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Everything You Know About Fitness is a Lie (2011)

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Re: Everything You Know About Fitness is a Lie (2011)

#61

Post by analog »

rayiner wrote: post #40

Working with free weights is amazing. After college I decided to get in shape and spent some time doing this: http://stronglifts.com/stronglifts-5x5-beginner-strength-tra... . It's just one of many perfectly good programs you can find on the internet, it just has the advantage of being free and pretty simple to follow. What's really shocking about lifting free weights is how little time it takes to stay "acceptably f…

Absolutely. It's amazing how time-efficient resistance training is. Strength training in particular where you're using the higher weights and lower reps.

Re: Everything You Know About Fitness is a Lie (2011)

#62

Post by mgkimsal »

IgorPartola wrote: post #30

I went to a "big box" type gym in January 2012 and hired a staff trainer. I told her that I wanted to lose about 20 lb, get stronger, and start running in mud runs. She started me off with basic body circuit training, working with her once a week and doing 3-5 more workouts the rest of the days. During this period I also watched my calorie intake. By May, I reached my goal on all three accounts, so she switched me to…

You really only devoted 5 hours per week?

Re: Everything You Know About Fitness is a Lie (2011)

#63

Post by cliftonk »

For the last 5 years, I've gone to the gym once or twice a week (usually just once). I do powerclean or snatch -> squats or deadlift -> bench and then I leave in around 45 minutes. When I explain my routine to friends and coworkers, they dismiss my results, believing they are due to genetics.

Thanks for posting the article. I definitely recommend reading Starting Strength if you haven't had any formal weight training instruction.

Re: Everything You Know About Fitness is a Lie (2011)

#65

Post by cncool »

mhp wrote: post #18

So what do you do if your gym only has a smith machine and dumbbells? It's dangerous and hard to bench without spotter.

Benching without spotting is easy if you aren't going to one rep maxes. If you are doing sets of 5, then don't do rep N if rep N-1 was too hard that you think you will fail the rep. Also, if you stop before the 5th rep, you should be doing sets at a lighter weight.

Re: Everything You Know About Fitness is a Lie (2011)

#66

Post by subwindow »

I read this article around the time it was first published, and it has changed my life. I know it sounds corny and cliched, but it's true. This article was the first seed in my head that I needed to change the way I was doing things.

It took me about 18 months after reading it to actually buckle down and start lifting, but it's no doubt that the journey started here. I ended up reading "Starting Strength" and started up on the program. It's been about 6 months now and I'm stronger than I've ever been in my entire life- by a significant margin. I've gained 40 pounds of muscle. I feel confident, capable, and strong.

The only downside is that I cannot fit into regular clothes anymore- I have to buy clothes made for fat people and just deal with the extra room in the midsection. I also eat an incredible amount of food, which can get tiring and expensive (I eat $40 a week in steak alone). Overall, though, I'm thoroughly satisfied with the path that I'm on, and wish I had started years earlier.

Re: Everything You Know About Fitness is a Lie (2011)

#67

Post by spudlyo »

Cardio machines are innocent enough, as they won’t actually make you any less fit, but maintaining cardiovascular fitness doesn’t really take much more than breathing uncomfortably hard for about 20 minutes, three times a week. And we all know that swimming, hoops, bike riding, and even Ultimate Frisbee can get the job done, and that treadmills or elliptical trainers are a pale substitute.

I think the author is overlooking one of the great benefits of elliptical trainers. They get the job done and they're very safe. If you're an obese out of shape person you're unlikely to get hurt getting your cardio in on an elliptical, whereas activities like hoops, bike riding, and Ultimate Frisbee can really fuck you up.

If you wear a heart monitor and keep your HR in the appropriate zones the elliptical can be a safe, effective cardio workout. I spent three years doing hour long cardio sessions 3-5 days a week, with around 60% of that hour spent in the high end of the aerobic zone. At the end of it I had lost a considerable amount of weight, and I had a resting HR of 38.

Re: Everything You Know About Fitness is a Lie (2011)

#68

Post by arjunnarayan »

mgkimsal wrote: post #62
IgorPartola wrote: post #30

I went to a "big box" type gym in January 2012 and hired a staff trainer. I told her that I wanted to lose about 20 lb, get stronger, and start running in mud runs. She started me off with basic body circuit training, working with her once a week and doing 3-5 more workouts the rest of the days. During this period I also watched my calorie intake. By May, I reached my goal on all three accounts, so she switched me to…

You really only devoted 5 hours per week?

That's 3 good workouts per week.

Re: Everything You Know About Fitness is a Lie (2011)

#69

Post by weeksie »

web_church_dev wrote: post #64

I like how every general fitness article refrences "brad pitt in fightclub"...brad pitt in fight club was a little under 160 lbs so beyond aesthetics,I doubta 156 lb male had any real functional strength.

There are a lot of middleweight boxers that would probably disagree with that assessment.

Re: Everything You Know About Fitness is a Lie (2011)

#70

Post by malbs »

joshschreuder wrote: post #58
malbs wrote: post #51

This is one of the best fitness articles I've read. Of course, that's me suffering from confirmation bias, because in 3 years of being on a health kick, I came to the same conclusions after talking to various people with a similar interest. My progression went:- Cycling -> Running -> Machines -> Body Weight Exercises -> Discovering Rippetoe/SS -> Barbell (Power Rack) The barbell is the king, and the great thing is in…

That's good to hear. I've only recently started working out, and started on free weights with a Power Rack and Barbell (doing Stronglifts). Glad I'm not partially wasting my time, and going onto the good stuff!

I use google docs to track everything, I have 3 years of daily weight measurements, keep a track of my lifts, keep notes on everything..

http://www.arcturus.com.au/sean/weekly_weight_2010.png

http://www.arcturus.com.au/sean/weekly_weight_2011.png

http://www.arcturus.com.au/sean/chart_latest.png

Large gain of 5+ kilos this year - trying to get squat past 140kg, hah. Playing rugby next year.

The biggest key is keeping a record. Doesn't really matter what you do, as long as you log it.

Good luck!

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