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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)

#121

Post by IgorPartola »

adam wrote: post #106
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…

I'm curious how often you worked in runs to this workout? Did you ever go to 2-a-days or did you just run on your lifting off days?

I started with two days of cardio and three days of body circuits. Each workout was about 30 minutes long, though cardio sometimes would go to 40 or so. I kept doing two cardio days throughout, switching from circuits to lifting and back as the trainer told me.

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

#122

Post by richcollins »

mattdeboard wrote: post #85
davidtyleryork wrote: post #15

At Betable, four of us do CrossFit. It's not sadistic as the title says, though I'm sure that can depend on the gym. The one in SOMA is pretty supportive and accommodating, probably because they deal with a lot of startup engineers :) Anyway, was struck me about CrossFit and really any group exercise routine is how much more it makes you tax your own body. When you're at the gym, you don't push yourself. You run comf…

I was a crossfitter for about 2 years at the South Bay Crossfit gym (Jason Khalipa's). My big takeaway from that was that olympic lifting is much more fun and rewarding than CF for me. (Note to HN pedants: for me .) The only problem is that it's hard to find a big box with a barbell, let alone two or three. This article has fired me up again.

Go to the sports palace in south sf. The guy who wrote the Olympic lifting book mentioned in the article coaches there.

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

#123

Post by marknutter »

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…

I recently started swimming since I'm planning on doing a triathlon next summer and it is by far the hardest of the three disciplines. I started out not being able to do more than 50m without having to catch my breath and this was after an entire summer of running and a month of road biking, so it's not like I wasn't in decent shape. Swimming is a whole different ballgame. I'm now at the point where I can swim indefinitely (did 1500m with two 20 second breaks at the 10th and 20th laps recently) but it took a while to get there. Like anything, it's all about your form. I had to learn how to settle down and swim slower, gliding through the water, controlling my breathing, and reaching on every stroke. Once you get the form down you can pretty much go and go, but it's hard to trust that you won't start sucking water in when you get too tired. I find it helps to really exaggerate your rolling motion so that your mouth clears the water more easily when you go to take a breath. It also helps you reach your arm out a couple extra inches.

The most surprising aspect of swimming was how ripped my chest and arms felt afterwards. I've been an avid weightlifter since high school and it's the same feeling I get after doing bench presses or fly's.

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

#124

Post by analog »

cma wrote: post #114
analog wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"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.

Higher reps for hypertrophy is around 8-12 I believe, not 50+.

The problem with reps at that level for me personally is that its very difficult to know where your limit is. With failure around 5 reps it's very obvious which is your last possible rep.

Also 50 reps is just much more pain for the same (or less) gain as I see it. I can do 60-70 press ups which would be in that range, but it's significantly harder work than 5 reps near my max bench.

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

#125

Post by yukoncornelius »

dredmorbius wrote: post #100
nikster wrote: post #87

Well thanks for confirming the impression I got from my one and only ever experience at a gym: Not only is it boring but its also a huge waste of time. I remember it took me 2 hours until I felt like I had done something - and the best machine seemed to be the chin-up bar. I dont need a gym for that?! I think for general body health, any exercise is better than none but some are more effective than others. Top to bot…

A good gym is a godsend. But what you're looking for isn't going to be one of the plastic-and-chrome palaces but something that's got tons of weights, power cages, chinning bars, adjustable benches, dumbbells in a wide range of weights (200# is a good upper limit, higher isn't bad though you can usually manage with a barbell and landmine), bumper plates and platforms, chalk, glute-ham raise, kettlebells, ergs, foam a…

The problem is very few gyms have bumper plates and platforms. Further, many gyms frown upon the use of chalk.

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

#126

Post by spudlyo »

dredmorbius wrote: post #96
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…

There are alternatives to cardio machines that are far less expensive. A jump rope or kettlebell can provide ample and safe workouts for most. The advantage of activities (basketball, cycling, Ultimate) is that they're engaging, getting past the "but it's sooooo boring" issue of just grinding out your 20 minutes. And at the high end of the out-of-shape scale, just getting out of the house and walking would be a great…

I agree that walking is a great start, but your body will quickly adapt and unless you're walking up hills you're unlikely to get to aerobic HR levels.

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

#127

Post by marknutter »

JoshTriplett wrote: post #118
dredmorbius wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

I can attest to the final point. I had to give up running for a month to heal from shin splints and I started swimming and biking to train in the meantime. My previous 5k personal best was 24:00 and when I ran it again after that month of swimming/biking I ran it in 21:52 with relative ease. I attribute it to the swimming which kicked my ass.

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

#128

Post by ncphillips »

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…

If you're goal is fat loss, not cardiovascular health, then lifting weights works just as well as running or using the elliptical, and it is easier on your body if you learn the correct form.

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

#129

Post by subsystem »

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 would say it fits with point number four in the article. I found swimming especially good for avoiding normal "office injuries" in the back and hips. I also think it's great mental training as most of the difference for a novice to go from say 10% to 60% in swimming ability is just relaxing and "finding" decent technique.

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

#130

Post by IgorPartola »

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?

Most of my workouts were 30 minutes long, and most weeks I did 5 workouts. The other part of the time was spent on commuting to the gym (10 minutes) or getting ready, etc. This is an important point, as most of my weight loss did not come from the exercise: I burnt about 400 calories at a time and immediately replenished them after. The weight loss came from the calorie restricted diet (not overly so, I did create a deficit), which included lots of vegetables and fruit.

I have tried doing dieting alone but it never worked: I could lose weight, but then would gain it back within a year. Combining diet and exercise completed the feedback loop. Eating like crap meant feeling like I was going to die when working out. Conversely, eating well meant performing well. This clicked for me.

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