and down with my physique over the years so I can understand that they may not "look the part" at the time they joined the forum.

[Arlecchino]

Yes but will you take advice from someone who you had no clue what he/she looks like but yet makes alot of sense in their statement? Then when you see them and they don't fit the person you kind of had in your mind based on their post, will you still take advice from them?

I know too many guys who look the part but know less than ****, so yes. I am judging the quality of the information, not the individual. I have the ability to learn from anyone, and it is up to me to determine if I do so or not, and this is not an area I like to fail in.

[anti-bonk]

Knowledge and Practice are two different animals. That's why you can put put a coach from any major league sport alongside any couch potato watching the game and you can't tell the difference between them physically. Any overweight 340 lb coach is in the same condition as a 340 lb fan drinking a beer and eating potato chips watching the game. But the coaches are getting paid for their knowledge.

Despite that I admit that I am more open to listening to someone's advice if they have proven themselves. On this board I am generally more open to someone's advice about wieghtlifting if they have the guns to back it up. However, I will more readily listen to someone opinion about weight loss if they themselves dropped 100 lbs over that of someone who only has to drop short term to cut for comps. That doesn't mean I ignore other members adivice, but my human side does discriminate based on what I perceive to be physical proof.

[TANK25]

I can understand both sides of the coin on this one.I will take advice on forums from anyone who shows they know what they are talking about.I do have a problem when I see someone who is always telling others what they are doing wrong but will not post their own photo!!!!

[doncarlin]

Years ago, I read an essay was the best written about color I ever read, property details of each color in the spectrum, how they blended together.

The man who wrote it was blind from birth.

But because he understood quantum mechanics, wavelengths properties, reflection and absorbtion properties, he was able to describe in full and accurate detail a phenomenon he himself could never percieve.

While my BS alert will be up, I won't automatically dismiss out of hand fitness advice from someone who does not look the part, but certainly be wary of it.

[Hikemike]

Yes but will you take advice from someone who you had no clue what he/she looks like but yet makes alot of sense in their statement? Then when you see them and they don't fit the person you kind of had in your mind based on their post, will you still take advice from them?

The head football coach where I went was an in shape looking guy, but didn't know jacks**t about strength training. Our defensive coach was our strength coach. He looked like the poster child for couch potatoes! 6' tall and about 380! Our freshman year, my biggest memory was thinking "what's this fat tub gonna teach us"!? He then walked to one of the benches, loaded with more weight than I had ever seen in my life, and proceeded to do a 600 lb bench!!! From that moment on, whatever he said was gospel!

You can't judge the book by it's cover. Take all the info you get, throw out the obvious crap, try whats left. If it works for you, then great. If not, Then maybe they were feeding you a line of BS! But you already know this.

[rocketman44]

Human nature being what it is, people will often judge by appearance.

We can go and read various articles (such as those posted at bb.com) and gain knowledge, then compare it to what is discussed in forums. If we have a good working knowledge, we can discern between the accurate statements and the less-than-accurate, without regard for what a person looks like.

But even those articles are written by people just like us. And I'd imagine that, if we were to see pictures of them and spot some flaws, we might not take what they say as accurate either.

[gbg]

The head football coach where I went was an in shape looking guy, but didn't know jacks**t about strength training. Our defensive coach was our strength coach. He looked like the poster child for couch potatoes! 6' tall and about 380! Our freshman year, my biggest memory was thinking "what's this fat tub gonna teach us"!? He then walked to one of the benches, loaded with more weight than I had ever seen in my life, and proceeded to do a 600 lb bench!!! From that moment on, whatever he said was gospel!

You can't judge the book by it's cover. Take all the info you get, throw out the obvious crap, try whats left. If it works for you, then great. If not, Then maybe they were feeding you a line of BS! But you already know this.

Just because you can bench 600 lbs does not make you a bodybuilder!

[Hikemike]

Just because you can bench 600 lbs does not make you a bodybuilder!

That's true! But at the time, being a bodybuilder wasn't even a thought to me. Being the strongest defensive tackle on the field was my only concern, so what he could teach me is what I needed. And I still apply alot of the principles I learned back then today. It's still the same, lift heavy to get big!! That's the way it was then, that's the way it is now!!!

[Wildtim]

I honstly jusdge from appearance more in real life than here on the boards.

In real life you not only see the shape but how people move, carry themselves, and their form. This makes a huge difference in theri credibility.

Here I try to judge by words alone. For one thing some of us don't look as good as they once did. Or, well there is a whole internet of pictures out there to use.

[Capnwilliam]

Very often, in any athletic endeavor, the person who knows the most about HOW to do it, is not the best doer of it. Bodybuilding is an athletic endeavor, and is no exception.

Often the person with a lot of knowledge about how best to go about doing it, lacks the inherent genetic capability to be a top performer.

And vice versa. Many top athletes don't know nearly as much as we'd assume about how it should best be done: they just set about doing it, and their inherent talent or genetic potential sees them through.

Jim

[amoreno]

I really don't care whether a person "looks the part." The guy who goes from 13" to 15" biceps is just as impressive to me, if not more, than the guy who goes from 18" to 20" biceps. And the smaller guy's advice is probably more applicable to me anyway. For example, I doubt very much that I would take leg training advice from Tom Platz.

I also don't pay much attention to how many green dots someone has under their name. I would never take or not take advice simply because of how popular a poster is. There's often a lot of good advice that gets lost in between post after post after post from folks who just want everyone to know that they agree with what the popular person said.

[bodyhard]

I also don't pay much attention to how many green dots someone has under their name. I would never take or not take advice simply because of how popular a poster is. There's often a lot of good advice that gets lost in between post after post after post from folks who just want everyone to know that they agree with what the popular person said.

This is so true I see alot of people here are definitely in the red that give out really good advice and there are some people with some serious green that really don't know much when it comes to training.

But this topic is based on physical "build" appearance.

As for me, I know about training I have live the life for well over 20 years and I will go head to head with anyone even a pro-bodybuilder about training, but I don't really know too much about nutrition. The truth is I only started learning about nutrition about 5 years ago.

[lukamar]

People that base the advise they take on the looks of the giver are missing a big chance to learn something by feeding their vanity.

I'll retell the story of Bud Stevens, He in the canadian diving hall of Fame. I knew him because he was a friend of my parents and I went out with his daughter. He coached Irene McDonald to medals in 3 consecutive Olympics. Now he didn't look the part, he didn't dive and once i asked if he ever used the family pool and was told he didn't swim either. Now if Irene McDonald used the "Show Me the Beef" thinking she probably would have missed her moments of Olympic glory.

Good advice can come from anyone not just someone that looks the part. In the end it's the results that tally up the score.

[BergMuscle]

If it makes sense then yes. I also go into the profile page and dig up other info. Usually how long they have been lifing and the accomplishments that they have done if any.

I have been up and down with my physique over the years so I can understand that they may not "look the part" at the time they joined the forum.

I've done the same thing more than once when a person I don't know posts advice that seems new, different, strange, etc. Could be he or she knows something I don't and I can learn from them.

I've got several very out of shape friends who try to give me advice on bodybuilding! In each case I know that the person in question is someone who, for a number of reasons, needs to come off as an "expert" on every topic, whether they are or not. Knowing that I can filter what they say.

On this, or another online forum, I need to filter out the "wannabe experts" from the people who really are.
And on more than one occasion I have changed my opinion, both positive and negative, after reading more of their postings and learning more about them.

I also keep in mind that just because someone has a great physique they may also have a great trainer, or just be genetically disposed to greater lean mass even with bad training. Pictures don't tell all, but they can give me some ideas.

[goddessamazon]

Great Topic BH!

I must admit that I am very selective of who I take advice from. Not only does this person have to look the part but if they are female they must do or have done what I'm about to do...............compete in female bodybuilding. No offense to the figures out there but that's not my cup of tea so I don't seek them out!

If you notice on my threads I tend to gravitate more to men than women when it comes to advice (of course you being one of them). There are only two women I have PMed for advice on bodybuilding and they are Donna [dcerullo] and Titania. These women look the part and definitely know their stuff. The others who I take advice from have all been men. 90% of them look the part and the other 10% use to look the part but have enough experience to teach others.

So far that method has worked wonders for me and I intend to keep doing what works.

[John Prophet]

here one for ya BH...what do u think?

http://video.google.com/videoplay?do...arch&plindex=6


I am trying to picture u in the Peter Pan tights!

[chodan9]

I tend to listen to people a bit more closely if they have and avatar or some progess photo's and they dont have to look like Arnold either.
But I tend to listen less people who have no avatar or pics at all, especially if they are critical of others progress.
You see that alot in the other forums, someone comes on and says "dude your kind of small/weak looking/fat etc." yet has no pic of there own.
As for teaching and doing, that seems to be true a lot in Information Technology, there are some very knowledgable highly skilled IT engineers who couldnt teach someone how to turn on a computer. But there are some moderately skilled instructors whe came turn others into highly skilled IT pro's.

[bodyhard]

here one for ya BH...what do u think?

http://video.google.com/videoplay?do...arch&plindex=6


I am trying to picture u in the Peter Pan tights!

JFC!! No F'cking way!

Man..................seriously.................... ..WTF?......I mean....I am beginning to be ashame to admit I am part of the physical game anymore.