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Alexander Illiges

@simplerbodybuilding

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Evidence-based bodybuilding without dogma.
No hacks. Just cause, effect and mild despair.
Bodybuilding • Science • Nerd Stuff
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Welcome to humour-based bodybuilding.
The fundamentals are boring. That’s why they work. Start with the pinned posts.

#evidencebasedfitness #bodybuilding #hypertrophy #naturalbodybuilding #strengthtraining by @simplerbodybuilding

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7 months ago

Start here. This page is a toolbox: training, nutrition, adherence, and the occasional nerd stuff. Save what you’ll use. Apply it for a few weeks. Adjust with evidence.

Image credits: Visuals from films/anime/games belong to their respective rights holders and are used here for commentary/education. No affiliation or endorsement implied. If you’re a rights holder and would like an image removed, please DM me and I’ll take it down promptly.

#evidencebasedfitness #bodybuilding #hypertrophy #sportsnutrition #fitnessscience by @simplerbodybuilding

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7 months ago

As @helms3dmj describes in his @themuscleandstrengthpyramids we need to "Stop putting the cart before the horse."

Most fitness content debates details while the fundamentals are missing. If you nail the top tiers, you get most of your results:

Training: adherence → hard work (volume/intensity) → progression

Nutrition: lifestyle/behavior → energy balance → macros

Everything else is mostly fine-tuning.

Save this. Run the basics for 2 years. Then we can argue about tempo and supplements.

Image credits: Visuals from films/anime/games belong to their respective rights holders and are used here for commentary/education. No affiliation or endorsement implied. If you’re a rights holder and would like an image removed, please DM me and I’ll take it down promptly.

#evidencebasedfitness #hypertrophy #trainingprogramming #sportsnutrition #naturalbodybuilding by @simplerbodybuilding

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7 months ago

Coming back after a break is not about proving you’re tough.

It is about not getting absolutely dismantled on day one.

After time away, unfamiliar or renewed training can produce more soreness, muscle damage, and performance disruption than the same stimulus does once your body has seen it again.

Then the repeated bout effect kicks in like Uma Thurman in Kill Bill Vol. 1.

The second exposure usually hurts less.
Recovery gets easier because your bodies systems get better at handling the same problem.

So your first week back does not need to be heroic.

Reduce volume.
Stay a few reps from failure.
Repeat the same movement patterns.
Then earn your way back toward harder training.

You are not fragile.

You just need a re-entry ramp.

Save this for the next time you return from a break and try to make up for six weeks in one session like a Tarantino character with poor impulse control.

Image credits: Visuals from films, anime, and games belong to their respective rights holders and are used here for commentary and educational purposes. No affiliation or endorsement is implied. If you are a rights holder and would like an image removed, please DM me and I will take it down promptly.

#repeatedbouteffect #hypertrophy #resistancetraining #evidencebasedfitness #recovery by @simplerbodybuilding

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2 months ago

Obsession does not break you because you care too much.

It breaks you when excellence turns into flawlessness.

High standards can sharpen performance.
They can make you prepare better, repeat more carefully, and notice details other people miss.

But fear changes the meaning of the standard.

Now a bad session is not feedback.
A missed target is not information.

It is proof you are falling behind.And eventually the pursuit stops feeling like growth and starts feeling like survival.

Keep the precision.
Keep the hunger to improve.
Just do not let fear own the work.

Excellence asks you to correct the miss.
Perfectionism asks you to become the miss.

Audio/visual credits: Any film, anime, game, music, or other third-party visuals/audio used in this content belong to their respective rights holders and are used here for commentary and educational purposes. No affiliation or endorsement is implied. If you are a rights holder and would like any content removed, please DM me and I will take it down promptly.

-l#perfectionism #sportpsychology #performance #evidencebasedfitness #athletemindset by @simplerbodybuilding

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2 months ago

Change is not one heroic decision.

It is hundreds of smaller decisions made when you are tired, stressed, tempted or bored.

Wanting a different life matters.
But intention is only the intro scene.

The harder part is what happens after the motivation fades, old cues return, and one lapse starts trying to write the rest of the storyboard.

Because one bad meal is not a relapse and missed session is not a failed identity.

It does not require waiting until Monday, January, or the next emotionally satisfying restart.

The slip only becomes a spiral when you treat it as proof that the whole attempt is over.

So choose again.
Not dramatically.
Just at the next decision.

You do not need to restart your entire life.

You need to make the next choice slightly less Scottish.

Image credits: Visuals from films, anime, and games belong to their respective rights holders and are used here for commentary and educational purposes. No affiliation or endorsement is implied. If you are a rights holder and would like an image removed, please DM me and I will take it down promptly.

#behaviorchange #relapseprevention #habits #evidencebasedfitness #fitnesspsychology by @simplerbodybuilding

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2 months ago

Fitness has no final boss.

There is no screen where the music plays, a treasure chest opens, and you receive the achievement:

“Congratulations. You have completed self-improvement.”

You hit one goal. Then immediately discover a new weakness from a worse camera angle.

If the whole journey depends on finally reaching the perfect physique, you are going to spend most of your life feeling unfinished.

The better game is becoming someone who keeps returning.

Through tired season.
Stress season.
New-job season.
Mildly-dissociating-but-still-doing-leg-press season.

Lifting will not solve every problem, restore all your hearts, or refund the money you lost taking financial advice from a man with a podcast.

But it can give you competence, structure, connection, and a clearer version of yourself to keep building.

There is no final boss.
The real win is staying in the game.

Audio/visual credits: Any film, anime, game, music, or other third-party visuals/audio used in this content belong to their respective rights holders and are used here for commentary and educational purposes. No affiliation or endorsement is implied. If you are a rights holder and would like any content removed, please DM me and I will take it down promptly.

#fitnessjourney #behaviorchange #gymmindset #evidencebasedfitness #zelda by @simplerbodybuilding

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2 months ago

You can upgrade the shell without ever satisfying the ghost.

More muscle.
Less body fat.
More compliments.

And somehow “good enough” still moves three kilograms farther away.

Bodybuilding can build confidence, competence, identity, and belonging.

But it can also turn the body into a full-time performance review where every mirror, photo, meal, and training session becomes another evaluation.

The point is not that wanting bigger arms means you have a disorder.

The concern starts when appearance preoccupation creates distress, compulsive behavior, avoidance, or starts controlling relationships, work, eating, and ordinary life.

Build the physique.

Just build an identity wide enough to survive a bad mirror day too.

Because the shell deserves care.

It just should not become the entire person.

Image credits: Visuals from films, anime, and games belong to their respective rights holders and are used here for commentary and educational purposes. No affiliation or endorsement is implied. If you are a rights holder and would like an image removed, please DM me and I will take it down promptly.

#muscledysmorphia #bodyimage #bodybuilding #fitnesspsychology #evidencebasedfitness by @simplerbodybuilding

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3 months ago

Change usually starts before it looks like change.

Before the visible proof.
Before anyone notices.

It starts in the quiet...

The thought you keep returning to.
The plan you almost ignore.
The first attempt that goes badly.
The moment you come back after falling off.

That part feels slow because it is.

Old habits have gravity.
Old routines have momentum.

And becoming someone different usually feels less like a clean transformation and more like dragging yourself through wet snow.

But slow does not mean standing still.

The people who change are not the ones who never fall.

They are the ones who stop confusing falling with being done.

Change circles back. It repeats.
It asks you to return before you feel ready.

You are not behind.
You are in it.

Audio/visual credits: Any film, anime, game, music, or other third-party visuals/audio used in this content belong to their respective rights holders and are used here for commentary/educational purposes. No affiliation or endorsement implied. If you’re a rights holder and would like any content removed, please DM me and I’ll take it down promptly.

#behaviorchange #habits #motivation #evidencebasedfitness #gymmindset by @simplerbodybuilding

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3 months ago

Sometimes food is not just food.

Sometimes it is comfort. Distraction. Numbness.
Routine. Relief. And the fastest available way to survive a moment you did not know how to sit with.

The body can be a visible part of the story, while the deeper wound write the script.

And yes, body weight matters for health.
Pretending it does not is not compassion.

But pretending weight loss automatically heals grief, shame, isolation, emotional dysregulation, or the reason food became useful in the first place is just another kind of denial.

If food is doing emotional work,
the answer has to be bigger than macros.

Because removing the food without addressing the pain just reliefs the pain temporarily.

Image credits: Visuals from films/anime/games belong to their respective rights holders and are used here for commentary/education. No affiliation or endorsement implied. If you’re a rights holder and would like an image removed, please DM me and I’ll take it down promptly.

#emotionaleating #weightloss #behaviorchange #evidencebasedfitness #eatingpsychology by @simplerbodybuilding

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3 months ago

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3 months ago

P-values are not the Oracle's.They do not look at your training philosophy, adjust their sunglasses, and whisper:

“statistically significant… therefore true.”

Still a lot of fitness research gets read like a light switch:

Significant = real.
Not significant = fake.

But actual evidence is usually messier than that.

Effects have size.
Estimates have uncertainty.
Results have context.

And prior evidence does not magically disappear every time new green numbers enter the discussion.

Bayesian thinking is about treating research like an update rather than a prophecy.

It asks better questions:

How big was the effect?
How uncertain was it?
What did we already know?
Would this matter for me?

P < .05 can be useful information.

It just should not be treated as final wisdom.

Image credits: Visuals from films/anime/games belong to their respective rights holders and are used here for commentary/education. No affiliation or endorsement implied. If you’re a rights holder and would like an image removed, please DM me and I’ll take it down promptly.

#statistics #researchliteracy #sportscience #evidencebasedfitness #fitnesseducation by @simplerbodybuilding

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3 months ago