Ok, I fell off the wagon badly this summer. I had been doing a pretty good job of getting to the gym regularly and I was getting pretty strong, at least in my own mind (legendary :-) …
But things happened and I lost focus (everywhere, not just the gym) and it took a while to get my shti together again …
I am pondering what to do with my gym membership now. There are many ways to regain fitness, and at my age none of them are terribly appealing. Except perhaps for group activities, like my friend Sue, who rows regularly (an incredibly effective fitness activity and looks like a real hoot, too.)
But I just stumbled (well, truth be told, Dr. Yoni Freedhoff sent it to my inbox :-) upon this excellent fun piece about fitness and all the inherent lies and misdirections involved in a $19B market. And what I really like is all the debunking this fellow manages to do.
You should read the article if you spend time in the gym and wonder why you aren’t making as much progress as you think you should? Or if you pay a trainer to help out and that too seems to be less effective than you thought it should.
http://www.mensjournal.com/magazine/print-view/everything-you-know-about-fitness-is-a-lie-20120504
A few quotes to show you why I like it so much:
We're not innocent. Too many of us drift into health clubs with only the vaguest of notions about why we're actually there – notions like maybe losing a little weight, somehow looking like the young Brad Pitt in Fight Club, or just heeding a doctor's orders. Vague goals beget vague methods; the unfocused mind is the vulnerable mind, deeply susceptible to bullshit.
The rest of that paragraph continues the very amusing, yet incredibly perceptive description of a typical moment in the gym for so many people. You gotta go find it though as I am not spoon feeding it to you :-)
Here’s one that blew my mind …
How many times have you been told to start with a little stretching? Yet multiple studies of pre-workout stretching demonstrate that it actually raises your likelihood of injury and lowers your subsequent performance.
The rest of that paragraph explains further, and you should really take a look. I have never stretched before weight lifting, because it has always felt fine. I have never injured myself and I always wondered why. Now I know :-) (Note: to the inevitable commenter who is just sure that I am putting in minimal effort when I lift, trust me that I work hard enough to increase the weight once or twice every week.)
and that treadmills or elliptical trainers are a pale substitute.
Wanna know what they are a pale substitute for? Go look.
And this one cuts to the bone … I know that my preference for weight machines is a loser. But to have it confirmed so brutally …
Here's the problem: If you're in the fitness-equipment business, free weights are a loser. The 2010 model looks too much like the 1950 model, and they both last forever. Far better to create gleaming $4,000 contraptions that can be reinvented every two years …
Again, check out the article … there’s gold in them thar hills …
One last one for the road …
According to a Club Industry magazine article by one Nic DeCaire, owner of something called the Fusion Fitness Center in Newark, Delaware, most trainers teach "just enough so that the trainer remains more valuable and indispensable." The same article encourages gym owners to fire any trainer who dresses for work in workout clothes instead of slacks and a polo.
The most amazing element of this little hustle – and I'm speaking from personal experience and from regret – is that it all works like a charm.
That was all from the first section of the article. After that he goes on to tell you how he recommends that you proceed. Really, really interesting stuff …
Edit: I’ve finished the article. Very poignant near the end, reminding us that we’re here for a good time, not a long time. But in the final chapter, here’s a wonderful quote that sums it all up.
Sure, you have to eat right – that's another manifesto in itself – but if you just stick to a basic strength-training program, you can expect a certain wonderment about what the hell you were doing all those years, why nobody told you it was this simple before, and why nobody else in the gym appears to have heard the good news.
| I will leave you with this reference, the only book that he suggests you start with. He goes on to discuss alternatives, but I do not plan to do that. This will be my bible for now … That’s the Kindle edition on the left, very inexpensive. |
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