Went away for a while, came back and read a couple of threads... yep, everything is still the same. I've been stuck in a continuous loop of facepalm.

Yes, you need to train your legs.
No, running doesn't count.

Yes, you can gain size with 5 reps or less.
No, it won't make you look like a powerlifter.

Yes, protein is necessary.
No, you don't need to supplement it. Get it from food.

Yes, machines can be useful.
No, they're not nearly as useful as free weight, compound exercises.

Yes, arms are important for looks.
No, you don't need to isolate them. Lifting heavy will take care of them.

Yes, ab training will strengthen your abs.
No, it's not critical, and you probably don't even need to do it.

Yes, macronutrient levels are important.
No, it doesn't matter too much, just get a fair amount of protein and enough carbs/calories that you have plenty of energy.

Yes, supplements are useful.
No, they're not nearly as useful as just sleeping more, eating more or training better, all of which are much cheaper.

Yes, it's good to change your routine occasionally.
No, you shouldn't be doing this to 'shock the muscles', or before you've given the current routine enough time to make solid progress on it.

I'm new here so I don't know the general attitude of this board yet, but I'm glad to see at least one other person gets it.

Amen brotha

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All of the above is true. Except for the part about arms. The guys that say my tris get enough work from training chest/shoulders or the guys that say their bi's get enough from back are full of shit. If you are genetically gifted the most you can get away with is not training smaller bodyparts such as forearms, traps, calves, and abs. But thats the very very few and fortunate.

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Lagging arms can quite easily be fixed with weighted dips and weighted chinups/pullups. Neither of which are isolation, and which you should probably be doing anyway. Regardless, biceps will get decent development from rows (particularly if done underhanded) and triceps will get great development from bench/OHP.

exercises like dips and close grip bench are useful for building tri's, but underhand rows will not build biceps unless it suits your structure and even then its still shouldnt be a staple in a biceps routine. I've been doing underhand rows for years and its built me a great back but my bi's still suck.

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this should be stickiest as
Common myths of working out. Thats all so true, but hes speaking in terms of strength.power lifter.

These guys want the buff appearance i think, body builder style so machines and biceps curls and all that are ok. Its just that they should know that the muscles will mean nothing except eye candy.

I agree with the overall sentiment on this, but I think getting more nutrients while it may not be very important in your muscle building will be beneficial in overall well-being and longevity. They also become far more important as you get older and muscle mass retention becomes harder without iron and vitamin c.

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Size and strength are not the same, but they're very, very closely related. It's not like you see powerlifters squatting 350kg with chicken legs, nor do you see bodybuilders benching less than 100kg for a max. Everything I said still applies to bodybuilding up to a point. Of course, those looking to compete or work in the field professionally will need supplements, more isolation, etc. However, for the typical user on this forum, who just wants a decently muscled body and a six-pack, my advice holds true. Supplements/machines/etc are tweaks to a fitness regime, not the basis.

tl;dr: No, everything I said still applies to someone who just wants to look good.
Nutrients are very important for health, yes, which is part of the reason why eating food is so much better than taking a protein shake. Generally, protein powders and supplements have minimal, if any micronutrients in them, and the macronutrients (protein/carbs) are of inferior quality to those you can get just from eating meat, fruit, veg, etc. Notice I was just talking about macronutrients.
I would hazard a guess that you're not rowing enough weight. I did nothing for biceps but rows for half a year from the point I started training, and still got great growth. Right now, all I do for biceps is rows and chinups, and I still have bigger biceps than my mates who seemingly train arms 3x a week and only talk about how much each of them can curl.

ah yeh, sorry bud, sorta skimmed it, real food all the way!

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Even the most naturally gifted can learn to become better.

Its a structural thing. Not every exercise or technique is going to build the same mass in every person. We all have different length tendons ligaments, muscle insertions and attachments. Every single person on the planet has a unique musculature. We all have the same bones and muscle groups but they arent all built the same way. Some people feel underhand rows in their arms, I dont at all.

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Again, far more likely to be a weight or form issue rather than a body issue. Small factors (muscle insertions, etc) rarely impact on the mechanics of the exercise to a noticeable degree. It wouldn't be to such a point where one person gets massive bicep activation and the other doesn't, simply because of long vs short attachments.

Proportions, skeletal structure, etc can be huge issues, particularly manifesting themselves in the deadlift to squat/bench stats - long arms don't have to lift the DL weight as far, but have to bench further, meaning their DL will proportionally be higher. But those are LARGE issues, and the row is just about entirely exempt from them.

IMO (I don't know you, obviously, but from what I know), it's gonna be form or weight. A different back angle or different bar movement (bringing the bar to the waist is mechanically different from bringing it to the stomach or ribs, for instance) may change your arm activation.

Besides the typo I agree with the title of this thread; however, I apply this statement to the entire forum (in general with few acceptions) instead of a section of the forum.