I joined a Gym

[Mr. Tea]

Also the music at climbing walls is often better than the music at gyms.

On the whole I would agree with this but there are egregious exceptions (I've encountered RHCP and U2 so far, but the music is generally much quieter all round).

Actually got me thinking the other day: is 'gym' now a recognized musical genre? I can see it dovetailing nicely with the EDM scene. In fact maybe that'll be the next direction for dance music in America: vast stadia full of manically grinning, sweat-slicked 20-year-olds pounding away on treadmills and exercise bikes to some megahyped DJ's aerobic anthems, only removing the oversized dayglo dummies from their mouths to swig from bottles of designer energy drinks...

 

[crofton]

i joined a gym a couple of years ago, terrible music as stated, and really quite boring and uninspiring. so i cancelled it and started doing kung fu which is great and i totally recommend it.

 

[baboon2004]

I always thought this thread should be "I Joined a Gym (and I Liked It)", but not so sure that applies now.

The one advantage gym/climbing has over classes is that you don't have to be punctual...which I quite like

 

[griftert]

Sixth week or something of jogging. Starting to really get into it...still taking it slowly but being able to run for like 5 minutes would have been impossible for me before I started and I feel much better for it.

I've stuck to the rule that if I'm even slightly uncomfortable or not enjoying it I just go home. Means I don't get annoyed about doing it and it doesn't become a chore.

Something about that whole 'no pain, no gain' aspect of exercise just seems grossly off to me... Seems that if you make exercise something that's only effective when particularly difficult and onerous then that just makes it something that puts off people doing anything.

 

[you]

I've been back on the running too. Running is hard but I really like it in the rain. Done 3 runs at my parents house at the bottom a 30% road. Ghudamn, I need to train on some hills more.

 

[DannyL]

Oops, I managed to miss Padraig's 'til just now.

as far as "overly hardcore" think that's a stereotype, or misconception - really its about pushing yourself as hard as you can, consistently, to maximize your results. some people overdo it, but some people always overdo anything.

I'm not too much of a CF hater - I just think it's something that *I* would have to be very careful with this, as I'm past 40 now (just), so I'm trying hard to avoid injury as much as possible, because my recovery time is not what it used to be. I read a post a few years ago by Greg Glassman which said basically "injury is for pussies" i.e. you're not working hard enough if you're not risking injury, which struck me as really stupid.

The only other problem I can see with maxing out your workouts like this is after a while it'd become hard to maintain any strength gains etc. I read a good CF critique a while ago which went in depth on this which I'll post if I can find it. Anyway, as you say, the reality actually in CF gyms may be much more nuanced. It certainly encourage an informed and critical fitness culture which can only be a good thing. There's a number of CFers who come to my place to perfect their O lifting form.

One of the things I really like about Crossfit is it's integration of gymnastics, just because so many of these moves impress the hell out of me. I'm 6' 4" so a lot of these movements are going to be beyond me, nonwithstanding the limitations of age and strength, but I'm wondering now what I could integrate. Do you do any gymnastic stuff yourself?

Currently - with my own fitness. I'm having an attack of plantar fascitis so I can't run, annoyingly. In the gym, I've had a new programme written for me which incorporates lots of more specialised O lifting stuff like snatch balance and snatch receive, which is keeping the working out interesting. I wish I was stronger and wonder about doing straight power-lifiting for 6 months or so to build up, but I think I'll get the same gains from O lifting, though progress may be more circuitous.

 

[NATO]

I always thought this thread should be "I Joined a Gym (and I Liked It)", but not so sure that applies now.

The one advantage gym/climbing has over classes is that you don't have to be punctual...which I quite like

Advantages here extend to not having to be outside and breathing the heavily polluted air.

Still haven't started on the weights *pussy*

 

[NATO]

Went to the gym with a friend on Sunday and he gave me some pointers.

Having trouble lifting my arms above shoulder height.

Hopefully get an hour in tonight. He gave me his training schedule so got a bit of a guide now.

 

[Corpsey]

You remember how skinny I was, man? Don't worry about not being able to lift much at this stage, I've been going regularly for two years now and its all about slowly building up strength.

The key thing really is to do exercises correctly. Sometimes I want to tell ppl I see at the gym doing things badly how to do it properly but I don't want to be a patronising twat. I.E. people doing tricep pull downs without holding their elbows into their body.

 

[Corpsey]

I've been considering doing wall climbing but also I want to try out a martial art like brasilian jiu jitsu. The gym alone is not fun enough.

 

[Mr. Tea]

I've been going for all of about two months and I'm already finding it hard not to call my arms "guns".

 

[baboon2004]

The key thing really is to do exercises correctly. Sometimes I want to tell ppl I see at the gym doing things badly how to do it properly but I don't want to be a patronising twat. I.E. people doing tricep pull downs without holding their elbows into their body.

and worse, people taking way too much weight on a difficult exercise like squats and doing it with really bad form (cos they're buckling under the weight). It's difficult to say anything, cos the reply will no doubt be 'what the fuck do you know?' but boy some people are risking serious injury over time.

 

[DannyL]

I've been considering doing wall climbing but also I want to try out a martial art like brasilian jiu jitsu. The gym alone is not fun enough.

How old are you dude? You can pick up a lot of injuries grappling, but if you are young enough, go for it. I fucking LOVED the few grappling classes I did. It's like being a kid in the playground again, but learning technique to go with it. I did feel like I'd been hit by a truck the next day, you twist up all the small muscles you never knew you had.

I agree with both of you re. not going too heavy. It's a perennial temptation - nice thing about the coaching where I go is one is always encouraged to go lighter. Plus you can't really do the O lifts with bad technique/too heavy - they just don't work, you drop them, fail the lift.

 

[Corpsey]

I dunno, I don't really know anything about the science of it but I just assume the goal is to tear your muscles slightly so they grow back stronger. Presumably lifting big fuck off weights does the job quicker but I find if I do a higher number of reps with slightly smaller weights I end up feeling [arnie]DA BOYRN[/arnie].

I'm 29 in a week's time, Danny.

 

[DannyL]

Sounds young enough to me. I look forward to your triangle choke demonstrations at a future Dissensus meet up.

 

[Corpsey]

The thing I worry about is grappling on the floor with complete strangers. I'm bad enough just MEETING ppl lol

 

[Corpsey]

Recently read this

http://www.panmacmillan.com/book/damonyoung/howtothinkaboutexercise

Gives some interesting perspectives on exercise via philosophers.

One of the reasons I want to do a martial art is because he talks about how doing it is a self-improving thing rather than just a way to know how to beat people up.

 

[NATO]

You remember how skinny I was, man? Don't worry about not being able to lift much at this stage, I've been going regularly for two years now and its all about slowly building up strength.

The key thing really is to do exercises correctly. Sometimes I want to tell ppl I see at the gym doing things badly how to do it properly but I don't want to be a patronising twat. I.E. people doing tricep pull downs without holding their elbows into their body.

Right. I'm not feeling too rushed though, happy to take it slowly. I suffer from a weak/bad lower back from my skateboarding years, so form and technique is really important for me, especially for squats etc.

Definitely need a spotting partner though, just not the same not being able to push it that little bit further.

 

[DannyL]

Recently read this

http://www.panmacmillan.com/book/damonyoung/howtothinkaboutexercise

Gives some interesting perspectives on exercise via philosophers.

One of the reasons I want to do a martial art is because he talks about how doing it is a self-improving thing rather than just a way to know how to beat people up.

I guess it's pretty common to map over self-improvment into martial pursuits of any nature, all the way back to The Book of Five Rings. Can get a bit bullshitty though, as can most claims about self-defence made by martial artists. I'd say I definitely got an embodied sense of taoist ideas about wu wei (not doing) etc from my martial arts practice and a set of moving meditations. I have a mate who's boxing now, and he definitely as a "path" - he's gifted with natural agility, talent and speed though. Bastard.

I really like this book - the guy is a bit of a nutter (that's him on the cover) - - but he's really into fighting and beating people up *as* a way of self-improvement. Giving yourself that challenge. He's a really smart, thoughtful bloke, so cuts against the meathead stereotype. Crazy chapter about dog-fighting as well. That's one of the best books on martial arts I've read.

 

[Numbers]

After more than ten years of inertia, I joined a gym as well.

Would anybody be up for (and ideally know how to set up) a Dissensus pool of gym mixes? Basically music that suppresses the godawful music over there