If you really want to get fit, there's one easy thing you can do that actually works:
Take up a sport that gets you fit as a side effect.
I have two obsessions in life: Rock Climbing and Surfing. I'm pretty good at the first, and borderline hopeless at the other, but I'm committed to the point where I've arranged my life so that I can travel for months at a time to pursue one or the other each year.
When I'm working a contract to save up for the next trip, I'll find myself slowly fattening up on fish tacos and 12 hour days coding in a felt cube with only the occasional after work or weekend fix of rock or salt water. After a few months I'm decidedly soft, and quite a bit heavier. But put me on the beach in Thailand for 5 months and holy crap, what a difference.
It's like Fat Camp out there. There's so much fun climbing to be had right on the beach. Overhanging routes that work you into the sort of shape that lets you literally hand-over-hand your way out a horizontal roof by your fingertips as your feet dangle out in space. Without anybody forcing you, you spend your entire day working yourself silly, then you come back and eat rice. You can imagine what that does for your physique. It's like a convention of Men's Health cover models out there.
I come back to the world, and watch people going to the gym and clearly hating every minute of it. I can't understand why they would do that to themselves, when there's a climbing gym just a few miles away.
Every time there's an article on exercise or diet, there's a pileon of people promoting their own beliefs, with no apparent sign that they read the original link.
How do you address the fact that your point is actively contradicted by the article? Did you even know your point is actively contradicted by the article? I'm not even saying that proves you're wrong; what bothers me is that you just ran off to post your own stuff with no apparent engagement of the topic. That's not a recipe for learning anything.
Also, don't eat boxed foods or foods that went through multiple stages of processing. In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan spells it out very well, but I'll just give you my simple definition: Eating healthy is as close to eating dirt without actually eating dirt. Produce, grain, cheese, 1/2 pound to a pound of meat a week[1], and whatever else Marion Nestle recommends[1.5].
Just imagine what primitive man would eat. He would spend most of his days eating what grew from the ground and when they finally hunted down meat, they would eat their catch as a group[2]. That doesn't mean you have to do exactly that, but try to keep your eating habits in sync with what it was originally adapted to consume not what hyper stimulates made you believe it wanted to consume[3].
Now don't go about forcing yourself to eat stuff you don't enjoy. In the same manner jasonkester engages in something he enjoys that have the "side effect" of being healthy (I still think these activities are something we were adapted to engage in the first place), find foods you find delicious but also happen to be something that isn't processed. I can assure you that there is plenty of "healthy" or "natural" foods out there that you would enjoy[4].
Could not agree more. I never got in shape until I found a workout which I loved and could not wait to get back to (ironically, it was crossfit which the author calls out as "sadistic").
All of a sudden I even enjoyed planning my diet just on the chance that it would make me strong/faster in the next workout.
So, yes, like all in things in life, put the right incentives there (and just getting fit/healthy, obviously doesn't cut it for millions of Americans) and make it fun and it's a piece of cake.
And for those of you who haven't found your muse yet, I urge you to give crossfit a try. It lets your inner 5 year old run wild. You'll get to run/jump/climb/swing/throw heavy things until you crumble in a sweaty heap at the end. It is pure unadulterated fun. Plus, fat will run screaming from your body (but that's just a happy side effect).
As a squash player, one thing I hear often, and also tell people myself is: You don't play squash to get fit, you get fit to play squash.
It's a bit opposite of what you are saying, in the sense that you want to do alternative/strength training next to your sport to improve your game. This mentality and way of training has radically improved my own game the last year.
Even better, take up a daily activity as a matter of routine that gets you fit as a side effect.
I locked up my care for a summer and biked to the coffee shop and grocery store every day.Before long I was taking 5 mile bike rides on the spur of the moment. I lost about 35 pounds that summer. Unfortunately, I live somewhere that has a winter which makes biking impossible. I should have switched to cross country skiing or something I guess... if only they groomed ski paths on the side of the street.
It's good that you live in a place that's conducive to significant physical activity and have the means to take advantage, but the gym is the top option for most situations (access + expense).
Given he calls Crossfit sadistic it's ironic he's basically describing it. Free weights, core strength, a focus on overall fitness and all aspects thereof over abstract weight numbers. It's not complicated and plenty of people know it.
I sometimes wish we could delete the entire fitness industry from the world and replace it with a few lines of text, something like this: eat right, exercise, get adequate sleep, reduce stress, get variety, use natural motions, breathe deep, get yourself winded intentionally from time to time, when in doubt walk, etc. The vast majority of people probably never need to go near a fancy weight machine or even lift artificial weights of any kind. Just carrying out normal actions in the Earth's gravitational field, putting your body through all the natural ranges of motion it's capable of doing, is actually pretty darn adequate, and can build muscle and improve figure and physical capabilities. I believe most of the industry is not much more honest than a shyster trying to sell snake oil.
The only good thing to have come from the fitness industry, though, is to make gyms much more accessible for those of us who are either not male or not fitness-educated or not hanging around with the right crowd. Before nice shiny gyms came along, there was no way I (a woman) was walking into the garage type place that looks a bit like a minimum security prison yard. However, the problem now is that although gyms are accessible to everyone really, they are shit and the proper weights are still in the darkest mostly-large-males corner where it's still a bit intimidating to go to and bend over or lie down in the middle as the only female.
So there's a silver lining but there's still a cloud.
The fundamental business model of most gyms is to sign up as many members as possible, irrespective of whether those members then attend (that is why you have membership 'contracts', direct debits, etc...)
Hence, gyms are optimised for increasing sign-ups - not for getting you fit. So things look shiny, modern, relaxing, appealing to some imagined lifestyle. Then in reality you end up sitting on your couch eating crisps ('chips' Americans) and feeling guilty.
I think a lot of the comments here are missing the point of this article.
Free weights are vital for muscle strength, mass and edurance. That doesn't mean free weights take the place of your other activities such as skiing or mountain climbing. That doesn't mean that you cut out cardio, that's something else entirely, even though some people work on cardio in the gym along with strength training.
Free weights are also great for building the entire structure of your body. There is nothing which can stress the major muscles of the legs, bones and supporting muscle groups like throwing a huge weight on your shoulders and squatting that weight multiple times. Swimming, isometrics and all that other stuff won't do it. Machines also don't do this because you don't have weight to stabilize in both directions. The power move of the squat is to push upwards with your legs but you still have to lower that huge weight in an orderly down movement to start the exercise.
Prisoners are among the most fit people in the world, despite an absence of good machines, good diet, coaches, and instructional material.
If you want to be fit, start exercising--a nice way to get started is to truly understand that any kind of exercise is very much better than doing nothing.
They also have incredible incentive to get in shape, and a ton of free time to kill, and tend to have problems with aggression. That adds up. And your own personal muscle mass and melee fighting capability is pretty much the only weapon the prison allows you to have.
I have read on various weight lifting forums that at least some prisoners smuggle in steroids, protein powders/bars and also steal extra food when they can. This would certainly lead them to getting into great shape if all they do is workout and get the needed supplements.
Also, I don't know about you, but I don't personally know anyone in jail, so other than perception that guys in jail are huge, I'm not really sure its true.
Their diets are better than what my schools (any of them) served for lunch. Seriously. If that's all people ate, our prison population would be half what it is now, it'd simply kill at least half of them off within a few years.
This is a one sided view of fitness. e.g. there is zero focus on cardio. Would be interesting to see one of these guys do a light 5 mile run. Look into real world training: running, hard hiking with a pack, mountain biking, swimming/surfing. These types of exercise have been the most rewarding for me in terms of skeletal, muscle and cardio fitness.
The only thing I agree with in the article is that cardio machines in the gym are a waste of time.
I once trained for a 5k race by doing just squats. I beat most of my "cardio" friends. When you start squatting above your BW then you'll be just as out of breath after 8 reps as after a full-on 5k run. Your heart will beat just as fast, and youll be sweating about the same.
Also squats will improve your bone density.
Don't be fooled that suffers like Laird get their physique from surfing. All of them dead lift and squat.
The best thing about squats would be that they "insure" your knees for old age.
Do them right and they are easily the best exercise ever invented IMHO.
The only thing I agree with in the article is that cardio machines in the gym are a waste of time.
Not sure this is really true or that it matters. A 5 mile run on the treadmill at an x minute pace is the same as a 5 mile run outside at an x minute pace. Advantages of the treadmill include being able to keep a given pace without making any particular mental effort. Advantages of being outside is that it's not boring.
I get the logic and intent behind these kind of articles but at the same time they infuriate me, because this is the kind of crap that people read and use as yet-another-reason as to why they don't try to get fit.
Sure, machines aren't perfect, and they railroad your form, but it's better than nothing. I train on machines, _and_ with free weight, _and_ doing bodyweight / crossfit stuff. They all have their place.
There's no way I'd try to pull the rep max on a free barbell that I would on a smith machine, but it says nothing about how effective one or the other is.
It's like the whole internet self defense huff. A billion words written on the technicalities of all the different martial arts but most fights are won by punching the other guy repeatedly hard enough to stop him hitting you. Sure it's not perfect, but its taking action and it gets results.
I have lifted weights for 15 years. But now I ditched the gym all together. Got bored with neon lights, the smell of sweat and watching fat people run on a treadmill ;)
Here's another anecdote: No lifting weights, only running & cycling and lately swimming. Pretty much the opposite of what the article is arguing. Since I started this I'm doing I'm doing fairly well, six pack included. I went to the gym once, and saw bulked up guys getting 5 pull ups. So I tried that and could easily do 30. Lifting weights may make you look like a bodybuilder, but are you really fit?
Are you just taking this sample from a random time you looked at someone in the gym? There's a very good chance that these "bulked up" guys were near the end of their workout or have already heavily fatigued their back somehow. Either that, or they probably had a lot of bodyfat in which case obviously body weight exercises for reps wouldn't be their strong suit.
"Fitness" is defined relative to the task you want to accomplish. For most sports and athletes, if you are fit for that sport, you are "fit" in the sense that you are healthy. But athletes training for different sports may have vastly different abilities.
I think it's also worth noting that not all weight training has the goal of "looking like a bodybuilder."
The article mentions the four basic muscular aptitudes: strength, power, muscle mass, and muscular endurance. In your case it's about muscular endurance, while in the case of those bulked up guys it's probably about strength and muscle mass. What I'm trying to say is that you're comparing apples to oranges.
When I was going to the gym (old school) three times a week I couldn't do a single pull up. Once I quit in two weeks or so I could do my usual slack ass five pull ups.
Funny thing is that I still could only do 10-20 pushups but they were effortless, completely different then at the time I was slacking.
Mainstream men’s fitness magazines have no larger mission than profitable advertising sales, which means endless pitches for useless (if not outright dangerous) dietary supplements and articles on “Seven Steps to Great Abs,” always omitting the all-important Step Eight: In order to make your six-pack even remotely visible to the naked eye, reduce your total body fat to an inhuman 10 percent.
This describes just about every issue of "Mens Health" magazine, by the way.
I started going to gym 3 years ago. My weight was 55kg (122lbs) and height was 182cm (~6ft). Very underweight. I knew nothing about training. So I paid for a personal trainer. He made me program where almost all exercises were on the machines. At least he put squat and bench press there too. I trained when I had time, 2-4 times a week.
Last summer I did some arm wrestling with my friend. I lost. I thought what's wrong. I weighed less than my friend, but he didn't do any weight training. So I started looking how to get more strength.
I started doing core strength (Squat, bench press, dead lift, press, power clean, pull-ups). No more machines, biceps curls, calf raises, wrist curls, etc. Also, I started eating much more. With last 2 months I've gained 4kg (8-9lbs). My squat is currently 102.5kg (226lbs), that is ~1.4x of my body weight. I've gained more strength and weight with 2 months than I usually did in a year. And what's most important, now I beat my friend :).
The article's conclusion: Lift big with classic lifts. Gain strength.
What I actually do: Take walks and do isometrics on convenient bars, poles, etc. Max power, 5-10 second holds, multiple angles. The better I am about those rules, the more progress I make. More effective than any gym I've ever been in.
I understand what you are saying...isometrics are awesome...I actually do them almost everyday and I swear by them. I also swear by dynamic tension flexing, which brings great results.
But don't confuse those results with the results from classic big lifts. Like I said, I do isometrics all the time, but squats, deadlifts, benchpress and pullups are going to develop your musculature in ways isometrics never could.
What I'm doing now is a class lift style of back squats, deadlifts and benchpress 5x5 program for strength. Progress 5 pounds each session (make sure you start very low so you can build up) and end the each session with a circuit of your choosing x 3 (I normally do something like BW to failure of pullups, pushups, dips, plank, bridge/mule kick, ...then break and do it all again). Total workout including warmup takes 45 minutes max (I warm up for about 20 minutes).
This will build tons of muscle and you will gain strength very quickly. Though, make sure you eat right (Paleo) and cut out the crappy foods like grains/glutens/sugars and you will see fantastic results (if you still eat grains and the like, you'll gain weight, but you likely won't lose any fat .... some people call this "shitty weight" akin to drinking 2 gallons of milk a day).
The author clearly equates fitness with strength, and some of his claims are way off.
Here's one: "...maintaining cardiovascular fitness doesn’t really take much more than breathing uncomfortably hard for about 20 minutes, three times a week"
As a former competitive runner, I've read hundreds of studies and abstracts about improving various cardio-vasuclar metrics. 20 minutes, three times a week is barely enough to generate even modest VO2 max improvements. Ideally it takes 40-60 minutes, five times a week, plus an extra long session of over 90 minutes. This is about the minimum training you'll see in a 5k runner or 1000m swimmer. Top 10k runners generally require 70-90 minutes a day, even when doing interval work and have long runs of over two hours. The results of this sort of training are measurable. LT, VO2max, resting HR and a variety of other metrics show a dose dependent response.
Many studies[1] have also demonstrated that even recreational distance training results in a wide variety of benefits that weight training does not, even including increased rates of neurogenesis and longer telemeres than average for one's age.
Weight training clearly is superior for increasing muscle and bone mass, but it isn't a magical silver bullet that improves everything.
[1] I've cited all of these on hn before, most don't have paywalls and they should be googleable.
As someone who just tried to start this kind of thing (heavy squat/deadlift every couple of days) and hurt my lower back pretty good, I just don't know about this advice.
Then you did the exercises in bad form. Years ago my fitness condition was like the article described: little-girl weak. My back and my neck ached a lot after coding sessions. Fast-forward until now doing squats, dead lifts, presses three times a week for 3 months I am much stronger, can run 2x longer and the pain has completely gone away.
At first i followed Stronglift 5x5's advice: start with the bar only, concentrate on proper form for at least 2 weeks and increase the load slightly for each workout. I'm also lucky that there are sport students working as tutors at my university gym. They are taught proper (olympic) weight lifting so I asked them to correct my form if I did the exercises wrong. After that it's like riding a bicycle, once learned you will never forget how to ride.
That is why all the training programs tell you to start out lifting light (even just the bar by itself) and gradually add weight over time as your technique improves. If you use common sense and follow the guides you won't get hurt.
Kind of odd that there's virtually no data in this article. I feel like I could write an article that said the complete opposite and be just as compelling. Seems like a typical "health magazine" article. No data, just conjecture dressed up as fact.
I hate articles like this. Not because they don't highlight what a steaming pile the actual fitness and training industry is, but because they're way too slow. Proper training articles have existed for a long time, in easily reachable spots. For all the stupidity at BodyBuilding.com, their forums biggest stickies are those about the 'Starting Strength' workouts - the ones where you deadlift, squat, and bench. T-Nation, another big one, has never advocated anything else for a starting athlete.
I just hate when someone posts something like this and goes 'Everything You Know Is A Lie!" No, it's not. I just happen to have read this shit eight years ago, and that was late already.
Wow, a ten-page article that says almost nothing, despite the shocking title. I think anyone serious about fitness knows that free weights and sports are the most effective and fun ways to get there.
Also haven't heard it mentioned yet so I'll share some other good ideas for the geeks. One is to move about a mile or two from work ... arrive every morning refreshed instead of cursing traffic. Two, take up salsa dancing and chat up the hot latinas. Three, get a cheap bike and ride the local hills. Catching a beautiful sunset with a view is a fantastic reward. Also helps me catch up with my podcasts.
[+] [-] jasonkester|15 years ago|reply
Take up a sport that gets you fit as a side effect.
I have two obsessions in life: Rock Climbing and Surfing. I'm pretty good at the first, and borderline hopeless at the other, but I'm committed to the point where I've arranged my life so that I can travel for months at a time to pursue one or the other each year.
When I'm working a contract to save up for the next trip, I'll find myself slowly fattening up on fish tacos and 12 hour days coding in a felt cube with only the occasional after work or weekend fix of rock or salt water. After a few months I'm decidedly soft, and quite a bit heavier. But put me on the beach in Thailand for 5 months and holy crap, what a difference.
It's like Fat Camp out there. There's so much fun climbing to be had right on the beach. Overhanging routes that work you into the sort of shape that lets you literally hand-over-hand your way out a horizontal roof by your fingertips as your feet dangle out in space. Without anybody forcing you, you spend your entire day working yourself silly, then you come back and eat rice. You can imagine what that does for your physique. It's like a convention of Men's Health cover models out there.
I come back to the world, and watch people going to the gym and clearly hating every minute of it. I can't understand why they would do that to themselves, when there's a climbing gym just a few miles away.
[+] [-] jerf|15 years ago|reply
How do you address the fact that your point is actively contradicted by the article? Did you even know your point is actively contradicted by the article? I'm not even saying that proves you're wrong; what bothers me is that you just ran off to post your own stuff with no apparent engagement of the topic. That's not a recipe for learning anything.
[+] [-] ilovecomputers|15 years ago|reply
Just imagine what primitive man would eat. He would spend most of his days eating what grew from the ground and when they finally hunted down meat, they would eat their catch as a group[2]. That doesn't mean you have to do exactly that, but try to keep your eating habits in sync with what it was originally adapted to consume not what hyper stimulates made you believe it wanted to consume[3].
Now don't go about forcing yourself to eat stuff you don't enjoy. In the same manner jasonkester engages in something he enjoys that have the "side effect" of being healthy (I still think these activities are something we were adapted to engage in the first place), find foods you find delicious but also happen to be something that isn't processed. I can assure you that there is plenty of "healthy" or "natural" foods out there that you would enjoy[4].
[1]http://www.ted.com/talks/mark_bittman_on_what_s_wrong_with_w...
[1.5]http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=eating-made...
[2]http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=3723678050599653349#
[3]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TzN-uIVkfjg
[4]http://smittenkitchen.com/
[+] [-] dschobel|15 years ago|reply
All of a sudden I even enjoyed planning my diet just on the chance that it would make me strong/faster in the next workout.
So, yes, like all in things in life, put the right incentives there (and just getting fit/healthy, obviously doesn't cut it for millions of Americans) and make it fun and it's a piece of cake.
And for those of you who haven't found your muse yet, I urge you to give crossfit a try. It lets your inner 5 year old run wild. You'll get to run/jump/climb/swing/throw heavy things until you crumble in a sweaty heap at the end. It is pure unadulterated fun. Plus, fat will run screaming from your body (but that's just a happy side effect).
[+] [-] haraball|15 years ago|reply
It's a bit opposite of what you are saying, in the sense that you want to do alternative/strength training next to your sport to improve your game. This mentality and way of training has radically improved my own game the last year.
[+] [-] tfh|15 years ago|reply
That's my dream right there.
[+] [-] code_duck|15 years ago|reply
I locked up my care for a summer and biked to the coffee shop and grocery store every day.Before long I was taking 5 mile bike rides on the spur of the moment. I lost about 35 pounds that summer. Unfortunately, I live somewhere that has a winter which makes biking impossible. I should have switched to cross country skiing or something I guess... if only they groomed ski paths on the side of the street.
[+] [-] mkr-hn|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] ciupicri|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] VB6_Forever|15 years ago|reply
[deleted]
[+] [-] msy|15 years ago|reply
Hyperbolic headlines are intensely irritating.
[+] [-] mkramlich|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] someperson|15 years ago|reply
By getting yourself winded do you mean being punched in the stomach hard enough to lose your breath for a moment, or something else?
[+] [-] TimeForThis|15 years ago|reply
So there's a silver lining but there's still a cloud.
[+] [-] dansingerman|15 years ago|reply
The fundamental business model of most gyms is to sign up as many members as possible, irrespective of whether those members then attend (that is why you have membership 'contracts', direct debits, etc...)
Hence, gyms are optimised for increasing sign-ups - not for getting you fit. So things look shiny, modern, relaxing, appealing to some imagined lifestyle. Then in reality you end up sitting on your couch eating crisps ('chips' Americans) and feeling guilty.
[+] [-] gexla|15 years ago|reply
Free weights are vital for muscle strength, mass and edurance. That doesn't mean free weights take the place of your other activities such as skiing or mountain climbing. That doesn't mean that you cut out cardio, that's something else entirely, even though some people work on cardio in the gym along with strength training.
Free weights are also great for building the entire structure of your body. There is nothing which can stress the major muscles of the legs, bones and supporting muscle groups like throwing a huge weight on your shoulders and squatting that weight multiple times. Swimming, isometrics and all that other stuff won't do it. Machines also don't do this because you don't have weight to stabilize in both directions. The power move of the squat is to push upwards with your legs but you still have to lower that huge weight in an orderly down movement to start the exercise.
[+] [-] emeltzer|15 years ago|reply
If you want to be fit, start exercising--a nice way to get started is to truly understand that any kind of exercise is very much better than doing nothing.
[+] [-] mkramlich|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] ryanfitz|15 years ago|reply
Also, I don't know about you, but I don't personally know anyone in jail, so other than perception that guys in jail are huge, I'm not really sure its true.
[+] [-] ohyes|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Groxx|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] mmaunder|15 years ago|reply
The only thing I agree with in the article is that cardio machines in the gym are a waste of time.
[+] [-] keeptrying|15 years ago|reply
Also squats will improve your bone density.
Don't be fooled that suffers like Laird get their physique from surfing. All of them dead lift and squat.
The best thing about squats would be that they "insure" your knees for old age.
Do them right and they are easily the best exercise ever invented IMHO.
[+] [-] jrockway|15 years ago|reply
Not sure this is really true or that it matters. A 5 mile run on the treadmill at an x minute pace is the same as a 5 mile run outside at an x minute pace. Advantages of the treadmill include being able to keep a given pace without making any particular mental effort. Advantages of being outside is that it's not boring.
[+] [-] tlear|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] momotomo|15 years ago|reply
Sure, machines aren't perfect, and they railroad your form, but it's better than nothing. I train on machines, _and_ with free weight, _and_ doing bodyweight / crossfit stuff. They all have their place.
There's no way I'd try to pull the rep max on a free barbell that I would on a smith machine, but it says nothing about how effective one or the other is.
It's like the whole internet self defense huff. A billion words written on the technicalities of all the different martial arts but most fights are won by punching the other guy repeatedly hard enough to stop him hitting you. Sure it's not perfect, but its taking action and it gets results.
[+] [-] toadi|15 years ago|reply
Now I only sport outdoors and for muscle strength I use kettle-bells: http://www.amazon.com/Kettlebell-Strength-Secret-Soviet-Supe...
Just read http://www.amazon.com/Kettlebell-Strength-Secret-Soviet-Supe... and you know enough. No expensive equipment needed and it takes only 3 times 30 to 40 minutes a week to gain considerable strength and cardio!
[+] [-] jules|15 years ago|reply
Here's another anecdote: No lifting weights, only running & cycling and lately swimming. Pretty much the opposite of what the article is arguing. Since I started this I'm doing I'm doing fairly well, six pack included. I went to the gym once, and saw bulked up guys getting 5 pull ups. So I tried that and could easily do 30. Lifting weights may make you look like a bodybuilder, but are you really fit?
[+] [-] mzl|15 years ago|reply
The really bulked-up ones most likely train for muscle mass, not for any useful activity.
[+] [-] fagballs|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] scott_s|15 years ago|reply
I think it's also worth noting that not all weight training has the goal of "looking like a bodybuilder."
[+] [-] ciupicri|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] scotty79|15 years ago|reply
Funny thing is that I still could only do 10-20 pushups but they were effortless, completely different then at the time I was slacking.
[+] [-] ez77|15 years ago|reply
If you just learn this 'fact', then some of the facts you know about fitness will of necessity be true, consistency willing.
[+] [-] brown9-2|15 years ago|reply
This describes just about every issue of "Mens Health" magazine, by the way.
[+] [-] unknown|15 years ago|reply
[deleted]
[+] [-] indrekj|15 years ago|reply
Last summer I did some arm wrestling with my friend. I lost. I thought what's wrong. I weighed less than my friend, but he didn't do any weight training. So I started looking how to get more strength.
I started doing core strength (Squat, bench press, dead lift, press, power clean, pull-ups). No more machines, biceps curls, calf raises, wrist curls, etc. Also, I started eating much more. With last 2 months I've gained 4kg (8-9lbs). My squat is currently 102.5kg (226lbs), that is ~1.4x of my body weight. I've gained more strength and weight with 2 months than I usually did in a year. And what's most important, now I beat my friend :).
[+] [-] chipsy|15 years ago|reply
What I actually do: Take walks and do isometrics on convenient bars, poles, etc. Max power, 5-10 second holds, multiple angles. The better I am about those rules, the more progress I make. More effective than any gym I've ever been in.
[+] [-] fingerprinter|15 years ago|reply
But don't confuse those results with the results from classic big lifts. Like I said, I do isometrics all the time, but squats, deadlifts, benchpress and pullups are going to develop your musculature in ways isometrics never could.
What I'm doing now is a class lift style of back squats, deadlifts and benchpress 5x5 program for strength. Progress 5 pounds each session (make sure you start very low so you can build up) and end the each session with a circuit of your choosing x 3 (I normally do something like BW to failure of pullups, pushups, dips, plank, bridge/mule kick, ...then break and do it all again). Total workout including warmup takes 45 minutes max (I warm up for about 20 minutes).
This will build tons of muscle and you will gain strength very quickly. Though, make sure you eat right (Paleo) and cut out the crappy foods like grains/glutens/sugars and you will see fantastic results (if you still eat grains and the like, you'll gain weight, but you likely won't lose any fat .... some people call this "shitty weight" akin to drinking 2 gallons of milk a day).
[+] [-] baddox|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] xiaoma|15 years ago|reply
Here's one: "...maintaining cardiovascular fitness doesn’t really take much more than breathing uncomfortably hard for about 20 minutes, three times a week"
As a former competitive runner, I've read hundreds of studies and abstracts about improving various cardio-vasuclar metrics. 20 minutes, three times a week is barely enough to generate even modest VO2 max improvements. Ideally it takes 40-60 minutes, five times a week, plus an extra long session of over 90 minutes. This is about the minimum training you'll see in a 5k runner or 1000m swimmer. Top 10k runners generally require 70-90 minutes a day, even when doing interval work and have long runs of over two hours. The results of this sort of training are measurable. LT, VO2max, resting HR and a variety of other metrics show a dose dependent response.
Many studies[1] have also demonstrated that even recreational distance training results in a wide variety of benefits that weight training does not, even including increased rates of neurogenesis and longer telemeres than average for one's age.
Weight training clearly is superior for increasing muscle and bone mass, but it isn't a magical silver bullet that improves everything.
[1] I've cited all of these on hn before, most don't have paywalls and they should be googleable.
[+] [-] Herring|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] neutronicus|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] lamnk|15 years ago|reply
At first i followed Stronglift 5x5's advice: start with the bar only, concentrate on proper form for at least 2 weeks and increase the load slightly for each workout. I'm also lucky that there are sport students working as tutors at my university gym. They are taught proper (olympic) weight lifting so I asked them to correct my form if I did the exercises wrong. After that it's like riding a bicycle, once learned you will never forget how to ride.
[+] [-] NZ_Matt|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] astrogirl|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] unknown|15 years ago|reply
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[+] [-] kenjackson|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] grobolom|15 years ago|reply
I just hate when someone posts something like this and goes 'Everything You Know Is A Lie!" No, it's not. I just happen to have read this shit eight years ago, and that was late already.
[+] [-] mixmastamyk|15 years ago|reply
Also haven't heard it mentioned yet so I'll share some other good ideas for the geeks. One is to move about a mile or two from work ... arrive every morning refreshed instead of cursing traffic. Two, take up salsa dancing and chat up the hot latinas. Three, get a cheap bike and ride the local hills. Catching a beautiful sunset with a view is a fantastic reward. Also helps me catch up with my podcasts.