Post: #1

"What's IYI?

Intellectual Yet Idiot: semi-erudite bureaucrat who thinks he is an erudite; pathologizes others for doing things he doesn't understand not realizing it is his understanding that may be limited; imparts normative ideas to others: thinks people should act according to their best interests *and* he knows their interests, particularly if they are uneducated "red necks" or English non-crisp-vowel class.
More socially: subscribes to the New Yorker; never curses on twitter; speaks of "equality of races" and "economic equality" but never went out drinking with a minority cab driver; has considered voting for Tony Blair; has attended more than 1 TEDx talks and watched more than 2 TED talks; will vote for Hillary Monsanto-Malmaison because she seems electable; has The Black Swan on his shelves but mistakes absence of evidence for evidence of absence; is member of a club to get traveling privileges; if social scientist uses statistics without knowing how they are derived; when in the UK goes to literary festivals; drinks red wine with steak (never white); used to believe that fat was harmful and has now completely reversed; takes statins because his doctor told him so; fails to understand ergodicity and when explained forgets about it soon later; doesn't use Yiddish words; studies grammar before speaking a language; has a cousin who worked with someone who knows the Queen; has never read Frederic Dard, Michael Oakeshot, John Gray, or Joseph De Maistre; has never gotten drunk with Russians and went breaking glasses; doesn't know the difference between Hecate and Hecuba; doesn't know that there is no difference between "pseudointellectual" and "intellectual"; has mentioned quantum mechanics at least twice in the past 5 years; knows at any point in time what his words or actions are doing to his reputation.

But a much easier marker: doesn't deadlift."

Did you catch it?

Post: #2

LOL, link? Did he write this? This Taleb guy sounds like a riot.

Disclaimer: I do deadlift.

Post: #3

Yeah taleb linked to it in Brexit talks. I put it in the Brexit thread:

Quote:4 y ago, I resolved to do math >90m/day. I stuck to it, diligently, except for Jun 24, 2016 w/news of stage 1 of anti-IYI revolution #Brexit

https://twitter.com/nntaleb/status/746879505659207680

Post: #4

Phoenix you need to read Antifragile.

Roosh's review

Post: #5

There's a Taleb thread in the Deep Section.

Post: #6

What was interesting is his paraphrasing of Roosh - "But a much easier marker: doesn't deadlift."

Post: #7

I shared this on my own Facebook and it's getting the reactions I was expecting from the people I knew would see themselves in this. And yeah, none of them deadlift.

Post: #8

One of my girls is into cosplay conventions, so I told her my iron law of cosplay conventions, "As the number of attendees increases, the cumulative number of lifetime deadlifts accomplished remains zero."

Post: #9

We already have multiple Taleb threads:

/thread-20111.html
/thread-21964.html
/thread-28430...pid1273557

Post: #10

(06-26-2016 01:22 PM)Oneeyedjack Wrote:  What was interesting is his paraphrasing of Roosh - "But a much easier marker: doesn't deadlift."

Yeah nah let's not be Roosh nuthuggers, even on his own forum. The "Do you even lift?" thing is ancient by now, and Taleb has been having "Do you even lift?" standoffs since he wrote The Black Swan with anyone who cared to annoy him

Post: #11

Nassim Taleb Wrote:"Rather than get lessons, I watched and tried to imitate the workout of a trainer who moonlighted as security person and looked the part. The exercise got me into a naturalistic form of weightlifting, and one that is in accordance with the evidence-based literature. This consisted in short episodes in the gym in which I focused solely on my past maximum lift, the heaviest weight I could haul, sort of the high watermark; the workout consisted in trying to exceed it once or twice, rather than spending time on time-consuming repetitions. The rest of the time was spent resting and, splurging on mafia-sized steaks. I have been trying to push my limit for four years now; it is amazing to watch how something in my biology anticipates a higher level than the past maximum —until it reaches its ceiling. When I deadlift (i.e., mimic lifting a stone to waist level) using a bar with three hundred and twenty pounds, then rest, I can safely expect that I will build a certain amount of additional strength as my body predicts that the next time I may need to lift three hundred and twenty-five pounds."

It took him 4 years to deadlift 325lbs, which he only does once or twice and then calls it a day.

I guess it beats Insanity or swinging around an 8 lb kettlebell.

edit:

I would put his lifting program in the same category as "Intellectual yet Idiot".

I know he's not scared of books, so why has he never cracked open a lifting book? No, he hired a 60 year old bodyguard who does a few max reps on the deadlift once a week and "he's totally big, bro".

He also claims that machines are inferior to freeweights because they have a fixed path, whereas each rep with the freeweight is slightly different. Then he goes on to say you should deadlift (lol), which is definitely a movement you don't want to do differently each rep or you risk injury.

If he was actually "antifragile" with his weightlifting, he'd just do convict conditioning three or four days a week and shut up. There is nothing antifragile about deadlifting an adjustable barbell in an air conditioned public gym. Ross Enamait is antifragile because he doesn't even need equipment to get stronger.

I understand that his reasoning was that "it's the most bang for your buck" or that it's natural or some shit, but I'd argue otherwise.

The ancients of old didn't have adjustable barbells. They likely picked up the heaviest rock they could until they could lift it with relative ease for ten or fifteen reps, then moved on to the next rock. Then they'd grab a lighter rock and press it over head until their arms fall off, then go to a tree branch and do chins.

Post: #12

(06-26-2016 01:22 PM)Oneeyedjack Wrote:  What was interesting is his paraphrasing of Roosh - "But a much easier marker: doesn't deadlift."

What are you talking about? Since when "doesn't deadlift" has anything to do with Roosh?

Post: #13

(06-27-2016 06:52 PM)Hannibal Wrote:  

Nassim Taleb Wrote:"Rather than get lessons, I watched and tried to imitate the workout of a trainer who moonlighted as security person and looked the part. The exercise got me into a naturalistic form of weightlifting, and one that is in accordance with the evidence-based literature. This consisted in short episodes in the gym in which I focused solely on my past maximum lift, the heaviest weight I could haul, sort of the high watermark; the workout consisted in trying to exceed it once or twice, rather than spending time on time-consuming repetitions. The rest of the time was spent resting and, splurging on mafia-sized steaks. I have been trying to push my limit for four years now; it is amazing to watch how something in my biology anticipates a higher level than the past maximum —until it reaches its ceiling. When I deadlift (i.e., mimic lifting a stone to waist level) using a bar with three hundred and twenty pounds, then rest, I can safely expect that I will build a certain amount of additional strength as my body predicts that the next time I may need to lift three hundred and twenty-five pounds."

It took him 4 years to deadlift 325lbs, which he only does once or twice and then calls it a day.

I guess it beats Insanity or swinging around an 8 lb kettlebell.

edit:

I would put his lifting program in the same category as "Intellectual yet Idiot".

I know he's not scared of books, so why has he never cracked open a lifting book? No, he hired a 60 year old bodyguard who does a few max reps on the deadlift once a week and "he's totally big, bro".

He also claims that machines are inferior to freeweights because they have a fixed path, whereas each rep with the freeweight is slightly different. Then he goes on to say you should deadlift (lol), which is definitely a movement you don't want to do differently each rep or you risk injury.

If he was actually "antifragile" with his weightlifting, he'd just do convict conditioning three or four days a week and shut up. There is nothing antifragile about deadlifting an adjustable barbell in an air conditioned public gym. Ross Enamait is antifragile because he doesn't even need equipment to get stronger.

I understand that his reasoning was that "it's the most bang for your buck" or that it's natural or some shit, but I'd argue otherwise.

The ancients of old didn't have adjustable barbells. They likely picked up the heaviest rock they could until they could lift it with relative ease for ten or fifteen reps, then moved on to the next rock. Then they'd grab a lighter rock and press it over head until their arms fall off, then go to a tree branch and do chins.

Agreed 100%. It's truly shocking the number of brilliant people who are utterly retarded when it comes to the gym. Aaron Clarey put out a video recently about his gym regimen and I was honestly appalled by the stupidity of it.

Post: #14

I looked up Hecate.

Tons of websites. It's annoying how anything associated with witchcraft or a "goddess" is considered cool nowadays. It's basically grrllpower plus the occult.

Post: #15

I saw this on Twitter and it's great to see it reposted on here. Nassim Taleb is onto something. The only thing is, he's speaking about British people.

We need to write about people from the U.S. who fit Intellectual Yet Idiot archetype. These people are everywhere in the Washington D.C. area.

They lecturing on equality and whiteness while living in the whitest of white areas. They send their kids to all-white private schools and treat their (illegal) foreign maids and gardeners like servants.

They're also the type to wax nostalgic about the freedom they had in childhood but then micromanage their own kids lives, forcing them into a grueling schedule of camps, lessons, sports, and "recreational activities" that makes the kids burn out by about age 14.

They claim they're not prejudiced, but see EVERYTHING through the lens of race and/or ethnicity. I have an Italian-sounding name but (as you all know) I'm very American. However, these people act like I'm fresh off the boat -- even though I'm third-generation and grew up on barbecue, the beach, and Bruce (Springsteen).

We should compile a list. The D.C.-based writer George Will comes to mind as do some political bloggers. But since I can't stand their blogs and don't read them, I won't name them.

Post: #16

(06-27-2016 07:59 PM)CatoRussell Wrote:  

(06-27-2016 06:52 PM)Hannibal Wrote:  

Nassim Taleb Wrote:"Rather than get lessons, I watched and tried to imitate the workout of a trainer who moonlighted as security person and looked the part. The exercise got me into a naturalistic form of weightlifting, and one that is in accordance with the evidence-based literature. This consisted in short episodes in the gym in which I focused solely on my past maximum lift, the heaviest weight I could haul, sort of the high watermark; the workout consisted in trying to exceed it once or twice, rather than spending time on time-consuming repetitions. The rest of the time was spent resting and, splurging on mafia-sized steaks. I have been trying to push my limit for four years now; it is amazing to watch how something in my biology anticipates a higher level than the past maximum —until it reaches its ceiling. When I deadlift (i.e., mimic lifting a stone to waist level) using a bar with three hundred and twenty pounds, then rest, I can safely expect that I will build a certain amount of additional strength as my body predicts that the next time I may need to lift three hundred and twenty-five pounds."

It took him 4 years to deadlift 325lbs, which he only does once or twice and then calls it a day.

I guess it beats Insanity or swinging around an 8 lb kettlebell.

edit:

I would put his lifting program in the same category as "Intellectual yet Idiot".

I know he's not scared of books, so why has he never cracked open a lifting book? No, he hired a 60 year old bodyguard who does a few max reps on the deadlift once a week and "he's totally big, bro".

He also claims that machines are inferior to freeweights because they have a fixed path, whereas each rep with the freeweight is slightly different. Then he goes on to say you should deadlift (lol), which is definitely a movement you don't want to do differently each rep or you risk injury.

If he was actually "antifragile" with his weightlifting, he'd just do convict conditioning three or four days a week and shut up. There is nothing antifragile about deadlifting an adjustable barbell in an air conditioned public gym. Ross Enamait is antifragile because he doesn't even need equipment to get stronger.

I understand that his reasoning was that "it's the most bang for your buck" or that it's natural or some shit, but I'd argue otherwise.

The ancients of old didn't have adjustable barbells. They likely picked up the heaviest rock they could until they could lift it with relative ease for ten or fifteen reps, then moved on to the next rock. Then they'd grab a lighter rock and press it over head until their arms fall off, then go to a tree branch and do chins.

Agreed 100%. It's truly shocking the number of brilliant people who are utterly retarded when it comes to the gym. Aaron Clarey put out a video recently about his gym regimen and I was honestly appalled by the stupidity of it.

Everything works for beginner lifters. Compliance is a significantly more important predictor of success than rep scheme. An older man is doing compound lifts and can deadlift significantly more than his bodyweight. This thread reads like a sewing circle. His workout is fine and he's happy with his results. Good for him.

Post: #17

(06-27-2016 08:20 PM)Days of Broken Arrows Wrote:  They lecturing on equality and whiteness while living in the whitest of white areas. They send their kids to all-white private schools and treat their (illegal) foreign maids and gardeners like servants.

The San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) is hysterical. It is overpacked with people leaving San Francisco and going home at rush hour. Almost everyone on the overpacked BART is white (or Asian). I bet 90 percent are liberals. After you get out of San Francisco the first 5-6 stops are in Oakland. No one gets off. lol. You look out the windows and see new apartment complexes, but there are black people walking in and out of the apartments, and none of these white (or asian) liberals on the train will live there. The BART eventually goes through a mountain tunnel and gets on the other side of Oakland, and these suburbs are only about 1% black or hispanic, and mostly white (with some asian). Everyone starts getting off at these stops. lol.

You overhear people on the BART grumbling about how expensive housing and rent is, yet it is way cheaper in Oakland and yet they will not live there. They grumble about how long their commute is, but Oakland is closer but they will not live near the blacks.

These same people go in the office and talk about all those stupid hicks in flyover country who are voting for Trump because they are evil and racist and bigoted and xenophobes and don't like diversity.

Post: #18

4 years to reach 325 on deadlift?



At 151 pounds I was pulling 300 after a year. But we should probably factor in that he doesn't go to the gym much (not that that somehow makes his # impressive, but still).

Post: #19

To be fair, no other resistance workout seems to engage the body anaerobically to the degree that dead-lifts and squats do.

Once you get used to them, you crave the exertion that really only they provide. Everything else just feels 'less' because it is more peripheral.

That's my subjective opinion as a former (pretty good) wrestler, football player, and baseball player. Without qualification, in terms of building muscle, I can state that working out with weights is vastly superior to body-weight exercises in my experience. You can get toned and build some muscle with the latter, but will never get close to maxing your potential the way you can with the former.

Taleb isn't referring to a different technique with barbell exercises providing the difference that provides for a less predictable rep to your muscles and nervous system, but merely the natural differences in each rep contained within the wobble of the bar or small shifts in the barbell path due to any number of factors that do not lead to injury but occur with every lifter in every set. Essentially, he's also referring to the engagement of stabilizer muscles that occurs less with machines.

Post: #20

(06-27-2016 08:26 PM)talvesh Wrote:  

(06-27-2016 07:59 PM)CatoRussell Wrote:  

(06-27-2016 06:52 PM)Hannibal Wrote:  

Nassim Taleb Wrote:"Rather than get lessons, I watched and tried to imitate the workout of a trainer who moonlighted as security person and looked the part. The exercise got me into a naturalistic form of weightlifting, and one that is in accordance with the evidence-based literature. This consisted in short episodes in the gym in which I focused solely on my past maximum lift, the heaviest weight I could haul, sort of the high watermark; the workout consisted in trying to exceed it once or twice, rather than spending time on time-consuming repetitions. The rest of the time was spent resting and, splurging on mafia-sized steaks. I have been trying to push my limit for four years now; it is amazing to watch how something in my biology anticipates a higher level than the past maximum —until it reaches its ceiling. When I deadlift (i.e., mimic lifting a stone to waist level) using a bar with three hundred and twenty pounds, then rest, I can safely expect that I will build a certain amount of additional strength as my body predicts that the next time I may need to lift three hundred and twenty-five pounds."

It took him 4 years to deadlift 325lbs, which he only does once or twice and then calls it a day.

I guess it beats Insanity or swinging around an 8 lb kettlebell.

edit:

I would put his lifting program in the same category as "Intellectual yet Idiot".

I know he's not scared of books, so why has he never cracked open a lifting book? No, he hired a 60 year old bodyguard who does a few max reps on the deadlift once a week and "he's totally big, bro".

He also claims that machines are inferior to freeweights because they have a fixed path, whereas each rep with the freeweight is slightly different. Then he goes on to say you should deadlift (lol), which is definitely a movement you don't want to do differently each rep or you risk injury.

If he was actually "antifragile" with his weightlifting, he'd just do convict conditioning three or four days a week and shut up. There is nothing antifragile about deadlifting an adjustable barbell in an air conditioned public gym. Ross Enamait is antifragile because he doesn't even need equipment to get stronger.

I understand that his reasoning was that "it's the most bang for your buck" or that it's natural or some shit, but I'd argue otherwise.

The ancients of old didn't have adjustable barbells. They likely picked up the heaviest rock they could until they could lift it with relative ease for ten or fifteen reps, then moved on to the next rock. Then they'd grab a lighter rock and press it over head until their arms fall off, then go to a tree branch and do chins.

Agreed 100%. It's truly shocking the number of brilliant people who are utterly retarded when it comes to the gym. Aaron Clarey put out a video recently about his gym regimen and I was honestly appalled by the stupidity of it.

Everything works for beginner lifters. Compliance is a significantly more important predictor of success than rep scheme. An older man is doing compound lifts and can deadlift significantly more than his bodyweight. This thread reads like a sewing circle. His workout is fine and he's happy with his results. Good for him.

Talking about guys who've been working out for years here. Didn't mention anything about rep scheme either. More like idiots out there who spin their wheels "recomping" and spend 99% of their time squatting and deadlifting for a few reps at a time while being smug about it. Dumb shit that goes well beyond minutiae.

Post: #21

(06-27-2016 08:26 PM)talvesh Wrote:  Everything works for beginner lifters. Compliance is a significantly more important predictor of success than rep scheme. An older man is doing compound lifts and can deadlift significantly more than his bodyweight. This thread reads like a sewing circle. His workout is fine and he's happy with his results. Good for him.

It's one thing to go to the gym and make it no one's business but your own what you're doing, it's another thing to say that to thousands or possibly millions of fans who trust that what you're saying is a good idea.

It is extremely unethical to make statements using your own authority outside of your area of expertise.

Given that Taleb has railed incessantly in the past against using anecdotal evidence like it's gospel (ie we don't make rules based on exceptions), it's really, really weird and uncharacteristic to exactly copy someone else's workout routine just because he's big (and probably fat as shit).

A bad deadlift is all the more possible because you're only doing it once a week. Good luck nailing down that technique when you're lifting as heavy as possible for one lousy rep each week.

Post: #22

Taleb is just hugely into the "caveman" lifestyle with a sprinkling of "enjoy it whilst you're here". I don't think he does it to get strong, or anything really, other than a belief that it will extend his lifespan.

I don't really see anything wrong with him just doing a few deadlifts now and then. He also loves a good story so I'd take the whole bodyguard thing with a pinch of salt.

You have to remember the world that he exists in and the people that read his work.

Post: #23

When you get older high volume deadlift workouts (at a decent percentage) are difficult to recover from. You can do them but the next day you wonder why you can't get out of bed.

Post: #24

Guys, focusing on how much Taleb deadlifts or how he trains is the equivalent of commenting on someone's grammar or spelling; it misses the whole point.

Taleb is not perfect, but he does not hold out himself to be an expert on weightlifting or strength training. His simple heuristic is that these people do not want to be strong in a classical sense. Weak bodies are a proxy for weak minds. That's the point.

Post: #25

(06-28-2016 02:57 AM)CrashBangWallop Wrote:  Taleb is just hugely into the "caveman" lifestyle with a sprinkling of "enjoy it whilst you're here". I don't think he does it to get strong, or anything really, other than a belief that it will extend his lifespan.

He also does interment fasting for the same 'caveman' reason. I've been following his works both in his printed word as well as the stuff he puts up online whether it be on his Twitter or the notebook on his website and he seems pretty big into folk wisdom on everything from medicine to working out. He said once that he doesn't lift on a regular schedule but instead does it randomly cause he think it simulates the conditions humans had spent most of their history experiencing: periods of calm with short bursts of high stress (ie. a hunter gatherer lounging around most of the time but then having to run away form a lion every now and then)