We’re all just temporarily abled • Hacker News Board

Re: We’re all just temporarily abled

#161

Post by omnimus » Mon, Aug 21, 2023, 9:11 AM UTC

dmurray wrote: post #124

mise_en_place wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's also relative to your body weight. A 150 kg squat for someone who weighs 118 kg (i.e. me) is not that impressive. Whereas an 80 kg squat if you weigh 80 kg is extremely impressive. You should be aiming to lift 1x-1.5x your body weight, over time.

I don't get it, 1x bodyweight is impressive for a smaller person?

Yeah i thought if you look at the top performers it actually gets harder if you are heavy to keep with lighter performers in terms of multiplier. The lighter performers win the multiplier game.

But maybe its different if you look at amateurs.

Re: We’re all just temporarily abled

#162

Post by piva00 » Mon, Aug 21, 2023, 9:12 AM UTC

rayxi271828 wrote: post #148

piva00 wrote: post #137

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can either choose to lift until you find a sweet spot of strength you are content with and not push past it, avoiding injury from ever-heavier lifts. Or you'll want to progress slower when you are at intermediate-advanced level, lifting is pretty safe as a sport if you do it with proper form until you get to the upper boundaries. Rest well, eat enough, don't push it when something is feeling a "little weird" with…

I wonder how to tell whether one's reached that sweet spot. Is it when the lift hasn't increased for months? And of course there's the variable of age as well.

For me it was when I start noticing that the bad days where I'd fail my intended lift happened more often than the days I progressed.

An example, when I was trying to push my bench press over 87,5kg I was going with 1-2 sets of warm-up (~8-10x 70kg then adding 5kg to the 2nd warm up), followed by: 1 set of 5x85kg, 5x87,5kg and trying to go 3x90kg but noticed I was failing the 3x90kg set for 4+ weeks in a row, I kinda knew it was going to take more effort and a different approach than just my very basic way to increase load, I was happy with lifting 87,5kg on the bench and just stopped trying to push it further.

Age has definitely affected my recovery time, stamina, etc. but because I've been lifting on-off since my teens playing tennis, and only focusing on strength training for its own sake later in my 20s. I do have a "baseline" that I can reach in about 4-6 months even when I stop training completely for a while, the strength you gain changes your muscles (I think it creates extra nuclei in muscle cells, unsure how true that is, lots of pseudoscience in fitness-world) and it comes back. That's one of the main reasons I recommend all of my sedentary friends to try lifting for a while, it will help when one is older.

Re: We’re all just temporarily abled

#163

Post by bryanrasmussen » Mon, Aug 21, 2023, 9:12 AM UTC

Paul-Craft wrote: post #102

bryanrasmussen wrote: post #94

In terms of web UX, one disability that hardly anyone considers is intellectual disability - but really many people who work in development (design, project management, programming) are outliers in terms of intellectual ability (albeit probably not as much as they think they are) But we're all just temporarily smart as well, many people are not that bright before that first cup of coffee or if they are going through…

Don't forget specific learning disabilities, either. I, personally, have a deficiency in visual-spatial processing. I can't say that it's come up in a web UX context before, but I can certainly imagine it doing so if a site decides to implement some kind of fancy spatial UI.

when I was in high school they gave me some sort of advanced IQ test, I scored in the top 1% of the population for reading comprehension and logic, and in the lowest 5% for visual spatial processing - I have however improved quite a bit since that time in the latter area.

Re: We’re all just temporarily abled

#164

Post by Tenoke » Mon, Aug 21, 2023, 9:13 AM UTC

iamphilrae wrote: post #42

tastysandwich wrote: post #6

One of the best things I ever did was get strong through a basic barbell training program called Starting Strength. Squat, deadlift, overhead press, bench press, chinups, eat, sleep. It really is that easy. Highly recommend it for anyone interested. 1. Any back pain I had disappeared completely. 2. When I have to lift something awkward (eg, furniture), I don't injure myself. If you can deadlift 200KG, awkwardly leani…

I 100% agree. You mention some pretty scary KG numbers there though (but we’ll done)! I just wanted to mention to readers that even squatting a ‘measly’ 50KG or deadlifting 30KG can immensely help with back pain and the physical challenges everyday life throws at you.

These numbers seem off? Everywhere I look online even the numbers for untrained men are higher than that. I just came back to the gym, am the weakest person there, slightly weaker than 'untrained' numbers on the internet and I can do more.

0. https://www.strengthlog.com/deadlift-strength-standards-kg/

Re: We’re all just temporarily abled

#165

Post by Broken_Hippo » Mon, Aug 21, 2023, 9:14 AM UTC

omnimus wrote: post #156

rayxi271828 wrote: post #140

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you think one can lift heavy but with machines, and get the same risk/reward ratio as bodybuilders? In other words, train for power (rather than hypertrophy), but instead of using barbells, use dumbbells or machines, to minimize the risk of injury?

I am not sure if you minimize risk of injury that much. You might get injured on machine or dumbbell if you go heavy. Anyway with most machines you won't be able to load it heavy enough quite soon. I think there is also happy middle ground where you train for strength but not into extremes - you progress at slower pace and prioritize form. I would say bodybuilders can also be strong and healthy but they can't use tha…

and destroy their health with drugs.

I mean, if they are the type that are using steroids and such things, sure. The other sort that are into drugs just gets stoned and lift weights. The risks just aren't the same: Sure, you are going to do some damage with pot, but not the same sort and you'll certainly not be so much worse than the person that gets stoned and plays games a lot of the day or gets stoned and works at a gas station.

(I worked with an ex-professional body builder: He was the second type and couldn't compete with the steroid crowd. He was OK with that)

Re: We’re all just temporarily abled

#166

Post by flangola7 » Mon, Aug 21, 2023, 9:14 AM UTC

swyx wrote: post #90

zealotsm wrote: post #54

This reminded me of 5 daily remembrances from Buddhist cannon. 1. I am sure to become old; I cannot avoid ageing. 2. I am sure to become ill; I cannot avoid illness. 3. I am sure to die; I cannot avoid death. 4. I must be separated and parted from all that is dear and beloved to me. 5. I am the owner of my actions, heir of my actions, actions are the womb (from which I have sprung), actions are my relations, actions…

how depressing. what do they have to say about what joy to derive from life?

We don't need everything wrapped in American toxic positivity.

Re: We’re all just temporarily abled

#167

Post by adrianN » Mon, Aug 21, 2023, 9:14 AM UTC

mise_en_place wrote: post #89

nwiswell wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> You mention some pretty scary KG numbers there > I just wanted to mention to readers that even squatting a ‘measly’ 50KG or deadlifting 30KG Yes -- this is really important to contextualize. Barbell resistance training is actually two things: 1) A method of exercise that has a variety of well-quantified health benefits including improvements in strength, bone density, and connective tissue. More muscle also means y…

It's also relative to your body weight. A 150 kg squat for someone who weighs 118 kg (i.e. me) is not that impressive. Whereas an 80 kg squat if you weigh 80 kg is extremely impressive. You should be aiming to lift 1x-1.5x your body weight, over time.

Most males of normal weight should be able to achieve a bodyweight squat after a couple of months of training.

Re: We’re all just temporarily abled

#168

Post by flangola7 » Mon, Aug 21, 2023, 9:18 AM UTC

k__ wrote: post #53

Before my 30s all my injuries took a week or two to heal. Now, I'm running around months with a pulled muscle. I don't even get them from lifting too heavy in the gym, I usually get them when I rotate in the dumbest possible way, grabbing some paper in the office.

Why are/were you regularly being injured!?

Re: We’re all just temporarily abled

#169

Post by ekidd » Mon, Aug 21, 2023, 9:20 AM UTC

rayxi271828 wrote: post #140

ekidd wrote: post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I powerlifed for years, with a truly excellent coach for much of that time. For what it was worth, she was Starting Strength certified and a successful international masters competitor. She fixed a subtle problem with my deadlift using nothing but the wrinkles on my T-shirt; my recovery improved dramatically. At 40, I was stronger than I was as a high school wrestler. I loved lifting. I remember casually picking up a…

Do you think one can lift heavy but with machines, and get the same risk/reward ratio as bodybuilders? In other words, train for power (rather than hypertrophy), but instead of using barbells, use dumbbells or machines, to minimize the risk of injury?

I think it makes sense to get started exercising, using any kind of good program at all, and to pay attention to technique.

I don't have injury stats on machines versus free weights. Almost all the serious lifters I knew (bodybuilders or powerlifters) did plenty of free weight work. This included one 67-year-old bodybuilder in amazing shape who'd been injury-free for decades. He used a mix of free weights and machines, but he didn't squat the kinds of weights the serious powerlifters did, either.

You can make yourself a lot stronger than the average person with pretty low risk of injury, if your technique is good. As far as I can tell, you can do it pretty safely with a squat rack, some safety bars, a bench, a bar, and some weights. According to BroScience(TM), lol, the advantage of free weights is that if you have good technique, then you wind up working large parts of your body as a unified system, or something. (Bro science is like blog posts on unit testing; everyone's got a theory and almost nobody has numbers.)

But once you hit "a lot stronger than the average person", where do you go next? Do you maintain? Do you keep trying to lift more? Do you decide to go for a bit of hypertrophy?

And that's where I think it makes sense to talk to the old lifters, and look for patterns. Don't believe me. I'm just some guy on the Internet. Go talk to the old guys who've been doing it for 40 years and who aren't wearing tons of wraps and tape. By the time you need to make these decisions, you'll likely know some old guys at your gym, anyways.

Re: We’re all just temporarily abled

#170

Post by gambiting » Mon, Aug 21, 2023, 9:21 AM UTC

So this is how I live my life - knowing that your good health and ability can always just end at no fault of your own. It still haunts me that my father had plans we always talked about, he was very active and loved going outdoors and travelling, mountain biking, hiking etc, he spent a crazy amount of time getting a Land Rover done up as a Camel Trophy replica for a big adventure we were meant to go on, and then basically got cancer and died couple months after his 50th birthday.

That's not to be gloomy and depressing - just that if you:

1) want to do something

2) have the physical health to do it

3) doing so won't put your family in a difficult situation financially or otherwise

Just do it. When my friends say "oh I'll do that when I'm retired" or even just "oh I'll start activity X maybe in a couple of years" I'm like.........why. You don't even know if you'll be fit and healthy next year, making plans for your retirement in 20 years or even postponing simple outdoor activities like mountain biking or camping for a couple years "when the time is better" is.....unreasonable to me.

Like the article says - we're all just temporarily abled. Maybe some of us if very lucky will remain abled for a long time. A lot of people will not. If you have the good fortune of being abled now, use it now.