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Weight Lifting for Hackers

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Re: Weight Lifting for Hackers

#61

Post by greenlblue »

tjogin wrote: post #41
greenlblue wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I disagree. The only thing gymnasts do is use their own bodyweight and as far as athletes go in terms of endurance and pound for pound muscle strength they can not be beat.

Gymnasts are not at all as efficient about building muscle mass as body builders are. Gymnasts achieve great physical results in time, but nowhere near as efficiently as body builders do. This should not come as a surprise to anyone — for gymnasts, building muscle is a means to an end, and they don't want to build any extra muscle as that just weighs them down. For body builders, building muscle mass is everything.

The whole point of the article was about health/well-being through exercise and my point is that the gymnasts strike a very happy balance between strength/fitness and well-being. Whereas body builders exceed a lot of bounds and maintaining that much heavy/slow twitch muscle mass can be detrimental to one's health.

Re: Weight Lifting for Hackers

#62

Post by tjogin »

stonemetal wrote: post #60
tjogin wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And when you've developed the strength to do that, how do you increase the resistance (and how do you develop the strength when you can't even do a single pushup like that)? It's well established science that you should be doing about 5-15 repetitions per set, depending on whether you're focusing on hypertrophy or strength (overkill for non-professionals to even make the distinction, just stay between 8-12) — if you…

And when you've developed the strength to do that, how do you increase the resistance (and how do you develop the strength when you can't even do a single pushup like that)? Incline and Decline Pushups. At the top of a standard pushup you are holding in the mid 60s % of your body weight on your hands. At the bottom in the mid 70s % of your body weight. Changing the angles changes that value. Of course that still does…

It also changes what muscles you are exercising. A 100% inclined pushup works your shoulders significantly more than your chest, while a normal pushup exercises your chest more.

It makes it a completely different exercise altogether — the shoulder press exercise is not a substitute for the bench press and is nowhere near as efficient an exercise to build your chest muscles.

Re: Weight Lifting for Hackers

#63

Post by tjogin »

greenlblue wrote: post #61
tjogin wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Gymnasts are not at all as efficient about building muscle mass as body builders are. Gymnasts achieve great physical results in time, but nowhere near as efficiently as body builders do. This should not come as a surprise to anyone — for gymnasts, building muscle is a means to an end, and they don't want to build any extra muscle as that just weighs them down. For body builders, building muscle mass is everything.

The whole point of the article was about health/well-being through exercise and my point is that the gymnasts strike a very happy balance between strength/fitness and well-being. Whereas body builders exceed a lot of bounds and maintaining that much heavy/slow twitch muscle mass can be detrimental to one's health.

Becoming a gymnast is not a realistic way of adding muscle mass, unless this epiphany strikes you at about the age of seven.

Even if you do decide to go the gymnast route, you'll still be lifting weights (though not until you've been at it for years, and you probably won't be making some newbie gym mistakes like prioritizing biceps), it'll just take longer to achieve results because you're mostly focused on acquiring the skill and technique to do actual gymnastics.

As for your other claim, body builders do not accidentally add too much muscle. It is a wide-spread fear among people who don't exercise at all, but it does not actually happen. You absolutely, positively, won't wake up one day and realize that you've accidentally put on too much muscle.

Accidentally putting on so much muscle as to be detrimental to your health would be akin to walking home from school or work and suddenly realizing you accidentally walked around planet earth and the soles of your feet have been completely worn down — you will not suddenly complete a journey that takes most people extreme dedication and hard work over many many years.

Re: Weight Lifting for Hackers

#64

Post by matwood »

nazgulnarsil wrote: post #58
matwood wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are so many things wrong in this post I'm not sure where to start. First, 5 reps is fine sometimes. Look up periodization. The body adapts quickly so while 5 sets of 5 might work for a few weeks you eventually need to change it up. Plus your joints, tendons and ligaments get tired always lifting heavy. Cardio has nothing to do with 'toning.' The old saying is 'abs are made in the kitchen not in the gym.' If you…

heavy weight lifting is beneficial to your ligaments tendons and joints. it's doing dozens or hundreds of reaps that are bad for them. periodization is crap. you let your muscles recover and then you workout again. diet is outside the purview of this discussion for now. of course diet has a massive impact. that's not what we're talking about. I am well aware of various bodyweight routines. complicated programs are no…

Have you actually lifted heavy for any amount of time? If you have you'll know that you need times where you let your tendons and ligaments rest. Your joints will thank you too. Muscles recover much faster than your connecting tissues (and your CNS for that matter).

Look at something like the 5/3/1 workout. It's set up in a manner that you can do it indefinitely because it has built in periodization. For 3 weeks you work up to near maximal weights then a 4th week of deload. This 4th weeks gives everything else (again - connector tissue, CNS) a chance to fully recover.

A complete program is not necessarily complicated. Running is NOT a replacement exercise for a squat and DL variation.

Re: Weight Lifting for Hackers

#65

Post by patrickgzill »

I will say very frankly that you should NOT be lifting weights.

I have exercised both with weights and without, and I think for the time spent, and given that like me most of you probably sit at a desk, you will get more benefit with less chance of injury, by doing calisthenic/pilates style exercises.

The reason is that posture and the use of small muscles to make adjustments, plus working the abs/core, are more important when sitting down, and help you avoid injury.

The simplest plan is Canada's "5BX" plan designed for their air force.

A more complex set of exercises are the series done by John Peterson, such as "Pushing Yourself to Power" that focus on using your own body resistance plus variations on pushups and what are variously called "burpees", "Hindu squats", etc. (I have no financial or other interest in his company, which is at http://www.bronzebowpublishing.com/ )

Re: Weight Lifting for Hackers

#66

Post by xiaoma »

philk wrote: post #8
greenlblue wrote: post #6

In my experience cardiovascular exercise is way better for almost everything he mentions and for strength training one doesn't really need weights, various push-up routines are more than enough.

I'm having a hard time imagining how push-up routines can match the muscle building power of heavy squats and deadlifts.

I believe what greenblue meant by "almost everything he mentions" was better health, longer life and better looks, and possibly the bit about mental benefits.

And at least in terms of longevity, cognitive benefits, lowering risks for lifestyle diseases and , stress relief, cardio has a mountain of positive research backing it. For looks, it depends on what you're after. Not many male models are hulking gym rats, though.

Re: Weight Lifting for Hackers

#67

Post by khafra »

deutronium wrote: post #39

I've recently started Bouldering ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bouldering , "rock climbing undertaken without a rope and normally limited to very short climbs over a crash pad") in a Uni bouldering wall and am finding it a good way to increase muscle strength, whilst also enjoying the strategy aspect of deciding how to complete a particular route (which to me is more appealing than the repetitiveness of lifting weig…

Most of the fittest geeks I know either do bouldering or martial arts.

Re: Weight Lifting for Hackers

#68

Post by matwood »

peterwwillis wrote: post #43
nazgulnarsil wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

cardio with weight is bad for your joints. if you want to build endurance swim, jog, and spar.

yes, but if you are careful you can add a weight vest or light ankle/wrist/dumbbell weights and do various cardio exercises with minimal risk (if you use proper form). you should reduce your weight if your exercises are too high impact. small to medium dumbbells in combination with different exercises (squats, lunges, burpees, squat jumps, etc) can definitely give you an edge in your overall conditioning. jump traini…

Adding a weighted vest is much different than adding ankle or wrist weights. I would advise against ever adding weights to your ankles or wrists while doing cardio. In that scenario your legs and arms are acting like big levers and even light weight can wreck havoc with your mechanics that in turn can lead to injuries. The body just wasn't designed to operate in that manner.

While not exactly the same issue look up 'open chain' versus 'closed chain' exercises.

Re: Weight Lifting for Hackers

#69

Post by greenlblue »

tjogin wrote: post #63
greenlblue wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The whole point of the article was about health/well-being through exercise and my point is that the gymnasts strike a very happy balance between strength/fitness and well-being. Whereas body builders exceed a lot of bounds and maintaining that much heavy/slow twitch muscle mass can be detrimental to one's health.

Becoming a gymnast is not a realistic way of adding muscle mass, unless this epiphany strikes you at about the age of seven. Even if you do decide to go the gymnast route, you'll still be lifting weights (though not until you've been at it for years, and you probably won't be making some newbie gym mistakes like prioritizing biceps), it'll just take longer to achieve results because you're mostly focused on acquiring…

I didn't say go become a gymnasts. Anyone can do many of the conditioning routines gymnasts do to improve strength and technique. Push-ups, dips, crunches, v-ups, etc. are the most basic things most gymnasts do to strengthen their muscles and since most people are not going to be pushing boulders around I don't see a point in doing any kind of heavy lifting if you're exercising simply to reap the benefits of exercise.

Also, I didn't make a claim about accidentally adding too much muscle. I simply stated that the kind of muscles that weight-lifting builds is different from the kind of muscles you will build if you don't use weights. I've done both and simple routines that I can do at home exercise more muscle groups without isolating specific areas and overall I feel much better.

Re: Weight Lifting for Hackers

#70

Post by Psyonic »

polymath21 wrote: post #23
polymath21 wrote: post #21

I wholeheartedly agree with this article. A great blog I recommend is musclehack.com. For each exercise, I do 3 sets of 8-12 reps and increase if I can get to 12 or decrease if I can only do 8. I think one of the biggest errors I see at the gym are people NOT pushing 110%. No gains will be made unless you push yourself to the max. The way I judge a successful workout is how hard it is to lift my arms up to shampoo my…

Oh, and I also totally agree about the audiobooks. I have gotten through numerous Malcolm Gladwell books on my drives btwn socal and norcal. I can't get myself to listen to anything at the gym though, as wires annoy me to the max.

wireless headphones? pricey, but might be worth it
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