Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Everything You Know About Fitness is a Lie (2011)

archive.mensjournal.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

11–20 of 343 posts

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

#11

Post by tomasien »

dhimes wrote: post #8
vacri wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thanks for the crux of it. The first page was so much intro filler that I gave up. Free weights as better than machines was fairly well known at least as far back as the early 90s. "Machines don't work your stabiliser muscles" was the phrase I generally heard.

Depends what you are trying to do and your situation. Machines are safer , so if this is a concern for some reason (injury rehab, age, etc.), then machines in some cases can be better for lifting heavy weights.

There's nothing wrong with machines, except being less effective than free weights. They're still solid though, I got in the best shape of my life one time only on weights because I worked really really hard at it. But I accomplish 80% now with 40% of the time with free weights and compound exercises.

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

#12

Post by 31reasons »

If you are interested in free weights, Starting Strength is the best book out there. In free weights you have to be extremely careful about your form otherwise you could seriously injure yourself. This book goes deep in the human anatomy and mechanics to teach you how to approach free weights.

http://www.amazon.com/Starting-Strength-3rd-Mark-Rippetoe/dp...

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

#13

Post by raverbashing »

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…

"It basically says that low weights, high rep actually builds as much muscle mass as high weights, low reps.."

Interesting. But I would still be skeptical because of one thing: bone/tendon resistance

Not sure small weights/high reps can create the kind of bone changes (and tendon resistance) that bigger weights do. And this may be critical in some situations.

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

#14

Post by kenjackson »

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…

That's an interesting paper. I'd like to see more research done on this as I think being able to minimize injuries (which I suspect are more common when you're lifting 80+% of your max) while still gaining muscle mass would be the holy grail for those of us in middle age. :-)

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

#15

Post by davidtyleryork »

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 comfortably fast on the treadmill, lift a comfortable amount of weight, and do it at a comfortable pace. Group exercise is great for breaking you out of that habit and making you push your limits. It's too easy to pretend that 45 minutes at the gym, 15 of which is "cardio" and 15 of which is "cooldown", is going to change anything.

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

#16

Post by sliverstorm »

vacri wrote: post #6
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.

Thanks for the crux of it. The first page was so much intro filler that I gave up. Free weights as better than machines was fairly well known at least as far back as the early 90s. "Machines don't work your stabiliser muscles" was the phrase I generally heard.

I find machines are also more permissive of terrible form.

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

#17

Post by notJim »

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.

I came here to say this. I read about all this stuff years ago on SomethingAwful of all places. If you've ever bothered to do any research rather than just believing whatever your gym tells you, you know all of this.

For life in general, or at least the things that matter in life, it's always a good idea to do your own research. Otherwise you end up going through life believing the half-baked stories people make up so they don't have to think, and the bullshit people tell you to sell you stuff.

Post reply on HN