15 ms·
The Internet’s Richest Fitness Resource Is a Site from 1999
- epilys 4y agoThe site is https://exrx.net/ https://exrx.net/ No need to read the article.
- MikeDelta 4y agoBeen a happy user of this site since early 2000, it thought me a lot about technique.
- geewee 4y agoAnd it's a wonderful website too. Been looking up things in it for what feels like a decade at this point
- steve1977 4y agoIt feels like a decade, but it’s actually 20 years ;)
- blairbeckwith 4y agoThe article includes the link in the first paragraph and is worth reading if this type of thing [exercise/websites] interests you more than a no context link.
- cush 4y agoYou can't get swole unless you're living life at maximum efficiency. Reading is for wimps!
- rTX5CMRXIfFG 4y agoI find this rather ironic considering how no-context links is exactly how not a few HN posts are submitted.
- seb1204 4y agoI disagree here, the article does not include a link to the website but merely the website address written in text, nothing to click. So no link.
- replwoacause 4y agoThe article is good and worth a read IMO.
- endisneigh 4y agoironically you could have just posted the link without your opinion, just like the article!
- gibbonsrcool 4y agoA link by itself might be another site that the person who commented likes, not necessarily the one mentioned in the article.
- password4321 4y agoNo one suggested posting the link by itself. "The site is https://exrx.net https://exrx.net" is enough.
- gibbonsrcool 4y ago“you could have just posted the link without your opinion”
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- password4321 4y agoHa, I fell victim to the same issue (not including my opinion) in my comment! The portion you quoted may as well have been directed at me. I am indeed being very pedantic here but the parent to your initial comment as you quoted did not exclude the additional context noting the relevance of the link (as per my quote) but rather emphasized leaving out the opinion portion. The difference between "just posted" and the theoretical "posted just" you seem to be implying. Upvotes all around; cheers!
- rationalist 4y agoDid we hug it? Doctrine \ DBAL \ Driver \ PDOException (1040) SQLSTATE[HY000] [1040] Too many connections
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- RobotToaster 4y agoI tried to look up advice for people with my disability and got a paywall, how nice.
- velox_neb 4y agoSimilarly, the best source for nutrition information used to be whfoods.org. Unfortunately it's been down for a while now, and while there are some imperfect archives, you can't easily search through the site anymore.
- dw_arthur 4y agoThe information is out of date, but I still occasionally use the pdfs i have from whfoods. You can find them on archive.org under TheWorldsHealthiestFoods.
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- scarface74 4y agoI was a part time fitness instructor from 2000-2012 and the ultimate gym rat. How did I not know about this site? Now, for $reasons, I’m not as much of a gym rat. But I am training to at least run 5Ks again (as opposed to 10Ks and a couple of half marathons). I’m going to make myself get into resistance training again and this is going to be a great resource
- rTX5CMRXIfFG 4y agoHa! I’m curious to know where you got your vocabulary of exercises without ExRx.net (of course the site also merely curates from other sources such as the books that came before and along it). I don’t remember the exact search keywords, but I’m pretty sure I found it while building my own program and looking for exercises for specific muscle groups.
- scarface74 4y agoI worked for an organization that contracted out fitness instructors to various gyms, apartments, churches, etc. So I would go to their classes to pick up moves. There were also various certifications and conferences (SCW). I got started in lifting weights ironically enough because I was a short (still short), fat (I got better), kid with a computer (still a software developer…sort of) and had cerebral palsy (still do). While I didn’t have any coordination to play sports (my CP basically effects my left hand and a very slight limp), I could “lift things up and put them down” with the best of them and my “physical therapy” turned into weight lifting at 12 and I was paired with a personal trainer early on. When properly conditioned as an adult, I found that I could run up to 9 miles (a 15K) in races and come in the middle of the pack (a little more than 6 miles an hour) before my legs gave out on me. At my old age of 49, I wouldn’t put my body through the kind of training it takes to do anything above a 10K and probably no more than a 5K. I also took advantage of remote work to buy a “Condotel” unit in a resort in Florida for half the year specifically because it had 3 pools (swimming is much easier on my body) and a gym. The other half of the year, I “nomad” and fly around the US and stay in hotels instead of AirBnbs partially to have access to gyms and pools. My wife took up the mantle a few years ago and now she teaches dance/fitness classes.
- Eupraxias 4y agoWhen I see sites like this, I want to give them money and support them, whether the content is worth it or not. This made my day.
- dbcurtis 4y agoLooks like you can. I clicked one of the “special populations” links and the content is behind a subscription sign-up. Also site seems to be getting creaky - we may be pounding the server a little hard.
- pessimizer 4y ago> Also site seems to be getting creaky - we may be pounding the server a little hard. Maybe the help they need is architecture/infrastructure improvements.
- brap 4y agoHa, I knew this was about exrx from the title alone. Such a valuable resource, unfortunately not as well known as it should be.
- okaramian 4y agoAbsolutely amazed this isn't littered with ads for supplements. The good ol' days
- laserlight 4y agoExRx [0] has been a very valuable resource in my study of exercise science. I found it after developing an injury because of wrong training program given by a trainer in the gym. The site let me discover almost everything to learn about physical exercise better than all trainers in my gym. I’m thankful to everyone who has contributed. [0] Exercise Prescription on Internet (ExRx.net) https://exrx.net/ https://exrx.net/
- q7xvh97o2pDhNrh 4y agoIf you don't mind me asking, how was that injury-recovery journey for you? I'm in the same spot — injured myself because I foolishly trusted an incompetent trainer. It's been weirdly difficult to pick myself back up; I'm still stuck at the "blaming myself for trusting bad advice when I should have known better" phase.
- laserlight 4y agoOf course I don’t. That injury was an inflammation because of overuse. I take it seriously applying prescribed topical anti-inflammatory medicine, however inconvenient it might be to do so for up to six times a day. I, of course, updated my exercise selection not to hit the same muscle in consecutive days, but to give rest days. I reduced the weight hitting the affected muscle to almost nothing and progressed slowly from there. I hope you get well soon.
- q7xvh97o2pDhNrh 4y agoThat is helpful. Thank you.
- sboomer 4y agoSome content is only for premium subscribers. When you try to log in/subscribe the site throws php exception with error stack as if it is running on dev environment.
- alecco 4y agohttps://archive.ph/k4lXm https://archive.ph/k4lXm
- petesergeant 4y agoLove it. “exrx” and “examine” are by far my two biggest health and fitness search prefixes
- VLM 4y agoI used to use examine to find direct links to medical journal articles about the latest supplement research, but they've locked away all the details so I have to run dual monitor with examine as a lead generator and search for articles on real websites in the other window. Regardless of the above usability issues, examine is a pretty good supplement research site. Edited to add: I don't like examine's pricing. Examine is essentially the "consumer reports" of supplements and I'd expect to pay magazine subscription rates, not a month of gym membership annual rate. Its not that I can't afford it or it doesn't fit in the budget, it doesn't fit in the worldview of this is how much you pay for that kind of service. Even $50/yr and I'd sign up, but two hundred? Really?
- petesergeant 4y agoYes, far too expensive. I got grandfathered into an older plan, or I’d no longer be a subscriber
- Semaphor 4y ago> SQLSTATE[HY000] [1040] Too many connections Funnily enough, the error message [0] looks far more modern than the rest of the site. I guess they updated the backend (a PHP framework called Doctrine, I think) without updating the design ;) [0]: https://i.imgur.com/pwJzVUj.png https://i.imgur.com/pwJzVUj.png
- ffhhj 4y agoAccording to BuiltWith it uses a whole bunch of new things: https://builtwith.com/?https%3a%2f%2fexrx.net https://builtwith.com/?https%3a%2f%2fexrx.net
- jeroenhd 4y agoThe title of that page is "concrete has encountered an issue". Concrete is a PHP based CMS and Doctrine is a PHP ORM used in all kinds of modern (and less modern) web frameworks. The stack trace specifically shows concrete5-8.5.7, released November of 2021. So it's outdated alright, but not quite as ancient as the article makes it feel. The HTML may feel hand crafted but that's often because PHP frameworks often rely on templating languages to set up a base theme for the website, which then gets filled in by content generated by a WYSIWYG editor, saved to the database. It's quite possible that they've used their old website as a basis for their theme/templates, keeping all their old HTML in place.
- jeffbee 4y agoI like that it helpfully disgorges the source code where the exception was thrown. Very old school. I hope there are no database credentials hard-coded in PHP.
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- ratchetclank 4y agoIn the same vibe I've been using https://darebee.com/ https://darebee.com/ for quite a while. Good exercise library and great programs, all free for everyone.
- kilroy123 4y agoAt first I thought it was talking about darebee.
- joenot443 4y agoWas anyone else expecting bodybuilding.com? Not that I spend much time there, but I’ve always liked the forums. One of the few old 2000s style forums left complete with avatars, quote text, shared shibboleth. and a healthy skepticism of newcomers.
- raverbashing 4y agoYes Rich discussions yes, but also discussions like these https://old.reddit.com/r/funny/comments/2rbqzh/bodybuilders_argue_over_how_many_days_there_are/ https://old.reddit.com/r/funny/comments/2rbqzh/bodybuilders_...
- Gunnerhead 4y agoIncredible!
- nelblu 4y agoAlso, back in the day there were some legacy bodybuilders giving free advice on those forums. I remember discussing with serge nubret around 2008ish, good old days :)
- iamacyborg 4y agoSimilar to the letsrun forum which used to have olympic class coaches (ie Canova) dropping words of wisdom. It is a toxic hellhole now, unfortunately .
- zoklet-enjoyer 4y agoBodybuilding.com forums got me interested in nootropics. Those guys are trend setters and some of the first people I would consider biohackers
- jokowueu 4y agoFor me it was longecity that got me into nootopics . I got in the first group buy , it was nsi-189 since then I've been invited in underground groups that go far beyond that . Super interesting world we are living in
- pbnjay 4y agoAs soon as I read the title I knew it was exrx.net - I’ve used the site off and on since 2003!
- lumb63 4y agoBeen lifting for 15 years and never heard of this website.
- joisig 4y agoSame here, been lifting since 1989 and online since the year after, and this is the first I hear of this website.
- derbOac 4y agoReminds me a bit of Sheldon Brown's bicycle website: https://www.sheldonbrown.com/ https://www.sheldonbrown.com/
- glacials 4y agoAnd The Man in Seat 61: https://www.seat61.com/ https://www.seat61.com/
- malermeister 4y agoThat site is an incredible treasure for anyone interested in planning a train journey.
- Scarblac 4y agoReminds me of http://pagat.com http://pagat.com for rules of card games.
- chrisweekly 4y agoThanks for the pagat.com link, it's great! :)
- Rebuff5007 4y agoThe lack of advertisements, popups, cookie consent, propogandist language and fluffy content makes for such a pleasant reading experience. It's a real pity that this is not more common with modern websites, especially in the "recipe" or "news" domains. I am grateful for Wikipedia however.
- joisig 4y agoI'm seeing a pretty big ad at the top of every page. Is my experience unique?
- VLM 4y agoIs this what they mean by submarine marketing? Because I've been a gym rat since the 80s and never heard of this site, and never heard anyone at the gym mention it, and never heard anyone in any other fitness group mention it. Other than that, sure.
- rchaud 4y agoThis site is from the OG Web 1.0 era. Plenty of people know about it; in fact I would say that they've modernized it quite a bit from what I remember from back when I used it 2009.
- djha-skin 4y agoThe reason why the article is good to read and not just going to the site[1] it talks about is that it tells you why getting rid of JavaScript is sometimes just fine for your user base: > ExRx makes its organizational logic plain. Its pages adopt the structure of unordered lists—uniform and sturdy...unlike elsewhere on the modern Internet, on ExRx you are never lost. > the site’s plain face lends it a certain authority. In a fitness ecosystem dominated by new- and old-school flash, from personal trainers on the hard sell to influencers with soft power, exrx.net treats me like an adult. If Instagram Reels and TikTok videos are the solicitous pusher on commission, ExRx is a librarian—or, better yet, the library itself. (Emphasis my own.) 1: https://exrx.net https://exrx.net
- mostlysimilar 4y ago- Simple design with dense information and verbose navigation - Loads immediately, no frustrating and slow skeleton loading gray boxes - No popups asking you to subscribe, register, or download a mobile app Why do we tolerate the modern web treating us so poorly when the example of how to do it better has been around since the 90s?
- jpmattia 4y ago> No popups asking you to subscribe, register, or download a mobile app https://exrx.net/Drugs/Caffeine https://exrx.net/Drugs/Caffeine
- travisporter 4y agoStill not a pop up
- mostlysimilar 4y agoPremium features and gated content are not inherently bad. We all want to make money. Gaudy and intrusive pop-ups, banners, and things that try to pull me to that content is bad. The difference between being pulled into it and seeking content myself is an important one. Services that annoy people into doing what they want may get short term results but are generating a lot of ill-will for the medium and long term. This website even has reasonable advertisements in the side-bar. No floating videos that auto-play, no ads injected right in the middle of the content I'm reading. Just a plain old ad on the right side of the content.
- marcrosoft 4y agoDon’t let this think you need to do 100s of different exercises. A handful of good ones like squat, bench, deadlift, etc are all you really need.
- cgh 4y agoIt depends on your athletic goals. Exrx is geared towards athletes and coaches more than the normal folks who, as you said, would benefit from a simple, limited slate of fundamental movements.
- m3kw9 4y agoI’m afraid someone looking to monetize it gonna make them an offer and then out ads on it.
- jeffbee 4y agoIt already has ads. Big graphic ads at the tops of every article, and further down as well.
- tambourine_man 4y agoI’m a sucker for nostalgia, but this site is completely responsive. It has a spartan design, but it’s a long distance from what you could do in 1999.
- andrewmcwatters 4y agoI really enjoyed this comment about a month ago or so from "Why the conventional wisdom on how to grow muscles is wrong,"[1] so much so that I favorited it. "I have lifted for 30 years. The standard bullshit line in the fitness industry has always been "everyone else is wrong". Practically what every single trainer ever in the world has said. The reason is because of all the things I have done in my life, lifting is the most trivially simple activity there is. It is as complex as shoveling dirt. The only way to differentiate if trying to make money is to bullshit. Pick the weights up, put them down, eat food. It just not that complicated."[2] - epistemer [1]: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34677471 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34677471 [2]: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34679482 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34679482
- rchaud 4y agoLifting is complicated for the same reason that dating is complicated. Not everyone is starting from the same place. Not everyone will see the same results, in the same time. That is where the complexity arises. People will see others doing better, and try to find shortcuts, or magic panaceas.
- ClumsyPilot 4y agoFuthering this: You lift incorrectly, you get trauma, injuries, I've seen a guy in a gym lose an eye. I've seem people leaving weights where they shouldn't, others trip over them. You choose your date poorly, you could get trauma and injury too I guess.
- fwungy 4y agoResponse depends on your proportion of fast twitch muscle fibers. The more you have the better you'll respond. It really is almost effortless for some. It's genetic. If you're predominantly slow twitch it's going to be a fight. You can make progress, but it will come far more slowly and your potential is limited.
- dirtyid 4y agoYes most of fitness industry isbullshit. But simple =/= easy. Past , for 80% of the 20% rule, the easy simple methods are exhausted and progress generally requires increasingly complex methods when simple methods become too hard. Lifting / growing muscle especially - fatigue / diet management to optimize stress / recovery cycles especially if you're not full time athlete.
- cratermoon 4y agoIt's a shame exrx.net doesn't rank higher on google searches. It just shows that SEO and search engine company priorities have moved away from what people are looking for when they use the internet.
- rchaud 4y agoOne of the advantages of old-school websites like these is that they were desktop-first, so they actually made use of the width that a laptop screen offers. It's nice to see multiple columns of content, rather than the usual mess of ad sidebars and "readers also liked" blocks interrupting the content.
- lawrenceyan 4y agoIs there a definitive understanding of how plastics (hormone disruptors) have affected us? Should I be treating this as equivalent to smoking or drinking in harm? https://exrx.net/Nutrition/Disrupters https://exrx.net/Nutrition/Disrupters
- pharmakom 4y agoAlso see Sheldon Brown!
- cromka 4y agoScooby’s Workshop was a similarly amazing treasure for weightlifters. Unfortunately, Scooby has retired all his websites. https://scoobysworkshop.wordpress.com/ https://scoobysworkshop.wordpress.com/