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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)

#71

Post by ErikAugust »

dave1619 wrote: post #5

This is a great article especially because it: 1. explains the supercompensation period and how to time your workouts. 2. champions free weights and resistance exercise. 3. explains injuries and gives some practical exercises to strengthen the rotator cuff (frequent injury among bodybuilders) However, I'm not sure if I agree with the "Fundamental Four" and him saying muscular endurance (low weights, high reps) "is gr…

Yeah, bang for your buck (and by buck, I mean time)... go with lower reps, higher reps... to failure.

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

#72

Post by ErikAugust »

analog wrote: post #61
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.

Agreed. I have found a total of 10 reps (divided by 2 or 3 sets) or less for each lift is enough to see gains. The point is to keep setting a slightly higher max and go to failure.

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

#73

Post by magicalist »

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?

For most people, that doesn't really account for the travel time, fueling time, cooling off, and general gym fooling around, which there inevitably will be.

I still agree with his point that it's one of the best ways to spend that extra time, but I think it's important to acknowledge it and plan for it. The commitment of a one hour workout is quite different than one that's twice as long because you have to deal with after-work traffic. There's also the matter of which 5 hours, as not all hours are equal in value.

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

#74

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!

Last comments! What I really regret not doing, was taking a daily photo.. I do have a couple of photos (by luck, not by planning), Also, get a tape measure!

starting point, began cycling to work about 2 weeks after this photo was taken (~118 kg, ouch)

http://www.arcturus.com.au/sean/2009-09-15.jpg

6 months later with riding every day and body weight exercises (~97kg)

http://www.arcturus.com.au/sean/2010-03-22.jpg

I would highly recommend taking some photos, because you don't notice changes yourself, everyone else does. :)

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

#75

Post by ErikAugust »

cncool wrote: post #65
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.

I would always suggest at least doing one set to failure. It's not hard to find someone to spot for 10 seconds.

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

#76

Post by dredmorbius »

tomasien wrote: post #2

This is a solid article, but the title is just wrong. "Free weights are better than machines" is not a "little known" fact, it's a well known fact by anyone who has cared to read the internet re:fitness since 2009. So is "lifting weights is much more efficient than cardio". I say this only so that you don't read this and think these are some kind of fringe theories. They're widely, WIDELY known and 100% true.

That all depends on where you are in your information-gathering phase. And for many, many, many inexperienced lifters, as well as materials and recommendations promoting fitness and strength training will still recommend machines over freeweights.

Both have their place, though I put a heavy emphasis on freeweights.

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

#77

Post by yummyfajitas »

sliverstorm wrote: post #21
xweb wrote: post #10

...including this. Start with body weight training. Convict Conditioning is a great no-BS book & program, for instance.

IMO, body weight training has a big hole- it's very difficult to progress when you don't have a minimum level of strength to perform a given movement. With weights, you can just use lower weight, and can thus freely work your muscles to exhaustion. With body weight movements, you can try negatives, but again- much more difficult.

While I generally think progression is more straightforward with weights, this claim isn't true. With bodyweight exercises, one typically progresses by making it more difficult via leverage.

See this diagram for example: http://www.operatorchan.org/pt/src/135399773193.jpg

The book recommended by xweb explains in more detail how to fill the holes between these exercises.

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

#78

Post by hedgehog »

magicalist wrote: post #73
mgkimsal wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You really only devoted 5 hours per week?

For most people, that doesn't really account for the travel time, fueling time, cooling off, and general gym fooling around, which there inevitably will be. I still agree with his point that it's one of the best ways to spend that extra time, but I think it's important to acknowledge it and plan for it. The commitment of a one hour workout is quite different than one that's twice as long because you have to deal with…

If you have running shoes and a weight bench that's really enough. In the city you can live close to the gym and that keeps the time down, for example I can leave my apartment, return, shower, and dress in under 1:15.

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

#79

Post by [deleted] »

cryptoz wrote: post #41
muratmutlu wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Did you read the article? What do you think of the contents of it other than the headline?

Yes, I have read it now. It was a nice article. I did not find out that everything I know about fitness was a lie. I found out that I don't know much, but what I did know was correct (and I learned a number of new things). No reason to hide a nice article behind a rude, condescending and incorrect headline.

[deleted]
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