Hey look I had a subject line that I learned from you, dad!

Gyms aren't a big health risk, though some can be expensive - and others are cheap as shit. But let's look at that first. In terms of finding a gym that suits your financial needs, the most important thing is to avoid the big fancy ones that all the middle-older age white people go to so they can pretend they're doing something useful. You don't want a gym with 50 treadmills because you can run/walk outside. You don't want a gym with 80 elliptical walkers and stairsteppers. You don’t want one with mirrors all over the walls and a bajillion machines with one squat rack. Those all cost money, and even more if they’ve got TV’s on the equipment, the walls, etc. Find a gym that has a minimal amount of machines, a lot of free weights, more than a few squat racks, benches, etc. Those tend to be the least costly and the most useful, since, you know, you’re actually going to do things and not pretend to do stuff for 30 minutes then leave.

Otherwise in terms of health, gyms are entirely not “dangerous” any more-so than walking around outside with the chance to twist your ankle. Is lifting things hard? Sure. Can you get hurt? Yeah. When do you get hurt? WHEN YOU’RE DOING IT WRONG

Just like your friend twisted his ankle when he decided to mimic walking like a boneless human being, or did shitty pushups on his fists without tightening his wrists, or jumping off a small height location (maybe he was working on plyometrics/isometrics and wanted to boost his vertical jump), etc.

So what do you do to not get hurt? You lift safely. There’s this cool thing called “good form”, which means that you’re lifting something in the proper manner that it is supposed to be lifted, ensuring your security and well-being throughout the movement, as not to break or hurt yourself.

So what about staff infections, flues, colds, and fungal infections? Ever been to walmart? Any big public store where people touch shit? Ever seen the disinfectant wipes available at most gyms? Etc. The highest reported infection you could receive from a gym doesn’t even come from the gym part, but comes from the “having butt sex with your workout friends in the shower” part. Meaning yes, I’m talking about fungal foot fun like athlete’s foot. Otherwise there is no sufficient reason to think gyms are any more infections, or dangerous to your health, in terms of infections – than anywhere else, and it remains as preventable as it is anywhere else.

Do weights and weight machines hurt people? Sometimes. So does walking. So does doing anything wrong, as mentioned above. More importantly, does it HELP people? Yes, and helps you lose weight to a degree more sufficient than pure cardio, also allowing a better occurrence of muscular hypertrophy, endurance training, strength gain, etc. Because while body-exercises sure are a thing, they are limited due to your own body-weight. There’s a reason there are tons of studies showing that resistance training is absolutely outstanding for your overall health, from posture to bone health to losing weight – You name it. If instead the question is strength, then obviously it’s a simple one – lifting weights provides more of it. If it’s not strength, and instead health, the studies as shown below can speak for themselves.

Are body weight exercises decent? Sure. Many people like their calisthenics and shit. If you’re familiar at all with the typical observation used in determining athleticism, the vertical jump, due to its explosive strength, there’s good evidence that doing a combination of exercises (not just bodyweight) is how to best reach the most productive goal (again, studies below)



[journals.lww.com]
[www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov]
[www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov]
[www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov]
[ajcn.nutrition.org]
[www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov]
[www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov]
[www.exrx.net]
[www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov]
[www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov]
[www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov]



So, tl;dr

Is Pro wrong? Yes.
Does that make body-weight exercises wrong/bad? No.

The answer will vary depending on what exactly your goal is.
If you're looking to just lose weight, there's a bajillion options: from simply dieiting at an increased caloric deficit (without even working out), to actually working out (whether it be extended cardio, weight lifting, etc.), and so on until you start OD'ing on caffeine + ephedrine.

But yeah, Pro, you're a big fat liar.
Or you're just kidding.

In which case I wasted a lot of time.





Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/10/2013 03:51AM by Batman.