> And if you are a beginner, any attempt to do these exercises will invariably contain so many mistakes that they are not worth doing any more.

I totally disagree. StrongLifts (and the Starting Strength book it derives from) starts you with the empty bar. Unless you have a serious medical condition, putting 20kg on your back / chest is unlikely to result in serious bodily harm or damage to musculature. As you slowly and steadily increase the weight on the bar, you discover places where your form needs improvement. At least, that's how it worked for me (I only made it to ~100kg squats though).

Of course it's great if you can find a good coach. But I think an app like StrongLifts is a viable+reasonable substitute for a coach.

To me your comment is toxic and reeks of a sense of superiority from your own experience. You labelled everyone who can't put 20kg to be someone having a serious medical condition. That's both untrue and disrespectful.

> As you slowly and steadily increase the weight on the bar, you discover places where your form needs improvement.

Please no. The beginner does not discover places where the form needs improvement. The beginner simply fails to lift after increasing the weight. The beginner injures themselves when they thought they could lift but they did not.

The StrongLifts program starting with an empty bar is not right. They should've started with a PVC pipe with the same dimensions as a bar to practice form.

This assertion is contradicted by the hundreds of thousands of people (myself included) who have progressed beyond the beginner stage after starting out with the 20kg bar and without ever requiring the intervention of a human coach.

That said, I would have benefited from one. I had to completely deload and relearn my squat form because I was consistently leaning forward and de-emphasizing my posterior chain (now it's my best lift).

Speaking from experience, it's really pretty difficult to cause yourself an acute injury (i.e., worse than a nasty bruise) with 20kg if your form even resembles the squat, bench, or deadlift.

Granted, 20kg can be a big starting weight for overhead press, and if you're a petite woman you may initially need an alternative to the Olympic barbell even for the others.

Also, deadlifts are kind of tricky: a bare bar on the floor is an extreme deficit deadlift. But a couple of blocks can solve this issue.

form is entirely overrated in lifting. There's little evidence that a particular way of moving in the gym is more or less injurious, even if it looks funny. Efficiency is another matter, but don't nocebo anyone into not touching barbells in fear of "bad form".

> Even inefficient lifting is healthy. Youtube is all you need to get started.

this is the best way to not only need a coach but months of rehabilitation.

> form is entirely overrated in lifting.

WHAT THE FUCK. I assume you started early in life and or you have have good joints and tendons. but bad form will absolutely lead to at least tiny injuries that you will notice the latest after a few months.

I am certain you know all that and that you are one of those piece of shit youtubers who want people to fail with free programs and ignoring proper form or even teaching slightly wrong form so that they have to get coaches and see doctors at some point.

fuck you

(Citation needed)

> youtubers who want people to fail with free programs and ignoring proper form or even teaching slightly wrong form so that they have to get coaches and see doctors at some point.

(Citation needed)

What is your personal experience with lifting? Have you learned these lessons the hard way, or are these just common myths in the bodyweight fitness community that you've regurgitated without any critical thought in order to justify why you aren't enjoying the benefits of progressive resistance training?

I don't know any bodyweight fitness myths and I do not exercise with my bodyweight alone.

The amount of critical thought I have put into the things I have not elaborated on is insane.

I cannot back up my statements with data. Partially due to laziness, partially because the data does not exist yet and mostly because athletes lie too much.

I fucking love progressive resistance training.