What you need to know about Studies.

[drtbear1967]

It is important to remember that a study finding almost always is an AVERAGE result of a group. This means that a certain individual on a workout or diet might have effects ABOVE or BELOW average.
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People will use this as an excuse to why they don't trust science, claiming that they are special. But it is really naive to assume that YOU are different from the average. The best approach is to first assume that you will respond as the average Joe and THEN make individual adjustments.
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Even these adjustments should be systematically tried and evaluated. For example, if most people get strongest by training a muscle 2 times a week, but you aren't making progress, try switching to 4 times a week for 12 weeks and evaluating how your strength progressed compared to 12 weeks training twice per week.

This is obviously not optimal because other factors like training experience may influence your results, but its the best way to approach the situation when research is lacking. It's basically applying the scientific method on an individual level.

 

[yellow snow]

The best thing to know about studies is all the detail................yes that is where the devil lies!! Is the study a double blind, what is the N, is this a study where people have to recall what they ate for the last 3 year ( I help you on this one, it is total bull shit). What is the age group ( remember back in the day when boron increase test like 500%.............oh yeah they forgot to mention that they gave it to post menopausal women and marketed it to teenagers)...............I could go on for hours................................bottom line, be jaded and actually look up the study, we can do that now that we have this awesome invention called the internet!!

 

[drtbear1967]

Always follow the money and see who paid for the research. Hidden Agendas.

 

[BigZ]

What I hate, however, and this has more to do with medical issues at the doc, is when you finally prove or show that you AREN'T average and you're an outlier, they still try their damned hardest to convince you that you aren't.