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This Is Why You Don't Go to the Gym

theatlantic.com

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Re: This Is Why You Don't Go to the Gym

#121

Post by Freestyler_3 »

I am one of those people that doesn't have a reason to go to the gym so I never promise myself to go. And since I look at my money situation before spending it, I know it is too expensive due to the risk of ending up not going but still paying. People with money to spend easily spend it on things they don't need. Too bad not everyone is really conscious about their ways so they think they can promise themselves something but in reality there is a super high probability they won't keep the promise to themselves.

You can tell people a hundred times they won't keep their promise and the reason and whatever, they will still think they can keep it because their motivation is still high because they haven't done anything yet.

Gyms here have trials.

Re: This Is Why You Don't Go to the Gym

#122

Post by Detrus »

billswift wrote: post #75
Detrus wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I bought a weight set. It also stares at me every day. And I work out almost every day. I don't have serious motivational problems. I could go to a gym in theory, but it's at least 20 minutes away, there would be a whole ritual to dress up, go there, workout, cool off, come back. It would take an extra hour and I imagine many gym goers are paying extra in time to work out. It wears on your motivation. I know I'd skip…

>Standard barbells can't handle more than 230 lbs safely. Did you get a hollow bar or something? I regularly deadlift 350# on my 6 foot standard bar with no problems. And I haven't seen any claims about safety issues elsewhere. If you actually look at the bars, the central section when the maximum loading is is the same diameter on standard and Olympic bars.

I don't know if it's hollow. It's ~10 lbs, 5ft, came with a cheap 110 lb weight set.

I googled up standard barbell weight capacity and most responses on forums and articles say that standards are only rated for ~230 lbs. This one says 300 http://www.building-muscle101.com/weight-lifting-equipment.h... this guy says ~200 http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=945996&pa...

Here it says 200 for 5ft http://www.bigfitness.com/noname8.html and 250 for 6ft http://www.bigfitness.com/weigbarbr6st1.html

It's a nightmare trying to find out the specs. I prefer a 5ft bar. Say I get more plates and this bar can't handle them, then I have to try other bars. I wish I could sell this weight set and get olympics. No worries about capacities there.

Re: This Is Why You Don't Go to the Gym

#123

Post by dredmorbius »

kemayo wrote: post #59
GBKS wrote: post #56

I think those theories are missing the main point. Going to the gym is not fun, because gyms have a crappy user experience. So let's say you join a gym, but don't know very much about working out. You walk into a room with hundreds of machines, and are expected to know how to structure a work-out, how each machine works, be familiar with all the muscle groups and exercises, and also really care about planning out and…

For what it's worth, when I joined my gym they gave a free personal trainer session, and said trainer walked me through some things. (It was obviously an attempt to upsell me, by showing what a personal trainer would keep on doing for me, but it was still a helpful newbie service.) Also, all the machines have little informative placards on them explaining which muscles they work and how to use them. I think they're a…

I've very, very rarely seen an intro session that wasn't an upsell.

The one moderate exception was at a managed on-site gym at a workplace when I first started out. I got a training program that I followed with some success for the next nine months, losing 50# of bodyfat and gaining 12# of muscle in the process (verified by hydrostatic testing).

Today I'd have done a rather different route, but, hey, it worked. That of course is the novice's advantage: virtually any crap program is better than sitting on your ass. The question is: what is going to work best.

For most otherwise healthy people these days I'd say a 5x5 strength program with 2-3x weekly HIIT cardio sessions (Tabata anything after a month or two).

Re: This Is Why You Don't Go to the Gym

#124

Post by nunb »

Samuel_Michon wrote: post #10

One of the articles the author links to is a lot more helpful and concrete [1]. The meat of it: "Shaul’s guys out in Wyoming get massively strong and powerful on precisely three gym sessions a week, each lasting an hour and no more. Louie Simmons, the single biggest name in gorilla-style competitive power lifting, will tell you that 45 minutes is the max length of any smart training session. But you can’t spend the f…

If anyone wants to see just how bare-bones Shaul's gym is, he's got a channel on Youtube. This was the guide I used to make my sandbags (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8j6yE8LbQTg).

The fastest way to get started on this kind of program imho, is to look up youtube videos of the exercises, and pick up a smartphone tracker. I use Strength by Airlock Software on Android. (Lite version URI https://market.android.com/details?id=com.airlocksoftware.st... and the creator also recently released an excellent HN reader on Android)

There's no point doing a program like this without keeping logs, and a smartphone is the easiest way to do that. That particular app is also very newbie friendly.

Finally, once your weights increase, please spend more time learning technique. Look up Squat RX, "So you think you can Squat" etc. Videos imho are best, though if you want to really geek out, read Rippetoe, Verstegen, McRobert, Kilgore etc too.

Re: This Is Why You Don't Go to the Gym

#125

Post by nunb »

jmduke wrote: post #78
Samuel_Michon wrote: post #10

One of the articles the author links to is a lot more helpful and concrete [1]. The meat of it: "Shaul’s guys out in Wyoming get massively strong and powerful on precisely three gym sessions a week, each lasting an hour and no more. Louie Simmons, the single biggest name in gorilla-style competitive power lifting, will tell you that 45 minutes is the max length of any smart training session. But you can’t spend the f…

That 'supercompensation peak' is pure soft science, but the overall message is dead on: if you're at the gym, act like it. It boggles the mind to see people my age baffled at their inability to lose weight when their cardio involves reading a magazine while on a stationary bike and their weightlifting involves bicep curls.

Can you cite some links that I can look up? "supercompensation peak" appears to be too general a search term.

Re: This Is Why You Don't Go to the Gym

#126

Post by __rkaup__ »

Swizec wrote: post #108
fragsworth wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

All the literature I've read for bodybuilding says your reps should be in the 8 to 12 range, and higher reps leads to more muscle endurance without much muscle growth.

Yes, 4 sets of 8 to 12 reps. Takes, say, 1.5min to do the reps. 1 minute of pause in between. Four exercises per muscle group. Two muscle groups per training session. So you're looking at (4x1.5+4x1)x4x2 = 80 minutes == 1 hour 20 minutes minimum. Without counting the time to move from one exercise to another, without changing your clothes, without falling into a conversation with a fellow gym member, without waiting…

Where do you get 90 seconds per set from? 4 seconds per rep would be 32-48 seconds.

Re: This Is Why You Don't Go to the Gym

#127

Post by Dylanlacey »

euroclydon wrote: post #101
maalox wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Dreamhost suckered me that way. A few years ago they offered a limited time special anniversary discount (only 11 days left!!), however, the anniversary sale was still on months later and there were only 11 days left!! I will never, ever use them again for doing that to me.

Oh come on. They're a hosting company. How was their service? Didn't you know what you were getting for the money? Would you have waited for hosting until a special offer came along?

How was their honesty? How was their transparency? How was their respect for their customers?
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