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Hacking strength: Gaining muscle with least resistance

matt.might.net

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Re: Hacking strength: Gaining muscle with least resistance

#51

Post by rdouble »

yummyfajitas wrote: post #35
hkmurakami wrote: post #3

I don't disagree with the overal theme of the article, but I have to disagree on some particulars. Some thoughts: >Habit First Absolutely agree, especially when you're trying to get out of morbid out-of-shapeness. I personally find that mixing it into a pre-existing daily routine works well. I personally do core work and pullups/chinups before my morning and evening showers, and stretch exercises while I'm in the sho…

Not all dumbell exercises are isolation. For most upper body barbell exercises, you can find a corresponding dumbell exercise which recruits more stabilizer muscle. Compare, for example, the barbell bench press to the dumbell version - the dumbell version is harder since you need to stabilize each dumbell in 2 directions rather than 1. Or just look at the turkish get up. That's all stabilizer. Of course, there is no…

One doesn't need any barbell squats to do pistol squats. They are more about balance, flexibility and body shape. Short, flexible, fit women usually have no problems with them. Most little kids can do them with a bit of practice. Long legged inflexible men won't be able to do one without a lot of specific practice, even if they have a decent barbell squat.

Re: Hacking strength: Gaining muscle with least resistance

#52

Post by ironchef »

dave1619 wrote: post #46

The blog post had some decent information but I think it was a bit scattered to me. Here are the key principles to gaining muscle with the least resistance (in my opinion): 1. Lift heavy as possible - you'll have a difficult time stimulating lots of muscle growth with light weights which I've personally tried. 2. Use proper form - tons of people get injured on heavy resistance exercises because of improper form or li…

One quick note 1. Lift heavy as possible and 2. Use proper form. Part of the reason people often are started with lighter weights is to get proper form in a safer manner. This is why crossfitters (for example) often first are taught to perform the various olympic lifts using pvc pipes (and progress to bar with light weight at first). Learning form with heavy weights tends to encourage bad habits without someone there to coach form.

Re: Hacking strength: Gaining muscle with least resistance

#53

Post by transfire »

I followed the link to your weight loss suggestions where I learned about BMR. I don't get it. I must be a very abnormal human being. My BMR worked out to be 2660 * 1.2 = 3192 calories. But I tracked my caloric intake using MyFitnessPal for over a month and I was averaging abut 2000 calories a day and often pushing myself down as low as 1500 calories a day. Yet I barely lost a pound.

Re: Hacking strength: Gaining muscle with least resistance

#55

Post by georgeoliver »

dave1619 wrote: post #46

The blog post had some decent information but I think it was a bit scattered to me. Here are the key principles to gaining muscle with the least resistance (in my opinion): 1. Lift heavy as possible - you'll have a difficult time stimulating lots of muscle growth with light weights which I've personally tried. 2. Use proper form - tons of people get injured on heavy resistance exercises because of improper form or li…

Training to failure seems like a core principle of HIT but is there consensus on its general effectiveness? I'm two months into the basic program of Starting Strength, lifting solo at home, so for lifts like the squat I don't really want to go to failure. Is this just something to apply if you want maximum return on time?

Re: Hacking strength: Gaining muscle with least resistance

#56

Post by sliverstorm »

hkmurakami wrote: post #3

I don't disagree with the overal theme of the article, but I have to disagree on some particulars. Some thoughts: >Habit First Absolutely agree, especially when you're trying to get out of morbid out-of-shapeness. I personally find that mixing it into a pre-existing daily routine works well. I personally do core work and pullups/chinups before my morning and evening showers, and stretch exercises while I'm in the sho…

If you're "starting out", then bodyweight exercises...

Bodyweight exercises can be extremely frustrating when you are really just starting out. When I first started, I couldn't do more than 5 pullups or about 20 pushups, which made it unnecessarily hard to progress. I switched to weights so that I could lower the load and do 3 sets, and immediately made much better progress.

Re: Hacking strength: Gaining muscle with least resistance

#57

Post by criveros »

dave1619 wrote: post #44
rayiner wrote: post #8

I've plugged this here before, but so what: http://stronglifts.com/stronglifts-5x5-beginner-strength-tra... . The key observation here is that your average person doesn't need a particularly sophisticated routine to get "average in shape" (if that makes sense). I think the conventional wisdom that you need to be eating health food all the time and running an hour a day makes people feel like it's just not worth the e…

A word of caution... StrongLifts and Starting Strength promote advanced compound motions (ie., deadlift, bench press, squat, etc). So, it's great to kick start your muscle growth mechanism and gain strength. It's hard to argue against the deadlift, squat and bench press. But personally I've found that these exercises can be difficult and you need instruction. For the bench press you want to arch your back and bring y…

If you go on youtube you can find lots of videos that show you how to properly do those exercises.

Re: Hacking strength: Gaining muscle with least resistance

#59

Post by dave1619 »

georgeoliver wrote: post #55
dave1619 wrote: post #46

The blog post had some decent information but I think it was a bit scattered to me. Here are the key principles to gaining muscle with the least resistance (in my opinion): 1. Lift heavy as possible - you'll have a difficult time stimulating lots of muscle growth with light weights which I've personally tried. 2. Use proper form - tons of people get injured on heavy resistance exercises because of improper form or li…

Training to failure seems like a core principle of HIT but is there consensus on its general effectiveness? I'm two months into the basic program of Starting Strength, lifting solo at home, so for lifts like the squat I don't really want to go to failure. Is this just something to apply if you want maximum return on time?

I wouldn't suggest going to failure on squats if you're lifting solo at home. Some people are advocates of HVT (High Volume Training) and it seems to have results as well. I think going to failure on one set is more of a preference thing if you want to maximize efficiency.

Re: Hacking strength: Gaining muscle with least resistance

#60

Post by akandiah »

This article has some good points, but doesn't explain some of the basics. If you're after a good read on fitness, try this article: http://www.mensjournal.com/magazine/everything-you-know-abou...

The recommended reading list at the end of that article is extremely valuable.

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