What is Broscience?

Here is a term that has been bandied about on the internet for quite some time. Typically, it's a sarcastic and condescending way of labeling information about health and fitness that is not supported by current scientific research but rather anecdotal experiences.  Here's a couple of definitions I pulled from the trusty urbandictionary.com that illustrate what I am talking about:

Broscience is the predominant brand of reasoning in bodybuilding circles where the anecdotal reports of jacked dudes are considered more credible than scientific research.

Broscience in action:

"Bro, you gotta slam 40-60 grams of waxy maize plus 20 grams of BCAA within 7 seconds of finishing your last set of squat rack curls. Otherwise, you'll go straight catabolic."

by Alan Aragon August 02, 2008

And for a different take:

A sarcastic term implying that the time tested, muscle building wealth of knowledge developed and utilized by successful, experienced bodybuilders is inferior to the continually shifting hypotheses of articulate, textbook-savvy 155lb. chemists with little or no real world first-person experience to substantiate their conclusions. The term "Broscience" is oft repeated on bodybuilding and fitness oriented internet forums in an attempt to demonstrate online dominance as a substitution for success in the arena of actual bodybuilding.

Professor Shnootgarten: What are you drinking there?

Tommy: Just a protein shake with some carbs; I need to get my 350 grams daily.

Professor Shnootgarten: According to the 30 pubmed studies that I’ve downloaded, any amount greater than 22.341 grams of protein post workout is superfluous for greater protein synthesis. Additionally, insulin spiking, if that’s your intended objective, is neither necessary nor helpful toward replenishing glycogen stores unless, of course, your focus is high rep, time under tension endurance tolerance rather than maximal load, low rep hypertrophy stimulation.

Tommy: Dude, over the last 8 years, I’ve gone from a 148 pound weakling to a 220 pound beast doing the same stuff that worked for my dad, and you’re a buck fifteen and have never actually seen the inside of a gym.

Professor Shnootgarten: Well, according to last year’s in-vitro study of skeletal-muscle glycogen phosphorylase done at the University of Stuttgart School of Bio-Organic Chemistry Deluxe...

Tommy: Spare me the science lesson Mr. Wizard; you’ll change your mind next week when new studies reveal the opposite conclusions. You can take your research and your weak pale self, and I’ll take the 500+lb.deadlift that I got with hard work and a little help from broscience.

by musclestudlackinganyirony September 06, 2009  

As you can tell whether broscience is a good or bad thing depends on your perspective. Obviously both examples are hilarious and extreme to prove their points and both have merits. Yes, actual scientific research is important for understanding and improving physical health especially nutrition and exercise but that doesn't mean that we dismiss any practical advice from people who are actually fit and have done these things in their real lives not just in laboratories.

But where I have issue with both science and broscience is when anybody whether they be researchers, marketers or just fit people in general make these hard and fast rules that strike me as unreasonable and honestly almost puritanical.

 "You can't work out 6-7 days a week or you will overtrain"

 "You won't lose fat unless you stay in the 'Fat Burning Zone' on the treadmill"

 "Squatting is bad for your knees"

 "You have to eat 5-6 small meals a day to lose weight"

 "Sugar is toxic and can kill you"

 "You have to consume protein immediately following your workout or you won't get big"

 Now before anyone sets me on fire I'm not saying that any of these are not true or at least partially true but they are not absolutes and when people get in trouble is if they believe their way is the ONLY way when in fact many successful people do the exact opposite. Let's look at the idea that you have to incorporate rest days into your training or you will overtrain. It is one of those widely accepted ideas that working 6-7 days a week is counterproductive but don't tell this to the Bulgarians. They have built a weightlifting dynasty on doing the same 3-4 lifts, 3 hours a day, 6 days a week. Here is an article with more information on the Bulgarian system. Does this mean you should train this way? Probably not, but if the human body can handle that type of workload I don't think you should be worried if you do a 30-45 min workout 7 days a week either.

Bulgarian lifter Ivan Stoitsov
Go ahead, tell him he works out too much

The fitness/nutrition/supplement world is a big money industry. We are of course an obese nation that is constantly searching for the magical exercise, diet or pill that will solve the problem. Smart marketers know this and attempt to pass off their advertisements as undisputed scientific facts. Remember that if it sounds too good to be true it probably is and always follow the money. Of course just because someone charges for something doesn't mean it's bunk but try to evaluate advice on it's merits not just the sales pitch.

 Finally, remember that millions of people build world class physiques without reading the latest studies, books, diet plans or take the latest chemical compound invented by a university. Always look at any claim with a discriminating eye and take everything with a grain of salt.    

Are you making S.M.A.R.T. goals?

Now that we are into February this is about the time that a lot of new year's resolutions are starting to fail. Maybe you are not seeing the progress you'd like or maybe that 6am spinning or boot camp class is not as easy to attend as you thought. Perhaps you are eating clean and exercising when you should but you are not 'losing weight' like you hope. But maybe you aren't doing as bad as you think. Maybe your goal is so bad you are set up to fail. That's why you should make your goals SMART; Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic and Timely.  So here is the standard new year's resolution: "I'm going to lose weight this year". Admirable but not very smart so let's see if we can make it a little better. We will go through each of the elements of a SMART goal and then apply them to this most popular pursuit.

Specific
When it comes to setting and eventually achieving goals the more specific the better. Sure it's great to have the overarching purpose or vision to 'lose weight', 'be healthier', 'get stronger', or 'build muscle' but if that's as far as actual goal setting those statements are horrendous. So you increased your deadlift by 5 pounds this year, so you accomplished your goal of getting stronger right? But I don't think this is what you had in mind when you wanted to get stronger. Another good example is the weight loss goal.

Now there are people who really do want to lose weight as in actual poundage they weigh. They don't care if it's water weight, muscle or fat. An example of this could be a boxer or wrestler trying to lose weight so they can compete in their chosen weight class. For most of us however when we say we want to lose weight we really mean fat. So say what you mean. Saying "I want to lose body fat" is a lot more specific then simply weight loss. If anything specificity is the most important principle in setting good goals.

Measurable
Now that you have a more specific goal in mind its important that it is measurable as in how do you know that you have achieved said goal? If I say I want to be 'leaner' what does that mean? How do you measure 'leanness'? Do you have a device in your bathroom that you step on and it says 'lean' or 'not lean'. Instead pick bodyfat percentage, weight in pounds, even your BMI as ways to measure progress. Another good example is having a pair of pant or dress size that you want to fit into. You either can or can't. Adding this into our goal statement  it would read: "I want my bodyfat percentage to be below 15%".

Attainable and Realistic
I put these together because they are so similar. The best way I can describe the difference between these two is when you ask if something is attainable what you are really asking is "Is this even possible?" Let's say my goal is 'I want to have my name on the next ballot for President of the United States in 2016'. Is it specific? yes and is it measurable? yes my name either is or is not on the ballot. But it's not attainable as I'm not old enough (35) to be president in 2016 by law  so my goal is really not attainable. However if I change my goal to be 'president of the He-Man Woman Haters club' where no such rule applies then yes technically it is attainable.

Whether a goal is realistic or not is a slightly different matter. If my goal is to lose 30 pounds in a month then yes my goal is attainable but it might not be realistic. Having a realistic goal is huge without you are destined for failure. This is a good time to bring up the idea of 'chunking' your goals into tiny bites of realistic achievement. Instead of losing 40 lbs in a year try dividing that number into 10lbs every three months and in a year's time you will have reached your goal. Although it's the same end result the 10lbs every three months appears more realistic and your are more likely to accomplish this. So is decreasing my bodyfat percentage to below 15%? Yes it is. Is it realistic? depends on your starting point and timeframe but yes should be realistic.

Timely
This is an easy concept but often overlooked. Your goals need to have an expiration date. This will do two things. One, having a deadline will give you the needed stress to push yourself and not procrastinate. Again if I give myself a whole year to lose 40 lbs I can tell myself that I will 'make up' for lost time/efforts later in the year but if I have 10lbs to lose every three months I don't have that luxury. Also, I think humans just naturally succeed more with deadlines. Second, if you have an end date it gives you the opportunity to evaluate and measure how well you did and maybe change your strategy. This is how to avoid those 'roll over' goals from the past. After you reached your deadline you can evaluate if you actually achieved your goal. If you did then great you can focus on something else for set period of time if not then look at what worked and didn't work and set a new goal with renewed vigor. So my final goal could be something like this: "I want my bodyfat percentage to be under 15% by July 31, 2014.