IMO the exercises which use the body's own weight for working out are the most optimal. And bodybuilding is just plain dumb as also pointed out by dukenukem. It's well known that hardcore bodybuilders have many health problems later in life. Overall I have nothing against weightlifting, I was negatively implying to bodybuilding which is its exaggerated form. By evolution the human body wasn't meant to be optimal by being a mountain of meat.
If you mean limiting yourself to using your own bodyweight alone, I disagree. Humans manipulate objects, and work against forces other than gravity. There are ways of stressing certain muscles not best attained by our body and gravity. If you mean focusing a program that uses the body as resistance if possible, including lessening it or going beyond it, then I would agree. Machines can work for people too weak to be able to manipulate their bodies, like a lat pulldown to achieve a chin-up. It also works well enough in place of it. Using the body makes sense though, especially if your head is moving, moving through space I think is stimulating rather than staying fixed and moving things. Maybe both are good. Tethering weight to the body also works and can simulate resisting opposing forces, or simply be a faster way of accomplishing things. Time is precious after all.
The articles posted above are, in particular, aimed at individuals who feel small and go to extreme lengths to make themselves feel bigger...such as taking steroids and other artificial ways of making oneself feel more manly...such as HGH supplementation etc. There is a BIG difference between being in excellent physical shape through exercise and feeling small about yourself and taking drugs instead of doing the work to be in good shape.
Even steroid-users exercise, steroids alone aren't sufficient for mass normally, and even if they are, they do not teach one to use that mass, to recruit the muscle grown, to apply it to strength. It often might affect the bones/soft tissue less than the muscle and lead to tissue imbalances. That being said, steroids and 'artificial ways' are not extreme. People have different capacity for exercise and recovery, and drugs can often balance what is not gifted through genes or the nurture during one's youth. Drugs, 'cheating', whatever, they are not wrong. They are strategies. What makes them reckless is if they cause health problems. Things that cause problems should be avoided, even if they limit the speed, and the maximum height of your progress. Lifespan is more important. If something causes problems, even if it is decades down the line, then it should be avoided until a solution can be found explaining the problem. Whenever I read about these problems, it is related to people taking excessive amounts of steroids and not basing it on any sort of research. This says nothing about the potential uses of them in a healthy relationship. We all know that steroids are sometimes perscribed in medicine.
Link to sourceWeightlifting May Increase Glaucoma Risk
This article you quoted, I don't see the point in it. I'll accept that it increases intraocular pressure, but that pressure in the eye causes glaucoma, what proves that? If I hang upside down my eye pressure would increase too. Who's to say the eye can't adapt to increased pressure the same way the rest of the body does? Perhaps it is health-building. I'm suspicious that intraocular pressure may only be correlated with glaucoma. I guess I'll read about it. It's a concern to someone like me who wears glasses, if there are to be eye injuries, since my eyeball is misshapen, I would likely be more prone to developing them, and I plan to do both weightlifting and inversion.
Besides prolonged heavy training keeps up the cortisol levels in the body which eventually has detrimental results on the mind. Maybe that's why athelethes tend to get the "stupid" label more often.
prolonged heavy training is unnecessary, and in fact detremental to hypertrophy, One should only spend about 30 to 45 min in the gym.
I think she may have been referring to doing it regularly. Aren't cortisol levels elevated for a period after the lifting as well as during recovery?
Side effects of steroid misuse in men *may* include reduced sperm count, kidney and liver problems, high blood pressure and increased aggression.
To me, a reduced sperm count would be a beneficial side effect
I see that as more of a potential symptom of disease rather than one in and of itself. It only matters to those attempting to conceive.
I'm glad I've never had those pressures placed on me, I'm a lanky person by nature and I have no problem with it, if people have a problem with it, well, that's their problem, not mine. I feel bad for people who live their lives in the eyes of other people, it must be a really depressing lifestyle. I live for one person, and one person only, that's myself. I really could care less what anyone's opinion of me might be, unless that opinion is important in me getting somewhere I need to be, then every other 'opinion' is 100% irrelevant to my existence. I wasn't always like that, and it's not easy to adapt to, but it makes life more enjoyable since you don't live for anyone but yourself (which makes me want to start a rant about people who think true happiness is solely found in dating/relationships, but I'll save that discussion for another time).
You do realize that there are other reasons that people build their bodies besides impressing people, right? This is probably the main draw that leads to people exploring it, but over time, when you're bathed in that sort of attitude, it becomes boring and depressing and you look to other philosophies people have developed for doing it. It makes quite a bit of sense. Impressing others would then only be a side benefit, and then, likely an asset in certain personal dealings. Impressing others does not only serve the purpose of self-satisfaction, but also beneficial interactions that can land you business deals.
But, well, some kind of resistance training with weights, especially for upper body muscle maintenance is incredibly important. But how big muscles get is very much up to genetic predisposition. It's important that muscle mass and strength is maintained, but good strength can exist without gaining a lot of visible muscle mass. Building and maintaining 'invisible' parts of skeletal muscle is most important, for example.
I've never seen any studies done linking maximal size to genetic predisposition. Initial size, or how much stress it takes to increase it, sure, but not the maximum. Strength gained without much visible mass is due to motor learning and more efficient recruiting of fibres at the proper times. There's a limit to what it can do, and hypertrophy can accelerate how you recover and how good your endurance with this enhanced strength is.
jumping and trampolining is THE most efficient way to increase lymph circulation. Regular joggers of course get a good amount of these benefits, but buying a small trampoline if you have the space anywhere, is one of the best things to do for your metabolism, aerobic exercise-wise, plus it can release and prevent muscle tensions.
Jumping and trampolining are great, but I'm not sure if any comparisons have been done comparing the effects of it to certain kinds of weight lifting. Getting a small rebounder for indoors and a giant enclosed trampoline for my future mansion are definately in my plans though
They're also a much safer way to learn things like backflips, and loads of fun, good for progressive jumping practise.
Well for one CR and getting bigger contradict each other. This is something I'm struggling with personally. As a naturally thin guy, I can gain fairly significant muscle, but only if I eat a lot of calories. I'm not doing CR and the biggest reason is vanity :( There I admitted it.
Eh, not technically... you need more calories to get bigger, sure, but it's all the passive increases in metabolism from extra muscle mass, plus energy expended in creating and maintaining muscle mass, which is the problem. Muscular guys probably age faster from metabolism faster than fat people do. It's only the beneficial side-effects from exercise and the degenerative effects of extra blubber that make this less apparent. I'm struggling with this too, because I really admire muscle, and bodybuilding-style training is probably the best way for me to become leaner. I really like food
Only... blah, CR.
Same exact situation here. I'm a little jealous that women can engage in moderate CR and still maintain some degree of attractiveness. There is nothing sexually appealing about a man that looks like he's starving (that is not to say he won't have successful sexual relations, but I am certain they will not be based on visual lust for his physique).
Allow time for changing cultures. Actually, thin physiques have become quite appealing in certain circles, part of the whole 'effeminate man' metrosexual sort of thing. My look and proportions don't really pull this off though, so blah. Anyway, being sexually appealing shouldn't be such a big concern, nor should be securing sexual relations. These are all temporary and useless pursuits. Form naturally follows function, so if we pursue effect and anti-aging, the appealing looks associated with them would follow if done right. Ideally, do we want relations solely based on lust for physique? I wonder how satisfying a character such a person would be.
Also, one's natural, normal ratio of hormones within their body is nothing to be tinkering with! The only reason they are prescribed is when one's hormones are out of balance. They are also never used in the medical establishment in the extreme dosages in which are used recreationally.
When your hormones are above optimal range, there are more things that get bigger than just besides your muscles. For instance, one that first comes to mind and most importantly is YOUR HEART!
Furthermore, anyone with the slightest knowledge of biology and the endocrine system should know that anabolic/androgenic steroid use along with pro-steroids and pro-hormones is not smart to do. If one must partake in this, they should surely do it with the assistance of a doctor. A doctor with routinely give you liver enzyme tests along with a host of other tests before, during, and after your cycle to make sure everything is ok. The doctor cannot notify the authorities in this situation. They know that you aren't going to change your mind, so they will help in all they can. They will probably lecture you about the inherit dangers but will be happy that you are at least going about it in a cautious, mature manner.
The final note is that steroid use is bad. End of story.
There is nothing inherantly benign about 'natural'. A normal ratio of hormones never stopped aging. Aging is associated with a reduction in them, too. That means it bears looking at. What 'balance' is, is often debated, I think 'optimal levels' accounting for interactions is a better way to look at it. No one is advocating the extreme recreational doses, but moderate ones on level with medicine.
Lance Armstrong's heart is pretty big... what's wrong with a large heart exactly? It certainly doesn't cause testicular cancer. It allows more activity, and a slower resting pulse. Just so long as it isn't bursting I don't see the problem. Steroid use is not inherantly bad, overdosing IS. It's not the end of the story. With biochemistry, there's never an end to any story. There's always more to learn.
Women on average do live longer than men... ;-) I do a little weight training now, for enhancing the insulin sensitivity (and yeah, for many other benefits).
Men's having a higher metabolism on average due to our having more muscle may be related to this lower life expectation, but it has not been isolated as the only factor. It also has to do with aggressiveness, general lifestyle choices, etc. Weight-training isn't really needed to increase insulin sensitivity, just minimizing carbohydrates in the diet would do. Carbohydrates are delicious though, so I can see your point.
