Everything you think you know about fitness is a lie

Life Health & Fitness
1

mensjournal.com/everything-y … s-is-a-lie

I didn’t write this but I sure wish I had. This is one of the best mainstream articles I’ve ever seen for diagnosing everything that’s wrong with the general fitness industry and why many people aren’t getting the results they want.

[quote]TRUTH 1: YOUR GYM IS YOUR ENEMY.

You’ve seen it a hundred times — the same thing I saw upon walking into my first brand-name franchise gym: roughly 5 percent taken up by free weights; 5 percent by stretching areas; 50 percent by cardio machines; 50 percent by weight machines. Any reasonable person might conclude that cardio and weight machines are the best gear for getting fit. They’re not. Nobody thinks they are — not even the people who make them or the gym owners who buy them.
Most gyms do include a few token free weights, but think about where you’ll find them: around the edges of the room, like fresh fruits and vegetables in a supermarket that gives all the prime middle-of-the-store shelf space to Frosted Flakes and frozen cheesecake. Truly indispensable gear — like the good old-fashioned adjustable barbell rack, the sine qua non of any remotely serious gym — has, by contrast, become a downright rarity. As for niche but no less important equipment like an Olympic lifting platform, forget about it: The lawyers would never let it through the door.[/quote]

He goes on to recommend training the big three – squats, deadlifts, and press – and then getting into the Olympic lifts as a progression.

This is some of the best advice I’ve seen and taking it could completely change the way that people view exercise. Solid results can come very quickly with a program like this.

2

Haven’t read the full article yet, but I have to concur about your advice about the big three lifts. I go to the gym twice a week or less, and all I normally do is bench press, deadlift, squats, and also pull ups. I work a lot of hours and have a family, so free time is at a minimum. I’m out in and out in 30 or 40 minutes, and gained 10kg of muscle in the past year. All those machines are a waste of time!

3

As for the commercial gyms, there is no disagreeing. But it should be noted that the gyms are providing what the customers come looking for without any direct regard for what is most effective.

The next question is about why the customers are looking for cardio and aerobic equipment. I have just a little background in exercise physiology and I have to disagree with the claim that free weights are some kind of magic bullet. They are not.

After wasting a bit of money on different gyms, I found myself always narrowing my usage to just one type of machine - the elliptical trainer - and to just one brand - Precor. When I figured out it would be cheaper to buy one and quit the gyms, I did exactly that. It wasn’t all that expensive by comparison; I had it for more than seven years and I brought it from the US to Taiwan where it continues to hound me and keep me healthy. Being a commercial model, it looks brand new and works perfectly.

I resolved to abandon my self-indulgent life at age 46 and I’ve been working my rear off for 23 years. I also dropped my weight from 100 Kilos to 70.

For most people, it becomes a matter of finding something you like, or - if you are the same as me and hate it all - something you will tolerate. Then stick with it.

4

I read the article. The amount of sense it makes genuinely bugs me. Kind of makes me regret the 2-year membership and 50 personal training sessions, too . . .

For those of you who work out at home, how do you stay motivated and push yourself all the way every time? I always start out well, and then it falls apart (hence the trainer).

5

I one-upped you guys :slight_smile: I paid for near a years gym membership and didnt even go !!!
So take that ??!!

Ended up going once a month on average at 35/month . Finally cancelled the sucker yesterday!

6

This really is the bottom line.

With the exception of elite athletes or people with very specific training needs, for most people it’s just a matter of getting off their asses and getting some exercise.

To say machines are a waste of time and space is drastically overstating the case. For the inexperienced, untrained individual, it can mean the difference between seriously hurting themselves (with free weights) or getting some resistance training (safely). Untrained, inexperienced individuals can do some serious damage with free weights.

Machines may not be the best bet for experienced athletes, but they are great for the average couch potato to get some exercise, improve their health and then maybe graduate to more.

One of the basic principles of training is giving your body a variety of stimulus. If used properly, a commercial gym has the widest variety available. Up to you to take advantage of it.

7

Good job and keep it up. You’re ahead of the pack.

This quote from the article is a key that many people miss. It’s especially important for men and women as we age. Muscle loss is very avoidable and even reversible but it takes some serious weight training to make that happen. Running and other cardio that people are familiar with doesn’t cut and can even make matters worse.

BTW, I wouldn’t say that weight training is dangerous but it is a skilled method of fitness. You have to learn it and practice it and for many folks, it becomes a hobby in its own right – an extremely good reason to pursue a skilled method. It’s a very different animal from basic cardio or hoping on the weight machines, as the article above points out so clearly. But then that’s why it’s so good. And weight training can be used for fat loss, muscle gain, etc.

As for weight training not being a magic bullet, properly done it’s about as close as we’re going to get. Properly done means learning how to do it and getting on a proper program that will give you the results you’re looking for. If weight training is treated haphazardly then no, it won’t be effective.

8

[quote=“nemesis”]I read the article. The amount of sense it makes genuinely bugs me. Kind of makes me regret the 2-year membership and 50 personal training sessions, too . . .

For those of you who work out at home, how do you stay motivated and push yourself all the way every time? I always start out well, and then it falls apart (hence the trainer).[/quote]

I think you need to look at WHY it falls apart and preempt that cycle next time. Keeping a workout and food journal is the best way to do it. Write everything done and if that’s a struggle for you, then you’ve found one problem already. Get over that and keep the journal and you’ll have clues as to why things are going off track.

On a side note, what the article is proposing is a completely different way of looking at fitness. The method he’s discussing is completely different from the “get tired and bored as quick as you can” method that the mainstream fitness industry is using.

Motivation isn’t something you have to struggle with when you see results in different areas. That’s why I recommend keeping a workout journal and writing everything down. Watching the amount of weight you lift go up, seeing your workouts get longer without you getting as tired, recording those “feel great today!” workouts when they come around, etc. provides other markers of progress other than just weight lost.

This kind of activity becomes a hobby in its own right and will be something that you enjoy. It’s not just another boring 30 minutes on the treadmill that you have to hold your nose and tolerate. I hate hearing that people are doing that. It doesn’t have to be that way most of the time. But you have to step outside the narrow confines of the fitness mainstream to find other paths.

9

[quote=“CraigTPE”]To say machines are a waste of time and space is drastically overstating the case. For the inexperienced, untrained individual, it can mean the difference between seriously hurting themselves (with free weights) or getting some resistance training (safely). Untrained, inexperienced individuals can do some serious damage with free weights.

Machines may not be the best bet for experienced athletes, but they are great for the average couch potato to get some exercise, improve their health and then maybe graduate to more.[/quote]

One more comment and then I’ll be quiet for a while. Sorry, but i took this article on our trip and thought about it the whole time so I’m Chatty Kathy all of a sudden.

Using machines gives a completely false impression of fitness. Most people think that because they can go hard on the machine or have a six-pack, that they’re fit and in many cases they are very much mistaken.

Machines lie to you because they do nothing to improve your basic human movements of squat, lunge, deadlift (pick something off the floor), etc.

I taught a seminar a while back and this one young guy showed up looking like a million bucks. He had big biceps, six pack, everything that people think makes someone fit. I had this kid bend down to pick a fairly light weight up off the floor and he couldn’t do it. You should have seen him: his knees were straight, his back was totally bowed, his hamstrings looked like they were going to pop. And when I showed him how to do it correctly, he just couldn’t do it. He was way too stiff from using the machines in the gym. As long as he just stood there, he looked great. But as soon as he moved, he was as unfit as an 80 year old man.

Machines completely mask your inability to move and maintaining human movement is a key to health as we get older.

10

That’s about the skinny of it. People also always like to bash squats as an “unsafe” exercise, but they hardly ever stop to think that perhaps there’s a right and a wrong way of doing it.

11

I think there’s a confusion between fitness and strength. Being strong doesn’t mean you’re fit. Being able to run a marathon means you’re fit. Look at the physique of hunter gatherers. They’re lean. Muscular, yes, but wiry. They don’t have big muscles and their fitness lies in their endurance.

Interesting talk here ted.com/talks/christopher_mc … o_run.html

The speaker wrote this book. amazon.com/Born-Run-Hidden-S … 0307266303

I run and swim, but I weigh 8 stone could probably barely lift a 25kg suitcase off the floor. Does that mean I’m not fit?

I think all this weight lifting and working out (whatever that is) is just another product of ‘fitness’ industry.

12

You are right. The ideal fitness situation is getting a balance of strength, cardio and flexibility work.

In the grand scheme of things, though, I think people are generally better off getting some kind of activity over no activity at all. This, too, is fitness. When someone tells inactive people that machines are useless, people get confused & frustrated, sending them right back to the sofa. Machines are not the be-all-end-all of strength training, but they can play a role.

ff is obviously an effective, conscientious trainer who gets results for his clients. I have two trainer certs myself (NSCA & ACE) and what ff says fits what I’ve learned as an exercise enthusiast, competitive volleyballer (club play) and certified trainer. But ff has a history of bashing large commercial gyms and now overstates the case against weight machines.

Weight machines are not the most ideal method for functional fitness, but they are better than laying on the sofa eating popcorn. They can and do help people build strength, from the little old lady to the big buff body builder. For some people without access to boutique gyms and fitness trainers, it may be the best, safest way for them to get some strength training. Machines also are useful when you are trying to max out but don’t have a spotter available. By suggesting they are not beneficial at all, or even detrimental to fitness, is simply wrong.

Which is true of much of strength training.

I always learned that squats should be the foundation of lower body strength training. Besides being functional and building overall lower body strength, the axial loading helps strengthen bones, but if done incorrectly, they are unsafe. If the knees are shooting out in front of your toes, you are going to do serious, permanent damage to your knees. If you are hunching your back, you are going to do serious damage to your spine. If you don’t put the damn clips on the bar (my pet peeve), you risk losing balance, dropping a plate on one side and then have the other end of the bar whip around and whack you. (Seen it happen) For inexperienced exercisers, here is a perfect example where a machine can help until enough strength is built up to handle free weights safely and/or spotters are available.

I would propose his stiffness was not because he used machines but because he failed to stretch properly or otherwise get the “flexibility” work that should be part of any fitness program. This is common with body builders who neglect the other aspects of fitness (cardio & flexibility).

13

The author mentions that weight machines are designed to work out an isolated muscle set, while the rest of the body is relaxed. That’s one of the reasons I don’t really care for weight machines; the work out feels unnatural. At my peak, I was running 5 miles, 5 days a week, and did 200 push-ups and 1000 sit-ups 6 days a week. I wondered into a gym because they were offering free body fat testing. I measured in at 4% body fat. I’m far, far away from that now, but once I’m done with school I plan to get in shape again using the same routine (or as close as I can get). I don’t like weight machines, but free weights aren’t necessary for fitness either.

14

4pct??? That is probably a bit less then ideal isnt it? Shouldnt ten pct be more “normal”? OH wait that was before.

Course I am like 25pct now so thats definitely not on.

15

The weight training that he proposes in the article isn’t just useful for strength training. That’s one of the myths we’re trying to dispel. Weight training can be done for fat loss, conditioning, power, etc. But yes, gaining strength is part of the picture and if people aren’t doing it then it could be the most useful addition to one’s program. I get people to lose lots of fat by having them gain some strength first. it really opens people’s eyes.

The reason machines are boring is that using them is completely dumbed-down exercise. Anything remotely technical and interesting was removed from the movement by the machine. This was done to make exercise more accessible to the general public but what was lost was not calculated into the equation. People get bored stiff doing machine-based movement because the interesting part was taken out. Then the fitness industry had to put TVs on the equipment because the movement was so boring. That’s why they’re there.

Weightlifting, Olympic lifting, kettlebell training, and any other athletic-type of exercise involves technique that makes it inherently more interesting. People spend their entire lives mastering the techniques of the lifts and this stimulates you intellectually as well as physically. The nuances of movement make this type of exercise more interesting. It becomes a path almost like meditation or internal martial arts because it requires, even demands, your full concentration. You can’t do barbell squats and watch TV at the same time. It’s a recipe for disaster but you wouldn’t want to anyway since you’d be pulled away from FEELING what your body is doing.

That’s what makes this type of exercise different.

16

[quote=“Formosa Fitness”]
[/b]
I taught a seminar a while back and this one young guy showed up looking like a million bucks. He had big biceps, six pack, everything that people think makes someone fit. I had this kid bend down to pick a fairly light weight up off the floor and he couldn’t do it. You should have seen him: his knees were straight, his back was totally bowed, his hamstrings looked like they were going to pop. And when I showed him how to do it correctly, he just couldn’t do it. He was way too stiff from using the machines in the gym. As long as he just stood there, he looked great. But as soon as he moved, he was as unfit as an 80 year old man.

Machines completely mask your inability to move and maintaining human movement is a key to health as we get older.[/quote]

On the whole I agree with your point, but this particular example, I would also add that it’s also how you train not just what equipment you use. A few friends of mine loved working out to look really good (basically, gay men who were ripped and danced shirtless at clubs, etc.). And they were ripped, well-built, well-proportioned, and could easily be in any calendar.

The point is, to get there, all they did were isolation exercises, not multiple muscle-group/combination exercises (i forget the name), so that they got what they trained for: a body with separate good looking parts but not to work as a unit. This became extremely apparent when we played softball, and my friend looked really awkward throwing a ball (didn’t help his coordination was poor), but you could see his body didn’t work together (the way a deadlift, press or clean and press employs many muscle groups together). In fact, they worked against each other.

My personal feeling is that I don’t like machines because they lock you into a range of motion and that’s not comfortable. This excludes cables which are awesome and versatile. That said, the Hammer Strength machines were pretty cool.

17

[quote=“Formosa Fitness”]The weight training that he proposes in the article isn’t just useful for strength training. That’s one of the myths we’re trying to dispel. Weight training can be done for fat loss, conditioning, power, etc. But yes, gaining strength is part of the picture and if people aren’t doing it then it could be the most useful addition to one’s program. I get people to lose lots of fat by having them gain some strength first. it really opens people’s eyes.
[/quote]

The problem with the article is one, he does focus on strength, and two, he doesn’t explain how that works to burn fat and give one a cardio workout, except to say there are studies. No kidding.

In essence this article supports your fitness ideals but actually does a poor job of explaining those ideals and the science behind them. It’s also a bit like reading one of those wild man tales from the 90s. I cracked up when he seriously was hurt by being called as weak as a girl. If anyone called me that in a training environment I would laugh back and never use their services again.

Strength is importance, and at times in our lives it may be useful to focus on regaining it. But if, as the author admits, his leg strength program was screwing up his soccer game, then it’s obviously not something that he can focus on forever.

18

Sorry, dude, but I can’t be bothered to read that article because the title is so stupid.

Sure, regular monontonous repetition of the same gym machine routines may not lead to ideal fitness, but the most basic things that I know about fitness are most certainly true.

  1. Regular sustained aerobic exercise is good for burning unwanted fat, particularly when coupled with a healthy diet including lots of fruits and veggies and minimum fried and processed foods and white sugar/flour.
  2. It’s good to warm up and down before/after excercise.
  3. Slow, gentle stretching exercises on a regular basis will help increase flexibility, decrease risk of injuries and help one to feel better.
  4. Weight lifting’s good, too, but it’s not as important as regular aerobic exercise.
  5. Better to use light weights and high reps than the reverse, if you wish to avoid getting injured.
  6. Cross-training’s great and simple. No need for fancy theories: just bike one day, jog the next, swim the next and go hiking the next. It’s all good and should lead to increased fitness and decreased boredom.

Are those all lies?

19

The article isn’t a book and it isn’t designed to answer all questions. It was an article for a mainstream magazine written to show some of the weaknesses of the fitness industry and propose some solutions.

I don’t argue science on the Internet because that’s not what I do. I’m not a researcher, I’m a trainer and a gym owner. My lab is my gym and my clients and I are the subjects. I try out personally what I consider to be promising fitness routines then give them to clients after I’ve tweaked them. Based on what works with me and the clients, I tweak them again. So there’s a continuous feedback loop that goes on in my gym and IMO that is applied science.

Beyond that, I continually educate myself and a lot of our success is due to standing on the back of giants. We didn’t just come up with these methods – they’re being used by trainers around the world but they aren’t mainstream.

So I don’t quote journal articles, I just let the results speak for themselves. If people want more proof than that, they can educate themselves.

Two books I would highly recommend on the subject written for laymen would be The New Rules of Lifting
thenewrulesoflifting.com/new … of-lifting
and The New Rules of Lifting for Women
thenewrulesoflifting.com/nrol-for-women

Both of these books go into the whys and hows of exercising in the manner I and the article author talk about. They make the best introduction to the subject and were what personally got me started on this journey.

20

Then you have nothing to contribute to the discussion. Next.