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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)

#221

Post by cage433 »

gadders wrote: post #161
vidarh wrote: post #148

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I bench 120kg+ without a spotter (at 95kg body weight). If I were to fail disastrously, I might have a broken rib, but without collars on the bar the chance of a severe failure that cause me to drop the fully loaded bar on my chest is pretty much 0. I've put it down on my chest and rolled it off more than once, and it only causes a light bruise that's gone in a few hours. I probably wouldn't do much more than 1.5 tim…

I'd agree with this. I've been pinned under 80-90kg weights a few times. The first thing is, unless you're not concentrating, you don't really drop it. For me, it's normally not being able to lift the weight back up when I've brought it down to my chest. Without collars, you can just tip the weight to the side, the plates fall off, and the bar (fairly rapidly) pings upright. Makes a bit of a noise, and you feel like…

I've had my bodyweight (110 KG) stuck on my chest with no ill effects other than embarrassment. As the parents say, simply slide the weights off, or ask anyone nearby for a hand.

One thing that is extremely dangerous is using the 'suicide grip' when benching - i.e. having the thumb and fingers on the same side of the bar and simply resting the bar on the palms. It's stupid, but a surprisingly large number of lifters use it.

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

#222

Post by majelix »

gadders wrote: post #161
vidarh wrote: post #148

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I bench 120kg+ without a spotter (at 95kg body weight). If I were to fail disastrously, I might have a broken rib, but without collars on the bar the chance of a severe failure that cause me to drop the fully loaded bar on my chest is pretty much 0. I've put it down on my chest and rolled it off more than once, and it only causes a light bruise that's gone in a few hours. I probably wouldn't do much more than 1.5 tim…

I'd agree with this. I've been pinned under 80-90kg weights a few times. The first thing is, unless you're not concentrating, you don't really drop it. For me, it's normally not being able to lift the weight back up when I've brought it down to my chest. Without collars, you can just tip the weight to the side, the plates fall off, and the bar (fairly rapidly) pings upright. Makes a bit of a noise, and you feel like…

WARNING: DO NOT USE A THUMBLESS GRIP.

Yes, it's a slightly better angle for your wrists, but you can get that anyways, and it will kill you.

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

#223

Post by WA »

Scotchy wrote: post #210
r00fus wrote: post #173

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sports are great. Just make sure you stretch beforehand and only play with folks who take safety seriously - it can suck to lose a skiing season because your basketball teammate caused you to roll your ankle.

you mean warm up, not stretch, right ? Stretching happens after if ever, not before :)

The philosophy of stretching changes every couple of years. One year, stretching before is the way to go. Then, stretching after sport. Then, no stretching at all.

From what I know: Stretching after doing a workout is bad, because it tenses muscles even more, stopping the flow of blood in the muscle and thus, making muscles more sore. But maybe that opinion is just the current trend.

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

#224

Post by stef25 »

Great article! After reading it, it seems like stronglifts 5X5 is the thing to do.

I followed it for a while until some guy at the gym said I was doing squats wrong (he was wrong), I ended up injuring my (already weak) back and never properly recovered. Now I'm not sure if I should try pick it up again. Free weights get a bit scary as from a certain weight, you really need a buddy.

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

#225

Post by rimantas »

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…

  > Little wonder as Yoga was developed over thousands
  > of years
There is a large amount of bullshit which evolved over thousands of years and is still bullshit. Thousands of years mean nothing. I am not saying that all yoga is BS, but signal to noise is definitely very low.

  > Those basic strength exercises are IMO just the western
  > version of it, a slightly less advanced form.
Uhm. How about learning some basics?

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

#226

Post by rimantas »

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.

Bruce Lee was about the same weight. Look up what he was capable to do.

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

#227

Post by IgorPartola »

Swannie wrote: post #217
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…

Congratulations. You got lucky, and got a great trainer. The sad reality is this is the exception. I take my office gym for example - I don't go there, but a colleague does. We've discussed fitness over lunch a few times, he gets it. Guess what the trainers in the gym think about him? They personally do his workouts. They take his advice. They are happy for him to go up to other gym users and coach them, because he k…

Thanks. Yes, I did get lucky. Same way I got lucky with the English teacher I had when I only knew Russian and was getting ready to come to the United States. I honestly had no idea how to tell a good trainer from a bad one, and got paired up with a person that knew what she was doing and also was passionate about her job.

However, that was the situation I envisioned as well. I knew how to run and how to bench press, but I didn't know when to do it. I am a software engineer, not a fitness expert. I pretended to be a fitness expert for too long, so I decided to hire someone whose job it was to teach me instead.

One small addition to my story is that my gym had a training coordinator who talked to me about my goals and evaluated my fitness level before pairing me with a trainer. So, you could say that it wasn't completely random that I got paired with my trainer, but a result of a deliberate process. Of course that would depend on how good the coordinator is, so the chain of random events goes on.

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

#228

Post by rimantas »

gbog wrote: post #57

This article is currently top1 of HN home. It relates with some male's obsessions with their bodies, but has nothing to feed to one's intellectual curiosity. Flagged.

Something to read about which could provide some food for your intellectual curiosity: does exercise/body health influence mental performance.

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

#229

Post by namdnay »

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…

>Yoga was developed over thousands of years and specifically to heal the body

Yoga is a collection of meditation techniques. The transformation of a very specific form of yoga (Hatha) into an exercise routine is a western development.

> The serious kind. Lots of bs out there

In fact I think that for physical fitness, it would be better to concentrate on western-style yoga rather than the "serious" stuff (prayers, sleep control etc).

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

#230

Post by namdnay »

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…

A good point, and I would add that if you explore even deeper, you will find that what is usually referred to as yoga in the west is already itself a western adaptation of a very small part of yoga which aims to improve physical (rather than mental) well-being.

You don't see many people at gym yoga classes singing prayers or trying to control their dreams :)

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