anklebreaker, would you agree with this... if you main goal is to get strong as fast as possible go with SS. however if you have specific postural problems, muscle imbalances, are training for a sport, and/or going for injury prevention - then SS is a bad idea and your programming should have significant unilatreal work.

thoughts?

Unilateral work is inferior for building maximal strength. If your goal is simply to increase muscle mass and maximal strength from "very weak" to a reasonable degree of fitness, unilateral work saps finite resources in addition to being inferior.

Furthermore, the arguments presented above are asinine. How does a reverse lunge compare to the loading of a back squat? In addition reverse lunges do little more to address mobility in random directions than a back squat. To borrow a Kyle argument, training should have specificity. You train for a particular trait. Lumping everything together into some mishmash of randomness does little to build any of the elements that are desired (Bosu Ball Squatting). There is a time and place for unilateral work, but that is not at the beginning 3-9 months of a trainee's "life".

I'm not even going to address post 751: But suffice to say that SS can address postural imbalances particularly from an athlete with over anterior development, muscle imbalances and postural problems go hand in hand, sport may require maximal strength, and injury prevention is a somewhat dubious term as a program that addresses the prior issue will address injury prevention as well. Its not a separate category.

yeah you can load a back squat more than a reverse lunge, but you can load the reverse lunge with significant weight also. i'm just saying that assitance and unilateral work isn't going to be curls with 15 pound dumbells but is actually heavy weight also.

but listen... if everything in soccer is done on one leg, why wouldn't i want to train one leg strength work in the gym for strength?

You would, eventually. But I think you overestimate how much is being done "on one leg."

Power in your kicks come from rapidly rotating the hips, not the legs. Kinetic chain and all that. You're only as strong as the weak link in the chain, so training single-leg exercises is quite counterproductive in the untrained and novice athlete.

BTW a lunge uses two legs. Boyle and Co make idiot comments like "He can Bulgarian Split Squat 200, only squat 300... 200x2 = 400 Holla"

[QUOTE=Jay.;15059418]
With all the money and resources available to them and amount that it matters that they get big why is it that all these actors apart from the 300 crew always do the workouts that H&F seems to hate so much?
QUOTE]

a better question is why do so many of the worlds best athletes (who also are extremely rich) do poor workouts?

They are genetically preselected for a high level of badassery. So they do stupid workouts told to them by coaches, which gets them "strong," and the coaches get mad credit for it. The coach gets more clients, etc, etc. In the case of Hollywood stars who aren't genetically programmed for awesomeness, they use drugs. Also, $10MM/picture is a pretty solid incentive to do whatever it takes to get into movie picture shape.

You're deliberately spreading misinformation, quoting a post about a drug fueled subset and a trainer pushing his agenda. The questions regarding how to judge elite athletes weight training is far different than for amateur athletes. I don't think anyone claimed that elite athletes are doing poor workouts either, nor is this the place to discuss this.

my roomate gives me the same arguments here. and IMO it shows a big prejudice on your part.

how is it that improving your mind is not mainly about vanity?

it reminds me of this quote "Peole say sometimes that Beauty is only superficial. That may be so. But at least it is not so superficial as Thought is. To me, Beauty is the wonder of wonders. It is only shallow people who do not judge by appearances." by the way, amazing writer.

yeah i agree... i am referring more to running, dribbling ,changes of direction, marking opponents.

Those are all things that bilateral work directly (and indirectly) addresses. Hip extension in the squat is vital to all of that - particularly "core strength" and balance

ETA: This is not to say that unilateral work is useless. As a very unilateral athlete (moreso than soccer players, even), I am uniquely aware of the demands put on my right arm and left leg - but it does not as of yet make sense for me to train unilateral work sans the suitcase deadlift and Pallof press, which I would classify as intermediate steps towards unilateral work.

Is there an appreciable difference between lifting in Nike Frees and lifting in WLing shoes?

I ask because I'm close to starting TM...I may or may not be doing Cleans. Does this change the answer?

The lifts I will be doing are Press, Bench Press, Squat, Deadlift, etc

If it's worth it I'll probably have my parents get them for me as a belated holiday gift.

I found the frees really impacting my technique once I was squatting more than about 270 or so. Even that bit of rubber was squishing and moving around. Definitely get some oly shoes for squatting - they'll last forever anyway.

why not do it barefoot?

I looked around on the internetz and actually found quite a bit of conflicting opinions on this, so I'll ask you guys.

Is drinking soda water bad for you?

I drink it with lemon sometimes at work and was wondering if it's ok or a bad idea.

Worrying about this is like worrying about whether you should jerk off after arm day.

I don't worry about anything but I wonder about many things.

Haha. I feel fully sated in not knowing any of the risks or potential downfalls of adding gas to my water.

Well I mean, it seems harmless to me, but I'll post some of my findings here. Thremp doesn't care, and probably most of you don't, but here is what I've found, and it's from the interwebz so it all must be true.

Ok, that sound believable. Somewhat.

So it may exacerbate acid reflux. Interesting.

Ok.

Sweet. Time to get hammered.

A study: http://www.drbriffa.com/blog/2005/01...arkling-water/
This one says it's good for you.

I guess aside from giving you gas, it's probably fine.

I don't have freak show illnesses so it makes it easier for me not to care. This probably isn't a beginner topic BTW

It probably belongs in the SMP forum

Ok here's a beginner question:

I just received my belt that I ordered online. How do I wear it while I am weight lifting? Just strap it around my belly so it's tight with no slack?

Theres a blog on 70sbig that says how you should wear a belt. too lazy to link

Because its not optimal

Hello Health and Fitness,

I am very new to this section, I just actually stumbled upon this part of 2+2 by actually searching up on some bankroll management issues lol (dont ask me how it led here) but anyway, I am going to start frequenting this part of the site. Here is my deal, Male, I am about to turn 25 in less than a month, I weigh 270 pounds, I just recently found out I have type II diabetes, just got out of the hospital from pancreatitis, caused from diabetes. I just signed up for the local gym in my area, I am so new to all of this, I was under the assumption that just doing cardio (eliptical machine and treadmill) would be okay for me to lose the weight. But frm reading some of the stuff, it seems that doing some workouts with the weights will help tremendously. If there is anyone else on here that has diabetes and can help me out with a very good diet, please post here, or PM me. I am very sorry that im such a noob to this stuff, but i am very concerned about my health, and i very much want to take off all of this excess weight and get healthy again