Why I lift | Hacker News Reader

Why I lift

snoyman.com

11 pointsdmit6 comments

Lifting (free weights) has done more for my life than I could have ever imagined.

I was always the guy who thought only frat bros, meat heads, and convicts spent time lifting. I was dead wrong.

I've been lifting consistently for just over a year now, and while the physical changes are great, the mental changes are immense. I sleep better, hold on to anger less, am more focused, and have MORE energy. But the biggest lesson I've learned is how to fail consistently. I am at a point where I am failing a lift almost every week, but still make progress. This lesson has carried over into every avenue of my life.

I would encourage everyone (male and female) to at least try two weeks of starting strength or SL5x5. It takes 3 hours a week and the benefits show within the first few gym days. If you are an active person already but haven't tried lifting, try it. You won't get "too bulky" from picking up weights 3 times a week. Most people train HARD 5-7 days per week to achieve body-builder status, and it's not something you can get accidentally.

> But here's the best part for me: lifting is an escape, in a way that most other "leisure" activities (reading, watching TV, etc) are not. When I'm doing a bench press, it is a simple battle between me and gravity. There are no complex deadlocks to debug, no decisions around corporate strategy to make, no challenges with children's education.

This. Lifting is my meditation, my center. When I was a kid I was very agitated and irritable...I was voted "Most Intense" as my high school senior superlative (and that was meant to be pejorative). I was also super skinny and picked on for that. People who only know me recently have told me they couldn't believe that was possible because I always seem so level-headed and well, bigger than most people...well years under the bar will be that kind of therapy for you.

Lifting / fitness, the whole thing has been my savior in a way. Without it I don't think I would have the skills to get me where I am today. It has also gotten me to appreciate the journey, and not simply reaching the end of a goal/todo item. You never "lift all the weight"...there's always more to lift, and it's an eternal race between you and what your body can produce. It's incredible.

One thing that is omitted is stretching. Stretching is absolutely critical to preventing injury and helping you gain. At the very least, bend over to touch your toes, do lunges, and stretch out your chest. Anecdotally, I was having rotator cuff pain (both my dad and grandpa have ruined their right rotator cuffs) and I wasn't gaining on bench presses. Stretching out my pecs completely solved it.

And I also recommend StrongLifts 5x5.

Static stretching hasn't really been correlated with injury prevention or improved performance. Depending on the exercises you were doing, though, you might have achieved greater shoulder stability, which is important for the bench press.

I just got back from the gym a little while ago ending my third week of this program:

https://www.julian.com/learn/muscle/intro

It's been great and I actually look forward to going now. I spend 45min to an hour there so it doesn't take up a ton of time.

I want to move on to SL5x5 after this one but go to my apartment gym which does not have a barbell. Any suggestions/comments about a smith machine (which it does have) and/or dumbbells?

The smith machine is dangerous and suboptimal for most forms of training. If you want to do inverted rows as a stepping stone for pullups, go ahead. Otherwise, avoid them.

Dumbbells can be used for SSLP/SL, but are not ideal:

1) They make incremental loading, which is the core of these programs, very difficult. If you're lucky, your gym will have 2.5lb increments; if not, you may have to buy a pair of 2.5 magnet weights.

2) The lower body movements in these programs are most ideally performed with barbells; there aren't really good dumbbell analogues for squats, deadlifts, and especially power cleans.

However, for strength imbalances, especially in the upper body, they can be very helpful. Many trainees end up using dumbbell bench to this end. Dumbbell OHP/military press/Arnold press is also possible and probably good for hypertrophy of the upper back.

Ultimately, though, for the best results you'll want to do the programs as intended - with a barbell.

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