Everything You Know About Fitness is a Lie (2011) • Hacker News Board

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

#241

Post by AutoKorrect » Thu, Dec 27, 2012, 2:40 PM UTC

BlackJack wrote: post #236

subwindow wrote: post #168

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's 40 pounds of muscle, give or take (at most) a couple of pounds of increased bone mass. I take weekly caliper-based readings of body fat percentage, which has fallen by over 10% in the last 6 months. Overall I've gained 20 pounds while losing 20 pounds of fat.

I'm sorry, but caliper readings are pretty inaccurate. Losing 20 pounds in 6 months is solid and believable, but it's hard to believe that you put on 20 lbs of muscle in 6 months. Generally accepted advice is that you can gain about 0.5 lb muscle/week, so I could see you putting on 12-15 lbs tops. It's also very difficult to lose fat and gain muscle at the same time, especially if you're not a teenager anymore. Still…

generally accepted advice isn't always right: I put on 17lbs of muscle in three months (Parris Island, SC). I was underweight at the time, and a teenager.

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

#242

Post by IgorPartola » Thu, Dec 27, 2012, 2:41 PM UTC

jambalaya wrote: post #176

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…

Thought about competing in the olypmic lifts for fun? FYI there's an oly lifting subreddit http://www.reddit.com/r/weightlifting Great job!

I have, but I am not at that level yet, and trying to keep an even profile would likely prevent me from doing, say a 250 lb clean & jerk. Thanks, I didn't know about the subreddit.

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

#243

Post by IgorPartola » Thu, Dec 27, 2012, 2:43 PM UTC

jetti wrote: post #233

Swannie wrote: post #217

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

"Congratulations. You got lucky, and got a great trainer. The sad reality is this is the exception." Ain't that the truth! My wife thought that personal training would get her motivated to lose weight and get in shape. Unfortunately the trainer was a complete jerk. He was inconsistent with making his appointments, to his credit though, he must have the unluckiest family ever because just about ever Saturday was a "fa…

You may like the concept of a personal training studio. They are typically a bit more expensive, but the atmosphere is very different from what I hear.

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

#244

Post by IgorPartola » Thu, Dec 27, 2012, 2:45 PM UTC

corresation wrote: post #238

Swannie wrote: post #217

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

They are professional coaches. He's a parts logistics troubleshooter. See the problem there? While your story is both anecdotal and second-hand, what you describe doesn't sound that remarkable: Information is largely free now. It is entirely possible if not probable that someone with an interest in a niche will learn more about specific subject matter than generalists who have to know about the whole field.

The danger for me was thinking that I knew more than the professional did. Yes, you can be more knowledgeable than the trainer, but would you expect them to know more about, say Ruby, than you do if they dabble in it in addition to their full time job? Seems to me like you can (and probably should) always find a professional who knows her trade better than you do. Otherwise, yes it's a waste of your money, time, and health.

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

#245

Post by ameister14 » Thu, Dec 27, 2012, 2:50 PM UTC

subwindow wrote: post #66

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…

When I was a competitive ski racer I used to ave to buy pants 2-4 sizes bigger than normal because my legs were so big. It was actually really annoying.

All the stuff from this article is what my coach used to have us do for weight training. This really isn't comprehensive, though. Weights are important but actually going out and using your abilities is important too.

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

#246

Post by corresation » Thu, Dec 27, 2012, 2:52 PM UTC

IgorPartola wrote: post #244

corresation wrote: post #238

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They are professional coaches. He's a parts logistics troubleshooter. See the problem there? While your story is both anecdotal and second-hand, what you describe doesn't sound that remarkable: Information is largely free now. It is entirely possible if not probable that someone with an interest in a niche will learn more about specific subject matter than generalists who have to know about the whole field.

The danger for me was thinking that I knew more than the professional did. Yes, you can be more knowledgeable than the trainer, but would you expect them to know more about, say Ruby, than you do if they dabble in it in addition to their full time job? Seems to me like you can (and probably should) always find a professional who knows her trade better than you do. Otherwise, yes it's a waste of your money, time, and…

I would absolutely expect to find people in other fields who know specific areas of my field better than me. This is the story of every single person "in computers" since the origin of the career, everyone who dabbles desperate to show that they know some specific better than you.

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

#247

Post by subsystem » Thu, Dec 27, 2012, 2:57 PM UTC

dredmorbius wrote: post #209

subsystem wrote: post #129

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Strengthening your back and hips, with posterior-chain exercises (squats, deadlifts, chin-ups, rows, kettlebell swings) will do a lot more for back/hip issues than swimming will. Though swimming does give you a modest amount of lats and trunk stimulus.

While strengthening should be the goal, I'm also talking about loosening by low-impact training.

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

#248

Post by crikli » Thu, Dec 27, 2012, 2:57 PM UTC

OT: Anyone know what these men's magazines have against Crossfit? There was a ridiculously ill-informed article in Men's Health magazine this year and this article slanders Crossfit as "sadistic" then doesn't bother to validate the claim.

But then he goes to a trainer who calls him "fucking little girl weak" and then goes on to essentially describe the Crossfit ethos as I've experienced it, minus the bullshit insults.

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

#249

Post by driverdan » Thu, Dec 27, 2012, 3:02 PM UTC

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…

You highlighted the key point of going to exhaustion. No matter how much weight you lift you need to lift it to exhaustion to get the best results. You will get results no matter if it's light or heavy weight.

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

#250

Post by krschultz » Thu, Dec 27, 2012, 3:28 PM UTC

ajscherer wrote: post #59

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.

2009 and the internet? This has been the dominant conventional wisdom in all fitness media for at least a decade. If you open any fitness or "men's" magazine in any given month you will find at least one article telling you that: strength training is better than cardio, free weights are better than machines, and lifts that use multiple major muscle groups in coordination are best. The funny thing is that every one of…

Agree, but you know who hasn't gotten on board? The people that design/fit out gyms. It's still all machines in the middle and a couple benches near the edges. I'd love to walk into a gym that is all or nearly all free weights.