I love exercising, particularly weight training, and do it daily. I stopped for about a year, but now that I've developed the habit again I remember how amazing it is to just... feel good about my body and my health. I wouldn't trade it for anything.
Ditto... I'm on a break at the moment because my house is too far from the gym and I don't want to risk being flattened by an angry bus or cab by biking to it every day - and, perhaps more importantly, I'm too lazy to go out much in the cold and wet London winter.
But I'm planning to move soon, and one of my first priorities while moving will be to find a place close to a gym so I can start weight-lifting again. It does feel absolutely great, and the article is right - it's a scientific/experimentation endeavour. It took me 2 years to figure out how to make my body actually build muscle.
For the record, it turned out to be a combination of the following (and all these ducks needed to be lined up, which is why it took me so long to figure out the winning combination):
- Rely primarily on heavy Squats and Partial Deadlifts (which have to be done very carefully following good form to avoid injury - see http://www.amazon.com/Insiders-Tell-All-Handbook-Weight-Trai... for information) as my core exercises... if I don't do these two, the other weight lifting exercises don't build much muscle for me.
- Over-eat and particularly eat some protein shakes while training (need to ensure there's an abundance of foodstuff for my body to build new muscle)
- Make sure I get at least 8, ideally 9 hours of sleep every night - sleep deprivation == no new muscle tissue
- Train each major muscle group only 1.5 times a week - i.e. 3 times every 2 weeks. More often than that is actually counter-productive.
The benefit of doing all this is feeling fit, feeling great, feeling on top of things. I strongly recommend it to anyone (just make sure you follow safe exercise form - and don't necessarily trust the gym staff about that, I've seen many of them practice or even advise very poor exercise form that will cause injuries in the next 10-20 years).
Training muscle more often will not hurt you, in fact I have had some of my best results training more frequently then "3 times every 2 weeks"
Studies have shown protein biosynthesis drops to about 0 approx 48 hours (or less) following the workout. Muscle development cannot occur without protein synthesis (it is muscle development). Commonly you see pro bodybuilder and the such claiming to only exercise muscle groups once per week... which is fine, when you are on anabolics you are in a constant state of protein synthesis.
On a side note, NSAI drugs like Tylenol, asprin, naprox... Will all impede protein synthesis as well, making it almost impossible.
I agree, most gym staff doesn't know what they are talking about... In fact when it comes to exercise very few people seem to have a clue. Most people simply believe the same junk put in magazines and websites with no scientific basis.
Well, people who do splits are training each muscle multiple times per week. If you have an "arms day" and a "chest day" then you're hitting your triceps twice, for example. On "legs day" you're working your abs as well as your quads to squat, even if you have another abs workout another day.
I think cycling in London is not as dangerous or scary as people generally like to believe by default. You can avoid most of the traffic by following cycling routes. Transport for London publishes quite good cycling maps -http://www.tfl.gov.uk/roadusers/cycling/8966.aspx
I was lazy about cycling for a long time for the same reasons you mention. But now I find that cycling is actually a great way to beat the cold.
And the rain? Well, you just get used to it...
Slowly wheeling around small lanes is also good thinking time, especially at the end of the day.
I have never cycled in London, but I'd imagine it is similar to the US. There is no need to be excessively afraid of cabs and busses -- if those people hit you, their life is ruined. (Don't take this as an invitation to drive stupidly, though. Stay predictable.)
It's the dumbasses from the suburbs that I find to be the problem. They have never seen anyone riding a bike before, so they don't know how to act properly. If I had a nickel for every time I was almost hit from behind by someone with non-Chicago stickers... (Hint to these people: if there are 3 lanes, you don't have to drive so close to the right side that you clip the mirrors off parked cars.)
I was living up in Stoke Newington when I was in London (N16 7AJ repreSENT!), and that's under 10 minutes to the Lea River and Regent's Canal, both of which are fantastic cycling routes. The Grand Union is also delightful, especially with Little Venice right after Paddington basin.
I'll admit, though, that my commute was pretty easy, just straight on the A10 through Shoreditch/Dalston. If you see yourself using a bike to shuttle to mass transit, get a folding bike, they're awfully convenient; if you see yourself using a bike as a main means of transit, stay with a full-size city bike.
I've found the same thing; numerous factors go into muscle gain. For me, I no longer eat as much or as balanced as I did when I was training seriously, which means I don't make the gains I used to. I also lack a partner which means no spotter; I think spotting is a huge help. I'll be surprised if I am back to my old level even within 6 months, which is a really long time just to double the weight I can put up in most exercises.
But you know what? I don't really care. Just the act of going, of noticing slightly flabby parts of me start to iron out after only a month... I'm pretty happy with it. It still makes me sigh, though, when I can't even bench 145.
i'm a personal trainer, and that is the most succinct and accurate description of the fundamentals of strength training that i have ever read, all the way down to the comment about gym staffers who often don't know what they're talking about. +1. now get back in the gym!
Have you considered calisthenics? (I think it's called something else outside the US.)
I've been interested in this book, I prefer the idea of using your own body weight. And I don't like the idea of going to the gym by myself. I'm not interested in looking like a bodybuilder, with everyone being overweight simply being fit is quite enough.
One trick I found to get myself to the gym was to pick a TV show I liked (Doctor Who or whatever floats your boat) where I was several seasons behind, and I would ONLY watch that show on my iPhone while at the gym doing cardio.
Obviously when you move to the weight machines you can't keep watching the show, but it solved several problems for me:
1) It kept me from getting bored while doing cardio, which is a big issue for me.
2) It made me push for a 40 minute session doing cardio, so I could finish the episode.
3) It made me MUCH more likely to come to the gym the next day, because I wanted to see what happened next (it's good to pick a show with long story arc and end-of-episode cliff-hangers).
Me too. Except I stopped for about 2 years, and haven't gotten back into it yet. The gym is still collecting my membership fees every month. I should go back just to spite them.
I got my membership here in September of last year and didn't start going daily until January 1st (I made it a resolution). In my experience, I either go 6 days a week or I go 0. It takes a ton of reinforcement for me to make the habit.
