Fitness Crazed

My story with fitness echoes this post closely. Gyms have long had the motivation to push the latest machines or fitness fads, because that's how they retain customers with the promise of a new program that'll change everything.

After a ton of research, the only thing that worked for me was bodyweight workouts and barbell training.

To drop my weight I followed bodyweight programs at home. 20 minute short sessions with squats, push ups, etc. Far more challenging than it sounds! You can see pics of how I dropped 20 lbs in this post:

http://micho.biz/post/74209049445/leaving-teambox-back-to-sq...

Then I jumped onto barbell training, complemented with bodyweight sessions.

Starting Strength has been the best resource I've followed so far. For a small time investment a week, I've been progressing in technique and strength steadily over the last months.

The fitness field has been a huge motivation personally for me, which ultimately made me leave my previous startup and found http://8fit.com to help people like me follow that learning path.

I found that strength training really pushes your nervous system hard. The training worked ok, and I could lift 220kg at the end. But I also developed anxiety issues. Nowadays I do much higher repetitions at lower weight, pushing muscle endurance much more, not one repetition maximum lifts which increase the load on your nervous system.

I also, without fail, include 30 minutes of cardio in every session. This appears to be critical if you are like me and prone to anxiety attacks. I'm still progressively overloading, but if I can't do 3-5 sets of 20 repetitions at a given weight, I don't do it at all. And I've seen others in my gym who have unbelievable physiques doing the same. So it does work, so long as you keep increasing the weight as your body adapts.

Rippetoe's workout is not as simple as the article portrays "built around five old-fashioned lifts" and all that. The rumors people may have heard are true, he really does write sixty pages on how to squat properly without hurting yourself, and other exercises.

The article also has a strong style over substance aspect wrt "photographs were so poorly shot". No they're actually pretty awesome if you're trying to learn how to do this safely. Its like complaining that an engineering blueprint of a perfect engine camshaft doesn't capture the fluffy marketing message of the car, well, yeah, that's kinda not the point...

Its interesting how SS has taken over the field. I've been lifting on and off (mostly off) for about 30 years and will certainly start back up again sooner or later, and its interesting watching how the field has almost universally crystallized on SS for the noobs. In like, the 80s, there was a lot more variety and a lifter might start on machines or freeweights fairly randomly.

I don't want to rain on anybody's parade, but before starting a serious deadlifting / squat / snatch / jerk routine, please please go to a trainer. You need instruction for correct form. The aforementioned exercises will work very well for you, but if performed incorrectly they can permanently injure your back. If money is a concern, there are often private trainers (I can give references in sf) not associated with a gym that are very affordable -- eg $65/hour in sf, much less expensive elsewhere.

NB: a good trainer can, at minimum, perform those exercises for reps with more than bodyweight. Many gyms -- 24 hour fitness and crunch come to mind -- employ "trainers" who appear to hopefully have read a book but are wildly unprepared to train others in exercises that can destroy body parts if performed incorrectly.

I figure Stronglifts is more accessible because of the rows instead of powercleans (which are hard to do right), and as you as the app is great.