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I think a lot of the comments here are missing the point of this article. Free weights are vital for muscle strength, mass and edurance. That doesn't mean fre
by gexla 16y ago
I think a lot of the comments here are missing the point of this article.
Free weights are vital for muscle strength, mass and edurance. That doesn't mean free weights take the place of your other activities such as skiing or mountain climbing. That doesn't mean that you cut out cardio, that's something else entirely, even though some people work on cardio in the gym along with strength training.
Free weights are also great for building the entire structure of your body. There is nothing which can stress the major muscles of the legs, bones and supporting muscle groups like throwing a huge weight on your shoulders and squatting that weight multiple times. Swimming, isometrics and all that other stuff won't do it. Machines also don't do this because you don't have weight to stabilize in both directions. The power move of the squat is to push upwards with your legs but you still have to lower that huge weight in an orderly down movement to start the exercise.
- light3 16y agoFurther, you should eat well and wait for your muscles to recover, the optimal time to retrain is during 'overcompensation', 40-60 hours for endurance and 48-72 hours for power, strength and mass. As well, you should exercise 'weak muscles' to avoid injury, for people sitting in front of computers a lot it really helps to exercise the back muscles.
- rue 16y agoActually it kinda reads exactly like cutting out cardio for the most part, though admittedly I only skimmed through it. Perhaps it isn't communicating its point very well? Personally I heavily favour cardiovascular fitness over muscular fitness, and would choose the former in a heartbeat (ahaha) if I had to pick one. Currently I cycle and do astanga, though I plan on adding some low-rep strength training to the mix too.
- gexla 16y agoThe article doesn't really touch on cardio much. The general idea of the article is that in the gym all you really need is the basics of free weights. That's the best you can get out of the gym for the other activities in your life which may include all the cardio you need. There's lots of ways to get cardio, but everyone would do well to follow the same basic free-weight program like he lays out.
- rbranson 16y agoNot exactly. If you are doing strenuous enough weight training, your cardiovascular system is going to get quite the workout.