T Nation - Dangerously Softcore

[BendtheBar]

My T-Nation's been hijacked Dangerously Hardcore

Posting for discussion...

Then something happened. I don’t know when it happened exactly, or why, but the T-Nation I came to respect slowly changed. Brock Strasser disappeared. Ian King went MIA. Dave Tate became a shadow, appearing only in secondhand accounts. Charles Poliquin stopped writing for the T-Nation. The exodus left me bored and I turned away from Testosterone in pursuit of higher-potency publications.

And wouldn’t you know: none existed. Testosterone seemed to be the last bastion of hardcore training knowledge, a synthesis of no-bullshit, get-big, get-strong information that worked. Sure, everybody had a different perspective, but nobody would contradict a few foundational tenets: focus on deadlift, bench and squat; focus on compound movements; go heavy; eat; rest every-now-and-again; repeat as necessary. Succinct, successful and useful.

I returned, hoping to find a new group of experts who’d taken up the mantel of bringing underground, dangerously hardcore knowledge to those of us in the trenches. Instead, I got Chad Waterbury. Have you seen Chad Waterbury? Average looking guy, writes for average gym goers. He wrote a book, Huge in a Hurry, but has anyone ever gotten huge in a hurry under Chad’s tender care? I couldn’t find anyone, and the principles sure haven’t panned out for Chad himself. You can find his articles (other than the ones on T-Nation) in Men’s Health and Men’s Fitness, both renowned for bringing watered-down, outdated, over-hyped fitness information to the masses. Not what comes to mind when I think of Dangerously Hardcore.

Not only did I get Chad Waterbury, but Eric Cressey, who’s been lurking in the background for years, started taking the lead. His bio claims he holds several national level powerlifting records. He’s written several articles lately, but they’re all along the same lines: how to prevent injury, perform assistance work and practice beginner level exercises. I’m sorry, but I don’t go to a website that once labeled itself as Dangerously Hardcore to learn Eric Cressey’s secrets of a strong core, which include planks, side planks and other basic exercises. Come on Eric: we both know those exercise aren’t going to help you deadlift 600-plus pounds, or squat 495.

And damn if it doesn’t get worse. Nick Tumminello is another recently prolific writer. I think the best example of Nick’s level of training is his Big Lats article. He guarantees his exercises and plan will build a huge back, even if you’re not gifted in the area. At best, his back looks underdeveloped; so did he even use his own program? The exercises he recommends are odd, interesting but useless. Want a big back? Deadlift heavy (whether from the floor, off of blocks, or off the rack), do heavy bent over rows, do pullups with damn-near perfect form: you’ll have a huge back. No secret. I’ve seen it work for bodybuilders, fitness competitors and powerlifters. Want to feel a minor stabilizer fire under sub-maximal load? Then do Tumminello’s pivot prone pulldowns. A beginner may feel like trying these movements, but I’m not a beginner. I go to the gym to achieve insane amounts of mass. (Check out Nick’s Big Gains with Active Recovery article. He throws cards at an emaciated teenager and tries to convince me this will increase my gains…come on, Nick, seriously?) Dangerously softcore, Nick; dangerously.

[ricka182]

Kinda funny, and kinda sad at the same time. I always thought of T-Nation as the place to get the most over priced, God delivered supplements, but also know people who had the money, followed along and had good success. But the articles were also a plus, and I stopped reading them a while ago myself.. Not sure what happened, but times have changed..

[Fazc]

Testosterone seemed to be the last bastion of hardcore training knowledge, a synthesis of no-bullshit, get-big, get-strong information that worked.

It was? I thought it was always considered a joke. Anyway, I like Cressey and Waterbury.

Just sounds like someone trying to make a name for himself.

[RobMoriRB]

to be honest I tried to keep a blog on there but there formating is kinda behind in times.....it is good for some info that some internet sites might not have

[BendtheBar]

I like Waterbury.

I know nothing about the old T-nation so it's hard for me to have an opinion. I do know that I don't care for most of the articles other than those by Meadows, Tate, Rippetoe, etc. Usually the rest of the articles are filled with odd lift variations that I'll never try. Just not my cup of tea.

[LtL]

I read Tate's articles but nothing else. Even Wendler is formulaic now. Boring.

Al

[Fazc]

Originally Posted by BendtheBar

I like Waterbury.

I know nothing about the old T-nation so it's hard for me to have an opinion. I do know that I don't care for most of the articles other than those by Meadows, Tate, Rippetoe, etc. Usually the rest of the articles are filled with odd lift variations that I'll never try. Just not my cup of tea.

Yeah. From what I recall it was like Ricka described it, it was basically a storefront for supplements and there were a few articles thrown in on the side. I never knew anyone who was a regular there and I really don't remember all these great articles that Kiefer is talking about. Tate, Rippetoe had some pieces there but nothing that wasn't available elsewhere. At least that's how I recall it, I may be wrong.

I've seen a few comments like this lately and I imagine a lot of it is just nostalgia. I think Jamie Lewis posted something to that effect as well a little while back.

[Hazzard]

But I like Cressey.

[Tannhauser]

I read T-Nation from the start, and I still look in on it every so often.

As others have pointed out, it was a supplement catalogue from the start. Every article was written in the same blokey house-style - probably courtesy of TC Luoma. The whole hardcore bad-assery thing was just an attempt at creating a niche - but in reality there were plenty of equivalent sources around, just not done in such a polished way. It was always, in fact, badassery for the mainstream.

Having said that, there were a lot of entertaining and interesting articles in there.

The complaints about bizarre exercise selections - well, (1) I remember Ian King promoting some exercises I would regard as pointless and (2) amongst the good stuff, Poliquin has written some absolutely bizarre nonsense (every seen his article on typing people using Chinese astrological notions?) Anyway, how many articles can you write saying 'heavy rows and deadlifts for a big back'? It's in the nature of magazines that they can't simply repeat the same stuff.

From what I've seen of Chad Waterbury, he's a pretty big, strong guy. I like his stuff.

[BigJosh]

I've always been of the opinion that T-nation (generally speaking) has more crap articles than useful info on getting big and strong.

Too many of the articles come off like they are written by the skinny weak commercial gym trainer who relies on funky movements,odd programs and general gimmicks to make there clientele feel like they are getting a workout. As opposed to just using the "boring" ol basics and getting results.

However, they do have articles from time to time by guys like wendler and rippetoe. I guess I have become a bit of a fan boy but I always enjoy reading there stuff. And I think it's good that kids who otherwise would never be exposed to there useful practical approaches are able to find it on a site like t-nation.

Just my opinion. And despite my rather harsh opinion I still check the site regularly, for whatever that is worth.