Here are the two questions you should ask yourself before listening to anybody about your training method:

1. Is the suggestion applicable to my case?

What applies to someone else does not necessarily apply to you. Here are just a few reasons why that may be the case: 1. The other person has a different body type from you (e.g. mesomorph instead of ectomorph), 2. He is at a different training level from you (e.g. advanced vs. beginner), 3. He is at a different phrase of working out (e.g. strength training instead of muscle gaining).

2. Is this just his opinion, or is it one of the principles of training that I don’t know of yet?

Anything that anybody tells you about your training program, be it rest time between sets, rep range or set range, etc., you cannot just listen to it immediately, even if the other guy looks big and seems to know what he is talking about. I am not saying that you should ignore completely everything that people say to you about your program. No, far from it, you must be open to all suggestions. The difference here is, you must conduct careful research to make sure the suggestions are legitimate before incorporating them into your program. The thing is, your current program is already the best one for your body type and your training goal because it is the result of painstaking research. Thus, the chance that somebody can give you any legitimate suggestion should be very rare.

You have to understand that the majority of people at the gym train wrong. Some of them maybe wrong about only some small aspects of training, while more than half of them are doing everything horribly wrong. Moreover, most people are not ectomorphs; they don’t know NOTHING about training for an ectomorph. What works for them will NEVER work for you. Therefore, you cannot expect to be doing a popular program. That’s first of all.

Second of all, people, for some reason, are super stubborn when it comes to their program selection. I think that has to do with the fact that people hate being wrong. Anyway, the point is, even for people who are sooooo skinny, who have been working out for years without making any noticeable difference to their body, they still think their programs are the best one in the world.

I have a friend who have been skinny for years, who goes from 123 pounds to 127 pounds (5 feet 10) even after 3 years of working out. Yet when I tell him anything about his program, he still thinks that he knows more about training than I do. So the lesson is, don’t bother explaining your program to most people. Don’t expect it to be popular. And also don’t expect people to approve your program (random people at the gym). Just do what you gotta do, and forget about the world.

RECAP: People may have different opinions about your training method. Ask yourself the right questions and conduct careful research before incorporate their suggestions into your training. Most of the time they are wrong though.

People and their opinions about your training method, 9.5 out of 10 based on 2 ratings