Join Date: Feb 2009
Posts: 4
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02-17-2009, 04:37 PM
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You guys are all spot on with what you're saying. Can I say that because I'm so smart? Nope. Nature is smarter than we are so I gauge what people say and their methods based on the results and on how the part of Nature that lives inside of each of us responds to that training.
I'd have to agree after seeing how my body responded to weight training the way it's taught by most people today in the US. I haven't lifted weigths in a VERY long time. I noticed a common pattern though in myself and others who trained with weights. Limited range of motion in some people. Higher likelihood of injury (training to failure does that). I've seen guys with arms and lats so stiff they couldn't scratch their a$$ if they wanted to. Or people who get strong in the gym but can't do a lick of work.
It sounds like the old-time strongmen were doing a mix of isometrics/self-resistance with the light weights. Makes sense. Because with lighter weight, you don't have to accomodate your body movements and mechanics to the weight. What I mean is, let's say you could lift a 35 lb dumbell with one arm in one type of movement. Now, if you tried doing arm circles with that same weight, most likely it would strain your joints and tendons, IF you could even do an arm circle with that much weight, and if you couldn't, you'd be inclined to either change your movement to adapt to the weight (limiting your range of motion), or jerk the weight around. Guess what? You can do the same with self-resistance and with bodyweight exercises.
Here's a mistake I made with bodyweight exercise. I worked my way up slowly to being able to do a one-armed push-up with strict form (nothing wrong with one-armed push-ups). But what I noticed was doing a one-armed push-up wreaked some havok on my elbow joints. So now if I do anything that resembles a one-armed push-up, it's balancing my body weight in the locked position of the one-armed push-up. I also can't do many pull-ups. Only 5 if I struggle..maybe. But guess what? Even doing less than that regularly is bad for my elbows so I just hang on the bar a few seconds every time I walk by.
I've learned it's a good idea to never use an arbitrary amount of reps or an arbitrary weight or an arbitrary exercise for conditioning. Focus on reps and weight and a specific exercise, in my opinion, shouldn't be the main focus. The focus, I think, should be on doing the exercises and reps and weights that build up, while not damaging YOUR body. I can't say this because I'm super-fit..because I'm not super-strong or super-fit. I'm not weak but I'm not exceptionally strong either. The point I'm stressing is that it isn't me that's talking. It's Nature that's doing the talking. My goal right now is a super-healthy body, but I do believe that if I achieve super-health, I'll start seeing massive increases in my strength.
Some extras I like to do for the muscles: A hot shower to increase circulation and increase suppleness of the muscles. Either a short cold shower or exposer to cold outside. (this increases the number of white blood cells..this isn't junk science I made up....it's been proven). The cold shower also constricts the blood vessels of the muscles and the blood rushes to the internal organs.
I usually like the hot shower before exercise, if I have the time. I'd reccomend it for relieving muscle tension and if you want a rush of blood and nutrients to the muscles......you can also take one before stretching.
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