General Comment About People Who Don't Lift

weese17

Not that I'm in immediate danger of either, but I'd rather have a dancer's body than a lifter's body.

No reason you can't have both. I'm a bellydancer, and I also lift heavy.

smantha32

I belonged to Curves a few years ago. It didn't do squat for me. I'm in better shape now after only a month and a half of lifting than I was after a year of curves.

This is a common refrain, isn't it? Everyone who has gone from cardio bunny to lifting regularly raves about how much more effective it is.

I knew it too. I've lifted in the past. I have been doing mostly cardio for the last year because I didn't want to put in the effort I knew I needed to and pick up some damned weights. Laziness mostly.

But after a year of stalled weigh loss and not looking like I want to look, I'm sucking it up and doing it the right way again. lol

mmapags

In general the dancer would likely be more lithe.

No, this makes no sense. It's simply not true.

^While in a way a dancers body would be more "lithe". That is because they stretch like crazy and train to look graceful. However, I lift heavy and I am VERY VERY flexible. Yoga instructors stop me to ask why I am so flexible! The only way I lose any of my felxibility is when I stop stretching. Lifting weights does not equal less flexibility........less stretching equals less flexibility.

I never suggested lifting weights equaled less flexibility.

It sounds like you have no idea what you really might be suggesting.

bcattoes

Curves is not strictly cardio. It's a circuit of strength machines and cardio. It can give a good workout, depending on how intensely you work. It would not be the same as lifting heavy, but that doesn't mean it would be inferior. It provides enough resistance to maintain bone density and build strength.

Using machines will give you a small fraction of the benefit of freeweights. Machines deprive you of the benefits of antagonists, stabilizers, dynamic stabilizers, balance, and coordination. Even if you managed to work all the muscles that get used in a squat by using machines, you wouldn't get the same results. And you'd be using 6 different machines.

Um yeah, that's why I said it wasn't the same workout as weights. Although, you could do squats in a Curves workout if you wanted.

If there is a squat rack in Curves I'd be astonished.

One doesn't need a rack to do squats.

jonnythan

I belonged to Curves a few years ago. It didn't do squat for me. I'm in better shape now after only a month and a half of lifting than I was after a year of curves.

This is a common refrain, isn't it? Everyone who has gone from cardio bunny to lifting regularly raves about how much more effective it is.

I knew it too. I've lifted in the past. I have been doing mostly cardio for the last year because I didn't want to put in the effort I knew I needed to and pick up some damned weights. Laziness mostly.

But after a year of stalled weigh loss and not looking like I want to look, I'm sucking it up and doing it the right way again. lol

I've started a text file saving these sorts of quotes. Just added yours. Thanks.

KatrinaWilke

If there is a squat rack in Curves I'd be astonished.

I just looked up some pictures of Curves centers. I don't get it. I don't see any weights of any kind. No dumbbells, no barbells, no plate-loaded machines. I see a bunch of contraptions that look like they have no weights of any kind on them.

Machines scare me!

KANGOOJUMPS

i think lifting sucks.

jonnythan

It sounds like you have no idea what you really might be suggesting.

You do need weight, which I don't see in any of these pictures. Unless you're morbidly obese, bodyweight squats aren't going to do much for you.

smantha32

If there is a squat rack in Curves I'd be astonished.

I just looked up some pictures of Curves centers. I don't get it. I don't see any weights of any kind. No dumbbells, no barbells, no plate-loaded machines. I see a bunch of contraptions that look like they have no weights of any kind on them.

Pretty much exactly this. You cycle through a bunch of lame machines doing 60 seconds on each machine and move to the next one. To music.
There's no weights.

KatrinaWilke

Curves is not strictly cardio. It's a circuit of strength machines and cardio. It can give a good workout, depending on how intensely you work. It would not be the same as lifting heavy, but that doesn't mean it would be inferior. It provides enough resistance to maintain bone density and build strength.

Using machines will give you a small fraction of the benefit of freeweights. Machines deprive you of the benefits of antagonists, stabilizers, dynamic stabilizers, balance, and coordination. Even if you managed to work all the muscles that get used in a squat by using machines, you wouldn't get the same results. And you'd be using 6 different machines.

Um yeah, that's why I said it wasn't the same workout as weights. Although, you could do squats in a Curves workout if you wanted.

If there is a squat rack in Curves I'd be astonished.

One doesn't need a rack to do squats.

But a rack makes it easier so you don't have to lift 300lbs from the floor to over your shoulders. I can squat that much, but I sure as h*ll can't clean and jerk that!

jonnythan

Pretty much exactly this. You cycle through a bunch of lame machines doing 60 seconds on each machine and move to the next one. To music.
There's no weights.

How does that even make sense? What do the machines do?

KenosFeoh

My image of a lifter's body is that the muscles look more "bunched up" while a dancer's muscles (in my mind) look more elongated and smooth. But I know there is cross-over. Some dancers also lift.

I lift, too.

auzziecawth66

People need to understand that the only tissue types you have control over via exercise and diet are muscle and fat.

You can either build, maintain, or lose fat. You can either build, maintain, or lose muscle.

That's it. Those are the only options. There isn't some magical "lean" or "lithe" or "toned" muscle you get from doing one thing but "big" or "bulky" muscle you get from doing something else.

Your muscles are like balloons. You can either inflate them or deflate them. If you work on making them bigger and they get too big for you, which trust me will never happen, then stop working them so hard. End of story. That's the beginning and end of it.

Using light weight is TERRIBLE for building muscle. It's just awful. Using heavy weight is GREAT for building muscle. That's the long and short of it.

Not technically true. There are two types of muscles fibres. That being said I def advocate weight training for women. Edit to say that the one type the one that is affected by light weights doesn't really balloon (if I remember correctly).

jonnythan

But a rack makes it easier so you don't have to lift 300lbs from the floor to over your shoulders. I can squat that much, but I sure as h*ll can't clean and jerk that!

But if you could, there would be a spot in Rio de Janerio for you in 2016!

jonnythan

Not technically true. There are two types of muscles fibres. That being said I def advocate weight training for women.

There are, but they look exactly the same from the outside.

jonnythan

My image of a lifter's body is that the muscles look more "bunched up" while a dancer's muscles (in my mind) look more elongated and smooth. But I know there is cross-over. Some dancers also lift.

I lift, too.

This is nonsensical and flatly untrue. Dancing doesn't make your muscles look "longer" or anything like that. Physiologically impossible. How "long" or "smooth" your muscles look is a function of insertion and origin points as well as body fat.

smantha32

Pretty much exactly this. You cycle through a bunch of lame machines doing 60 seconds on each machine and move to the next one. To music.
There's no weights.

How does that even make sense? What do the machines do?

they put you through a bunch of repetitive motions basically.

KatrinaWilke

But a rack makes it easier so you don't have to lift 300lbs from the floor to over your shoulders. I can squat that much, but I sure as h*ll can't clean and jerk that!

But if you could, there would be a spot in Rio de Janerio for you in 2016!

:laugh: :huh:

bcattoes

In general the dancer would likely be more lithe.

No, this makes no sense. It's simply not true.

^While in a way a dancers body would be more "lithe". That is because they stretch like crazy and train to look graceful. However, I lift heavy and I am VERY VERY flexible. Yoga instructors stop me to ask why I am so flexible! The only way I lose any of my felxibility is when I stop stretching. Lifting weights does not equal less flexibility........less stretching equals less flexibility.

I never suggested lifting weights equaled less flexibility.

Sorry, I took lithe to mean "supple, limber, or flexible". I take back what I said if that's not what you meant!

It's exactly what I meant but, as you pointed out, it is the stretching that creates the flexibility. Which is exactly what I suggested earlier in the thread when I said

You need the stretching and cardio of dancing, along with the strength training to get a dancers body.

I realize you may not have read all the posts, but I did not suggest that weight lifting decreased flexibility. I suggested that a dancer who lifts weights would look different than someone who only lifts weight (without the other training that dancers require). Let's face it, if dancers didn't have a different look to their body, I highly doubt we'd be discussing how to get a dancers body.

mmapags

My image of a lifter's body is that the muscles look more "bunched up" while a dancer's muscles (in my mind) look more elongated and smooth. But I know there is cross-over. Some dancers also lift.

I lift, too.

Did you see the pictures of the dancer that were posted together with a lifter? Did they look different to you? Also, have you read the comments from KatrinaWilke who is a dancer?