I was sick, tired and had lost myself until I began lifting weights at 71

Re:I was sick, tired and had lost myself until I began lifti... by samatman on Sunday July 25, 2021 @03:27PM (#27952143)

It's true that any exercise is better than no exercise.

It isn't true that no form of exercise is better or worse than any other for general health.

If you have to pick one, I strongly recommend compound lifts of free weights. The benefits in terms of bone density, joint health, tendon strength, muscular power, hormone production, are simply irreplaceable with any amount of "cardiovascular" exercise. I put that in quotes because it should be called endurance training, lifting weights will emphatically exercise your cardiovascular system.

I was dancing every weekend and walking a couple miles a day when I started lifting. I started lifting because, in my late 30s, it started to be the case that when I would knock something to the floor, I would hitch up my pants and carefully lower myself down to retrieve it, complete with joint pain in my knees.

I extrapolated where that problem would take me in a couple decades, and decided to do something about it. It worked.

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Re:I was sick, tired and had lost myself until I began lifti... by vosper on Sunday July 25, 2021 @03:42PM (#27952273)

I think yoga might be an alternative for people wanting to maintain their bodies well into the future. I’ve done weightlifting and yoga, I like them both, I think if I was picking one for effectiveness and longevity of practice it’d be yoga.

But why pick one? You can totally mix in some yoga with lifting :)

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Re:I was sick, tired and had lost myself until I began lifti... by samatman on Sunday July 25, 2021 @04:10PM (#27952492)

I've noticed that I lift easier (and it's not a subtle difference) when I do some deep spine-stretching yoga on recovery days.

So I certainly agree! I view stretching (calisthenics, yoga, Pilates, whatever you want to call it) as a natural adjunct of weightlifting, something which most lifters discover is useful, even necessary.

But it's not as obvious to a dedicated yogic practitioner why they might want to lift weights. So in terms of "pick one" I'm going to advocate for the one which naturally points in the direction of both (:

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Re:I was sick, tired and had lost myself until I began lifti... by riku_iki on Sunday July 25, 2021 @03:50PM (#27952332)

What about some form of HIIT with lighter weights? My concern with heavy lifting is that it trains only one body's energy system out of three..

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Re:I was sick, tired and had lost myself until I began lifti... by samatman on Sunday July 25, 2021 @04:14PM (#27952525)

Sure, just watch out for CrossFit, most of those crews have an unhealthy attitude towards workouts imho.

I deliberately left out the word "heavy" because, while I do favor the powerlifting 5x5 style personally, it's not for everyone. Just: free weights, and compound lifts over isolation exercises.

Putting less weight on the bar and combining it with sprints and burpees makes plenty of sense to me, although it's not my style.

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Re:I was sick, tired and had lost myself until I began lifti... by matwood on Sunday July 25, 2021 @05:08PM (#27952937)

You don't have use that much lighter weights. You can do a 5x5 and superset it with burpees or opposing muscles. I'm on a pull-up kick where I want to do 500 pull-ups over the course of a single workout. So in between sets of my regular workouts, I do pull ups. HIIT basically happens as a side effect...

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