Man can I sympathize with you. I just started Grad school for ex phys and I can’t believe how uninformed some of my professors are in certain areas. I think it is more a case of textbooks catching up with actual science instead of using misinformed outdated information. I agree with the individual that said you should stick with and take as many pure science classes as possible. As an undergrad I was pre-med and graduated with a degree in Human Biology. So I basically ran the gamit with science courses. They sometimes get a little overrun with non applicable information, but in the end it is the best route to go. I would like to see Ex Science programs take a shift to a more pure science approach in the future, and I think it will happen eventually. It just makes for better teachers, students, and results in the end. I would not worry about it much in your situation. If you know what is right then just go with it and tell anyone who asks or should now how you feel. Professors are humans just like yourself. They were young like at one time and decided to believe in something on their own accord. Just do the same thing for yourself, and you will be fine. Thank your lucky stars for gettting that education, even if it isn’t always right. It will help you with your career in life down the road and you won’t care what your old instructor had to say. Good luck with the course.
One of these days some one in a college class will have the cash and the knowledge to get his/her blood work done on a grams per pound of body weight diet. When someone does I hope they extort the teacher for an A for not leaking the information. Then tell everyone anyway. I have had my blood work done on keto diets and clean high protein diets, even times of horrible eating. My blood work was great with the exception of the horrible time my triglycerides were off, but protein damaging kidneys is funny to me. Now I will tell you this…Eating a ton of protein without enough fiberous carbs to process all that nitrogen will do you no good.
hmm Dark Renegade sort of hit at this, but what I do wonder is: are they accounting for processed foods, etc as carbs sources or just whole grain and veggies? I think it was recently mentioned how much fiber people used to eat. compared to now. I guess I could see the one side as being a LOT more close to feasible (low GI, high fiber carbs as a foundation to a diet) as opposed to the white bread and snickers approach.
we have a lab today so i will definetly talk tohim, i already have some questions written down to ask him. Also when i got my bodyfat anylysis i was talking to the guy who evaluated me, and he told me to speak to my Exercise phis teacher about my workout and diet, so he could help me, or give me a better one. and this was reguarding metldown training, and the t-dawg diet.
Im definetly going to talk to him about the super high carb diet making athletes hold more water, making them slower, and bring up poloquin, berardi, ETC. and i’ll ask for some evidence to back up the protien. and i’ll be sure to tell him how much success i had with a lo-carb diet. Thanx fellas
another thing…i forgot to tell u how much he emphasised never eat more then 1.5g per kilo of body weight of protien. he was like “NEVER EVER eat more then… this will cause this that and the other thing” then hes like write that down, write that down. hes like if ne of u are doing this now…stop immediatley. He was saying it as if we were going to die. Another thing, mnost of the kids in the class are jacked, and i was talkin to one kid in the gym after class, and we were talkin about it, and hes damn big, and he is taking in 2grams per pound. I’ll speak to him shortly i have lab in a few hours.
1 more thing we learned, that i have been going by. Is he said a gram of carbs is 4.2 cals, a gram of protien is 5.65, and a gram of fat is 9.4 cals. Ive been going by this to count my macros the last couple of days, instead of 4,4,9.
This post goes out to Eric, Joel, Char, Vman, Mufasa, etc.
I would just like to point out that really most of the people posting here aren’t being straight about things. Seriously, as a professor at a major university, I feel disrepected when people who don’t know how science is conducted and how the literature is seen, talk about how “soy sucks”, or “low-carb is better, and nothing can be said to change that view” etc. I think a better statement might be for example, “soy is not the optimal protein for accretion of muscle mass.” Until there is a volume of literature to support that, no professor can state it in a course as truth, and you will never find it in a text. Look at things realistically, without insular ways of thinking, because once you’ve decided you think something is a certain way, you won’t even listen to alternatives, and that’s when you stop learning.
The fact that this kidney issue was brought up is unfortunate. I makes this a key point also in my coursees that there is no evidnece currently. Also, Jason makes a good point that even today’s textbooks still have inquities in them, not consistent with the current literature.
If you were my exercise phys. course, you would be required to read Lemon’s review in J. Nutr. Biochem and Tipton’s work in 2001 on pre vs. post supplementation. We discuss these issues in detail. Please do not stereotype university exercise phys. instructors.
I invite any of you to my classes or my office hours and I would spend time discussing these issues with you.
I feel your frustration. I’m also working on my Masters in Ex. Phys. However, allow me to offer some defense (how dare I!) to yours/my 150-lb professors.
My educational experience with Ex. Phys. has been that most testing/prescriptions are geared towards aerobic exercise, not anaerobic. I’d go as far as assuming that the majority of your teachers are runners. Resistance training (for them)is used as a supplementary training method, never alone.
If a training method has been researched or proven, chances are my professors know about it. Hence, since virtually no one is willing to undertake a study dealing with the benefits/ill-effects of a 1g/lb BW protein diet, we will silently guzzle our hydrolyzed shakes and wait until someone can convince their university that its worth looking into.
As for your professors suggestion of a high-carb diet for athletes, I have to agree. These guys are practicing over 6 hrs/day and only doing weight-training on a maintainence level. Their goal isn’t to put on mass during the season, that’s for the offseason. Glucose is of essence for long term aerobic activity and conditioning.
Bottom line: If you pursue a good program in Ex Phys you will have the tools to do what you want with that knowledge. However, if you don’t apply it properly its worth nothing.
i just got back from speaking with my teacher. I started by bringing up the high carb situation and insulin sensitivity. He said people are diffrent but most people benifit from high carbs. He said all low carb does is leave u in ketosis and makes u loose sufficient muslce mass. He said it is not the best way to lose weight. I then asked him about athletes, in terms of a lighter athlete is a faster athlete, he said it was not true. I got into a little bit of personal experience, then i asked him about the protien situation. He was pretty firm in his belive that high protien over 2grams per kilo would do a sufficient amount of kidney damage. and he went on to say its your kidneys not mine, if you want to do long term damage go ahead. I think i stumped him a little bit, he seemed to want to end the conversation as quik as possible, maybe it was because another one of his older exphis majors was standing there. He also kept making this silly laughing noise, the same as he did the first time we spoke, kinda makes him sound like a tool box.
Hey Professor R, where do you teach? I’m transfering there next year (I am 100% serious about this, so please don’t blow it off. I am sick and tired of wasting my time, money, and energy at the university I am at). Thanks.
Ryan,
I'm amazed that you even have time or desire to argue with your professors. Here's the reality for you.
First of all, you need a degree or you can kiss any decent paying job good-bye. (Unless you can be another Bill Gates, but for every Bill Gate, there are billions of degree-less people flipping burgers at McD or other find establishments we have). Pedigree, believe it or not, is important.
Second, pedigree alone is not enough. There's this thing called GPA. You want/need a high GPA. Some employers won't even look at your resume if your GPA isn't high enough.
So what to do? Just memorize all the garbage out of your professors' mouths and repeat exactly what they blabbered on the final so you can pass the course with a B or higher. After the course is over, you proceed to erase everything you learned from the class from your memory.
That is how you survive college with dumb professors. Fortunately, I didn't have many dumb professors. But even if they were dumb, I did suck it up and spit out everything they said in class, just so that I can get a decent grade and pass.
Being the stubborn son of a bitch I am I would immediately speak up and, need be, back up my claim with references to studies. If you have an open minded professor then he will know that debate will enhance the learning situation. If disagreeing with the professor causes an unjustifiable drop in your grades I would take a complaint as high as possible.
I believe that it was stated, on this site, that there are no studies showing any problems with healthy kidneys in high protein diets, and recently has been found to increase bone density when previously thought to decrease bone density. If he cannot accept this information without proving it incorrect, then he should not be a professor.
Professor: Points well taken! Three things:
1)I wasn’t stereotyping all professors…I was just giving the kid advice on how to deal with this particular one who was giving a bad piece of advice that appears to be repeated over and over and over again… (i.e.protein and kidney health)
2)It’s sad to say, but in my personal experience, a Professor like you appears to be an exception, not the rule. Too often in their areas, the Profs simply don’t keep up with their fields body of knowledge.
3)We agree 200% on one thing for sure…you must keep an open mind and keep learning!
Great post!
Hey, did you call me “insular”?!?!? Man, I’ll kick you’re f#*kin’ ASS!
Okay, joke.
With all due respect for the knowledge that you probably have acquired in your field, I have to point out that my comments were meant in a broad sense, i.e., that simply having gone through the process of getting an advanced degree doesn’t necessarily mean that one’s really qualified in one’s field. It’s not just Uni professors; look at all the doctors out there who give out silly nutritional advice. And it’s not just Ryan’s prof; complaints of this sort spring up time and again on this board. (Look at the very first response to this thread: “Typical”.)
I also have to say that, far from being insular and close-minded, my statement about low-carb diets being better is one that is based on experience/experimentation that is both wide and deep. Not just on my own body, but those of many personal training clients, friends and other gym acquaintances as well. It’s precisely because of this experience that I feel very sure that the traditional low-carb diets aren’t that great (again, for bodybuilding purposes).
If some PhD comes up and suggests a new type of diet that s/he has some good data on, sure, I might give it a shot. But if I (and a lot of people I personally know) have already tried something and it hasn’t worked, then no amount of academic qualification is going to make much difference when someone recommends the cul-de-sac already travelled.
That’s all I was trying to say: just don’t get blinded by the “PhD” or whatever and think that it carries more weight than 25 years or so of intelligent, real-world experience.
Also, I totally sympathize with your comment about getting cranked when someone who has no academic qualifications and doesn’t understand the science tries to interpret a study or something. Please believe me that it’s equally frustrating to have some academic assume that you can’t understand a study simply because you’re not a PhD yourself… 
Yea he’s got a Phd (player hattin degree). Talking talk is one thing, but walkin the walk is another. In other words, how does he look. Is he an athlete? Or did he wish he was one?
Tim,
UCLA. My contact info is on the uni web site if you need advice.
Mufasa, I’m sure you weren’t, but others tend to lump us all into one! I would agree that since I’m young, I have read much of the new literature and I am more open minded about things. I know frustration is there. Keep in mind that its nobody’s fault they don’t know something. Fact is, they just don’t, and even I learn things from my students all the time!Although I study the low-fat, high fiber diet and mechanisms by which it reverses chronic diseases, I realize that other groups may prefer other diets, for example athletic people and higher protein.
Good luck to you.
Char- I realize they were out of frustration. Many though might read your post (or others) and believe that college is worthless, when the student is as much responsible for the education as the professors. I agree about the nutrition advice given out by MD’s - its not the best, although we may disagree on what some of the problems with them are.
Regarding low-carb diets, their may be some “benefits”, however the literature is pretty rock solid that a diet low in fruits and veges, fiber, antiox and high in saturated fat contributes to chronic diseases (not to say your’s may include some of these foods). I applaud you for not eating refined sugar though as I’m sure you are aware of its effects.
I assume you mean traditional “high-carb” for bodybuilding. Try on that maybe they did respond favorably to the low carb, but I would suggest to you that they might even have better results on a higher carb (not he one they were on however), of course totally dependent on the food selection. I would suggest, although I don’t know, that maybe you haven’t approached it maybe the way I would, and that may be why your opinion differs. Also, I agree that real world effects are important, and I have those as well. Although I don’t currently train anyone, I have and I am CSCS certified (not that it means anything either!)
Regarding the last post, I personally don’t think it matters, but “students” like when a “prof” practices what he preaches, but I myself am 5’6 3/4", 195 and about 10% fat currently.
I’d like to read the scientific, peer-reviewed research studies on protein in-take and kidney damage myself instead of talking about them all day. Where can I find them?
Ryan,
Your professor is teaching you the “truth”. The RDA. Recommended Daily Allowance(s) for the average American. The average American doesn’t lift heavy weights 4-5 days a week. See my point? Your professor isn’t an idiot, he teaches nutritional science to average americans (you know, his job)…not to bodybuilders.
Let me give you this coming from the same situation as the prof. I see two possible scenerios. First, he really does not have a clue and does not want to do the research. The falicy of his statements would stand out with a simple search of recent research. Second, because of his position as the s&c coordinator and the dumbfounded position of the NCAA and the department in which he teaches, he feels that the battle is not worth it and decides just to teach what they have always tought.
If you want to find out which it is, simply bring in some of the articles which clearly go against this belief, and politely ask what he thinks of them. His answer will most likely leave no doubt. But do not push the agenda and make him upset.