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Comment by buss | Hacker News Reader

Hire a trainer and learn how to weightlift. You may have been a nerd like me that thought weight lifters were wasting time on vanity, but as you age your body will betray you. You need to learn how to stay fit or you will end up with myriad health issues and end up unhappy.

A trainer is essential for a new lifter. It is easy to hurt yourself, and you need to work on good form for years before it becomes second nature. You will look good (you won't look like a meathead), feel good, and your bones and heart will stay strong into middle age as your peers get fat and unhealthy.

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I second this. I started weightlifting this autumn. Attended a course at the local weightlifting gym and now trying to train 3 times a week and at least once a week with a trainer. My back pains are gone, posture is better than ever and it has also improved my mental health and self esteem. It's an addicting sport, but boy it's hard in the beginning :)

I always avoided exercise and sports...a lot of the reason was I never played sports when I was younger, and by the time I got to HS I was literally a decade behind my peers in basic skills (passing, dribbling, shooting, etc.)

When I finally started strength training seriously, it was eye opening. I wasn't far behind, and it was easy to see progress. Putting 5lbs on the bar, every time you squat, 3x a week, for 10 weeks, is pretty encouraging, and pretty obvious.

I agree with the weightlifting but honestly most trainers are garbage and most reasonably smart people would do equally well just finding good resources on youtube and making an effort not to be a dumbass.

I think you can distinguish between "trainer" and "strength coach", and should prefer the latter.

Going to 24hour Fitness, and getting training sessions from those folks...not worth.

Finding a strength coach at a powerlifting/weightlifting gym...probably worth.

A trainer can be amazing but I wouldn’t call it necessary, especially for someone young. They can get expensive and the op would get a lot of value from starting weight lifting imperfectly now than potentially waiting years to be in the financial position to hire a coach. There’s so many fantastic resources online. Just stay away from Olympic style lifts and be careful with compound movements.

Definitely start with a trainer. They can enforce good technique and give you the basics of nutrition and mesocycle planning. I personally regret not starting with a trainer, as I'm now fixing issues that I reinforced because I didn't have the proper external feedback.

As an anecdotal counterpoint of the 10ish people that I knew that started lifting in their teens and early twenties not a single one had a trainer. Preventing injuries through proper form is the main benefit of a trainer and everyone stayed fairly injury free.

You don't need to hire someone to explain good nutrition, sleep, etc. Does it help? Absolutely. But necessary? No. There's so much amazing content on the internet. Especially when you see how little training the average personal trainer is required to undergo. Someone truly competent will run you close a $100 an hour.

Implying people need to start with a trainer is pointlessly exclusionary.

When I started training I couldn't afford a gym membership so primarily did bodyweight training at home, so a trainer was just completely off the radar as an option.

Sure, once I could afford the gym I could train a lot better, and the may have neen true if I could afford a trainer on top, but I couldn't.

'get a trainer' is proxy for 'get a form check', which is fair advice to prevent long term injury.

There are many beginner friendly lifting resources online, and communities who will help you review videos of your lifts without needing a specific trainer.

"Get a form check " is definitely good advice and if that's all the person I responded to said I would have agreed with them.

Lifting, triathlon, marathon, cycling - any sport, really - with a good trainer. You’ll get fit, you’ll have fun and you’ll gain a sense of accomplishment. Especially the endurance sports also tend to have a strong spiritual impact on people as it really exposes your strengths and weaknesses, can be very similar to meditation etc. The role of the trainer is to keep you moving at a reasonable pace towards whatever your goals might be without hurting yourself.

How about cardio activities? I think those contribute more to getting rid of unhealthy fat and cholesterol, but I may be wrong.

Both are important. My elderly father's doctor recommended he start lifting weights. My father already gets a reasonable amount of aerobic exercise, but they do different things for the body.

I think both are important. I love running and started it first but ended up injuring myself and couldn't run for a number of years. Lifting fixed the issues I had and allow me to run consistently. The body you build with weight lifting is, in my opinion, a more aesthetically pleasing one as well.

It's a bit of a "how long is a piece of string" question which is why it's helpful to sit down with a professional to get a plan together.

If I did cardio instead of weightlifting I would waste away. I do also ride bikes for fun so I do get some cardio.

For many, cardio is also boring as hell, and weightlifting is a better long term solution as you are more engaged and motivated.

I was given The Barbell Prescription[1] by a friend for my 40th birthday.

It is pretty thorough in suggesting why weightlifting (or rather; resistance training) is more important than endurance/cardio. In summary: they train different muscle types, and the anaerobic types age worse than e.g. the heart, so it's better to focus on that. They do suggest that you complement it with some cardio exercise, but it's a side gig rather than focus.

[1] https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/34823846-the-barbell-...

I've not heard of this, thanks for the recommendation

Thanks for this recommendation. I'll check that out.

Ideal would probably be a mix of resistance training, maximal intensity-metabolic conditioning work (sprints/HIIT/plyometrics), and low intensity steady state cardio (i.e. zone 2, cardio at the pace.you can hold a conversation). Each has unique benefits.

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