Hacker News Reader

Comment by liedra | Hacker News Reader

This is a great article, makes me want to get off my bum and do some exercise :) One thing I'd like to know is, for women, yoga and pilates and all that seems to be quite fashionable these days, but they don't tend to be either cardio or weightlifting -- what sort of effect do they have on the body?

View on HN

FWIW (very little): I think weightlifting is one of the keys to looking youthful, especially for women. A strong upper body accentuates the hourglass figure, and the cues that go with muscle tone (in the arms, usually) also contribute immensely to an overall impression of beauty and vitality.

I think women tend to be afraid of really weightlifting (ie heavy weights that make you struggle), either because it is so weirdly testerone-ish or because they are afraid of "bulking up". However, if you don't lift heavy weights nothing happens (women and five pound barbells are a pet-peeve of mine), and bulking up is really, really hard, for both men and women -- if you work out 3 days a week and stay away from the protein drinks (and steroids), you won't see any bulk at all, just tone and reshaping.

I think Pilates and Yoga are cool, too, but there is a little bit of the Oprah's book club thing going on ...

Thanks, it's these sorts of comments that help drive the will to actually go and do something -- I am scared of weights, and for precisely the reasons you and the article said. Especially since in some gyms the weights areas are overrun with really really hefty people... it's very intimidating!

It actually takes a significant amount of "functional" strength to do even just basic Yoga poses. The common myth is that Yoga is all about flexibility, but in fact a lot of the time "inflexibility" is actually just weak core strength.

Having a good core is one of the easiest ways to maintain your health as you get older too and if you're active you will feel a great benefit having that balance and strength. Until I tried Snowboarding I had no idea my core was as weak as it was.

The test I always like to give myself is being able to put my socks on in the morning whilst standing up, without wobbling all over the place or leaning on anything :)

Thanks! I've done some yoga in the past, and it can be quite tricky to do, but apart from the breathing and stretching it did I was never quite sure whether it was as good for me as, say, a run/cycle.

Since I don't have access to a gym with weights and only a small set of dumbbells I'm not sure how much of the weight training side of this I can do, but I might try the running thing and perhaps some simpler weights that I can do with dumbbells. Maybe pick up a yoga class again too :)

Plyometrics are an excellent substitute if you can't get to weights. These are basically calisthenics with explosive movements. For instance, squats where you explode upward into a jump and try to bring your knees to your chest, or push-ups where you explode upward and clap before catching yourself build strength (and stress the bone, which seems to be beneficial in preventing osteoporosis). Also, adding sprints to the end of your run is beneficial (I really like interval training in general, actually).

Oh, that's a great idea. I could possibly even do those inside if it's raining out! I'll look these up. Thanks very much!

In an earlier post of mine, I made reference to the Cosgrove Evil 8. If you're looking for something that you can do inside, these would be great for a beginner to do with a broomstick. It would give you an opportunity to learn a majority of the most important (and basic) compound lifts without being intimidated by a gym atmosphere. It would also give you one hell of a workout in a relatively short amount of time, something great for doing at home.

Being able to perform each of these lifts properly would make you more knowledgeable than MOST people at your average ballys or 24 hour fitness, and that should give you plenty of confidence to start busting your ass at the gym.

edit, here's the link [cosgrove evil 8]:

http://www.tmuscle.com/free_online_article/sports_body_train...

Things like yoga will stimulate the body and build strength to a degree, but that is a much less efficient way to get in shape, in my opinion.

One of the reasons compound lifts moving heavy weight are so important is the effect they have on your entire body. Doing heavy squats recruits nearly every muscle in your body. But it doesn't just stimulate those muscles, it also stimulates your central nervous system.

Doing something hard enough to get the attention of the CNS is important to making progress, since, for example, the CNS will respond by releasing more hormones such as growth hormone.

Doing full squats with your bodyweight on the barbell 15 times (3 sets of 5) is like screaming at your body to get in shape and it will respond. Doing yoga might be like gently asking.

This isn't to say yoga isn't beneficial, it's just not the most efficient way to get in shape.

And doing full squats with your bodyweight on the barbell 20 times (1 set of 20) is like hollering at your body with all of your lung capacity to get in shape.

Dunno if this is really a useful line of thinking for a beginner. I wholeheartedly agree with the advice of not overdoing it from the article.

Particularly squats. Nothing better to wreck your knees or back than squats done with too much weight and/or poor technique.

Excercise causes muscle damage which rest heals up (and results in stronger muscles). Aside from the obvious over- or understimulation, you do have some control over the type of stimulation…the two archetypes are the high-rep/low-weight and low-rep/high-weight with slightly different results.

I assumed people would understand anyone who does this is not a beginner.

Possible, sorry if I lumped you with what warpwoof said above:

> Doing full squats with your bodyweight on the barbell 15 times (3 sets of 5) is like screaming at your body to get in shape and it will respond.

I do not think (very-)high-resistance training is a good approach for people wanting to be "in shape" but, then, I make a distinction between that and bodybuilding.

To me, "in shape" means whatever conditioning I think I need for the activity I want to do. That kind of strength training makes sense considering the demands of my sport.

Yoga is perfectly good for "getting into shape" and there are several varieties with emphasis on strength, especially static strength.

(Of course, "in shape" means different things to different people. I prefer endurance/cardio, many others think more in terms of strength/musculature.)

As a gross oversimplification of the body types attained, yoga == Bruce Lee, weights == Arnold Schwarzenegger.

That's an ironic comparison considering Bruce Lee was a serious weight-lifting fiend. (He just went for strength rather than bulk.) That said, I'm a big fan of yoga, more for the fitness than for appearances. It's hard to overstate the functional change yoga makes.

Edit: IIRC, Lee described running as the best exercise.

There is nothing wrong with yoga or pilates, but they are not a replacement for good old fashioned weight training. If you really enjoy yoga mix it in with weight workouts. Do weights a couple times a week and yoga a couple times week.

Also, as someone else mentioned, don't be afraid of doing weights. The only way to gain weight and thus more muscle is by eating a surplus. So many women shy away from weights because they don't want to get 'bulky', when it's the food that makes you bulky not the training.

Obviously yoga and pilates are gentler (and thus less dramatic in their results), but for me it comes down to a question of what's sustainable for me. For whatever reason, I'm far more comfortable and excited to spend several hours a week doing pilates than weightlifting, so I think I see a better result (because I would find excuses not to do weightlifting). Not that they have to be substitutes for one another, either.

I know that this is only anecdotal, but I've noticed the results women get with pilates, more so than with weightlifting or even yoga. I recommend it to any woman that asks.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com