So I guess the trick is, and has always been, consistency?
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Carnelian@lemmy.world 3 hours agoI understand it’s a joke but I wanted to throw some other numbers out there for people to consider, since resistance training can massively improve your quality of life and it’s very common for people to believe it needs to be a full time job to see results. For disclosure, I am a trainer but don’t offer services via lemmy
But you can get head-turning, people-ask-you-questions-unprompted levels of muscular with <5 hours a week in the gym. And that’s the full time commitment for what I’d called a “serious trainee”, any more than that is mainly for people who simply love training as a form of recreation and actively want to spend more time lifting.
Most of my clients do 2.5 hours a week and still get great visual results, albeit more slowly. More importantly, you cash in on quality of life benefits with shockingly little weekly commitment. Even one session per week is enough to feel huge improvements in energy and endurance during day to day tasks, improve your metabolic health, improve your bone health, improve your mental health, as well as experience the whole cascade of improved injury outcomes (for example resistance trained individuals are less likely to fall, less likely to be injured if they do fall, and are more likely to make a full recovery if they do get injured).
It’s extremely worth starting, for all ages and genders. Again, apologies for being overly serious under a joke. I like to leave little comments like this under popular gym posts because it occasionally results in someone beginning or returning to training
Banana@sh.itjust.works 2 hours ago
Carnelian@lemmy.world 1 hour ago
Honestly I would say consistency is somewhat overrated in the grand scheme of things
ALERT. ALERT. OVERRATED DOES NOT MEAN BAD
Consistency is obviously extremely good. I used to preach it. But honestly, I took on a client with severe intermittent health issues which results in them having about 50% adherence (meaning they miss, on average, about half their training sessions)
And they ended up progressing just fine lol
Actually I feel like a far bigger risk is for people to assume they need to have perfect consistency, then drop training altogether when they aren’t able to meet that high standard.
The critical thing to understand is that resistance training is EXTREMELY potent for beginners. Even inconsistent effort will do pretty amazing things for your health
REDACTED@infosec.pub 2 hours ago
Resistance training is not bodybuilding. Most athletic people I’ve seen (especially runners) often look like they have no muscle
Carnelian@lemmy.world 1 hour ago
Resistance training is not bodybuilding
Correct. Bodybuilding is a presentation sport with a variety of rulesets and judging criteria. Resistance training is a form of exercise with many proven physical and mental benefits
Most athletic people I’ve seen (especially runners) often look like they have no muscle
Usain Bolt was phenomenally muscular when he was competing, as are most sprinters. Many recognized Olympic sports reward larger physiques
Biceps have nothing to do with longevity.
You have my permission to skip direct bicep training.
Just make sure, assuming you want the full spectrum of proven benefits, that you hit your pulls (such as rows and pull ups, or appropriately scaled variations). This will heavily involve your biceps just so you know, but the main focus is the back.
In fact, extra weight is extra load on heart.
Dangerous medical misinformation, you should delete this. Resistance training has proven cardiac benefits. There is zero risk of acquiring “too much” muscle mass
REDACTED@infosec.pub 1 hour ago
There is zero risk of acquiring “too much” muscle mass
This is dangerous medical misinformation. Reduced mobility, joint stress, cardiovascular strain, heat intolerance (quite important lately), compartment syndrome, rhabdomyolysis risk, etc. You can most absolutely ruin your health by having too much muscle mass. Last I checked, in statistics bodybuilders have quite terrible longevity as opposed to resistance training folks (which basically shoots in the opposite direction of longevity).
Carnelian@lemmy.world 58 minutes ago
Perhaps once you understand why you are wrong, and you realize how much your error has the potential to harm people, you will apologize.
This study is definitionally unrelated to any form of resistance training, or the additional total body mass that you can acquire via resistance training.
It is an observational study on the outcomes of IFBB contestants. For anyone who doesn’t know, the IFBB is the primary bodybuilding federation for drug abusers. They run the “Mr. Olympia” contest which you may have heard of.
The drug abuse they glorify directly results in many extreme health issues including sudden cardiac death, in exchange for levels of muscle gain that far exceed what is possible for any natural athlete.
I want to be clear. What they are doing is extreme, illegal, dangerous, and critically, not related to resistance training in any meaningful way. The body will not allow you to become so muscular that it harms you, which is why these extreme athletes need illegal drugs to become so large in the first place.
It is shockingly irresponsible and ethically wrong for you to withhold this necessary context, and to so severely contort this paper into your unrelated false conclusion
WhiteOakBayou@lemmy.world 1 hour ago
There is no way those guys walking around at 6’1 300 lbs and sub 20% body fat are not taxing their hearts more than a similar height person of normal weight/bf%.
Miaou@jlai.lu 13 minutes ago
Are you implying sub 20% body fat is low?
Carnelian@lemmy.world 1 hour ago
It should go without saying that illegal drug abuse causes countless extreme health issues
You may be surprised to learn that non-drug abusing bodybuilders usually max out around the 150-170lb mark on stage. There are very hard limits to how much muscle your body will let you build
blarghly@lemmy.world 1 hour ago
Bodybuilding is a form of resistance training. And there are multiple forms of bodybuilding, some healthy and some significantly less so. The above trainer seems to be talking about a sort of general fitness and casual bodybuilding that is indeed good for health and longevity.
Running is great, in moderation. But having reasonable amounts of muscle mass is also great. Most people are going to have better health outcomes looking like Brad Pitt in Fight Club rather than Andrew Norton
REDACTED@infosec.pub 1 hour ago
I was talking contextually (context matters here). The meme shows a guy flexing his biceps. Scientifically biceps hardly relate with longevity and resistance training, that is just bodybuilding.
Banana@sh.itjust.works 2 hours ago
Who mentioned bodybuilding? Did you mean to respond to someone else?
REDACTED@infosec.pub 1 hour ago
The meme is about bodybuilding. Your comment talks about resistance building as if it’s the same thing
surewhynotlem@lemmy.world 2 hours ago
I know there’s probably isn’t your area of expertise, but I don’t know where else to ask.
Are there any gym memberships out there that aren’t completely sketchy and impossible to cancel?
Carnelian@lemmy.world 2 hours ago
Definitely, and actually you would be surprised. A lot of places introduced no-contract memberships after covid. Lots of places went out of business too, then all that equipment went up for sale for cheap and lots of new places ended up opening.
But the main thing to look for is small, privately owned gyms. I can really only speak to my area, but I have several. The most common arrangement is simply that you pay monthly, can cancel any time you want, but every time you sign up again there’s a sign-up fee. One other place I know simply charges an extra $10 per month for a no-commitment membership.
Keep an eye out, again for smaller privately owned commercial gyms in general, but also for specialized gyms such as those that cater to powerlifting, olympic lifting, or strongman. Usually they are lacking in “amenities” that drive the price up, and are less likely to have predatory subscription schemes in general. The only downside is that these places can seem very intimidating at first, but the community is likely to be very welcoming
otter@lemmy.ca 1 hour ago
If you have a community center nearby, you can see if they have gym equipment. Those memberships should be simple to get and cancel.