Comments on: Gyms don’t have to be the exclusive domain of Neanderthals

By: Sport Specific...

Sport Specific... — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 08:56:49 +0000

@Al

Sorry, I did not mean to slate your comment in any way, and I did find it amusing I am just used to many people thinking that “fitness is fitness” and your comment was there to be utilised, even though that utilisation may have been “unfair”.

By: Kenneth or Siviwe whichever you prefer

Kenneth or Siviwe whichever you prefer — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 10:34:17 +0000

This is one of the funniest blogs I’ve seen! I am an unapologetic narcissist! Love looking at myself in the mirror but alas can’t claim to be a meathead! I do adopt bodybuilding principles in the quest for muscle but the surprising part of all of this is that it requires grey matter to understand what effects different planes of gravity have on the muscle groups. Whatever people’s reasons for going to gym, let them go there and enjoy it and go easy on the judging. They pay their fees just like you simpering, treadmill running, muscle hating, ipod wearing crackers do!

At least people are in the gym! As everybody should know by now, bodybuilders/meatheads are attracted to the distinctly anaerobic activity of lifting weights, therefore aerobic activity is anaethema to them except for just before contest time!

By: Al

Al — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 07:39:31 +0000

@Sport Specific
I agree with you absolutely. I never claimed to be fit for other sports and after I had beaten my son conceded to him that he could beat me at almost anything, including running if he had approached it properly, because he is fitter and stronger and also younger and more athletic. And he could have beaten me at any age too.
The point I was making in my comment was that muscle bound types sometimes do not use their brains. My son sees that now. ( I did not rub in my victory or gloat in it. I love my son and simply wanted him to learn to use his very able brain.)

And I thought the story of brains beating muscles would amuse other readers.

By: Sport Specific...

Sport Specific... — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 05:42:51 +0000

@Al I do see what you are saying, but it must be understood that running fitness does not translate into general fitness. I row and while I am in season for rowing, I will be extremely fit. But, put me against a runner who is of the same, even much lower fitness levels, I will lose to them horribly.

Why? Because my body is not used to running, even though my base fitness is very high.

The same goes for the swimmers at my school. They are one of the fittest athlete groups there, but when it comes to fitness tests (like bleep tests or when we do interhouse cross country), they suffer. Again, it is because they are not fit for running. Take a runner and put him in the pool or on a boat, and they will be the ones trailing at the back.

Maybe you should race your son in a 500m swimming race?

By: Candide

Candide — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 14:49:49 +0000

@ Beef: I’m a vegetarian darling. And I remain convinced that muscled up guys are appalling narcissists.

By: Al

Al — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 14:32:09 +0000

@Beef
I play squash and use the treadmill. That’s my fitness regime and I dont go anywhere near weights. I am lean and fairly fit, certainly without any noticable muscle. My teenage son plays waterpolo for his school first team, is built like a gorilla, is immensely strong, and spends time in the weights section in addition to many hours of swimming training each week.
A short while ago we were having a discussion on how macho he is and how wimpy I am, leaving aside for the moment that he is 18 and I am 48. So I challenged him to a feat of endurance at the gym.
Running on a treadmill…which we did and as we ran I increased my speed again and again, until eventually my son collapsed from exhaustion, shook my hand, and admitted that my strength, while not as obvious as his, was impressive.
I thanked him for his graciousness in defeat and then told him where he went wrong. I told him he was much stronger, much faster, much fitter, much of pretty much everything, but he had allowed me to choose the battlefield (the gym), the weapons (treadmill) and even the rules of engagement (the speed at which we ran initially). Had he chosen almost anything else but running on a treadmill he would have wiped the floor with me, as he should have, because of his youth, his strength and his fitness. His big flaw – the muscles in his head.

By: looks

looks — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 13:21:47 +0000

This article has given me so much to laugh at; I go to gym as often as I can and generally its because I want to lose weight and be fit. So I spend most of my time at the cardio and circuits. I had absolutely no idea that there was a hierachy in place and that people judged each other as meat heads and fitness freaks, all very amusing actually

By: Beef

Beef — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 13:21:03 +0000

Al and Candide, one, building muscle is the best way to shave off fat, as increases the body’s metabolic rate, two, spending 2 hours at the gym does not guarantee muscle growth, quite the opposite, 30 minutes is enough to stimulate muscle growth, beyond that its a waste of time and it impairs the muscle, but hey subjectivism or is it relativity dicatates that I should tolerate fairies who prance around the treadmill

By: Candide

Candide — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 11:05:23 +0000

As a woman, I must confess that I think excessively large muscles are a bit gay. Gay in that the man who possesses them obviously spends a lot of time admiring himself in mirrors. Possibly, this is not something that the Neanderthals have in mind. Muscles are nice up to a point, but there’s a limit. Once they’re too big, they become incredibly offputting.

By: Al

Al — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 10:33:13 +0000

My gym has demarcated areas for

– weightlifting (meatheads only allowed here)
– cycling, treadmills and circuits (you come here in pursuit of good health, not muscles)
I do not venture to the weighlifting section, not because I am cowed by the weighlifting types but because I am worried about being spotted (Pun?) there by other civilised human beings.
Naturally I dont venture at all to the dance areas or spinning classes either, for similar reasons. Yes, these areas are also occupied by meatheads but they disguise themselves while trying to convince themselves they are nothing like the weighlifting meatheads