Q's about James F's April PM article

[Mike ODonnell]

Originally Posted by Neal Winkler

He's trained hundreds of professional and olympic athletes.

I like Poloquin, nothing to take away from him at all....but just that statement alone is not going to help his case....as most professional athletes are clueless as to what good training is....and usually just hire a bodybuilder to get huuuuge and want to work the "core" once in a while....seen it.....but then again, they usually have enough raw talent at that point that even a bad trainer isn't going to screw up their career....unless you give them HGH or something....

[Derek Weaver]

Yeah,
I also wonder about Poliquin when he says that dumbbell snatches will destroy your shoulder, or that box squatting is useless and will never translate to sport... yet he advocates body part splits and isolation training (hardly used in sport).

Of course, he's got entire centers and seminars and I... don't.

I do think that he's a genius in nearly 100% of his nutrition comments/advice. And as said, the Biosignature stuff is fascinating.

[James FitzGerald]

Neil, re: 8 of 12 study...my data with insulin dependant individuals and those who are medically insulin resistant respond better at supra and sub scap sites with resistance training - probably due to increased sex hormone and GLUT 4 release with weights as opposed to cardio only...and i mean chin ups, dips, lunges, squats, deads...not 20 sec bike sprints, 30 sec rest x 6 (not sure what "intervals" meant in the study)...these create different responses even though energy systems similar

[Tom Rawls]

As part of his Biosignature program, Poliquin sells supplements that he claims will boost testosterone levels.

True? Anyone have any experience with his stuff or know anyone who has?

[Kalen Meine]

Wait, Poliquin sells an untested supplement to correct abnormalities in a test he devised (and will only teach others to perform for an outlandish amount of money?) Does he also sell liver tabs and brewer's yeast?

I'm sorry, but hardly an article goes by over at T-Nation where Poliquin doesn't set off the majority of my baloney detectors. His roster of client seem mostly to have consulted for a few days or a program here and there, and where already at exceptional levels of performance, and probably just needed some variety thrown their way to get unstuck. In the meantime, he tosses out enough curl variations to keep up with the ghost of Joe Weider. He mixes in a few bits of nutritional mumbo jumbo without citations, claims to have diagnostics that find problems with a majority of those tested, and then sells the solution for a few dozen times the cost of the ingredients.

And yes, I am not as strong as Poliquin. I have not trained as many people by a factor of some hundreds or thousands, and none of them were as strong as his clients. There is a possibility that his every word is truth from on high, and I, a weakling of little faith, should listen. But he's going to have to give me better reasons and reasoning before I lower my shields and empty my cup.

[Gittit Shwartz]

Poliquin was a strength coach BEFORE he was an "exercise scientist". His theories are not predictions but conclusions drawn from recorded experience - every rep performed by every one of his athletes logged obsessively. Citations? The man gives results. I wouldn't so flippantly dismiss them as arising merely from the athletes' "needing some variety".
Poliquin does train elite athletes, and I think most people who fall within the range of genetically "normal", should probably be cautious about trying to train like an elite athlete. One should keep in mind all the factors these athletes have supporting their training, from precise nutrition to supplements to genetically superior recovery ability. Not to mention having no jobs or obligations outside of training. So many of his "tricks" may not be of much value to even the t-nation readers.

[Garrett Smith]

He works with naturopathic doctors...that can't be a good sign, right?

[Tom Rawls]

Kalen's response strikes me as reasoned skepticism, and neither of the subsequent posts address the issue of the efficacy of the supplements (need I add "expensive"?) that he peddles.

He doesn't say the potions are only for NHL guys and not ordinary rink rats. He'd be glad to sell me his stuff, and using pros as an example is part of his sales pitch.

The question is simple: Do his supplements work?

[Steven Low]

Poliquin's ideas on actual training (splits if you didn't know) are actually good... for elite athletes where the CNS will generally become the limiting factor as opposed to muscles with the most of us who don't have superior genetics as elite athletes. On the other hand, he peddles splits for *everyone* which I think is just flat out wrong and often contributes to slower progress (and most people do disagree with him on this point I believe). Anyway.. yeah. His actual training implementaion for elite athletes might be good, but not really so much for t-nation where I highly doubt most of the people that read it are in the "elite" category.

And yeah, let's not get started on the supplements, lol.

[Tom Rawls]

Originally Posted by Steven Low

And yeah, let's not get started on the supplements, lol.

I take this to mean you too are skeptical of the effectiveness of Poliquin's (and others') supplements.