****Post Here to Make Suggestions on how to Improve the HYPERplasia Challenge.****

[Venom]

Attention all ABC members! The new round of The HYPERplasia Challenge is here! For information on what this is and how to sign up, read this, here. (http://www.abcbodybuilding.com/forum/showflat.php?Cat=0&Number=1180315&an=challenge&pag e=0#1180315)

We are continually trying to improve this challenge. And we would love to hear your guys feedback on ways you think we can make this better for each participant. Please post your suggestions here.

Concerning members of the previous HP challenge that did interviews, we have your suggestions already. But if you have additional suggestions to add, we would love to hear them.

[Njari]

Maybe we could identify the most important quantifiable variables that contribute to meeting this type of fitness goal. Then, all of the contestants should be required to submit their data in a uniform fashion (such as filling out a form). These variables could include <ul type="square"> daily caloric intake (as a percentage of maintenance intake) daily macronutrient intake as a fraction of lean body mass (protein/fat/carbs) # of meals per day # of sets per workout minutes of cardio (or # of sessions) per week # of workouts per week [/list]
You could also try to identify areas that could threaten the athlete's progress: <ul type="square"> rate each workout (1-10) # of sub-optimal workouts/week (such as having a score of less than 5/10) # of sub-optimal meals per week # of skipped workouts per week # of times that you spend so much time at ABCbodybuilding.com that you have no time left for your workout [/list]
OK, that last one is my cue to wrap it up! /forum/images/graemlins/wink.gif

If we submit this type of data in a uniform fashion, it could make for another insightful analysis of what makes a winner, and what holds the others back.

[TForce]

Skipped workouts per week? That is blasphemy in the HPC! /forum/images/graemlins/grin.gif

[Down 2 Die]

Those ideas would be excellent in regards to discovering what separates the winner from the winners who didn't get 1st place, but they seem so time-involving that it would lower my motivation to participate. That's just me though.

[tarheelsykes]

i think it would be great to see an update of how everyone compares every 2-3 weeks. Last time we had a comparison at the midpoint, and then at the end. to be able to compare more throughout would be great.

[Njari]

[ QUOTE ]
Those ideas would be excellent in regards to discovering what separates the winner from the winners who didn't get 1st place, but they seem so time-involving that it would lower my motivation to participate. That's just me though.

[/ QUOTE ]
Hmm, thats a good point. If a survey like this is done, it should be as short as possible (only including the most important questions).

[sucramdw]

[ QUOTE ]
Those ideas would be excellent in regards to discovering what separates the winner from the winners who didn't get 1st place, but they seem so time-involving that it would lower my motivation to participate. That's just me though.

[/ QUOTE ]
Yep, we dont want to raise the controlling aspect of this because like you said that would lower motivation.

[stillflabby]

I would like to enter this, however, I'm not sure I could stick with it for 8 weeks.
I would love to, but family life kind of takes precedence. It's hard for me to stick to a diet when my family (wife and kids) are expecting me to join in meals and such.
It might be what I need to get me on the right track and STAY there as far as diet is concerned.

I need to cut...hard. I think I'll have to discuss this with my wife before committing.

For some reason I do not understand, this creates anxiety in my just thinking about it...what is wrong with me?

[Venom]

Hey, SF

There is no reason for this to create anxiety. Remember, that is catabolic. /forum/images/graemlins/wink.gif

If you enter the challenge, you have absolutely no obligation to finish it. This is a free choice activity that we want you to enjoy and hopefully, benefit from. But I understand that you want to make a realistic commitment before giving it a shot, so definitely discuss it with your family. In fact, evidence strongly suggests that social facilitation is one of the most effective methods. I would highly advise getting your family to support you—don’t do this on your own!

[Venom]

I think you make some great suggestions, Njari

As you guys know from the current issue of JHR, we certainly should be careful with deadlines and controlling factors. I believe making this a free choice method would be a good idea. But I would stress the importance of it.

Try to keep in mind, that I would like to take this data, and do an article on it. So we should come up with a theme, hypothesis, and stick to it.

One interesting piece of data would be correlations. There are so many things that we could correlate!

[stillflabby]

thanks venom, I'm feeling better about it, between yours and other's posts.

[Njari]

So I had an idea--I've been reading Stephen Covey's "Seven Habits of Highly Efective People" (actually, I'm listening to it on my ipod at the lab--gotta squeeze more producivity out of my day!). I'm brainstorming to find bodybuilding applications for his concepts. I'll try to flesh them out in time for my cut: "The seven habits of a highly effective cut! /forum/images/graemlins/cool.gif"

I've got one concept ready now: Covey talks about 3 levels of personal development: dependence, independence, and finally, interdependence.

How might the bodybuilder experience these?

Well, as a newbie, we are dependent on our training partner--they guide us in all aspects. Then, we discover ABCbodybuilding, and with our newfound knowledge base, we become independent. But the final level, interdependence, requires a supportive interaction with others wherin we trust and depend on our peers so as to foster our collective success. The HYPERplasia challenge is crafted to create an amazingly supportive environment (great job, morderators!) but maybe we could make it even more interdependent (as opposed to simply supportive.
<font color="red">
For example, we could have a sub-competition wherein the cutters challenge the bulkers: whichever category has a higher cumulative score (adding up the points of all the participants in the category) wins! In this competition, we all contribute to the success of our team--we don't compete against them, we comete with them! Moreover, we all share in the success. When we have great results, we see our team score increase. Conversely, when we fail, we let everyone down.</font>

Technical details of this plan:
The moderators might structure the scoring in any number of ways. For example, you could compare cumulative score, or points per participant. The latter might make more sense if we have way more participants in a single category. However, I dislike the latter approach because it tends to emphasize failure (in the averaging approach, a low-scoring participant will actually lower the score of the team, but in the cumulative approach, a low scoring participant will still increase the score of the team). However, the former approach will let each participant's results have a greater impact on the overall team score, which will maximize the psychological impact of our performance.

Furthermore, I noticed that last challenge, the bulkers scored way more points than the cutters. This could be due to physiological differences (maybe it is much easier to put on mass than to cut), or maybe it was due to small sample size. So far, we have slightly more cutters than bulker, so maybe this will help offset the problem.

So what do you guys think?

[Awesome]

I really like the idea, but since there are so many people joining...maybe just teams could be made? 3-5 people or so maybe. And you wouldn't have to join a team if you don't want to...i don't know...just throwing out more ideas...but i do infact like yours!

[Njari]

I think you're right--small teams sound like a great idea. Maybe there should be a requirement that each team include a first-timer (to help support the new guys and even out the teams).

I think that's a great idea! Having small teams like that would be awesome!

[Awesome]

[ QUOTE ]
I think that's a great idea! Having small teams like that would be awesome!

[/ QUOTE ]

With good support through your team, motivation would just sky rocket!

[TheMac]

Teams are an awsome idea!

I feel that most people who dropped out (me included) would not have if they were on a team, awsome idea!

[MJR]

sounds cool

[Awesome]

Let's hope the admins like it as much as us! /forum/images/graemlins/grin.gif

[jth16]

Great idea bud! I love the idea of teams. That would really keep me motivated. I hope the admins discuss this :-D

[Streetman]

I'd like a place that I can post my workouts, meals, and body measurements. Not just me creating a thread where I journal it free form, but a little section that I can do to that has places for meals, p/c/f, time, suppliments, workout sets/reps/weight, cardio time/intensity.

Just gimme a form to fill out. This, I think, would also promote the site some, as I know I'll be posting links to it on other sites. That is, I'm on a few other boards, and every one is a little different. This is the most technical, by far, so I would like to keep all that here.

But when I'm talking inpiration with someone at www.bodyforlifers.com (http://www.bodyforlifers.com), and they ask, "exactly what do you do?" I can then post go to www.abcbodybuilding.com... (http://www.abcbodybuilding.com...)

You dig?

[Awesome]

[ QUOTE ]
I'd like a place that I can post my workouts, meals, and body measurements. Not just me creating a thread where I journal it free form, but a little section that I can do to that has places for meals, p/c/f, time, suppliments, workout sets/reps/weight, cardio time/intensity.

Just gimme a form to fill out. This, I think, would also promote the site some, as I know I'll be posting links to it on other sites. That is, I'm on a few other boards, and every one is a little different. This is the most technical, by far, so I would like to keep all that here.

But when I'm talking inpiration with someone at www.bodyforlifers.com (http://www.bodyforlifers.com), and they ask, "exactly what do you do?" I can then post go to www.abcbodybuilding.com... (http://www.abcbodybuilding.com...)

You dig?

[/ QUOTE ]

Wouldn't it be faster to just type it up? (or put it in an excel program)

...can't copy/paste very efficiently in forms.

[Damien Voorhees]

Venom,
Could the challenge be 9-weeks to allow for a taper in the middle? Just a thought! Thanks.

[newbuilder]

I don't even know what hyperplasia is!! LOL

[Venom]

Damien,

I would need several people to request this to make that adjustment. If you send me a petition with names, I could change it to 9 weeks. /forum/images/graemlins/smile.gif

Streetman,

I was actually going to do that, based in large part to a recommendation made by Coz. It was not going to be as elaborative, as you suggested though. But I could work on that.

Newbuilder,

I'll write something quick on it in the HP challenge article. /forum/images/graemlins/wink.gif

Get back to you guys on teams momentarily. I definitely want to facilitate what you guys want, but I just have to think of how to optimize that situation.

[JoeGT]

It's much easier to let yourself down that to let your team down. Teams sound like an awesome idea.

[Venom]

Njari,

I think that is a great idea!

However, I would rather this not be a competition, based on my research article last month (click here to read, The HYPERplasia Challenge Research Article. (http://www.abcbodybuilding.com/hpresearch.php)). Just having a group working with you in itself should be enough incentive motivation, and I see no dangerous downsides to it.

You guys can be in charge of this. I will put a link to your thread in my article that I am about to publish, but you guys can handle the rest.

Njari, since you came up with the idea, if you would like, you could post a thread within this forum, detailing how this will work, and I will place it on sticky for you. However you guys want to do it is ok with me, unless stated otherwise. It is purely optional however, to join.

Let me know if I could assist in anyway.

[Venom]

I posted all you need to know about the challenge on the front page, and how to take caliper measurements.

I made the research article, in large part based on Njari's ideas. Thanks!

If you guys have any critiques, or recommendations, let me know.

[Njari]

[ QUOTE ]
Njari,

I think that is a great idea!

However, I would rather this not be a competition, based on my research article last month (click here to read, The HYPERplasia Challenge Research Article. (http://www.abcbodybuilding.com/hpresearch.php)). Just having a group working with you in itself should be enough incentive motivation, and I see no dangerous downsides to it.

You guys can be in charge of this. I will put a link to your thread in my article that I am about to publish, but you guys can handle the rest.

Njari, since you came up with the idea, if you would like, you could post a thread within this forum, detailing how this will work, and I will place it on sticky for you. However you guys want to do it is ok with me, unless stated otherwise. It is purely optional however, to join.

Let me know if I could assist in anyway.

[/ QUOTE ]

Done!