Comment by npsimons | Hacker News Reader

Comment by npsimons | Hacker News Reader

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Funnily enough, I picked up "Starting Strength: Basic Barbell Training" by Mark Rippetoe based on an HN recommendation. In my view, free weights beat out just about everything else for strength training because if you do the basic five (squat, deadlift, bench press, overhead press, power clean), that hits pretty much every muscle, including stabilisers. It helps not just with strength, but balance and supporting joints, plus increases bone strength.

As for aerobics/cardio, I've never really picked up a book myself as I've been hiking my entire life. It really depends on what you're aiming for; if it's just baseline cardio, walks around the neighborhood are good enough. Beyond that you have to specialize a bit depending on what you're aiming for, be it endurance, speed, explosiveness, and also terrain and form. Swimming is probably the lowest impact, but requires a pool. I use cycling for groceries, errands and when I used to commute, but that's sort of an absolute bare minimum. At home I got a VersaClimber clone since I rock climb and mountaineer. I recently got into trail running after reading "Born to Run" but that's less a prescriptive/instructive book than an inspirational/entertaining read.

Recently I've gotten into Yoga as I've been neglecting flexibility. Yoga With Adrienne on YouTube has worked well for me so far.

SS is good for beginners, but I would push back a bit that it works every muscle sufficiently. Rip says himself his method is really about basic movement patterns. While those exercises probably meet the points of diminishing returns, it doesn’t do much for specific muscles like, say, biceps, which is why he advocates ancillary exercises as somebody progresses.

> which is why he advocates ancillary exercises as somebody progresses.

IIRC, he poo-poos assistance lifts such as bicep curls. The one exception is chins, which is in the official program and he insists on overhand because it works more muscle mass, despite overhand being the more practical version. Yeah, if you're bodybuilding get Pearl's "Keys to the Inner Universe" and plan on spending a lot of time just creating a program. But for most average people just looking to maintain, and especially beginners, the basic five lifts are simple, cover pretty much everything you need (for baseline strength) and can be done with a minimum of fuss, including creating programming and actual time lifting.

I agree with your overall point but Rip seems agnostic on bicep curls. He's been asked on his podcast whether some can include them and his general reaction is "Sure, you can do bicep curls". He doesn't seem to think they're necessary but also doesn't shut down the suggestion as frivolous either.

>which is in the official program and he insists on overhand because it works more muscle mass

I assume this was a typo. But he does advocate (supine grip) chins because they involve more muscle mass (the biceps, specifically). He writes about it in his SS introductory text and also includes chins in his programming section of that book. That book also has a section titled "Ancillary Exercises".

> I agree with your overall point but Rip seems agnostic on bicep curls.

Unfortunately I don't have the book to hand (loaned it out), but I'm pretty sure I remember him saying something along the lines of "you don't need bicep curls, just focus on the five lifts, but since you're going to do them anyway, here's the correct form." I haven't listened to interviews with him.

> I assume this was a typo.

Yes, it was; should have been "underhand", because yeah, they work the biceps more. As a climber, though, it's uncommon to do underclings (basically underhand/supine chins), but pretty common to do overhand pullup type motion, so I tend to focus on that over supine chins. Course, what's really good is hand jam pullups, but those are hard on the tendons and ligaments in the forearms and hands.

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