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Why strength training? A programmer's perspective

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Re: Why strength training? A programmer's perspective

#131

Post by _yb2s »

Weight training has been life changing for me, as a middle aged dad with a sedentary job.

I take it very seriously- I hired a professional online coach, lift 4x/week for 1-2 hours, do strength competitions several times per year, and carefully track my diet.

First, it isn’t boring in the least- I do mostly strongman, and it is essentially a martial art with a lot more complexity and diversity than plain barbell training. It takes all of my mental effort to do a complex movement with the right form under a heavy load- it is more mentally taxing than math, coding, etc. for me. It takes so much focus I never get bored, and I don’t use a phone or media between sets. I usually get into almost the same sort of flow as with coding, and can really "attack" the workout with all of my mental and physical effort... which feels amazing.

Secondly, it has radically transformed my health and personal life. Being physically strong is surprising useful in modern life- I can fix/move furniture, move appliances, push a stranded car out of the road, carry kids on my shoulders up a mountain, etc. easily. Also, I look strong and fit which does cause people to treat me better, and generally notice me more. I am an introverted, even shy person that when younger had a lot of trouble making friends, and especially talking to women. I generally despite 'vanity' and hate being judged on how I look, but the fact is people do, and I can't control it. Being fit, people approach me and start conversations more, and I have even had women I don’t know approach me, and ask me on dates, something that absolutely never happened before I was into lifting. I am happily married and not interested in that, but it is good for my overall social confidence and my marriage to generally be more attractive. Lastly, I also have a lot less pain- no more lower back pain, leg pain, etc. which I think were mostly caused by weak muscles from being so sedentary. The main downside is it does take a lot of time, money, and space for gym equipment- although the increased health/energy/well being are more than worth it IMO.

Re: Why strength training? A programmer's perspective

#132

Post by pbronez »

cragsify wrote: post #21

I wrote an eerily similar article on my website about a year ago, covering my experiences with resistance training, just like you. https://craig.banach.dev/musings/1000-pound-club

Congratulations! Big achievement, especially waiting to hit it with your 2-3 rep max instead of 1 rep max.

Re: Why strength training? A programmer's perspective

#133

Post by aynyc »

cthalupa wrote: post #115
aynyc wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You need both. However, given proper programming, cardio has better benefit for longevity than strength. I generally dislike article like this because they don’t tell you what their protocol is like so you can’t really know what they did. For most people, hypertrophy specific protocol is better than strength protocol. Zone 2 cardio is better than HIT. But people tend to do the opposite. They want to break personal re…

> However, given proper programming, cardio has better benefit for longevity than strength. It's not that simple. For example, there is evidence that cardio does not impact pericardial adipose tissue mass, while resistance training does, while only being slightly less efficient than cardio for epicardial adipose tissue mass. https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamacardiology/article-abst... Depending on what your primar…

The study's endurance protocol is anaerobic. Exclusive HIIT training for cardio is a terrible advice and disaster waiting to happened. I can't tell what they did for strength, but 3-5 sets of 10 exercises from 60% - 80% seems to be a hypertrophy program than strength.

Re: Why strength training? A programmer's perspective

#135

Post by Aromasin »

caeril wrote: post #84
Aromasin wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Good weightlifting should rarely feel boring - maybe only one week in every 4 or 5 during a de-load week (when I'm aiming for 3-4 reps-in-reserve), but boring feels good then because you're resting after weeks of hard work. If anything, you should feel fearful when training. A good weight-centric workout, at least when targeting hypertrophy, hurts . I feel equal parts scared and excited. I think what you're missing i…

> If I know I did 120kg for 7 on the bench last week, I know I need to beat it either by increasing weight or increasing reps. This is the case for some of us, yes, and for us, this is obvious. What I've found, however, is that most normies don't actually have an internal drive to monotonically increase stats. For 90% of people, vanity is the only driver that works.

To be clear, when I said that I didn't mean the joy is in chasing numbers. That's a bit reductionist. Some people enjoy that, but I was implying that the downstream effects of chasing numbers are the exciting part; challenging yourself and going through suffering to get a good physique or lift heavier things. Increasing reps/weight is the way to increase workout difficulty, thereby stimulating growth.

I don't think there's a fitness discipline out there that can put you in as much 'injury-free' pain as strength training does - at least, not acute pain like after a heavy leg press. It's almost sadomasochistic, which is why I think calling strength training boring is a little off the mark.

Re: Why strength training? A programmer's perspective

#136

Post by caeril »

Aromasin wrote: post #135
caeril wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> If I know I did 120kg for 7 on the bench last week, I know I need to beat it either by increasing weight or increasing reps. This is the case for some of us, yes, and for us, this is obvious. What I've found, however, is that most normies don't actually have an internal drive to monotonically increase stats. For 90% of people, vanity is the only driver that works.

To be clear, when I said that I didn't mean the joy is in chasing numbers. That's a bit reductionist. Some people enjoy that, but I was implying that the downstream effects of chasing numbers are the exciting part; challenging yourself and going through suffering to get a good physique or lift heavier things. Increasing reps/weight is the way to increase workout difficulty, thereby stimulating growth. I don't think t…

> I was implying that the downstream effects of chasing numbers are the exciting part; challenging yourself and going through suffering to get a good physique or lift heavier things.

Again, I still don't think you understand the normie mind. They don't want a challenge. They don't want to suffer. They don't want to put in any effort at all. There is a very large market for anabolic steroids, SARMs, and GLP-1 agonists, and it's not because normies care about the struggle.

The only time I've ever seen a normie care about their fitness is when it's been connected to their vanity.

Re: Why strength training? A programmer's perspective

#137

Post by carabiner »

cragsify wrote: post #21

I wrote an eerily similar article on my website about a year ago, covering my experiences with resistance training, just like you. https://craig.banach.dev/musings/1000-pound-club

> I also remember the time when I invited a date to visit the Google office after I started working there. I thought it'd be a fun and interesting experience because I could show her the company's perks, but she turned me down because she had already been there on other dates. After going on six dates, I regularly heard comments like, "I also have a lot of friends who work in tech," or, "I've already heard a lot of these stories." I started feeling one-dimensional and realized I wasn't interesting — my experience wasn't unique or impressive.

It's all tech bros that are like this.

Re: Why strength training? A programmer's perspective

#138

Post by newdee »

twelve40 wrote: post #120
nunez wrote: post #78

To me, strength training is all about making life past your 60s suck less. It's a savings account for your body; put in the work now so that you _might_ continue to be active and mobile at 80. It also helps make you look good without having to eat like a bird, which is nice also.

> vigorous weightlifting for 1 hour may burn up to 440 calories nah, you still have to eat like a bird.

You’re not considering that the more muscle mass you have, the higher your Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR), which means you burn more calories passively by just existing, let alone what you burn during exertion and recovery.

Re: Why strength training? A programmer's perspective

#139

Post by twelve40 »

newdee wrote: post #138
twelve40 wrote: post #120

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> vigorous weightlifting for 1 hour may burn up to 440 calories nah, you still have to eat like a bird.

You’re not considering that the more muscle mass you have, the higher your Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR), which means you burn more calories passively by just existing, let alone what you burn during exertion and recovery.

BMR changes by how much, exactly? it's useful to show some numbers, as a rule of thumb, not just throw something out there.

Re: Why strength training? A programmer's perspective

#140

Post by jiggawatts »

claytongulick wrote: post #127
EZ-E wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I thought the same but after a while you just enter some kind of trance and time flies by

I love swimming for this reason. I've always been able to get into a weird "zen" state swimming, as far back as when I was a teenager on a swim team. For some reason, I can't hit the same state with running, I don't know why. I don't have access to a pool where I live now, so I've recently started running 3 miles a day. I still haven't reached the point where I enjoy it, it feels like work the whole time. I'm hoping…

Do you listen to something while running? I use podcasts instead of music most times.
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