Everything You Know About Fitness is a Lie (2011)

I went to a "big box" type gym in January 2012 and hired a staff trainer. I told her that I wanted to lose about 20 lb, get stronger, and start running in mud runs. She started me off with basic body circuit training, working with her once a week and doing 3-5 more workouts the rest of the days. During this period I also watched my calorie intake. By May, I reached my goal on all three accounts, so she switched me to a routine more focused on free weights. Around October, she signed me up with a "specialist": a USAW certified coach that worked outside the "big box" gym, to do some Olympic weightlifting. This was a great experience. Not only did I get a lot stronger, leaner and got a lot more endurance, but I also learned a lot. The best part for me was that I did not have to focus on any one type of exercise: I did not gain 50 lb of muscle and lose all my flexibility, and I did not lose all my muscle mass by focusing solely on cardio. I learned the proper form for doing back squats, clean &#38; jerks, and snatches, and as of a month ago, I can run a 6 minute mile.<p>My point with all that is that a traditional gym and a staff trainer can work, provided the trainer knows what she is doing. Everybody is different. I have no particular athletic talent; my only advantage is that I am relatively young. However, what I have is time. There are 168 hours in a week. Devoting 5 of them to fitness is not a big deal. For me, finally getting a professional to train me was what I needed. This may work for others as well.<p>Edit: by the way, getting a trainer to work with you once a week is fairly expensive. I got a raise at the beginning of 2012 and thought that getting a trainer would be a wise way to spend that money. I do not regret a penny I spent. Looking back, the alternatives I considered (getting a loan on a new car, a new computer, etc.) would not have made me as happy as getting more fit than I ever was in my life up to this point.

This is a great article especially because it:<p>1. explains the supercompensation period and how to time your workouts.<p>2. champions free weights and resistance exercise.<p>3. explains injuries and gives some practical exercises to strengthen the rotator cuff (frequent injury among bodybuilders)<p>However, I'm not sure if I agree with the "Fundamental Four" and him saying muscular endurance (low weights, high reps) "is great for endurance sports but tends to undermine the first three, shrinking your strength, power, and muscle size."<p>There's a recent paper refuting this theory, <a href="http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/pdf/10.1139/h2012-022" rel="nofollow">http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/pdf/10.1139/h2012-022</a> . It basically says that low weights, high rep actually builds as much muscle mass as high weights, low reps... but both need to be done to the points of exhaustion, and that's they key.<p>Edit: Just wanted to give some more background on my thoughts on low weight, high rep. I became interested in this after I visited a trainer who suggested high reps (ie., 50+) with low weights. He demonstrated on me and made me do 25 reps of low weight bench press. At around 20 reps I couldn't do any more but helped me barely finish the remaining 5. His point was that you can do low weights, high reps but you need to work past what your mind is capable (and thus he suggests a personal trainer to push those limits). He also said with lower weights, high reps I could gain muscle mass and it's healthier (ie., less injuries) but if I wanted to be huge like a bodybuilder that lower reps, higher weights is better.<p>So, I've been trying this out on myself recently - doing low weights (30-40% of usual) and high reps (25-50), and doing each rep until the point of exhaustion (not able to lift any more). And then I take a short break (15-30 seconds) and do it again. Break, repeat, etc... until I do about 10 sets. Each set is to the point of exhaustion and I can't lift any more. The results is I'm super sore and it feels great. Prior I tried the StrongLifts 5x5 program (5 reps, 5 set) and also the typical 6-12 reps per set. But with heavier weights, I'm more scared of injury and it's harder to go to the point of exhaustion by myself. With lower weights, I don't fear injury as much.<p>I'm not trying to become a bodybuilder- rather just trying to bulk up a bit, lose fat and get fit.

I read this article around the time it was first published, and it has changed my life. I know it sounds corny and cliched, but it's true. This article was the first seed in my head that I needed to change the way I was doing things.<p>It took me about 18 months after reading it to actually buckle down and start lifting, but it's no doubt that the journey started here. I ended up reading "Starting Strength" and started up on the program. It's been about 6 months now and I'm stronger than I've ever been in my entire life- by a significant margin. I've gained 40 pounds of muscle. I feel confident, capable, and <i>strong</i>.<p>The only downside is that I cannot fit into regular clothes anymore- I have to buy clothes made for fat people and just deal with the extra room in the midsection. I also eat an incredible amount of food, which can get tiring and expensive (I eat $40 a week in steak alone). Overall, though, I'm thoroughly satisfied with the path that I'm on, and wish I had started years earlier.

I was all ready to come on here and trash this article. The headline and the first few paragraphs had me rolling my eyes. But I kept reading and changed my mind. I've now bookmarked this article.<p>People seem eager to find some magic, half-hearted shortcut to reaching certain goals. There really aren't any. The best advice is often the kind you don't want to hear. To really improve, look at the people who are the best in their field and mimic them. Why would you blindly trust a magazine written by someone trying to sell you a product?<p>Look at any college gym to see how well the article's conclusion is supported. Women generally stick to cardio machines. The skinny guys trying to get strong are all on the weight machines, and the big guys are all using free weights.<p>Having recently switched from distance running to weight-lifting because of an injury, I've had a rapid improvement in a few months. The exercises recommended to me from a guy that benches 400 lbs (180 kg) include: squats, deadlifts, bench press, dips, chin-ups, flys, and ab-crunch machine (only machine he mentioned). Dips and chin-ups should have weight added when body-weight becomes too easy.<p>Also, since I've very paranoid about injuries now, I've been watching and reading as much as I can on proper lifting form. In this case, I would recommend against copying the strongest guys. I see some very strong people with bad form. All that means is that they've been lucky so far.

This is a solid article, but the title is just wrong. "Free weights are better than machines" is not a "little known" fact, it's a well known fact by anyone who has cared to read the internet re:fitness since 2009. So is "lifting weights is much more efficient than cardio".<p>I say this only so that you don't read this and think these are some kind of fringe theories. They're widely, WIDELY known and 100% true.

Working with free weights is amazing. After college I decided to get in shape and spent some time doing this: <a href="http://stronglifts.com/stronglifts-5x5-beginner-strength-training-program" rel="nofollow">http://stronglifts.com/stronglifts-5x5-beginner-strength-tra...</a>. It's just one of many perfectly good programs you can find on the internet, it just has the advantage of being free and pretty simple to follow.<p>What's really shocking about lifting free weights is how little time it takes to stay "acceptably fit" (not "ripped like Jesus" fit, but "looks pretty good in clothes" fit). It just doesn't take a long workout to work all your muscles to exhaustion, and since it's often counter-productive to work the same muscle group on consecutive days, you don't need to go to the gym every day.

<i>Cardio machines are innocent enough, as they won’t actually make you any less fit, but maintaining cardiovascular fitness doesn’t really take much more than breathing uncomfortably hard for about 20 minutes, three times a week. And we all know that swimming, hoops, bike riding, and even Ultimate Frisbee can get the job done, and that treadmills or elliptical trainers are a pale substitute.</i><p>I think the author is overlooking one of the great benefits of elliptical trainers. They get the job done and they're very safe. If you're an obese out of shape person you're unlikely to get hurt getting your cardio in on an elliptical, whereas activities like hoops, bike riding, and Ultimate Frisbee can really fuck you up.<p>If you wear a heart monitor and keep your HR in the appropriate zones the elliptical can be a safe, effective cardio workout. I spent three years doing hour long cardio sessions 3-5 days a week, with around 60% of that hour spent in the high end of the aerobic zone. At the end of it I had lost a considerable amount of weight, and I had a resting HR of 38.

If you don't feel like clicking through 6 paginated pages, the single-page link works well: <a href="http://archive.mensjournal.com/everything-you-know-about-fitness-is-a-lie/print/" rel="nofollow">http://archive.mensjournal.com/everything-you-know-about-fit...</a>

My own research on the subject, and my several years of experience applying said research, taught me this: fitness as an overall goal is actually very, very simple. It gets complicated <i>only</i> when you try to optimize and fine-tune your workouts and diets, which most people do not actually need to do unless they are professional bodybuilders or powerlifters. Regardless of your goals, it comes down to three things: eat well, sleep as much as your body actually needs, and lift weights.<p>The problem is that the fitness industry, in order to justify its own existence, feeds people so many little details and tricks and drivel that it intimidates those who want to start, and quickly overwhelms those who actually do start. Furthermore, when someone fails to see results, they attribute it to some little detail that they must have missed, which perpetuates the existence of all those fitness magazines and websites.<p>Combine this with people's natural tendency to look for quick fixes, and you got yourself a huge mess. What I tell people who want to become fit is this: your current body is the result of years and years of certain habits you followed. You can't undo that in a month.<p>For those who are reading this and want to become healthier, my advice is as follows.<p>1. If you want to lose weight, then you need to eat below maintenance, do a mix of cardio and weightlifting, and sleep eight hours a day.<p>2. If you want to build muscle, then you need to eat a LOT of food with tons of protein, do mostly weightlifting, and sleep eight hours a day.<p>3. If you want to get "toned", that actually equates to losing body fat to make underlying muscles more visible, so follow 1.<p>4. If you want to build cardiovascular endurance (e.g. for sports), then focus mainly on cardio, with some weightlifting to build the muscles used in those sports.<p>From there, it's a matter of figuring out the basics and sticking with them.

Well, actually... Daniel the author neglected to tell Nicole the illustrator that the thumbs on the squatter (first graphic) are in the wrong position -- according to Rippetoe, not me. :-)<p>Humor aside, lifting heavy works for women, to. Women are afraid to get bulky. I got over the idea that lifting heavy wouldn't _make_ me bulky. This is just the way I am. Might as well make the best of what my DNA doled out. As for gyms, I've been harassed at my gym by a trainer for dropping 250lbs a bit too hard (it ripped the callus on my left hand and fell less than a foot, and gym doesn't allow chalk) when I routinely see/hear male lifters throw 100+ dumbbells to the floor. Can't wait to get a cage in my basement so I can spend less time in that place.<p>I'll be trying Brown's movements to see if they help with the pain in my knees from derby drills. Thanks for posting this!

If you are interested in free weights, Starting Strength is the best book out there. In free weights you have to be extremely careful about your form otherwise you could seriously injure yourself. This book goes deep in the human anatomy and mechanics to teach you how to approach free weights.<p><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Starting-Strength-3rd-Mark-Rippetoe/dp/0982522738" rel="nofollow">http://www.amazon.com/Starting-Strength-3rd-Mark-Rippetoe/dp...</a>

An amazing free ebook called Brain Over Brawn is one of the best things I've ever read on this subject, and continues to include all the big conclusions articles like these come to: <a href="http://brainoverbrawn.com/get-the-book/" rel="nofollow">http://brainoverbrawn.com/get-the-book/</a><p>I highly suggest giving it a a read or scan. It's very well written (fun to read, he's a great writer), short, and very to the point. He applies the 80/20 rule to working out, your body, your diet, and so forth.<p>My favorite section is how to build what he calls an "engineer bag", which costs a total of around $10 and replacing pretty much all gym equipment.

At Betable, four of us do CrossFit. It's not sadistic as the title says, though I'm sure that can depend on the gym. The one in SOMA is pretty supportive and accommodating, probably because they deal with a lot of startup engineers :)<p>Anyway, was struck me about CrossFit and really any group exercise routine is how much more it makes you tax your own body. When you're at the gym, you don't push yourself. You run comfortably fast on the treadmill, lift a comfortable amount of weight, and do it at a comfortable pace. Group exercise is great for breaking you out of that habit and making you push your limits. It's too easy to pretend that 45 minutes at the gym, 15 of which is "cardio" and 15 of which is "cooldown", is going to change anything.

Everything I know is a lie? So, eating huge amounts of fat and sugar, and never exercising is <i>not</i> less healthy than eating some vegetables and going for a run? I doubt it. So can we <i>please</i> stop with such ridiculous headlines?!

While some are able to extract valuable benefit from gyms the vast majority are wasting time and money. In addition to that, most of these articles are very thin on reproducible facts and true research-based data.<p>This is, by far, the most interesting and useful resource I have found when it comes to fitness:<p><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Body-Science-Research-Program-Results/dp/0071597174" rel="nofollow">http://www.amazon.com/Body-Science-Research-Program-Results/...</a><p>The author covers cellular biology and debunks ideas such as "cardio workouts", treadmill bunnies, jogging and walking around your neighborhood to loose weight with plain-old science. Here you'll learn about the cellular metabolic process, Krebs cycle, Insulin resistance, fatty acid synthesis, glycolitic cycle, Cori cycle, Bohr effect, glycogenolysis, amplification cascade and whole host of other topics that are important, relevant and reasonably well understood.<p>What's more important is that everything that is proposed in this book is backed by science and scientific studies. It's like open-source software. If you care to dive deeper into why something works the way it does the scientific references are provided. The book has over 25 pages of listed references (about 10% of the book is reference data).<p>Anyhow, one of the claims of the book is "12 minutes a week" every seven to ten days. In other words, that's the actual time under load you need every seven to ten days to affect significant changes in your body. This does not include time walking around, watching TV or resting. Time under load.<p>I have to say that it works pretty much exactly as advertised. After reading the book I tried it and had a friend try it. We'd spend about fifteen minutes under load at the gym once a week. For me it changed to fifteen minutes every 9 to 12 days (you track your data in order to determine frequency). I got stronger with every passing week. Something that I was not able to do without a ton more effort in the past.<p>If you are interested in learning about this, start with Dr McGuff's (the author) videos:<p><a href="http://www.bodybyscience.net/home.html/?page_id=2" rel="nofollow">http://www.bodybyscience.net/home.html/?page_id=2</a>

I used to own a boutique, 5,000 square foot personal training facility a few years back. Sadly, this article is on the money. We hired strength coaches with degrees in exercise physiology or athletic training and were fanatical about form and outcomes. We wanted clients to re-up not because they'd become best friends with a trainer or been entertained, but because they were experiencing measurable changes in whatever metrics were relevant to them (which we tested on a regular basis). We were very much the exception to the rule in a world where places like Crossfit didn't even exist yet.<p>The commentary on big-box fitness clubs is also dead on. It's all about maximizing revenue / sq ft, not changing lives. That leads to a 40% industry attrition-rate, because the offerings and environment are so broken, off-putting and ineffective. What other industry survives when you need to regenerate 40% of your client base every year just to stay at zero-growth? Insanity.<p>Last stat, for more than 30 years, the fitness industry has been trying to attract what's perceived as the holy grail, sedentary adults. But, no matter how much marketing they throw at the market, 85% of US adults refuse to join or stay members of clubs, even though more than 90% say exercise is mission-critical to their ability to live the lives they want to live.<p>I sold my last facility 4 years ago, but just writing this is reminding me how ripe this space still is for mass-disruption. Crossfit is doing a great job, but there's still so more that can and should be done.

&#62; I signed a 10-page membership contract at a corporate-franchise gym, hired my first personal trainer, and became yet another sucker for all the half-baked, largely spurious non-advice cobbled together from doctors, newspapers, magazines, infomercials, websites, government health agencies, and, especially, from the organs of our wonderful $19 billion fitness industry, whose real knack lies in helping us to lose weight around the middle of our wallets.<p>If that's not a CTA for startups, I don't know what is.

I'm in a unique position because I'm an avid programmer/HNer, but I'm also a competitive powerlifter in my spare time. I was very skeptical based on the article title, but it is actually well done and honest. If you're new to the gym/fitness, I would back up what was said in this article as sage advice.

Amateur marathoner here. Those lying side leg raises with toes pointed down are THE BOMB! Here's a great vid by Strength Running that illustrates that exercise and several more: <a href="http://strengthrunning.com/2011/02/the-itb-rehab-routine-video-demonstration/" rel="nofollow">http://strengthrunning.com/2011/02/the-itb-rehab-routine-vid...</a>

Anyone swim?<p>My kids joined a swim team, so I decided to try it as a work out (already had a membership at a gym with a pool).<p>I never swam as a workout before. I could barely do 500 meters when I started, switching up strokes (mostly free with my sad approximations of breast, fly, and back), having to stop and catch my breath often.<p>Now I'm at 600, have to stop much less often, and see some upper body development. I feel like swimming fits into the "muscle endurance" column from the article. I had just recently told someone swimming is like "upper body cardio".<p>So I'm curious if anyone else reading this swims and how you think it compares to other exercise regimens.

This is a great article (even as a repeat), and well-timed for the annual influx of "resolutionists" at the gym come January 1.<p>If you haven't lifted or trained seriously before, and have been looking for a solid guide and starting point, you could well do worse. If you're looking for further reading, the suggested library (Rippetoe's <i>Starting Strength</i> and <i>Practical Programming</i>, Zatsiorsky's <i>Science and Practice of Strength Training</i>, Schmitz's <i>Olympic-Style Weightlifting</i> and Gambetta's <i>Athletic Development: The Art &#38; Science of Functional Sports Conditioning) is solid. I'd add Schuler &#38; Cosgrove's </i>The New Rules of Lifting* more for its fitness and nutritional background than its training program, though that too is good.<p>For community, Reddit's /r/fitness, /r/advancedfitness, and /r/weightroom are good.<p>The one significant omission from Duane's "Men's Journal" article is of HIIT (high intensity interval training) and Tabata intervals (<a href="http://www.rosstraining.com/articles/tabataintervals.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.rosstraining.com/articles/tabataintervals.html</a>). As with strength work, it's amazing how little a time investment can provide returns. Your work sets for both lifting and high-intensity cardio training can be completed in a very few minutes.<p>The other key point is that consistency over time, rather than instantaneous effort, is what pays dividends. Lift for a week and you'll be sore. Lift for a month and you'll start feeling things. Lift for a year and you'll see results. Lift for 5 years, and it will be obvious to even the most oblivious. And you can look forward to benefits throughout most of your life, not just your 20s and 30s.

<i>Lift a weight so heavy you can lift it only once, you’re building strength (and, oddly, not much mass); lift a weight you can move six to 12 times, you’re building mass (and, oddly, a little less pure strength);</i><p>It's interesting how many people don't know that size does not necessarily mean strength. When I was in university, a gym friend, who happened to be a trainer, was an accomplished amateur bodybuilder, and was fairly close to getting his pro card (he might have it now, I'm not sure). This guy was easily twice my size, but to my surprise, I could lift quite a bit more than him. Now, I'm quite sure that I look like I'm in good shape, but I don't think anyone would guess that I'm 195 pounds, and can oly squat 2x my lean body weight. It's been more than once that I've seen someone at the the gym who looks merely "lean" at first glance, but turns out to be quite impressively strong. Just goes to show that it's hard to judge how strong people are just by looking at them, until you see them lift.

I have found kettlebells to be very useful also. There is a sub-reddit on them: <a href="http://reddit.com/r/kettlebell" rel="nofollow">http://reddit.com/r/kettlebell</a> . I will have to look into the Starting Strength book, I always had problems when trying to do squats before - perhaps bad technique.

...including this. Start with body weight training. Convict Conditioning is a great no-BS book &#38; program, for instance.

This is one of the best fitness articles I've read. Of course, that's me suffering from confirmation bias, because in 3 years of being on a health kick, I came to the same conclusions after talking to various people with a similar interest.<p>My progression went:-<p>Cycling -&#62; Running -&#62; Machines -&#62; Body Weight Exercises -&#62; Discovering Rippetoe/SS -&#62; Barbell (Power Rack)<p>The barbell is the king, and the great thing is in my gym it's always (95%) free. Everyone is on the cable machines.<p>Now I try and get all my friends and family doing some sort of 3x5/SS program because it. just. works. I even have my daughters doing it!

Apparently everything I know about X is a lie. And here are 10 reasons why..

For a very affordably monthly fee you can sign up to be remotely coached by fantastic power lifting / bodybuilding / MMA trainers with decades of experience bringing up truly strong and powerful athletes.<p>They'll find out exactly where you're at, help you figure out the optimal diet for your goals, help you with your form and regimen and will continuously work with you to make sure you're on track. The only variable in the equation is going to be your own personal willingness to stick to your own program. For the cost, I can't recommend it enough.

It'd be cool to know where are people in SF working out. Created a post: <a href="http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4972681" rel="nofollow">http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4972681</a>

Starting Strength is the way to go. Reddit, 4chan and SomethingAwful all have fantastic weightlifting communities; has really helped me cut through the BS you get fed by Men's Health etc.

I recommend to read or least checkout Georg Hackenschmidt's book "The way to live" from 1908. It's free and accessible on url: <a href="http://www.sandowplus.co.uk/Competition/Hackenschmidt/wtl/wtl-intro.htm" rel="nofollow">http://www.sandowplus.co.uk/Competition/Hackenschmidt/wtl/wt...</a><p>As semi-pro strongman and powerlifter, i've to say that Hackenschmidt's book has been most helpful for me, because it's give good tips about diet, mental preparedness and encouraged to do other sports than just Gym.

Discussion from 2011 <a href="http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2287213" rel="nofollow">http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2287213</a>

Well thanks for confirming the impression I got from my one and only ever experience at a gym: Not only is it boring but its also a huge waste of time. I remember it took me 2 hours until I felt like I had done something - and the best machine seemed to be the chin-up bar. I dont need a gym for that?!<p>I think for general body health, any exercise is better than none but some are more effective than others. Top to bottom: - Yoga ( ermm... The serious kind. Lots of bs out there) - Strength exercises like in the article - Competitive sports. (I used to fight Tae Kwon Do tournaments) - Casual sports - Biking to work - The Gym<p>I know some Yogis and they're overall the healthiest, best-shape people I know. Little wonder as Yoga was developed over thousands of years and specifically to heal the body. Maximizing the - amazing - self healing powers of your body. Those basic strength exercises are IMO just the western version of it, a slightly less advanced form. And it'll work better for some, no doubt.

<i>There is no secret to getting fit!</i><p>You can't be "sold" fitness. It doesn't come in a barbell or a bosu ball or on the track or in the pool. It's not in your food and it's not in the mind of a trainer. It's definitely not a recipe, WOD, set, game, trail, or pitch.<p>Want to get fit? Get off your goddamn ass three times a week, eat healthy, proportional meals, and get your doctor to evaluate you. That's it. I have nothing else to say because that is fitness.<p>--<p>That being said, this whole article is fucking ridiculous as it purports to tell you that lifting a ton makes you "fit". For me personally, I know i'm "fit" when I can do real-world exercise without getting exhausted. Running a mile in 7 minutes, hiking a medium-to-hard trail, pulling myself up over a ledge/fence, climbing a tree, or sparring for three minutes without falling over. Those are my fitness tests.<p>Those are <i>my</i> fitness tests, though, not yours. Make fitness personal and work towards your own goals - not something Men's Journal tells you is right for you.

So what do you do if your gym only has a smith machine and dumbbells? It's dangerous and hard to bench without spotter.

Yes<p>The fitness "industry" like several industries out there is 80% "Fitness 101 that doesn't solve a thing"<p>Physicians, trainers, the 'food pyramid', Fitness magazines, etc, they're all in on this crap.<p>Not to mention most sports are more damaging (or just plain stressful) to the body than lifting weights.<p>Tour de France is only humanly possible because of the large amount of doping used.

Thanks for posting this article! I was actually in the middle of getting back into lifting to 1) improve my health and 2) gain some confidence by accomplishing something in my personal life. I e-mailed a personal training studio a few weeks ago, and they never responded even though they recommended that means to get in touch with them. My next step was going to be to enroll in a "big box" gym to take advantage of year-end deals and start personal training sessions there. This article gave me the thought that I should consider some more self-education first. I may enroll in a gym anyway as they have the gear and the space for working out, but I should consider self-training. Will check out the Starting Strength book.

I've got to say that I never expected folks to be comparing Bench Press results on Hacker News.<p>The story starts with a known truth, "Health Clubs are RipOffs" and then gets a little off track. Barbells aren't the only thing. They're important, but great athletes mix in other types of training - low impact cardio to reduce the resting heart rate, short and long intervals, outdoor exercise, etc.<p>IMHO - The best gyms are tailored around an activity one enjoyes: Rock Climbing, Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, Rowing, etc. Supplement that as needed.

The article misses (maybe on purpose, so one has to figure it out by himself) what plan is he on. What I understand he is doing n number of set of 5 reps (the last set being 100% weight he can do with 5 repetitions): - squat - dead lift - bench press<p>In the article (in other sources) I read that doing squat and dead lift on the same day is not a good idea (back is working in both cases) should we throw out also this common wisdom?<p>I'm planning to buy "Starting Strength" but could someone correct me if I'm wrong?

Why is this #1? What happened to pizza, Jolt cola and Unix beards?

For the last 5 years, I've gone to the gym once or twice a week (usually just once). I do powerclean or snatch -&#62; squats or deadlift -&#62; bench and then I leave in around 45 minutes. When I explain my routine to friends and coworkers, they dismiss my results, believing they are due to genetics.<p>Thanks for posting the article. I definitely recommend reading <i>Starting Strength</i> if you haven't had any formal weight training instruction.

This article is largely rehashing what everyone I know already thinks. BUT, if you are going to claim to contradict widespread views, you should appeal to evidence.<p>If I disagreed with anything in this article, there is nothing here that would make me change my mind. The author cites how bad he felt that some trainer calling him "little girl weak" as a reason we should lift heavy weights?<p>Honestly, I couldn't care less about the author's insecurities.

I am the co-founder of Wello (www.wello.co). A site that enables you to workout with a personal trainer over live, interactive video. All you need is a laptop, webcam and internet connection. The bottom line is that personal training works and we make personal training accessible to everyone in the privacy of their home at a fraction of the price. Check it out and book a personal training workout today.

OT: Anyone know what these men's magazines have against Crossfit? There was a ridiculously ill-informed article in Men's Health magazine this year and this article slanders Crossfit as "sadistic" then doesn't bother to validate the claim.<p>But then he goes to a trainer who calls him "fucking little girl weak" and then goes on to essentially describe the Crossfit ethos as I've experienced it, minus the bullshit insults.

Previous discussion: <a href="http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2287213" rel="nofollow">http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2287213</a>

Great article! After reading it, it seems like stronglifts 5X5 is the thing to do.<p>I followed it for a while until some guy at the gym said I was doing squats wrong (he was wrong), I ended up injuring my (already weak) back and never properly recovered. Now I'm not sure if I should try pick it up again. Free weights get a bit scary as from a certain weight, you really need a buddy.

Does anyone have any recommendations about dieting? I don't think that when it comes to strength eating paleo cuts it. Most of the powerlifters don't seem to care about being lean and only care about strength, so they eat a lot.<p>I've got a lot stronger since I started training strength, but haven't got any leaner. Is there a way to have both or is it impossible?

"Yet multiple studies of pre-workout stretching demonstrate that it actually raises your likelihood of injury and lowers your subsequent performance." This was the only claim that surprised me and the only one that didn't provide much of a source. Time to dust of the old search engine, I guess.

One of the best things about free weights and the stationary exercises is the limited comute and equipment cost. Wanna work out? Head downstairs. Wanna increase your weights? Buy a new $15 set.<p>Or, ya know...buy a sledgehammer - <a href="http://www.shovelglove.com/" rel="nofollow">http://www.shovelglove.com/</a>

OK, as a former professional athlete this piece is, as usual, half-smart and largely uninformed (and hugely frustrating).<p>Important points:<p>1 - Don't confuse a "health club" with a gym. 2 - Don't confuse a "personal fitness trainer" with an athletic trainer. 3 - Most of all.... Don't confuse Performance and Results.<p>If you actually really care about Performance and training - I would suggest you start by learning the fundamentals of training. You MUST own your own training. And to do that you need to be informed. The author obviously didn't do any of this work as he just ran from "expert" to "expert" rather than taking personal responsibility. A simple rule of thumb.... if you're not talking about periodization, you're working with the wrong person (and doing it wrong).<p>Kevin Brown was one of the best PTs on the west coast and I'm incredibly fortunate to have worked with him. He was a huge loss to the community, and to his friends and family. But he wasn't the sort of 'holy man' that is implied in this piece. Unlike everyone else who the author worked with throughout his efforts, Kevin was just a highly skilled, highly trained, athletic performance professional. These people exist throughout the athletic world - including working as trainers.<p>So make the effort.<p>1 - Educate yourself on performance and athletic training principles.<p>2 - Fine a serious professional and work with them.<p>If you're not up for the above - then accept that you're not going to get the "magical" results you dream of. That's life.<p>Oh... and a fundamental flaw throughout this piece is the idea that there is some sort of "shortcut" to high performing physical fitness and athletic performance. Other than using PEDs there is no shortcut. And even PEDs are only effective if you ALSO take no shortcuts in your training.

TL;DR Bunch of already known facts strewn together in one article that will get lost in the millions of other articles about how to stay in shape. People, it's easy, eat natural and stay as primally (free weights, free running) active as possible. Done.

And here is a good recent article about why most "cardio" is a waste of time from Mark Rippetoe:<p><a href="http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_article/most_recent/conditioning_is_a_sham" rel="nofollow">http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_article/most_recent/cond...</a>

I love the way this article dispels misconceptions and ends with practical solutions.<p>Does anyone know of an article that does the same for becoming a great developer rather than continuing to wade in the novice waters of programming?

This exact article has been posted and well received before on HN.

I've found this site extremely useful for fitness:<p><a href="http://www.exrx.net/Lists/Directory.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.exrx.net/Lists/Directory.html</a>

It is a good article, too bad he sortof skipped the cardio fitness which to me is probably the most useful every day kindof fitness

I bought a treadmill machine 1 year ago, and I barely use it :/ .

I like how every general fitness article refrences "brad pitt in fightclub"...brad pitt in fight club was a little under 160 lbs so beyond aesthetics,I doubta 156 lb male had any real functional strength.

I never quite understood fitness. I bought some weights 2 years back and found a light exercise routine I like enough to do it daily. Works like a charm.

That's a very limited view on fitness.

sound great

I would just add that machines aren't the devil; Depending on where you live the douchebag level may be intolerable in the free weights area which can be a huge demotivator, machines can help blunt that a little. And no matter what any one tells you squats are great but there is a 100% chance of injury with them, it's just a question of when. The leg press machine works just fine and can prevent chronic back and neck problems.

This article is currently top1 of HN home. It relates with some male's obsessions with their bodies, but has nothing to feed to one's intellectual curiosity. Flagged.