MetaFilter posts tagged with exercise

"What exactly is 70s Big?"

ludwig_van — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 09:52:21 -0800

"It's big, like people were back in the 70s... Big when you get that way because you're just real damn strong." Brought to you from the Wichita Falls Athletic Club, 70sbig.com will teach you how to eat, how to train, and how to style your moustache so that you can get 70s big. Not interested in becoming 70s big? Then stop by and observe the amazing feats of those who were, like weightlifter Anatoly Pisarenko, who cleaned and jerked 583 pounds, or powerlifter Doug Young, who deadlifted 711 pounds in competition despite three broken ribs. The site also feature a series of cheeky interviews with Mark Rippetoe, owner of WFAC and author of books like Starting Strength: Basic Barbell Training and Practical Programming for Strength Training.

Use it or lose it - run for knee health

caddis — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 08:03:21 -0800

Running is actually good for your knees, if you haven't suffered knee injuries in the past. [D]espite entrenched mythology to the contrary, runners don’t seem prone to degenerating knees. An important 2008 study, this one from Stanford University, followed middle-aged, longtime distance runners (not necessarily marathoners) for nearly 20 years, beginning in 1984, when most were in their 50s or 60s. At that time, 6.7 percent of the runners had creaky, mildly arthritic knees, while none of an age-matched control group did. After 20 years, however, the runners’ knees were healthier; only 20 percent showed arthritic changes, versus 32 percent of the control group’s knees. Barely 2 percent of the runners’ knees were severely arthritic, while almost 10 percent of the control group’s were.

The Weight-Willpower Myth

dgaicun — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 06:35:45 -0800

Why Exercise Won't Make You Thin Whether because exercise makes us hungry or because we want to reward ourselves, many people eat more — and eat more junk food, like doughnuts — after going to the gym.

You know . . . for adults!

fiercecupcake — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 15:28:21 -0800

Hooping. The hoops adults use to dance and perform tricks are larger and heavier than the children's toy called the Hula Hoop. As hooping becomes more popular, people across the States and across the world are pushing the boundaries of dance and sport with a simple, easily made tool. Hooping for pleasure, exercise, and meditation is becoming a phenomenon. There's even a documentary. You can make a basic hoop, make a collapsible one or one that comes apart for travel. If all the sparkly, shiny, glow, and gaffer's tapes aren't enough for you, you can put glowsticks inside, make your own LED hoop, or buy one for a little or a lot. (If you get brave, you can try fire.) You can find a group or a teacher to hoop with near you, join the growing tribe of online hoopers, or even take lessons online. There is always something new to learn, someone new to meet; skills can always be improved or improvised upon. Hooping has changed my world, and it can change yours. And we'll just get this one out of the way now.)

Because Brawndo's got electrolytes.

benzenedream — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 18:46:30 -0800

Sports drinks and sodas are adding antioxidant vitamins to transcend their caloric nature and appear "healthy". Antioxidants defend against reactive oxygen species, which are purported to be causative agents in aging and cancer. However, a recent study has shown that supplementation with large amounts of antioxidant vitamins negates many of the beneficial effects of exercise.

Stumptuous: From Dork to Diva to YouTube

maudlin — Thu, 07 May 2009 12:36:53 -0800

Mistress Krista says: Only YOU can stop gym dorkery! Stumptuous, one of AskMe's favourite fitness sites, has both a spiffy new design and a bunch of new content (Why your excuses are crap; Lies in the gym; Things you should not lift if you want to look like Madonna). Beginners will find plenty of smart and blunt information about eating, starting and refining a training program, avoiding and recovering from injuries, and developing a home gym one way or another. But Stumptuous has also extended its domain to YouTube. Part of the original Dork to Diva web series on correct technique is now up at YT (deadlifts; biceps curl) thanks to the support of The Prevention of Gym Idiocy Society (Ladies' Auxiliary), but you can also find some more unorthodox exercise ideas.

Embrace your inner indigenous athlete

subpixel — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 19:40:21 -0800

Inspired by the Natural Method of Georges Hébert and trained in Parkour, Frenchman Erwan Le Corre has developed his own curious brand of back-to-nature physical fitness training called MovNat. As this awesome/humorous video shows, MovNat basically consists of running around in the woods, climbing trees, jumping over and under obstacles, swimming, and moving heavy objects. Part child's play, part workout, I must admit it looks like an odd sort of fun. If they promised not to videotape me, I'd consider going on one of these Brazilian retreats.

Just don't do it!

rongorongo — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 07:44:06 -0800

"At Stanford University two sales representatives from Nike were watching the athletics team practise. Part of their job was to gather feedback from the company's sponsored runners about which shoes they preferred. Unfortunately, it was proving difficult that day as the runners all seemed to prefer... nothing" - from Christopher McDougall's forthcoming book "Born to Run" which looks at the story the growth of the $20 billion running shoe industry. Starting form Bill Bowerman's Cortez in 1972 onwards runners have seen a steady flow of innovations to improve performance and reduce injury rates. Only it would appear they may not work. By way of contrast the book includes coverage of the Mexican Tarahumara tribe who run ultramarathons with shoes made from car tyres on their feet.

5BX: When wishing is not good enough

rongorongo — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 17:52:27 -0800

Bill Orban developed the "Five Basic Exercises" or 5BX program for the Royal Canadian Air force in the late 50s. Apart from the primary aim of getting people into shape it was designed to be simple to perform, to work on all the body, to require nothing in terms of special equipment or large spaces, to accommodate enough progression to cater for reformed couch potato and budding athlete alike and to fit into a time slot of 11 minutes including warm up. [Women, for whatever reason, were prescribed 10 exercises in 12 minutes with XBX]. The book of the exercises was translated into 13 languages and sold 23 million copies around the world before falling into obscurity in the 80s. Because so many people did these exercises over several decades there is quite a lot of medical research published on their effectiveness. Sports Science and litigation have moved on since the 50s so there are now some caveats about the detailed method for performing some of the exercises. Jon Walker incorporates a simplified version of the program into "The Hacker's Diet".

A short history of the bench press

jason's_planet — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 10:37:46 -0800

A History of the Bench Press, by Sean Katterle (includes a list of 600+ pound classic bench presses)
All three variations of the press on back – prone floor press, belly toss and bench press – persisted relatively unchanged through the 1940s, but a hierarchy among them quickly developed. For bodybuilders the bench version gained dominance, and by the 1950s it was the king of upper-body movements

Exercise and the Placebo Effect

rongorongo — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 09:48:27 -0800

Cleaning hotel rooms is a strenuous business. However, when Alia Crum and Ellen Langer talked to 84 maids, most were under the impression that they did not get enough exercise. Furthermore, when they were measured for tests such as BMI and blood pressure, their results were typical of couch potatoes. The researchers let half the group in on the knowledge that they were getting more than enough of a daily workout and kept the rest in the dark. After a month results showed the former group were healthier on every single one of the objective health measurements tested - despite claiming to have been doing no more exercise or to have changed their diet. The study raises the possibility that mindset alone can influence our metabolism. Christopher Shea in the New York Times and Ben Goldacre in The Guardian have articles discussing the original paper.

"Nothing like a meeting you have to carb up for"

nthdegx — Thu, 29 May 2008 03:45:01 -0800

A runner's primer

WiiFit vs. WiiFat

jbickers — Thu, 22 May 2008 04:42:56 -0800

"You don't tell kids that they're overweight ... This can have such a negative effect on young girls especially, that they can focus on eating and develop eating disorders." A professor of nutrition takes on WiiFit. At the core of the issue is the program's use of BMI as primary indicator of physical fitness. But BMI isn't entirely reliable as a benchmark; by the BMI standard, more than half the players in the NFL are obese, and according to one opinion, BMI can play a role in over-diagnosis of anorexia. Previously.

Gyminee!

jbickers — Mon, 19 May 2008 13:49:42 -0800

Gyminee is a truly excellent web app that lets you track workouts, nutrition and fitness goals. Prints grocery lists, lets you find workout buddies, etc. Very aesthetically pleasing, too. Considerably easier to use than Fitday, which a lot of people swear by.

The Origins of Cybex Space

R. Mutt — Mon, 12 May 2008 11:06:45 -0800

The Origins of Cybex Space Just in case you are in need of ...." a preventative against the evils engendered by a sedentary life and the seclusion of the office."

Attend Gym to Enhance, not Escape, other Subjects

skyper — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 05:00:59 -0800

Circuit relays, fulcrums and pulleys support not just exercise, but concepts in science and social studies, thanks to an innovative gym teacher. With instruction this clever, I might have better enjoyed all three of those subjects when I was in school, instead of loathing them! Her program was implemented with the help of a foundation award from her local school system.

Just what it says...Map My Run

konolia — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 20:37:17 -0800

MapMyRun.com

The average person will consume 10,000 chocolate bars in a lifetime.

Dave Faris — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 10:14:24 -0800

11 hours, 29 minutes ... That's how long you'd have to play your instrument, if you were a 180lb musician, to work off the calories in a 12-inch Pizza Hut Super Supreme Pizza, (Regular Crust). Foodsel offers a wealth of information about the foods we eat, organized by group, manufacturer or nutrient, with visuals about the exercise needed to work off the calories, and the amount of fat and energy in 7500 different foods. For example, a McDonald's Big Mac has the energy equivalent of 20.3 batteries, and the fat comparable to a third of a stick of butter. and it will take you 1 hour and 7 minutes of exercising at the gym to work off the indulgence of just one.

Mockingbird 2.0?

augustweed — Wed, 10 Oct 2007 13:49:27 -0800

Rehearsing the next terror attack. before 911, the government paid little attention to the role of media and public communications in its national exercises. In 2003, Ogilvy PR was asked by the Department of Homeland Security to develop and manage a full-scale, sophisticated media element in support of TOPOFF 3, its most comprehensive terrorism response exercise ever. The result was a simulated yet eerily realistic news broadcast via the Virtual News Network. The TOPOFF 4 exercise is scheduled to take place October 15-19, 2007.

Oh, damn.

miss lynnster — Tue, 25 Sep 2007 09:11:23 -0800

Why most of us believe that exercise makes us thinner—and why we're wrong.

What is Fitness?

jason's_planet — Wed, 20 Jun 2007 08:46:58 -0800

“What is fitness?”(large PDF) is an essay by the leaders of the CrossFit movement. The ideal they propose is an athlete who is “equal parts gymnast, Olympic weightlifter, and multi-modal sprinter or ‘sprintathlete.’ Develop the capacity of a novice 800-meter track athlete, gymnast, and weightlifter and you’ll be fitter than any world-class runner, gymnast, or weightlifter.”

See, not many people know this, but there are two kinds of fat people. There are people that were born fat, and then there are people that were once thin, then became fat.

mr_crash_davis — Thu, 10 May 2007 19:25:01 -0800

"Being thin doesn't automatically mean you're not fat." According to the data, people who maintain their weight through diet rather than exercise are likely to have major deposits of internal fat, even if they are otherwise slim. "The whole concept of being fat needs to be redefined," said Bell, whose research is funded by Britain's Medical Research Council.

Gain 34 pounds of muscle in only four weeks!

craniac — Thu, 03 May 2007 10:41:11 -0800

Tim Ferris claims to have gained 34 lbs. of muscle in 28 days while exercising for only four hours, total.

Tiny animated trainers

owhydididoit — Fri, 09 Mar 2007 20:51:20 -0800

Animated Exercise Examples courtesy The Training Station.

Ride 'em slowly, cowboy

mrgrimm — Tue, 06 Feb 2007 16:13:59 -0800

The iJoy Ride™ is a "unique and exciting way to work out." It is not to be confused with the Sybian sex toy. (Please press "Play" for the embedded video and enjoy the smiles.)