I usually don’t participate in these discussions because it’s all too easy to commit the typical mind fallacy. The implicit assumption seems to be that working out and lifting weights must be uncomfortable for most people. I offer myself as a person for whom this is not true: I take pleasure out of lifting weights in a way that I haven’t yet experienced from most other sports. As for ‘toughness’, well it’s true that if you start experiencing extreme pain you should stop doing what you’re doing, but any kind of medium-intensity exercise is always going to come with some mild discomfort. Some people tend to exaggerate this discomfort. Just because something is uncomfortable doesn’t mean it’s an ‘evolved safety signal.’ You could just as easily argue that it’s the body merely trying to conserve energy because in the past energy was hard to come by. Evolutionary explanations don’t hold water here.
Personaly story, hoping you can make head or tails of it or come up with an idea:
A) at 17, traditional body-building stuff felt well, by that I mean doing one composite and one isolation exercise for every major muscle group.
B) at 35+ I learned about these new powerlifting oriented trends, squat-and-deadlift, SS, SL 5x5, and it felt really bad, my whole body felt stiff and inflamed.
It is probably hard on the joints, and one needs to take more care about doing it gradually and make sure about correct form. A) was better because those exercises are simply less dangerous, if you e.g. do dips and cable extensions for triceps, you rarely if even get any problems even if you are impatient like me and not warm up, take too much weight, use momentum, cheat using shoulders, not stretch afterwards etc. at least with a 17 years old body and not doing it long enough to use massive weights (say, unweighted dips and cable extensions with 30-40 kg) it was safe enough to be an impatient fool at it. And all this made me feel the pump, which has little to do with hypertrophy, but it is a fast dopamine reward and motivating.
Doing the powerlifting stuff at 35 is the opposite, you must be very careful, you have to do it absolutely right and not be impatient at it, and you (not at the beginner level before joints and stabilizing muscles catch up to major muscles) don’t get the instant reward of the pump. So basically you go there for weeks and do it and nothing really happens. No reward. So every time I started this I quit after 3-4 weeks because it was just work, work, no reward.
The reason I did not go back to the original kind is twofold, I was too fat to see the pump and get the instant reward, and ultimately being old (yes, 35 can feel old if you are not fit in the sense of flexibility and cardio and all), stiff, groaning when getting up from sitting on the floor and knees cracking… at this point I just did not feel being a stronger and stiffer mofo does me any good. I felt immobilized in my body.
So at this point I wanted a completely different me. A lithe, limber, fast, anti-gravity me who jumps around a sandbag punching (or jumps around the volleyball court, you get the idea) light a ligthweight Ricochet Rabbit, feeling young and full of energy and flexibility. This part of the reason why I looked int actual sports—plus the reasons explained in the article.
Don’t do squats. back squat...it’s one of the most dangerous exercises for your low back, hips, and knees, even when done with perfect form. Check this out. Id repurpose any leftover bars and weights as a barbell and dumbells (or kettlebells). I haven’t checked if that is safe, but I assume it is. If anyone knows better, please chime in.
The type of damage you’re talking about only happens with extreme levels of exercise that less than 1% of the population ever attempt. For the vast majority of people, “exercise more” is always good advice.
For example, if someone inactive and obese decided out of the blue to run five miles every day, I would expect it to end badly.
It is nearly impossible for a low-willpower (obese and inactive) person to suddenly get so much willpower. He will be panting at 300m, feel his legs are made of lead at 500 and the rest would be sheer will? Nope. Okay there are always outliers and some drug users, but generally, no.
I usually don’t participate in these discussions because it’s all too easy to commit the typical mind fallacy. The implicit assumption seems to be that working out and lifting weights must be uncomfortable for most people. I offer myself as a person for whom this is not true: I take pleasure out of lifting weights in a way that I haven’t yet experienced from most other sports. As for ‘toughness’, well it’s true that if you start experiencing extreme pain you should stop doing what you’re doing, but any kind of medium-intensity exercise is always going to come with some mild discomfort. Some people tend to exaggerate this discomfort. Just because something is uncomfortable doesn’t mean it’s an ‘evolved safety signal.’ You could just as easily argue that it’s the body merely trying to conserve energy because in the past energy was hard to come by. Evolutionary explanations don’t hold water here.
Personaly story, hoping you can make head or tails of it or come up with an idea:
A) at 17, traditional body-building stuff felt well, by that I mean doing one composite and one isolation exercise for every major muscle group.
B) at 35+ I learned about these new powerlifting oriented trends, squat-and-deadlift, SS, SL 5x5, and it felt really bad, my whole body felt stiff and inflamed.
It is probably hard on the joints, and one needs to take more care about doing it gradually and make sure about correct form. A) was better because those exercises are simply less dangerous, if you e.g. do dips and cable extensions for triceps, you rarely if even get any problems even if you are impatient like me and not warm up, take too much weight, use momentum, cheat using shoulders, not stretch afterwards etc. at least with a 17 years old body and not doing it long enough to use massive weights (say, unweighted dips and cable extensions with 30-40 kg) it was safe enough to be an impatient fool at it. And all this made me feel the pump, which has little to do with hypertrophy, but it is a fast dopamine reward and motivating.
Doing the powerlifting stuff at 35 is the opposite, you must be very careful, you have to do it absolutely right and not be impatient at it, and you (not at the beginner level before joints and stabilizing muscles catch up to major muscles) don’t get the instant reward of the pump. So basically you go there for weeks and do it and nothing really happens. No reward. So every time I started this I quit after 3-4 weeks because it was just work, work, no reward.
The reason I did not go back to the original kind is twofold, I was too fat to see the pump and get the instant reward, and ultimately being old (yes, 35 can feel old if you are not fit in the sense of flexibility and cardio and all), stiff, groaning when getting up from sitting on the floor and knees cracking… at this point I just did not feel being a stronger and stiffer mofo does me any good. I felt immobilized in my body.
So at this point I wanted a completely different me. A lithe, limber, fast, anti-gravity me who jumps around a sandbag punching (or jumps around the volleyball court, you get the idea) light a ligthweight Ricochet Rabbit, feeling young and full of energy and flexibility. This part of the reason why I looked int actual sports—plus the reasons explained in the article.
Does this make any sort of sense?
Don’t do squats. back squat...it’s one of the most dangerous exercises for your low back, hips, and knees, even when done with perfect form. Check this out. Id repurpose any leftover bars and weights as a barbell and dumbells (or kettlebells). I haven’t checked if that is safe, but I assume it is. If anyone knows better, please chime in.
I agree that there are a lot of people who like exercise better than I do, and there’s a reason I said I was ranting.
However, there are also a lot of people who damage their connective tissue and bones, and possibly their hearts without being at short-term risk. Reasons that the studies might not prove much.
The type of damage you’re talking about only happens with extreme levels of exercise that less than 1% of the population ever attempt. For the vast majority of people, “exercise more” is always good advice.
There is a long list of exceptions.
Isn’t that subject to a lot of caveats? Most would be common sense, but I’m sure there are nuances.
For example, if someone inactive and obese decided out of the blue to run five miles every day, I would expect it to end badly.
It is nearly impossible for a low-willpower (obese and inactive) person to suddenly get so much willpower. He will be panting at 300m, feel his legs are made of lead at 500 and the rest would be sheer will? Nope. Okay there are always outliers and some drug users, but generally, no.
I’m pretty sure you’re mistaken about joint damage.
How could we check this?
We first have to define terms. What do you mean by ‘joint damage’?