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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)

#111

Post by IgorPartola »

kawsper wrote: post #50
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…

How much are you paying for having a staff trainer?

I paid about $25-30 per session. The difference was that at first I signed up for one plan, then switched. I also had to pay for the gym membership, another $40/mo or so.

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

#113

Post by huherto »

yummyfajitas wrote: post #77
sliverstorm wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Interesting. But the bridges sound like a bad idea for your back.

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

#114

Post by cma »

analog wrote: post #47
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…

"There's a recent paper refuting this theory..." One academic study of 18 untrained athletes. Mark Rippetoe (author of the Starting Strength book recommended by the original article) actually says that an untrained subject will improve their performance by doing any exercise.

That same Rippetoe reccommends high reps if your goal is hypertrophy and you are past the novice stage. Check his book Practical Programming for Strength Training for more.

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

#116

Post by GFischer »

ciupicri wrote: post #54

Discussion from 2011 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2287213

Thanks for pointing that out :) . I read that and STILL don't work out, the refresher is definitely very welcome.

The timing is also very good with New Year's resolutions and in particular for me as I'm finishing my studies and will actually have time to exercise.

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

#117

Post by lacosaes0 »

spudlyo wrote: post #67

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 overl…

To be fair, bike riding and swimming don't hit very hard your joints. Furthermore, you have to be very obese to receive a big hit in your joints if you're running/sprinting (using a good pair of shoes). So in other words those kind of machines are not the best tools for most of the people out there and I think that the article is about that: optimizing your time to reach your goals and free-weight training is a great option (if not the best) for the majority.

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

#118

Post by JoshTriplett »

dredmorbius wrote: post #108
jimbokun wrote: post #101

Anyone swim? My kids joined a swim team, so I decided to try it as a work out (already had a membership at a gym with a pool). I never swam as a workout before. I could barely do 500 meters when I started, switching up strokes (mostly free with my sad approximations of breast, fly, and back), having to stop and catch my breath often. Now I'm at 600, have to stop much less often, and see some upper body development. I…

Please read the article. I've swum for several decades. It's a good form of cardiovascular training. It's also very much a skill sport that's difficult to pick up in later life -- your entire workout distance is a small portion of my warm-up routine (workouts run 3k - 6k meters). The specific part of the article you want to pay attention to is the training goal matrix ( http://archive.mensjournal.com/wp-content/uploa…

I agree: swimming will make you more fit, and works great as general aerobic or anaerobic exercise, but won't necessarily build up muscles beyond a reasonable baseline. However, I'd argue that it works far better than walking or running if you want general calorie burning.

On a different note, though: swimming works very well for building lung capacity, which cross-trains very well with other exercises.

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

#119

Post by refurb »

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.

Leave the collars off the bar. If you get into trouble, dip the bar to one side and drop the weights.

Note: I haven't tried this with a huge amount of weight, so it might still be dangerous if you're benching 300 lbs+

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

#120

Post by IgorPartola »

subsystem wrote: post #36
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…

Sounds great. The only unsolicited advice I would offer is that if it ever gets boring, I would look into doing some sport half of the time. It will give you social, technical and mental elements that weight training just can't.

Yes, though the social aspect was fulfilled for me by a few coworkers running with me after work and doing a couple of mud runs.
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