The Original Snow flake.

No two snow flakes are alike.  Each and every one is different.

Let’s start with an introduction on snowflake formation. As you’re probably aware, evaporation from lakes and rivers send water vapor up into the atmosphere. That water vapor gathers in clouds.

Water molecules in clouds engage in a complex dance of phase changes. Variables such as temperature, pressure and even the presence of dust can affect snow formation. When it gets cold, the gaseous molecules want to enter the liquid phase, but it’s much easier for them to do so if they can find a solid on which to settle.

A cloud is essentially a mass of water vapor molecules that have found dust particles and condensed into water. As a cloud cools, a few of the droplets begin to freeze, while others resist turning to a solid. Some even evaporate back into their water vapor form. When the water vapor molecules come into contact with a frozen droplet, they freeze into a solid. Skipping the liquid phase is crucial to the snowflake process: It’s the difference between getting an ice droplet and a flake.

Infant snowflakes show little variation in their hexagonal design. If the process stopped here, all snowflakes would be visibly indistinguishable, 10-molecule structures. But it doesn’t stop there. Parts of the growing snow crystal have rough edges, or bonds, dangling off their sides, which are better at attracting other water molecules than the smoother parts of the hexagon. As more water vapor molecules settle on these bonds, the rough edges become a relatively large protuberance with its own rough edges, which attract more water molecules. Through this process, the rough edge becomes a branch of the crystal. Eventually the branches develop their own rough edges, which develop into sub-branches of the original branch, and so on.

The temperature and humidity also affect how new water vapor molecules bond to the growing snowflake. Warmer, drier conditions tend to create solid plates and prism shapes. As conditions in the cloud get colder and more moist, the beautiful winter-wonderland-type snowflakes become more common.

Now that our physics lesson is over, let's move on.

Sam and Justin just started working out.  Sam's done all of the research on what tempo, rest times, movements and weights to use.  Justin picked up Arnold's Encyclopedia of Modern Bodybuilding

Justin gets up in the morning and does some fasted cardio before his breakfast shake, he might drink some black coffee if he's needing a kickstart.  Sam on the other hand slams some Mag-10 and does some light brisk walking on a treadmill before his breakfst.

When it comes time to hit the gym Sam goes in and does foam rolling, dynamic stretching, and drinks his peri workout nutrition before he goes and starts his routine for the day.  Sam's got a big day of bench pressing ahead, just bench pressing. He'll eventually work up to a training max for the day, drop the weight a bit and crank out some heavy clusters and some other out of the "norm" stuff.

Justin walks in the weight room, warms up with some jump rope and push ups.  He's barefoot, in some short sorts and no t-shirt.  He starts his routine off with some dumbbell bench pressing before moving to the inclined bench for some heavy sets of 8, then he moves to the cable station for some cross overs, sets of 15, you can see the strain in his face and his pecs contracting at the top of each rep which turns out to be short of a full range of motion.

Two guys, same goals, different approaches.  Why?   Is Sam trying to be "original"? Or is Justin trying to mimic the "original".

We see this in the fitness industry a lot.  Someone comes out with something different from the "norm" suggesting it's the latest and greatest.  Sure it could be, but is it?  Or are they just trying to be different?

It's often said people aren't snow flakes.  What works will simply work.  While that may be true, we need to take other things into account.  Fitness level, strength levels, training age ( 5 months, 5 years, 15 years ), personal preferences, goals, etc.

Originality Complex is what I call it when people create something "new" for the sake of being different.  Everyone needs their thing to make them unique, this is a good thing.  However it's a bad thing when it's done and they completely ignore time proven methods and instantly dismiss them.

Everything works until it doesn't.  Results are what matters, however the path to get there is important.  You don't want to go on a road trip and have 2 blow outs and over heat twice, do you?  No, you want to make it to Vegas with the least amount of bumps in the road and minimal traffic.

I'm not picking one side over the other.  I have my personal feelings based on what I've learned and tried.  So should you.  Do not blindly follow a method, whether it's in the gym, school or work.  Ask questions, find what works best for you.

In this regard we are all special snow flakes.  Just remember when you learn something "new and original" that it's probably recycled from something from a few years ago.  Everything comes full circle.

Now excuse me, I've got mag-10 to go drink and sets of 15 cable cross overs to do.