Do you work out?

[yung.carl.jung]

I'm in the exact same position. I like athletic bodies just fine, but "bulky" or "muscular" or "veiny" I think is a huge turnoff, it just looks disgusting to me, offends my aesthetic sensibilities. I work out mostly to stay fit mentally and physically and ony a little bit for vanity reasons

 

[BenitoChavez]

Does anyone have an opinion on using weight machines instead of free weights? I really don't like free weights as they are bigger hassle to set up and tear down than using a machine. I also feel form is much more important because if you have to pay attention to it whereas with machines, just sitting up straight and maintaining contact with the seat is all you have to do.

I prefer free weights. Yeah it is somewhat annoying to have to put on then take off the weights. But It takes, what, 30s to do that? Not such a big deal. And yes form is important with free weights and that is a good thing. Because free weights have a greater range of motion you need more control (ie better strength and balance) to keep the weights steady. Better strength and balance should be one of the main goals of lifting weights and free weights will give you better results than a machine would. Machines can still be good for the occasional variety or if you have an injury that prevents you from using free weights.

I am not convinced at all that exercise below the 20 minutes mark is somehow rendered useless, that doesn't compute. I'm sure if you do a side-by-side comparison between a senior that does 20 minutes of light cardio and one that does 0, there will be a world's difference, huge difference. "low efficiency" doesn't mean useless, is what i am getting at. every bit counts.

Agreed. I've heard a lot that short intense workouts are what you should aim for for general health. If you want to run a marathon or something then you obviously need longer training sessions. Even with short low intensity workouts provide some benefit. Something is better than nothing.

 

[yung.carl.jung]

also, some forms of exercise revolve exclusively around short time intervalls, like for example HIIT training for example. how long does a break have to be for one workout to be considered two seperate workout sessions? how long until the body "cools down", back to normalcy? these questions I think are essential in answering the bigger one

 

[civvver]

Free weights make you balance the weight so all your supporting tendons and stuff get worked as well. It's more of like a complete workout and will help your balance.

Machines are great at targeting specific muscles since the machine does the balancing for you.

I don't think one has an advantage over the other, they're just different. Just keep in mind because the machine is helping you balance your weight limits should be higher on the machine usually and they don't translate to each other. I can leg press like 600+ lbs, no way in hell I can squat that. I'm not sure if I could squat 150 even cus it involves a ton of core and balance. The only machine I find harder than free weight is those seated bench presses where you push the weight horizontally. I can only rep at like 90 lbs while I can do 135 (45 plates) on a real bench 10 times. I think maybe it's cus you're sitting up vs lying down, not sure.