OT: weight training

[briansd1]

[quote=Allan from Fallbrook]
Cardiff and I are both making the same point, and one you’re choosing to ignore: No one is saying that becoming a musclebound monster is the way to go; to the contrary, we’re arguing that there are plenty of programs the “average Joe” can use that will work wonders.

Shit, go for an hour walk everyday. That’s what I do and, in conjunction with a good diet, I maintain my ideal body weight. You don’t need a gym to do this. If you work an office job, go for a walk at lunch (I used to do this during my corporate days). It clears your head and relieves a great deal of stress at the same time.

Plenty of ways to go.[/quote]

Allen, I absolutely agree with what you wrote above.

Maybe my observations are different from yours. The gyms I go to, the magazines people read, the enhancement products they buy, and the money they spend all point to a culture of extremes, influenced by the business of sports.

We’ve discussed the culture of consumption before, and I think it extends to physical workouts. People spend all kinds of money and put their hopes on supplements and products. But as you said, you don’t even need a gym, you just need discipline.

I know of very few people who maintain their ideal weights past 40. The ideal weight tends to be a moving target.

[Allan from Fallbrook]

[quote=bearishgurl][quote=Allan from Fallbrook] . . . go for an hour walk everyday. That’s what I do and, in conjunction with a good diet, I maintain my ideal body weight. You don’t need a gym to do this. If you work an office job, go for a walk at lunch (I used to do this during my corporate days). It clears your head and relieves a great deal of stress at the same time.

Plenty of ways to go.[/quote]

Allan, I used to walk a lot around the neighborhood in the eves. I still walk my dog short distances. Even though I felt fine, the results weren’t there. For the average Joe or Jane, the plethora of free weights, circuit-training machines and classes (+ “free” utilities running the pool and jacuzzi) can’t be had anywhere but a gym. Most people don’t have storage room for all that equipment (even if they could afford to buy it) and don’t have the expertise to do a yoga class (for example) by themselves.

A gym membership is a GREAT VALUE, but only if you use it regularly.[/quote]

BG: No disagreement from me whatsoever. If you have the time and access, a gym is excellent, especially in that it allows you to develop and execute a full program.

My point to Brian was this: If you don’t have the time and access, you DON’T need a gym in order to exercise (meaning, you don’t have any excuses for not going for a walk, or a jog, or even jumping rope in your backyard).

I hear constant griping from people about not having time to go to the gym, or not finding time to go for a walk. Generally these are the same people that have more than enough time to sit on their ass after work and watch TV for four hours.

If you’re serious, you’ll find a way.

[scaredyclassic]

My gym membership is a screaming deal. I pretty much only shower there and the hot water saving practically pay for the membership. Plus I don’t have to clean it.

Women are more attracted to guys who are bigger.

Men are slightly I’ll at ease around stronger men.

Be the big strong guy. It’s just a better way to go thru life.

[Allan from Fallbrook]

[quote=briansd1]

Maybe my observations are different from yours. The gyms I go to, the magazines people read, the enhancement products they buy, and the money they spend all point to a culture of extremes, influenced by the business of sports.

We’ve discussed the culture of consumption before, and I think it extends to physical workouts. People spend all kinds of money and put their hopes on supplements and products. But as you said, you don’t even need a gym, you just need discipline.

[/quote]

Brian: Here, I will agree with you 100%. The business of sports is BIG business. I see this even in youth football, where parents will blow hundreds of dollars on Under Armor apparel, Nike shoes and the latest/greatest accessories (none of which improve Little Johnny’s playing ability one iota).

Same with GNC. I know plenty of guys who spend stupid amounts of money on supplements (most of which are snake oil) and vitamins, in the vain hope that this stuff will improve their “performance”. Like your buddy, who ballooned up to 250lbs, they’re missing the obvious: Healthy diet and a good exercise program will give you all the performance you need.

You’re also 100% correct about discipline, too. I had a football coach who preached the value of an exercise called “pushaways” (i.e. “push” your fat ass “away” from the table). Most people don’t like hearing that results take hard work, sacrifice and discipline, which is probably why most people stop going to the gym in February (after making that New Year’s resolution to work out regularly). Instead, they buy all of this other “miracle” crap as a substitute for the basics.

[briansd1]

[quote=Allan from Fallbrook]
My point to Brian was this: If you don’t have the time and access, you DON’T need a gym in order to exercise (meaning, you don’t have any excuses for not going for a walk, or a jog, or even jumping rope in your backyard).

I hear constant griping from people about not having time to go to the gym, or not finding time to go for a walk. Generally these are the same people that have more than enough time to sit on their ass after work and watch TV for four hours.

If you’re serious, you’ll find a way.[/quote]

Thank you. I’ve been saying that for years. That’s one reason I don’t watch much TV.

I feel however removed from pop culture like the Kardashians, etc..

[quote=Allan from Fallbrook] I had a football coach who preached the value of an exercise called “pushaways” (i.e. “push” your fat ass “away” from the table). [/quote]

haha… I love that. I’ll use that line myself 😉

[CardiffBaseball]

I walk the dog everyday and that little bugger wants to run, so I get good anaerobic with fast walk mixed with running over a 45 minute or so period. Great stuff really and for a 40+ guy walking is very good for you. Less punishment on the joints and you still get a bang for the buck.

Deadlift – I have a few extra bucks and decided to spend it on equipment rather than gym fees. So I purchased “bumper weights” which is a fancy term for a specialty weight that you can drop on a concrete surface, although we have a horse stall mat to cushion the blow to the garage floor. So the point is I do not lower the weight. I bring the weight a few inches past the knee and drop it.

Remember that we are doing this to get my son’s sprint time to an MLB level. So the expression of power in the hamstrings/glutes etc. is finished once the weight is up past your knees. For anyone interested Google Barry Ross and Allyson Felix, it’s pretty interesting stuff but they try to get their trainees to deadlift 3X body weight.

Now does the avg. person need to deadlift? Maybe not but if you are fortunate and can do it safely (especially the way we do it) it’s pretty harmless. If you start doing high rep stuff where you do touch and go with regular iron… Yep recipe for trouble.

Squat – Perfectly good exercise but not quite as good for sprint speed which is our goal. (mostly because it’s using push rather than pull and happens too slowly). My anecdotal experience is this. As a youth athlete I could not touch my toes, nor as a member of the armed forces. Didn’t matter as I could do great things with a ball, excellent vision/awareness etc. Flexibility to touch toes apparently didn’t matter. Enter the ass-to-grass squat when I was older (35?). Suddenly I could touch my toes and put my palms on the ground flat. Mainly because you are trying to touch your ass to your ankles before exploding up, and over time that just loosened me up.

Yoga – There are many well paid trainers these days who do not preach stretching and say overdoing it will hurt. Watch a typical HS football team warmup today before a game. No longer are they laid out doing hurdler stretches. Now a days warming up before a game is about joint mobility and range of motion. High skips, over unders, high knees, arm circles, Karaoke’s. When we were kids it seems like it was 3-4 ways to stretch a hamstring before every game. Not so much today.

This is a hotly contested area and Pavel Tsatsouline and others basically say this. If you want to stretch, stretch. They just prefer you do most of the stretching after your activity. So deadlift, or squat or walk or whatever and do your stretching after you are finished while the heart is elevated.

WW/Scaredy inspired me I am thinking of taking on a Kettlebell swing challenge up to the new year. Should get me back into the swing of things, to start deadlifting. I have 35-44-55 and 75 pound kettlebells to let me work my way up. Just need to figure out a reasonable goal.

[scaredyclassic]

I own a kettlebell but it was too big. Couldn’t get into it. Maybe soon.

Going to buy a climbing rope for the yard.

At a playground this weekend, I watched oldest kid climbed up a pole with no feet just hands from sitting on the floor. Got jealous. I could do a couple feet upward but only from standing. Seated felt not possible.

All this activity may be cuz I’m envious of his teen power.

Other things too. I read an article in I think mens journal entitled ” the squat is the king of exercises”. I also now squat a lot. All the time in fact. I hope to squat like a native Asian within a year.

I am influencable

[jstoesz]

As far as squats are concerned, this will keep you from climbing stairs for weeks…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q535-TaCZyY

[CardiffBaseball]

and I didn’t mean to come off anti-squat, by all means mix that in. I just meant that if you only had time for one exercise with weights, the deadlift I find to be more user friendly, and have more overall benefit.

As I mentioned deep squats enable me to go from about an ankle high toe touch to palms flat on ground with no stretching.

[svelte]

Aw hell with it. Just go watch some yoga.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=26_-4Bc5h0A

[scaredyclassic]

the internet seems to believe that the Squat is the King of exercises, with the deadlift a close second

[jstoesz]

Try the leg blasters, that dude has tree trunks and he can’t make it through. He is collapsing like a senile old man.

If you are looking to get strong, try them.

It has done wonders for my telemarking.

[zk]

Anybody tried or know much about p90x? I’ve always been skeptical about stuff like “muscle confusion.” It always seems like a gimmick to sell something. But a guy at work did it and he swears by it. He’s been running 30-40 miles a week for years (still does) and still, he says the p90x transformed him.

[jstoesz]

If you can stick to it, it’s legit, but stay away from the p90 yoga. I still hate the for that one.

[The-Shoveler]

Your getting huge man HUGE !!

Just kidding, keep it up !!

[Author]

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