Monday, March 11, 2013

On Fitness Equipment


Working out at the park is great, but the park in itself is equipment.  It may seem like it was free but actually it is not, we already paid for the equipment with our tax dollars.  The commercial gym is like Barnes and Noble, the park is like the public library. 

Can't afford to buy books, then go to the library, but if you can go to both that would be ideal.  The library will not carry Osho books but you will find them in the bookstore.  Nobody can ever argue that a simple pull up bar is not a useful piece of equipment for fitness development.  Hannibal using those bars, that's equipment!  That equipment was built with tax dollars. 

Training with absolutely no equipment would include no pull up bars, no dip bars, nothing, just your body.  If it's just your body and nothing else, you will have an imbalanced development; you will lack the muscles of the back mainly.  Even climbing a mountain, that serves to be equipment.  Not everybody will live by mountains to climb, so they will build bars to get the exercise. 

Running outside full of pollution may actually hinder your health compared to running on a treadmill at home with cleaner air.  I've train with equipment and with no equipment, I've learned to love both, both is important, we need to be developed on all realms. 

Training in Parkour compared to a gymnastics gym can be very dangerous if you do not know what you are doing.  You can crack your head open doing some of those flips.  The gym can be a safer way to develop yourself to prepare you to be able to perform such stunts in an open environment. 

We can lift rocks as a way to exercise or we can use the modernized development of dumbbell weights or plates.  Rocks may not cost us money but lifting rocks will make it difficult for us to balance our training, as we will not know the true weight of the rock, in order to weigh the rock, we will need to use more technology, the scale.  Rocks will be difficult to grasp and allow us to hit different angles on different exercises.

Also there are MANY people out there who cannot even perform basic callisthenic movements, such as the pushup.  Someone that can’t even perform a pushup will find it very difficult to build the muscle groups associated with that exercise.   Therefore they will benefit greatly from the use of equipment that will prepare their bodies to be capable of performing the basic pushup. 

For example a man who weighs 200 lbs who cannot perform a pushup can work on bench pressing a 45 lb bar in order to develop his muscles to be capable of pushing up his own body from the ground.  

For the elite, callisthenic exercises in itself just is not challenging enough.  Someone who can do a front level for long period of time will find it much more challenging if you had him strap on 50 lb ankle weights and try to do the same thing.  Hannibal for example seems to be superhuman doing certain fitness feats, but have him strap on a 100 lb vest to do the same thing and you will see that he is no longer superhuman. 

A marathon runner who thinks he is so fast, well have him strap on a 100 lb vest and see how fast he is then.  Equipment can serve to either prepare us for the basic body movements of exercise or it can help us go beyond the basics.  We should not turn against equipment nor should we be dependent on equipment.  We need to be proficient with and without equipment. 

Equipment does cost money, but if you have an abundance of money, there is no problem.  It is only when you have no money that you will have to seek for more affordable ways of achieving a high level of development. 

22 comments:

  1. Wow Freddie, long article, yeah, like at 6:23am? Well written as always. Sorry, I'm too lazy to type and re-edit a million times, so I will be making videos instead of typing hardcore like you. I prefer speaking and easier to clarify what I'm saying. Ha, ha , ha, I finally did my once a week comment requirement, now I get to take a break until next week!

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    1. Jenny! I'm very glad to see you on here contributing, love the positive energy you bring. Love you!

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  2. These are all good points. It would be very difficult to find something out in nature to replicate the Power Twister, for instance. You could still find ways to work the same muscles, but the PT is just very efficient. And it's fun, and it works, so why not?

    So I agree. I am not absolutely against equipment. But I have to admit that the creative use of training opportunities in our environment (whether it be nature or our constructed urban-scape) appeals most to me. I find it beautiful. I see that people who work with bodyweight can often do things that those who stick to gyms and high-tech equipment can't even touch. And I see that the fitness industry does produce a plethora of devices that are pretty unnecessary. I mean, how many different gimmicks are there on the market to aid people in doing sit-ups, for instance? Yeah, these aids might help you get a little more intensity out of each rep, in some cases, but is it even being responsible to produce and/or purchase these tools that simply replicate (often poorly) things you can already do with just your body alone?

    Whenever I look at the activities of industry, including that of the customers, I also have ecology in mind, because I am a naturalist, and I can't help but consider the environmental cost. There are training tools that can really help us considerably in our development, like weights for instance. Once produced, a metal weight will last a long, long time. Potentially generations and generations. Even though we have to mine the minerals to make weight plates, I see it as a worthwhile investment. But most of the fitness machines and doohickeys that have moving parts, and involve plastics, and aren't giving you training opportunities much beyond what your body can just do naturally outside... are they worth the environmental cost? How long do they last? How many exercise bikes, treadmills, and ab chairs end up in the dump within ten years of purchase? You're not going to find good, solid barbells, dumbbells, and weight plates at the dump. So to me, there's also a question of environmental responsibility

    Continued...

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  3. And this responsibility extends, as I tried to explain in both my video and blog post for this week, to considering the ramifications that the use of certain technologies might have on our bodies long-term, as a species. When I think about the area where I live, it wasn't much more than a hundred years ago that everyone lived in tipis and hunted bison. Those people in the recent past were very strong, physically, because of their lifestyle. Today, many of the technologies we've developed to aid us in our lives are in fact weakening our species, or they have us dependent on them. Even something as simple as water, which I mentioned in my video. Every other animal out there can just drink water when they come across it. But if I do this, I might get extremely sick, possibly even putting my life at risk. Why? Because our society filters and chemically treats our drinking water, and so my body has not been able to build the natural resistances it should have to the different kinds of bacteria that are out there. This makes me dependent on the technology, and I see it as weakening our species. In so many ways, it seems that we are becoming soft, less agile, slow, weak of muscle and constitution, and dull of senses

    The other aspect is diet. Like with fitness equipment, I am concerned both environmentally and about the future of our species bodies when it comes to diet. What is most beautiful to me, most idealistic, is a diverse and self-sufficient locavore diet. At the other extreme, there is the highly processed and globally traded. Included in the latter category are, of course, all the laboratory-produced supplements of the fitness industry. Someone could very well use the same arguments in favor of these supplements as you have for equipment. Why not consume supplements, if they will aid in our fitness development? If they make it easier to receive the proper nutrition for our particular training? Unless you're hunting, fishing, and gathering, all of our foods are industrially produced and processed to some degree, and often to the extreme. Yes, supplements are expensive, so if you can't afford them then you should strive to get the right nutrition from whole foods. But if you can afford it, why not make use of them? Why not even inject yourself with the chemicals you need if it's more efficient in certain circumstances?

    Again, for me, while some of these kinds of arguments might seem logical, I feel as though they are not very responsible, socially, ecologically, or long-term. They may be short cuts for one's personal development, yet even that's sometimes debatable. When we look at what the environmental costs entail, or at what social repercussions there might be, or at what the effects are long-term, then it becomes clear that we should use a bit more caution and consideration in our decisions about what products, companies, and industries to support. Where are they taking us? That's the big question. Because what we engage in today is setting the stage for the realities our grandchildren will be negotiating tomorrow

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  4. I recognize that my views on some of these matters are extreme, and biased by philosophies, politics, and worldviews that are outside of the official positions promoted by FMK. These are just my contributions to our discussions. I guess another way to look at it is that one should choose their battles wisely. Out of all the industries out there, there are a lot worst influences out there than fitness products. It's kind of like how you support Subway, even though it is one of the largest, globalized fast-food chains. You compare it with other fast food, and see that at least Subway is serving something relatively healthy, and so chose to stand behind that product. I think that's a good, balanced position, and it's a way to promote change that more people can get behind. There aren't too many who would follow my lead, to consider not only the personal health effects of the fast-food, but also the long-term social and environmental ramifications of that trade, and to therefore swear off participation in the fast-food market altogether. Your position strikes me more as the middle-path, so to speak

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    1. Love the thoughts and ideas you have to share, it had inspired me to share my own. I think that we see things in a very similar way, we just have a different way of expressing them. I had rebelled against technology for quite some time but realize that we would not be speaking if not for technology, there would be no FMK on YouTube, no HD camcorder to share videos, no email to communicate, etc. If you did not support airplanes you would not be able to visit us! You are extreme on some things I am extreme on others, I really discourage the vehicle and have not owned one for over 13 years and plan to live the rest of my life without owning one. I am also extreme on other things such as not drinking alcohol, not smoking, etc. Fitness equipment, I agree, there is A LOT of bullshit but as a school owner, I see that it is part of my responsibility to give certain product their chance to impress me, if it impresses me, then I will support the product. The Rack for example is a product I highly support, power twister, and others, but the big bulky heavy equipment that you normally find at the gyms, treadmills, elliptical, etc. BULLSHIT. It really depends on the product.

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    2. I need to order a rack one of these days, now that you mention it :)

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    3. Is there a way to get it sent out directly to you or would you need me to ship it over from Chicago? It is a great piece of equipment that should last for as long as I need to use it.

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    4. They'll ship direct to Canada. I looked into it back around X-mas time (part of my wish-list). Now it'll hold over onto my birthday wish-list instead. Either that, or if I have a spare couple hundred bucks at some point I'll just buy it

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  5. Yes, of course finding ways to train without equipment is very impressive. However, to get to the next level it is important that we use equipments. A 100 lb vest is not only great for running but it can be used to do exercises like the pull ups, dips, and even push ups!

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  7. Training outside is cool, but i like my equipment. I like going to the fitness depot and watch for new things to get and new ways to train. With time i've build myself a mini gym inside my appartment and i can use it too coach my friends in fitness, train myself and do some pad work. It's somekind of a luxury but it's very useful. Every pieces of equipment i've got has been use many times. I never bought a useless equipment plus when i go training outside, i kinda appreciate it more because i'm so use of training inside.

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    1. Pretty cool. I use to train mostly outside. Sometimes, one of my friend would invite me to go to the gym. If you notice in my videos, most of my fitness test would be outdoor. It has helped me but since I enroll in a gym and actually workout at the gym, my fitness level improve dramatically. So both indoor and outdoor are both important to get your fitness to the highest level. None of the way should be neglected.

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