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Show HN: Workout.lol – a web app to easily create a workout routine

workout.lol

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Re: Show HN: Workout.lol – a web app to easily create a workout routine

#261

Post by lukas099 »

procinct wrote: post #253
lukas099 wrote: post #205

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Post proof that exercise variety is detrimental to achieving lifting goals. I'll concede that if you are competing in a strength sport, it is best to focus on the movements in that sport.

They’re likely just meaning it makes it harder to progressive overload. If you stick to a programme, you know it’s just about modifying weight, reps, rest, time under tension etc. But if you are changing exercises constantly, it can be difficult to know what weight or rep range will get the right results from that exercise since it’s not really comparable to another exercise.

It might be harder to track your progress, but progress will be made nevertheless.

Re: Show HN: Workout.lol – a web app to easily create a workout routine

#262

Post by maerF0x0 »

bjornasm wrote: post #203
maerF0x0 wrote: post #194

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Variety can make the difference in motivation. If that's what you lack, then so be it. But it's detrimental to a progressive/scienctific-like approach to lifting. We want to know that over time we're getting progressive overload. That means you need consistency to watch that 1) The weight goes up for the same reps, or 2) the reps go up for the same weight (or 3, both). Unfortunately exercises are not direct replaceme…

>But it's detrimental to a progressive/scienctific-like approach to lifting. Uh, sources for that? As I powerlifter I have lifted with world class lifter who have a huge variations in their exercises. Bands,chains, boxes, pause/no pause, grip width, stance width.

Yes, of course a single exceptional exception makes it true.

The reason that works for a world class athelete is because they're extremely careful and persistent to periodize and have progressive overload.

Unless the commenter is an equivalent exception, it's bad advice to follow that, or any other, kind of advice from exceptional genetic folks.

It's very difficult to select the correct weight for an exercise when you're constantly changing it up.

What you're describing are simple modifications as a form of progression. Adding a band to a barbell bench press is still a barbell bench press. But going from barbell bench press, to weighted push up, to (incline|decline|flat) dumbbell bench, to iso lateral hammer machine, to smith, to (low, mid high) (cable, bench) flyes, to dips, to ... Is detrimental.

Most folks should try 12 weeks of the exact same exercise per body part with a RIR3, RIR2, RIR1, RIR0 cycle. (increasing weight each week and from cycle to cycle) . And most folks can do a reasonable selection of exercises for a year or two before they need to tweak for imbalance or personal details like insertions, or weaknesses.

Re: Show HN: Workout.lol – a web app to easily create a workout routine

#263

Post by maerF0x0 »

lukas099 wrote: post #261
procinct wrote: post #253

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They’re likely just meaning it makes it harder to progressive overload. If you stick to a programme, you know it’s just about modifying weight, reps, rest, time under tension etc. But if you are changing exercises constantly, it can be difficult to know what weight or rep range will get the right results from that exercise since it’s not really comparable to another exercise.

It might be harder to track your progress, but progress will be made nevertheless.

Progress will _only_ be made with sufficient stimulus, and your body will rapidly adapt so the stimulus is not sufficient -- unless you do progressive overload (and ideally occasional deloads too)

Re: Show HN: Workout.lol – a web app to easily create a workout routine

#264

Post by abound »

weakfish wrote: post #239
abound wrote: post #174

As other folks have noted, this is a nice web app, but not well-suited for coming up with a real training plan that meets an individual's health goals. For my own personal goals, I've enjoyed/had success with doing variations of Jim Wendler's 5/3/1 workout for roughly a decade, and recently made a simple (and much, much uglier) web app [1] to record my lifts, suggest one-rep max targets, calculate weight for each set…

I'm a huge 5/3/1 fan and have been thinking of building my own version of this! Would you be open to contributions, instead? I'd love to at least add some design to the front-end

Definitely open to contributions, but I'll note that the barebones nature is mostly by design. I'm happy to take any usability improvements (of which I can imagine many!), but I don't want to introduce dependencies on design/component frameworks or even CSS libraries.

Generally, all the content for a day's lifts should fit on a single small mobile phone screen to make it dead simple to record a lift and then get to the next one.

Feel free to email me (address is on website in profile) or open an issue on the repo with ideas/requests, happy to chat more.

Re: Show HN: Workout.lol – a web app to easily create a workout routine

#265

Post by davidguetta »

tunesmith wrote: post #242
davidguetta wrote: post #139

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, the idea is great ("what can you do with the equipment you have") but that also kinda promote a bit of fuckarounditis ( https://leangains.com/fuckarounditis/ ) by asking the user "what muscle do you really wanna target", instead of emphasizing a better approach of lifting overall which is strong "functional" compound movements such as the big 6 (bench press / squat / deadlift / pull ups / rows / overhead press)

But if you're asking "what can you do with the equipment you have" you might not be able to do the big six. What if you only have bodyweight and dumbbells?

It's true ! But it's just a matter of 'fitness approach'. I never said the app was bad or even lying on its app, just that the approach is a bit ... suboptimal for beginners.

Like if someone download the app b.c. wants to do arms / pecs then this app will never tell him that squats are great in general. It's just a matter of approach.

Another approach could be "draw me a good workout with this gear" and you have the choice at most between "push" "pull" "legs" (a classic weekly split) or "general fitness" and it starts with a bunch of squats and then use the equipments.

Just food for thoughts

Re: Show HN: Workout.lol – a web app to easily create a workout routine

#266

Post by Medh_Suk »

atchoo wrote: post #136

Everyone is very complementary so can I be allowed to be the debbie downer? As a web app, it's neat! Functionally, not a fan as yet. I've lifted for a couple of decades. I put in the muscles for a pull workout I will be doing today and the results are... dumb. "Dumbbell superman" nah not going to do that. Two types of hammer curl? Nah that's a waste of time. "Bayesian hammer curl" wtf, my eye is twitching. Two types…

School teacher said this, stayed with me ever since:

1) Best workout is the one you can do regularly.

2) Slowest way to get in shape is to try to do it as fast as possible.

Re: Show HN: Workout.lol – a web app to easily create a workout routine

#267

Post by ropable »

Great execution! A nice-looking, functional app. I got myself a suggested workout plan with very little effort.

Criticisms: On the first page, I can barely tell if something is "selected" or not. Also, the exercises suggested are kind of...random. I've been lifting for a couple of decades, and I've never heard of a "Dumbbell Laying Silverback Shrug".

Overall, I think that this is a neat way for a near-beginner with analysis paralysis to get a list of suggestions for a WoD, and become introduced to movements that they haven't tried before. I think that it would be better reducing the specificity of movements to muscle groups, reducing the overall number of movements in the database, and focusing more on "movement patterns" (e.g. squat, hip hinge, push, pull, etc.)

Re: Show HN: Workout.lol – a web app to easily create a workout routine

#268

Post by edanm »

junon wrote: post #256
atchoo wrote: post #200

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Harmful as in giving bad advice.

This might actually get me to start working out, it's exactly the kind of resource I've been looking for. I'd wager you wouldn't say "no, keep not working out", right? If it gets people motivated to start, why not?

That can be true of almost everything, and most people agree with that general sentiment.

I think it's still ok to say "well the webapp might be better than literally not exercising at all, but here are problems with it". In this context, it's ok to offer that kind of feedback/perspective, without having to contend with the question of "is this better than not starting at all".

Having said all that, as much as I do want to encourage more people to exercise, and as much as I agree with the idea of "most things are better than nothing", there are still a few huge caveats to that statement:

1. If a program is too hard, e.g. causing a lot of soreness the day after, someone might quit after a week, instead of had they started with something more sustainable.

2. If a program causes injury, then someone is probably literally better off not doing that program.

3. If a program is too overwhelming in terms of what it contains, e.g. too many exercises, then someone might again, get overwhelmed and quit.

4. If a program is literally impossible for someone to perform (e.g. some people can't bodyweight squat), this can also be very discouraging.

Basically, there are a lot of mistakes one can make in the making a program for someone starting out. From the perspective of someone choosing a program, there's a lot of good beginner programs on the internet one can start with. From the perspective of critiquing an automated app for designing beginner workouts, I think it's totally valid to say "well hang on, here's a bunch of things that could go wrong, is this really the right approach?"

Re: Show HN: Workout.lol – a web app to easily create a workout routine

#269

Post by kaba0 »

haswell wrote: post #235
davidguetta wrote: post #229

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not the author of the article. But if you want a provocative answer: In general your attitude is wanting easy shiny articles instead of really going deep in why and what works well or no, going past the writing style, especially when it's told by someone who is showing many results for him and others well... you kind of illustrate the point of people who end up with shiny and useless workout, don't eventually sti…

> I'm not the author of the article Ahh, fair enough, I misinterpreted one of your earlier comments. > In general your attitude is wanting easy shiny articles instead of really going deep in why and what works well or no That's not what I want at all. I'm happy to go deep. I love long-form content. I'm starting to investigate weights after sinking hundreds of hours into Yoga fundamentals. I'm just in the stage of dec…

I am by no means a professional, but from the time I have went down the rabbit hole, Jim Wendler’s 5/3/1 method seems to be generally well-appreciated. (I remember having read the linked article as well).

But.. he is a terrible writer, his book is all around the place - so I absolutely agree with your general point. Some people simply suck at writing, even if the content might well worth sharing. Just hire a writer in this case! Fortunately there are shorter summaries of the method, so you don’t have to suffer through the book.

Re: Show HN: Workout.lol – a web app to easily create a workout routine

#270

Post by nojs »

rkapsoro wrote: post #156
jeffhuys wrote: post #154

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That link does a lot of talking without really explaining what you DO have to do.

https://startingstrength.com/get-started

Starting strength is good but Rippetoe is very old school and the community has some cultish vibes. He is totally inflexible about any slight variation like high bar squats and trap bar deadlifts, which are great exercises and often better. His forums are not particularly friendly either. (Example: https://startingstrength.com/resources/forum/mark-rippetoe-q...)

I think stronglifts is generally a better program for beginners:

https://stronglifts.com/

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