*.* 2013 General Fitness Thread *.*

[penguinz]

Welcome to 2013! Now get your ass in top physical condition!

**From the 2012 Thread**

If you want to get back into lifting, or need a new lifting routine, START HERE:

http://startingstrength.wikia.com/wi...inner_Programs

If you have questions about the SS programs, look here:

http://startingstrength.wikia.com/wiki/FAQ

Keep in mind that you're a novice lifter for a longer period of time than you think you are. Novice lifting can last anywhere from a few months to a year or two, depending on how hard you hit the weights and where you started.

Once you've reached the point where you don't make regular progress on the SS program, you are ready to move on to the intermediate stage, which can last you for a good number of years. Find it HERE:

http://madcow.hostzi.com/5x5_Program/Linear_5x5.htm

If you're a very advanced lifter (many, many years of CONSISTENT weight training), then there are lot of programs out there, and which one you pick is simply a matter of preference. If you're really that advanced, you should know what works for you and what doesn't by this point.

[Aspengc8]

Originally Posted by Saul Good

The Ben Johnson reference sort of proves my point. Sprinting gets you ripped. Lifting doesn't make you fast.

You don't see athletes who look like Arnold playing professional sports. You DO see professional athletes who are built like Shaun T.

You can have too much bulk for specific tasks. You can't have too much speed, agility, endurance, flexibility, etc.

Sprinters definitely spend time in the weight room lifting heavy. Stop thinking on extremes.. too much bulk would be someone training for the Olympia, which 99% of the lifting community is not doing. To each their own, but that 'no carry over' argument is just plain reeruned.

[BigCatDaddy]

Originally Posted by Saul Good

I agree completely.

Let me put it another way to hopefully clarify what I mean.

If you had Shaun T and Mr. Olympia standing side by side and asked 1,000 people which one they think might play professional baseball, basketball, football, golf, tennis, etc., almost everyone is going to guess Shaun.

Square them off in the decathlon...who do you think wins?

Of course. I agree you can be too muscular and inhibit athletic ability. I just disagree with comments like this one that you made. "Lifting doesn't make you fast" Weight lifting is a huge part of being explosive which translates to speed, power, and agility. Most athletes are taking PED's that enhances those things, not flexility and endurance for the most part.

[Saul Good]

Originally Posted by Aspengc8

Sprinters definitely spend time in the weight room lifting heavy. Stop thinking on extremes.. too much bulk would be someone training for the Olympia, which 99% of the lifting community is not doing. To each their own, but that 'no carry over' argument is just plain reeruned.

If I ever make a "no carry over" argument, let me know.

I would say that Shaun T is as extreme about what he does as the Mr. Olympia contestants are at what they do.

Take two average Joes off the street and train them to compete in a decathlon one year in the future. You train one to do nothing but power lift. I'll train the other to do cross fit. Who wins?

[Saul Good]

Originally Posted by BigCatDaddy

Of course. I agree you can be too muscular and inhibit athletic ability. I just disagree with comments like this one that you made. "Lifting doesn't make you fast" Weight lifting is a huge part of being explosive which translates to speed, power, and agility. Most athletes are taking PED's that enhances those things, not flexility and endurance for the most part.

I think you and I are pretty close to being in total agreement. I'll take Omaha in a foot race over lewdog, though.

[BigCatDaddy]

Originally Posted by Saul Good

I think you and I are pretty close to being in total agreement. I'll take Omaha in a foot race over lewdog, though.

That's cool, but I haven't been in a foot race in a long time, I however have recently moved and I know which one helped moving shit like washers, dryers, and refrigerator and if I need help I'm call Big Lew.

Also if it's good enough for the greatest?

[Omaha]

Originally Posted by Saul Good

I didn't realize there was so much resentment of cross fit out there. I love the idea of usable strength, speed, agility, flexibility, stamina, etc.

I've never understood the point of getting weight-room strong if you can't translate it into everyday life situations.

Originally Posted by NewChief

I don't think that most people have a problem with what you describe. It's really a backlash against the popularity of Crossfit, and the fervent cult like devotion of many who do it. Combine that with the questionable "expertise" and practices of many of the Crossfit trainers, and it's an easy target.

I actually do a LOT of Crossfit type stuff, and I've been heavily influenced by it (as evidenced by previous Official 20XX General Fitness Threads, in which I espoused Crossfit) .I don't have any real animosity toward it now, either. I just think that the zealots make easy and justified targets. That being said: at least they're freaking doing something and staying in shape.

There are great athletes on both sides. There are great coaches on both sides. There are very bad examples of each on both sides. I know guys who are over the top douchey about weightlifting just like the stereotypical crossfit nutjob that you guys are picturing.

I do a lot of stuff (running, biking, football, volleyball, lifting, crossfit) but my biggest sport is racquetball. I travel around the midwest playing tournaments every winter. I actually got a sponsorship deal a few years ago. I would say that Crossfit is probably better training for racquetball, but my game really started to pick up when I got serious about lifting legs. Squats are king!

[Aspengc8]

Originally Posted by Saul Good

If I ever make a "no carry over" argument, let me know.

Originally Posted by Saul Good

I've never understood the point of getting weight-room strong if you can't translate it into everyday life situations.

Maybe I took it out of context, but thats pretty damn close. Either way, I think heavy weight training carries over and can be applied to pretty much everything in life, both physically and mentally.

[Aspengc8]

Originally Posted by BigCatDaddy

That's cool, but I haven't been in a foot race in a long time, I however have recently moved and I know which one helped moving shit like washers, dryers, and refrigerator and if I need help I'm call Big Lew.

Also if it's good enough for the greatest?

is MJ wearing pink weightlifting gloves??

[BigCatDaddy]

I guess it also depends on where each person came from. In HS I was a 6'2 155lb athletic string bean. Now I'm a 6'2 235lb well built dude after over a decade of hard work. While I'm not nearly as athletic or have the endurance I would never want to go back to that type of size and frame which I feel just doing crossfit would likely do and I would lose my current size. I don't want to be able to run a 5K or be under 200lbs or climb flip climb a damn rope.

[Saul Good]

Originally Posted by BigCatDaddy

That's cool, but I haven't been in a foot race in a long time, I however have recently moved and I know which one helped moving shit like washers, dryers, and refrigerator and if I need help I'm call Big Lew.

That's why I say that different people have different practical applications. You might have to move refrigerators and color TVs, so power lifting works for you so you don't break your back. I don't do that kind of work. Worst case scenario for the kind of shit I do is that I might get a blister on my little finger or maybe on my thumb.

[BigCatDaddy]

Originally Posted by Aspengc8

is MJ wearing pink weightlifting gloves??

Those are Bulls Red damn you!

Also pretty weak if that's just 115lb. I wouldn't have let that get out if I was MJ.

[BigCatDaddy]

Originally Posted by Saul Good

That's why I say that different people have different practical applications. You might have to move refrigerators and color TVs, so power lifting works for you so you don't break your back. I don't do that kind of work. Worst case scenario for the kind of shit I do is that I might get a blister on my little finger or maybe on my thumb.

Right, but when we are talking "functional" and "practical" which was kind of the beef to start with. Practical is guys moving shit for their wives or throwing bags of concrete on their shoulders, not climbing a rope to the roof of the house or have a foot race with the neighbor. Squats, deads, bench will likely benefit one more in daily more than crossfit type stuff and you look much prettier as well

[Omaha]

Originally Posted by Aspengc8

If your a professional athlete, or any athlete for that matter, your training is sport specific. Most NFL players are pretty jacked, because the sport requires both endurance as well as limit strength. If you look at some of the more built crossfit champions, and follow their blog, they lift some heavy ass weight and follow tried and true strength routines. They just use crossfit as a means for the endurance side, which is what it is. This is why so many out of shape people hit crossfit to get in shape, its basically organized group calisthenics. I'm not saying its easy, I just can accomplish the same goals from doing hill sprints or pushing a prowler. When you say pure lifters I think your getting caught up in the dogma of fat, out of shape power lifters. Most strength based programs or even body building for that matter, contains some sort of hard conditioning to take care of the endurance side.

Weight training is a large part of crossfit. They have a lot of heavy lifting days. Some of the guys at my gym are pretty big dudes. They may be doing extra lifting outside of the regular crossfit programming like I do, but it's not all gymnastics and burpees.

[Omaha]

Originally Posted by Saul Good

That's why I say that different people have different practical applications. You might have to move refrigerators and color TVs, so power lifting works for you so you don't break your back. I don't do that kind of work. Worst case scenario for the kind of shit I do is that I might get a blister on my little finger or maybe on my thumb.

OK, now I'm having the same conundrum that Rain Man had in Saul Good's sig. That was ****ing awesome.

[Saul Good]

Originally Posted by Aspengc8

Maybe I took it out of context, but thats pretty damn close. Either way, I think heavy weight training carries over and can be applied to pretty much everything in life, both physically and mentally.

I was trying to make a different point there. That was in reference to bodybuilding for no purpose other than purely power lifting...where people completely disregard all other performance related benefit are ignored. If your only goal is to be capable of lifting as much pure weight as possible straight up in the air...I don't get it. If you're using weights to get faster, stronger, more explosive, etc. rather than just trying to increase your max, I totally get it. Still...if you've got to chose between just cross-fit and just weight lifting in order to become a better athlete? Give me cross-fit every time.