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Beginner's Health and Fitness Guide

liamrosen.com

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Re: Beginner's Health and Fitness Guide

#21

Post by hugh3 »

tyweir wrote: post #20

Looks pretty good. Two points that I'd not follow. Diet: Eating grains. Gluten is pretty much evil for everyone, including non-Celiacs. Google for "paleo diet" or "gluten autoimmune" to get a sense of gluten's impact. Also check out the "Save my Life" HN thread for more info about gluten-free/paleo. http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1399450 Exercise: Cardio, long slow distance is pretty much useless. High intensity…

Those two points seem to me like fringe advice. I'm sure if I googled "gluten autoimmune" and "tabata intervals" I'd find a bunch of people agreeing with you, but no more than I'd find with any number of other fad diets or exercise regimes.

It'd take a helluva lot of evidence to persuade me that eating grains is bad, because... heck, grains are tasty, and the vast majority of humans who have lived over the last five thousand years have had grain-based diets with no obvious ill effects. Likewise, if you think long slow-distance cardio is pretty much useless, go watch long-distance runners for a while.

My advice to anyone who is unfit and wants to be fit is to ignore everybody who's trying to sell you some very specific idea of what you have to do, and just concentrate on doing the lowest-common-denominator stuff: eat less junk, do more exercise.

Re: Beginner's Health and Fitness Guide

#23

Post by thompo »

some extra programs if you're looking for more templated options:

http://www.rosstraining.com/nevergymless.html

Ross Enamait's "Never Gymless" - this guy will turn you into a freak of nature ... without a gym. Also be sure to check out "Infinite Intensity" and his other programs as well.

http://www.defrancostraining.com/articles/38-articles/65-wes...

West Side for Skinny Bastards 3 by Joe DeFranco - a four day split involving max effort, dynamic effort, and repetition days.

http://www.aasgaardco.com/store/store.php?crn=199&rn=312...

Starting Strength by Mark Rippetoe - one of the best books as far as learning the basics of barbell movements and how to apply them successfully. Also check out "Practical Programming" which will help you scale your workouts to beginner, intermediate, and advanced programs as you progress.

And finally, if you're looking for a way to get a quick and brutal (did i mention brutal??) cardio workout, I highly suggest high intensity interval training (HIIT) in the form of barbell complexes.

http://www.tmuscle.com/free_online_article/sports_body_train...

I highly suggest Cosgrove's Evil 8 complex, you'll be entirely gassed in about ten minutes. Complexes are GREAT for people looking to build mass and continue doing high intensity cardio without the catabolism (muscle breakdown) associated with slower, long duration cardio.

Re: Beginner's Health and Fitness Guide

#24

Post by percept »

gb wrote: post #3
gfunk911 wrote: post #2

Great article, agree with pretty much everything. The one advantage of machines over free weights is that the machine will enforce your form. If you are able to maintain form with free weights, the effort exerted to do so is an added bonus, but if you aren't, it's not good. I started with machines, and every couple workouts replaced a machine exercise with a free weight exercise. This helped me get started, and let m…

That's also why they're "bad" though, when you let the machine handle your form you aren't getting the full benefit of the exercise.

Even worse, machines may enforce unnatural and potentially dangerous form (Smith machines are particularly linear, for example).

Free weights can be more forgiving when your form is a bit off (versus being locked into a groove that leads to a pull or tear).

Re: Beginner's Health and Fitness Guide

#25

Post by warpwoof »

liedra wrote: post #5

This is a great article, makes me want to get off my bum and do some exercise :) One thing I'd like to know is, for women, yoga and pilates and all that seems to be quite fashionable these days, but they don't tend to be either cardio or weightlifting -- what sort of effect do they have on the body?

Things like yoga will stimulate the body and build strength to a degree, but that is a much less efficient way to get in shape, in my opinion.

One of the reasons compound lifts moving heavy weight are so important is the effect they have on your entire body. Doing heavy squats recruits nearly every muscle in your body. But it doesn't just stimulate those muscles, it also stimulates your central nervous system.

Doing something hard enough to get the attention of the CNS is important to making progress, since, for example, the CNS will respond by releasing more hormones such as growth hormone.

Doing full squats with your bodyweight on the barbell 15 times (3 sets of 5) is like screaming at your body to get in shape and it will respond. Doing yoga might be like gently asking.

This isn't to say yoga isn't beneficial, it's just not the most efficient way to get in shape.

Re: Beginner's Health and Fitness Guide

#26

Post by tyweir »

hugh3 wrote: post #21
tyweir wrote: post #20

Looks pretty good. Two points that I'd not follow. Diet: Eating grains. Gluten is pretty much evil for everyone, including non-Celiacs. Google for "paleo diet" or "gluten autoimmune" to get a sense of gluten's impact. Also check out the "Save my Life" HN thread for more info about gluten-free/paleo. http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1399450 Exercise: Cardio, long slow distance is pretty much useless. High intensity…

Those two points seem to me like fringe advice. I'm sure if I googled "gluten autoimmune" and "tabata intervals" I'd find a bunch of people agreeing with you, but no more than I'd find with any number of other fad diets or exercise regimes. It'd take a helluva lot of evidence to persuade me that eating grains is bad, because... heck, grains are tasty, and the vast majority of humans who have lived over the last five…

I understand your viewpoint and opinion, as I've run into it before.

I'm going to disagree that gluten has had "no obvious ill effects" because I've seen the changes in my clients lives, experienced it my self (gluten-intolerant) and my mother (Celiac). And your argument that eating grains is not bad because they taste good is preposterous.

As for LSD, can you tell what appeals to you about the physique of a marathoner?

Changing peoples eating and exercise habits is like getting people to quit smoking, they need to have the impetus to start, outside advice/encouragement only goes so far.

"eat less junk, do more exercise." I guess we differ on what "junk" is.

Re: Beginner's Health and Fitness Guide

#27

Post by KirinDave »

hugh3 wrote: post #18
KirinDave wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

40 lbs in less than 6 months represents a massive drop in your weight. Anytime you're losing more than 5lbs a month you're asking for trouble, especially when there isn't some kind of significant and readily identifiable reason for previous weight gain (e.g., hypothyroidism, limb injury, etc). While sudden drops of weightloss right at the start of a major lifestyle change are pretty normal, if you continue at this ra…

I disagree. Anything up to 2 lb per week is a reasonably healthy rate of weight loss, especially if you're quite overweight to start with. Losing 40 lb in six months is both perfectly healthy and a damn good achievement.

I'm not saying it's not great, but it's not a sustainable rate of weight loss if your goal is to lose a lot of weight.

When I cut soda from my diet I lost 10lbs in a month. In a month! And then it tailed off and I was depressed because I couldn't sustain it, I had unreasonable expectations. And if you're losing 2lbs a week for a very long period of time, it can be an indicator of underlying medical issues.

Re: Beginner's Health and Fitness Guide

#28

Post by fr0man »

hugh3 wrote: post #18
KirinDave wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

40 lbs in less than 6 months represents a massive drop in your weight. Anytime you're losing more than 5lbs a month you're asking for trouble, especially when there isn't some kind of significant and readily identifiable reason for previous weight gain (e.g., hypothyroidism, limb injury, etc). While sudden drops of weightloss right at the start of a major lifestyle change are pretty normal, if you continue at this ra…

I disagree. Anything up to 2 lb per week is a reasonably healthy rate of weight loss, especially if you're quite overweight to start with. Losing 40 lb in six months is both perfectly healthy and a damn good achievement.

Agreed. I think 1 lb per week is more in line with the doctor recommended rate, but 2 lb per week is the threshold you're not supposed to cross. 8 lbs per month in 5 months is right at that. That is a damn good achievement.

Re: Beginner's Health and Fitness Guide

#29

Post by unperson »

KirinDave wrote: post #12
earlyresort wrote: post #7

I can swear by this - I've lost almost forty pounds since New Year's by cutting out the danishes, making my own lunches, and going to the gym regularly for weight lifting and cardio. The only thing I'd add - working out is time-consuming, and getting started at a gym is both hard and intimidating. Gyms themselves are counting on you to stop going - that's how they make their money. If you're having trouble getting st…

40 lbs in less than 6 months represents a massive drop in your weight. Anytime you're losing more than 5lbs a month you're asking for trouble, especially when there isn't some kind of significant and readily identifiable reason for previous weight gain (e.g., hypothyroidism, limb injury, etc). While sudden drops of weightloss right at the start of a major lifestyle change are pretty normal, if you continue at this ra…

Are you a doctor or otherwise qualified to make the above assertion? Not trying to be confrontational, but very tired of continually seeing people spout information they read somewhere as if it was written-in-stone-fact, even though they have no expertise in the given field.

Re: Beginner's Health and Fitness Guide

#30

Post by matwood »

earlyresort wrote: post #7

I can swear by this - I've lost almost forty pounds since New Year's by cutting out the danishes, making my own lunches, and going to the gym regularly for weight lifting and cardio. The only thing I'd add - working out is time-consuming, and getting started at a gym is both hard and intimidating. Gyms themselves are counting on you to stop going - that's how they make their money. If you're having trouble getting st…

First off, great job!

Working out really doesn't take that long. Most studies have shown that a typical non-steroid using weight training session only needs to last 45 minutes to an hour. After that time period, unless you consuming calories during the session the results you can get drop off dramatically from diminishing returns.

I agree that the biggest hurdle with people going to a gym is the intimidation factor. I'm in the gym 4 times/week and love seeing people who start and keep going. I want to tell them how awesome it is that they are doing it, but am never sure if that's the right thing to do some stranger lol.

If you can afford it the personal trainer is a great idea. The only problem is that many PTs plain out suck. I would try to do a session with one before committing to anything long term with a particular person. There are personality and knowledge factors that as a client you want to find out early.

Your story is also very common and is why a friend of mine is opening a gym that will cater to people who need a PT and are generally intimidated about the process. Obviously it will be a smaller niche gym, but I think it will work out pretty well.

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