My good friend and fitness research nerd: Mark Young has developed a unique and very powerful DVD product called How to Read Fitness Research. I’ve got my copy of his awesome product. And, since I like it so much – I’ve recruited Mark for a little Q&A, in order to convince you to get yourself a copy of How to Read Fitness Research before the price goes up from only $37 to $77, this Friday – April 22nd.

How To Read Fitness Research – Q&A with Mark Young

What motivated you to develop How to Read Fitness Research?

To be honest, I created this product because I just can’t stand the amount of pseudoscientific crap that is being spread throughout the fitness industry.  I got fed up one afternoon and decided that someone had to give people back the power to separate fact from hype and this product was the result.

Tell me in only one or two sentences why, as a trainer, I need your product?

I think that our industry is unique in that trainers and fitness enthusiasts are getting their information from almost exactly the same places.  As a result, trainers and the general public are pretty much falling prey to the same trends and following the same misinformation.  This product will give trainers the ability to rise about the general public in terms of fitness knowledge and give them the ability to acquire, read, and implement the most cutting edge research to get results with their clients.

What are the consequences if we don’t know how to effectively read fitness research?

Basically, without being able to read research for yourself you are succeptible to someone else’s interpretation that is affected by their ability to read research and tainted by their potential biases and experiences.  In short, you are not able to think for yourself and you’re relying on second hand information.  Just like the old “telephone game”, the further you get from the original message, the more distorted it becomes.  If you’re far enough down the line, the actual message is probably nothing like what you’ve heard.

Can you give me some examples of current fitness industry trends, training concepts and/or techniques, which seem to have been based on “someone else’s interpretation that is affected by their ability to read research and tainted by their potential biases and experiences”?

I think the easiest example is the widespread use of Tabatas as the studies themselves never actually looked at fat loss.  Somewhere along the line, someone looked at the methods and misinterpreted it to mean that this type of training results in incredible body composition change.  Of course, that isn’t to say that they don’t burn calories, but I’m not sure that this specific protocol is necessarily superior to other forms of conditioning work that could be done to achieve the same result.

Even the recent ISSN position stand on meal frequency made some statements about the possible need for higher meal frequency for the maintenance of muscle mass and even suggested that eating more frequently lead to better improvements of health markers when research to the contrary was actually available.  Looking at the list of authors (one of whom I would consider a friend), it was pretty clear that many of them favor high frequency meal plans which isn’t necessarily a bad thing.  But it is a preference that influences how we interpret research and the bias towards this stance was evident in the conclusions of the paper.

Why are you qualified to tell us how to read fitness research?

Basically I am a research geek.  I have a degree in kinesiology from McMaster University and have done graduate level research in biomechanics and exercise physiology as part of the world-renowned exercise metabolism research group under the guidance of Dr. Stuart Phillips.  I have presented a poster and the World Congress of Biomechanics and my graduate thesis has now been submitted for publicaton in a major peer reviewed journal.

I’ve also been applying this research for the last 11 years as a strength coach and sharing this information with the masses.  As a result my writing has appeared on T-Nation.com, WannaBeBig.com, StrengthCoach.com, MuscleAndFitness.com, and in print magazines like Muscle & Fitness and Experience Life.

What are the worst fitness research resources out there and why?

I think that the worst fitness research resources out there are any that entail not actually looking at the fitness research for yourself.  I love reading sites with applied knowledge, blogs, and even other people’s research reviews.  But at the end of the day, not reading the research for yourself is like letting someone else chew your food for you and then telling you what it tastes like.  If you want to know, you need to do it for yourself.

What are some of the biggest take-aways we will get from this product?

I think the biggest take aways from this product are how to search for the most relevant research, what is worth reading, how to get cutting edge research delivered to your inbox, and how to read a study.  And, perhaps most importantly, how to apply this in the real world to get RESULTS.

I don’t endorse many products – But, I can promise you that the value of HTRFR far out weights the financial investment!

If you want discover how to cut through hype  and create the very best workout programs for fat loss, muscle gain,and athletic performance. Than, look no further because How to Read Fitness Research will help you take back the power to determine fact from fiction and see through the confusion by reading, understanding, an applying cutting edge research!

Go here to get your copy of How to Read Fitness Research for only $37 – As of 12 midnight, this Friday, April 22nd the price will go up to $77!

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