You're not using enough drugs to ever come close to looking muscle bound.posted by wilful at 8:23 PM on December 4, 2011 [9 favorites]
If someone on Ask Metafilter said "Hey guys, my goal is to get my bachelor's but I don't know in what so I've been switching my major every 8 weeks and taking classes in everything, what should I try next" would everyone say "Hey, keep trying shit, you'll get there eventually!" Or would they say "Perhaps it's time for you to chill out and figure out what you want, then focus on that for a little bit"?I think it's more like if someone said "hey, I'd like to get my bachelors in this!" and I said "you are a weak and pathetic person for only wanting a bachelors and not a PhD. Every time I see you in the library, studying for your pathetic little bachelors, I am repulsed that you are satisfied with anything less than a doctorate. You are lazy scum, but if you shut up and obey me, I can cure you of your silly delusions of adequacy and teach you to aspire to a real goal."
But because you are wasting your time if you are not doing the most efficient and effective exercises.Why? What if my goals aren't just to do the most efficient and effective exercises? What if I also want to have fun or work on my balance and flexibility (both of which are a bit wonky because of random medical issues) or do something that is relaxing and meditative or to do something that feels good to me, personally? I mean, I get that those aren't your goals, but who the hell are you to tell me what my goals should be?
Anyway, re cardio and women: this article by a more mild-mannered writer argues that most women will have a difficult time losing fat from cardio unless they're training at it intensely for several hours a week.I'm sort of weirded out by the implication that every woman's workout goal must be to lose fat.
"Fuckarounditis is a behavioral disorder characterized by a mediocre physique and complete lack of progress, despite significant amounts of time spent in the gym. "It's really not useful to read this article as general advice - it's only marginally more helpful in that way as reading an article from a football coach about training fullbacks.
Whispery Kid: I see dead people.I suppose we could take it to the next level and get all outraged that he's comparing us weaklings to ghosts, but really, I don't think he thought it through that far. I think he just remembered a cool scene from a movie and repurposed it without too much thought (because remix culture, that's why).
Bruce Willis: In your dreams?
(kid shakes his head)
Bruce Willis: While you're awake?
(kid nods)
Bruce Willis: Dead people like in graves? In coffins?
Whispery Kid: Walking around like regular people. They don't see each other. They only see what they want to see. They don't know they're dead.
Unless the gym culture is very different where you are, I would suggest that most members don't traverse the Nautilus machine/free weight divide, which means that there actually is a physically separate space with associated attitude (not necessarily unjustified) about which of these is for "serious" gym goers.I'm not anything like a "serious" gym-goer, but I like to do some kettlebell swings and squats, and they keep the kettlebells in the "serious" area. It'd be cool if they'd stick some kettlebells over by the weight machines and pink dumbells, but they don't do that.
I think it is clear that, even if it is a look you have no desire to achieve, his physique lends itself to the idea that he knows what he's doing.That contention strikes me as utterly bizarre. All it says is that he knows how to achieve that physique. It doesn't, for instance, say whether he has paid a price in terms of his physical or mental health for achieving that physique. It doesn't say whether the methods he used to achieve that physique would serve the goals of people who have no desire to look like him.
It sounds like you're suggesting that he might have an eating/working-out disorder?I'm suggesting that it's really weird to say "this guy has an extreme physique to which a tiny proportion of the population aspires, and therefore everyone in the world should listen to his advice about diet and exercise." It doesn't logically follow.
If I want to achieve something, I heed the advice of people who are better at it than I currently am.I want to achieve the goal of being physically and emotionally healthy. I have no idea whether he's physically or emotionally healthy, and therefore I don't consider his advice any more credible than any other person's advice. And while it's great that some people want to excel at the field of "body recomposition," they have no business at all implying that other people have less of a right to be in the gym than they do.
You people assume that strong people are steroid-filled idiots while you are smart, and therefore you must naturally know more than them even if they've been involved in strength sports their entire lives. You assume everyone fit is probably distorted and mentally unbalanced because you are so used to being surrounded by the "jocks R dum" groupthink. You are so wrapped up in your insecurities and bigotry about the simple act of lifting weights that you have no conception of how deeply your ignorance runs.This is such an unhinged reading of our exchange.
You compared weightlifting to an eating disorder twice, and you said it was narcissistic and shallow.Yeah, no. I said that the way that certain members here talk about it reminded me of the mentality of people with eating disorders. I also said that I didn't assume that an enormously muscled man was healthy, because he could have got that way through disordered eating or steroid use. Neither of those things is "comparing weightlifting to an eating disorder." And I said that the obsession with aesthetics on that page, the assumption that one would pour hours and hours into one's body in order to look a certain way, struck me as narcissistic and shallow, although I recognize that's an unfair impulse and try to fight it. Are you saying that all weight-lifters are motivated by the desire to achieve a certain look? Because that's certainly not my impression.
You've given the impression that you're personally offended by this guy's blog post, you've attributed to him both issues and bad motives that are not present in his article ("they have no business at all implying that other people have less of a right to be in the gym than they do"),Here's what he says:
"I See Weak People"He's not just talking about his readership, whom he implies consists of bodybuilders who are mostly motivated by aesthetics. He's talking about everyone, including the frigging receptionist. It's "unfortunate" that these people won't read his article, according to him. So this is not just advice aimed at people like him. He's clearly judging the rest of us by his weird, limited criteria.
In my dreams? No. In gyms? Yes. Walking around like regular people. They don't see each other. They only see what they want to see. They don't know they're weak.
The afflicted are everywhere; the Shape Magazine-reading receptionist who greets you at the gym, the 135-lb skinny-fat PT who tells you that deadlifts are off limits, the bandana wearing bro in the cable-cross machine and the guy with entire day devoted to "abs". All of them suffer to varying degrees of the debilitating disorder known as fuckarounditis. Yes, even you might be among the afflicted. Today you shall find out if there is cause for alarm....
Finally, there are those who are all but lost and for whom there is little hope of a cure. Unfortunately, these people will probably never read this. They are too busy emulating the latest bodybuilding pro, doing the Biceps Blaster routine, or rolling around on a Swiss Ball somewhere.
How can you tell if you are suffering from the fuckarounditis? Ultimately, it boils down to your results and whether your progress is reasonable relative to the time you put in.
2) the negative reactions from people in this thread savor of ignorance, projective resentment, and hurt feelings, but are largely unwarranted because the poster was not talking to you if you aren't engaged in the problems he identified;That's funny. You're ascribing all sorts of weird motives and attitudes to people, but they're the ones who are projecting?
That's not projection, that's my opinionThat's funny! So if you assume things about other people's motives it's an "opinion," but if other people assume things about yours it's "projection".
which you have confirmed. And yes, as I said, it's personal.No, not really. It's personal, because I really battle the idea that I don't belong in the gym, and shit like this doesn't help. But I wasn't picked on in high school, I don't "assume everyone fit is probably distorted and mentally unbalanced because [I am] so used to being surrounded by the 'jocks R dum' groupthink", and I'm not bigoted against weightlifters. And I've got to say that the weightlifters here have some weird and self-serving assumptions about people here who don't agree with you.
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posted by louche mustachio at 8:10 PM on December 4, 2011 [16 favorites]