• Introduction to Strength Training
    132 replies, posted
OP's post is all right for the rather mindless iron pumping being. Just some pointers, comrade :) : It does not matter how you provide resistance for your muscles. That means bodyweight exercises are as good as lifting dumb- and barbells. (i.e. increase the leverage for a push up by resting your legs on something higher, do them on one arm, vary the distance of your hands and not to mention try some planches). You see, they are not just assistance exercises. Pumping iron is not the fastest way to obtain strength. Let some untrained person do isometric training and watch him stare in astonishment. Why? Because the heaviest weight you can lift is a weight you can NOT lift :) . Next, you could have provided some details on sets, reps and breaks. For example, low resistance / high reps are building muscular and in most cases cardiovascular endurance, where as high resistance / medium reps are ideal for building muscle mass such as 3 to 5 sets with 12 reps. However, "ultra" high resitance / very low reps such as 1-5 reps and 3 sets are best for building PURE strength without adding much mass. Whatsoever, squats, bench presses and deadlifts may be the best iron pumping exercises because you have to tense pretty much every muscle in your body when attempting to lift really heavy weights and seeing as such you work out not only i.e. your legs and glutes while deadlifting, but your abs and back as well. But why don't you just use more conventional moves for overall conditioning like chopping wood and carrying heavy sandbags, flipping tractor tires and dragging a rock across a meadow ? Makes more fun and may be even more effective ;) Next point, mate : Squats don't do anything for your goddamn cardivascular capability. Yes, you will be working in a anaerobic enviroment for a short time, but that does not imply increasing your sprinting success. It's quite simple actually: When sprinting, you don't tense every muscle in your body in order to achieve maximum power. You activate exactly the muscles required for your current task as not to hinder your propelled forward movement, mkay. To cut the topic of "natural muscular balance" or whatever the hell you call it : More strength makes you more successfull in every sport. No exceptions. But try to sustain a full american football match while being completly drilled for strength. You get killed by the enemy, literally :3 See, your body just adapts to your current living circumstances, so the balance will fit to your chosen ones. And I forgot something: Why the fuck do you compare a "full squat workout" with 20 sets and 5 reps or whatever the hell you posted to a cardio session ? Obviously you'll be tired and gasping for air, but the actual exhaustment will differ from the cardio one, derp. But a compliment to you for explaining the easiest method to lose and gain mass :) However, I'm afraid there's an even more effective way to burn fat via a diet, called the "Warrior Diet". It's based on our primal instincts and eating habits and consists of fasting during the day and feasting during the sunset, sometimes consuming up to 3500 kcal in ONE epicly and epos worthy meal. Too much to explain, just google "Warrior Diet" and you'll find everything you need to know. Point me out if I forgot to mention something :) !
[QUOTE=WuWei;22775548] It does not matter how you provide resistance for your muscles. That means bodyweight exercises are as good as lifting dumb- and barbells. (i.e. increase the leverage for a push up by resting your legs on something higher, do them on one arm, vary the distance of your hands and not to mention try some planches). You see, they are not just assistance exercises. Whatsoever, squats, bench presses and deadlifts may be the best iron pumping exercises because you have to tense pretty much every muscle in your body when attempting to lift really heavy weights and seeing as such you work out not only i.e. your legs and glutes while deadlifting, but your abs and back as well. But why don't you just use more conventional moves for overall conditioning like chopping wood and carrying heavy sandbags, flipping tractor tires and dragging a rock across a meadow ? Makes more fun and may be even more effective ;) Next point, mate : Squats don't do anything for your goddamn cardivascular capability. Yes, you will be working in a anaerobic enviroment for a short time, but that does not imply increasing your sprinting success. It's quite simple actually: When sprinting, you don't tense every muscle in your body in order to achieve maximum power. You activate exactly the muscles required for your current task as not to hinder your propelled forward movement, mkay. But a compliment to you for explaining the easiest method to lose and gain mass :) However, I'm afraid there's an even more effective way to burn fat via a diet, called the "Warrior Diet". It's based on our primal instincts and eating habits and consists of fasting during the day and feasting during the sunset, sometimes consuming up to 3500 kcal in ONE epicly and epos worthy meal. Too much to explain, just google "Warrior Diet" and you'll find everything you need to know. [/QUOTE] Yes it does matter. For example, show me a bodyweight exercise where you can reap the effects of spinal loading? Not going to happen. Eventually (rather fastly actually) you'll get to the point with bodyweight exercises need additional resistance to provide enough load and stress to stimulate growth. So essentially they're no longer body weight exercises. The point remains that in a conventional program, they are still assistance exercises to lifts such as the deadlift and squat. Much the same as bicep curls are an assistance exercise in a strength program. You bring up the points of training with real world objects, which is fine, both will produce results, hell nothing saying you can't do both, as many do in the strength training world. OP could've provided a bit more detail on classic ideas of rep and set schemes, I agree. I was gonna bring up a point about such concepts meaning nothing for the advanced trainee, but I guess we're not talking about advanced trainees here lol :P Squats do, do something for your damn cardiovascular capability. Hell strength training in general does. Obviously squats aren't going even begin to replace a proper conditioning program, but to ignore the fact that strength training has positive effects on CV performance is, well, ignorant. As for the warrior diet, I like some of the ideas presented, and obviously people have gotten results with it, but so have many others on many other diets. It's not a be all end all to fat loss.
[QUOTE=Aide;22775102]'metabolism' is over used. If you eat healthy and exercise each day, you shouldn't have to worry about 'metabolism'.[/QUOTE] Not true. Some people have a really slow metabolism and have to work their asses off in order to make sure the weight gained is muscle and not fat, even when working out every 2nd day, doing cardio, and eating healthy as fuck.
What effects does "spinal loading" reap anyway? Never heard of it. And I admit that strength training does a lil' something for your endurance, but it does not, as you said, replace a proper conditioning program. And trust me, there are so many ways to make BWEs hard enough for even advanced trainees. For example, take this : [url]http://www.unique-bodyweight-exercises.com/one-arm-chin-up.html[/url] And thanks for actually reading my post !
[QUOTE=WuWei;22776645]What effects does "spinal loading" reap anyway? Never heard of it. And I admit that strength training does a lil' something for your endurance, but it does not, as you said, replace a proper conditioning program. And trust me, there are so many ways to make BWEs hard enough for even advanced trainees. For example, take this : [url]http://www.unique-bodyweight-exercises.com/one-arm-chin-up.html[/url] And thanks for actually reading my post ![/QUOTE] The problem with bodyweight exercises is they're not reliable. Sure, they're good, until you can do more than 3 sets of 15. After that it's just endurance/cardio. Sure you can make them harder but there are only so many variations to each one. Someone like me, who works out every second day needs a variety of exercises within a certain rep range. If the weight is too little, I can move it up, and that happens a lot. With bodyweight exercises, you're pretty much screwed, and exercises such as the one arm chin up will take days for someone to get used to, so for 3 workout days you'll just be struggling pulling yourself up. Don't get me wrong, bodyweight exercises are pretty good,I do them all the time for muscular endurance but free weights dominate my workouts.
Okay, why don't we come to an agree with saying : Free weights are built for the elite whereas bodyweight exercises are a way to get you to that elite level. Mkay ?
why would anyone even make a forum on this?? why? why!?!
[QUOTE=WuWei;22776998]Okay, why don't we come to an agree with saying : Free weights are built for the elite whereas bodyweight exercises are a way to get you to that elite level. Mkay ?[/QUOTE] Or: bodyweight exercises are a good way to get started in working out and once you get good at them you can make your way onto free weights (by far not an elite, still pretty much a beginner), and some of them should be kept in your workout but it should mostly consist of free weights. Also, weighted pull ups and dips are the best of both worlds.
@VQ35HR You are right, but you can get quite far with BWEs. @rootbeer something Get out and workout. You'll see.
[QUOTE=VQ35HR;22776368]Not true. Some people have a really slow metabolism and have to work their asses off in order to make sure the weight gained is muscle and not fat, even when working out every 2nd day, doing cardio, and eating healthy as fuck.[/QUOTE] Not true. Some people have a really slow metabolism because they're lazy as fuck in the first place. You put them on a properly intense exercise regime for 2 months and suddenly their metabolic rate skyrockets. Strange huh? If someone is packing on more fat than they are muscle, I would suggest that their training isn't intense enough, or that their diet is shit, or both.
[QUOTE=JaegerMonster;22777658]Not true. Some people have a really slow metabolism because they're lazy as fuck in the first place. You put them on a properly intense exercise regime for 2 months and suddenly their metabolic rate skyrockets. Strange huh? If someone is packing on more fat than they are muscle, I would suggest that their training isn't intense enough, or that their diet is shit, or both.[/QUOTE] I've been working out for two years (properly), and did competitive water polo 5 days a week for 2 hours for the last 4 years, this year it's just working out though with cardio. I have gained about 30 pounds of muscle and quadrupled all my lifts. I only drink water and eat healthy foods all the time and yet when I end up eating unhealthy for a few days I get noticeably fatter. I have to work extremely hard to gain muscle but fat just seems to be put on easily.... Don't say something is not true unless you for sure know both sides of the story, the human body is a great wonder and I for one know that there is no way you can possibly say something specific about metabolism that would apply to every single person. [editline]06:02PM[/editline] I'm packing on muscle while shedding fat (had a six pack for a while now), but it's not easy for me as it is for some people. I know a couple people that don't even workout and eat shit and have extreme definition and decent muscle size.
Bumping this, since there seems to be an interest in health and fitness currently, and this is a solid source of info for newbies.
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