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Carnelian

@ Carnelian @lemmy.world

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241
Joined
3 yr. ago

  • Books to read for a beginner atheist

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  • Come to think of it, I wouldn’t really recommend any books on atheism. Atheism is not really its own thing, it’s just the result of not being persuaded by the claims of theism.

    For me personally, I actually became an atheist via reading various religious texts, as well as various acclaimed spiritual novels. So sort of the opposite of what you’re asking for haha.

    Recommendations based on science and humanism are okay, since that gives you a place to start looking through the secular stance on the mysteries religions claim to have all the answers for. But that also isn’t quite what you’re asking for. Many scientists and philosophers are religious themselves, after all.

    Yet a third thing you aren’t asking for: I would check out Matt Dillahunty. He used to do a call-in show in Austin. Mostly just regular religious people calling in, going through their thought process on why they believed, then getting an atheist’s perspective in response. Looks like he’s still very active on youtube these days

    I haven’t listened in years, and if I recall some of the most viewed clips were basically just angry arguments lol. But sitting and listening through full episodes is about as down-to-earth of atheist content as I can think of. Just addressing religious claims one at a time

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  • That’s not really an accurate summary of my response, nor of the prompt.

    I was directly and specifically asked “why not take creatine?”, and yes, the annoying proliferation of supplement culture is one of about ten issues I listed.

    And while not the fault of creatine alone, I am shocked that anyone would not take issue with it. When every influencer is shilling supplements. When you walk into a gym and they sell supplements themselves behind the counter. When a beginner hires a personal trainer and they gush about the many different supplements they need to start buying, but end up barely improving anyway because their actual training is sub par.

    When a would-be beginner is repulsed by the idea of stepping under a barbell at all, because their only exposure to the gym was their gross bro-y roommate in college who monopolized the top of the fridge with his collection of huge tubs of all the different ridiculous powders everyone thinks they need.

    It is far from nonsense my friend, it is a notable social harm. This is lemmy, yes, we’re likely a bit older? You’ve lived enough now to see some friends and relatives crumble with age? Resistance training is the best thing to prevent this. Normal people are repulsed by the tubs of powder. Many people are repulsed enough to purposefully avoid training. This is a terrible thing.

    I wouldn’t belabor the point if its truth hadn’t confronted me so many times. I would be curious to get your actual thoughts on the matter, rather than your unsupported and rather offensive insinuation that I am the one who hasn’t thought carefully about all this.

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  • Sure, if you want to know earnestly some reasons why not.

    For starters, it is literally completely unnecessary.

    Beyond that, it perpetuates the broader harmful falsehood that lifters need a cabinet of supplements, thereby turning many people away from the gym who are repulsed by the idea.

    The above falsehood has personally annoyed me many times. I am visibly very muscular, and have had friends, family, and even strangers warn me, unprompted, about the dangers of supplements lol. I gather there was a news story about lead in protein powder that went viral, and everyone assumes I must be taking all the powders, probably because of how cavalier gym folk are about insisting everyone hop on all the powders

    It has a gross sandy texture, upsets people’s stomaches (especially if they try the “creatine loading” phase which is so popularly suggested), and interferes with their sleep (if the countless anecdotes are to be believed).

    It does have potential serious side effects in some populations that don’t get talked about often. People with bipolar disorder shouldn’t risk taking it, neither should people with kidney disease.

    If you are healthy and ever get bloodwork done, you need to remember to explain to your doctor that you supplement creatine beforehand, otherwise they may think you have kidney disease.

    Five grams per day of creatine monohydrate dissolved in a glass of water is cheap. Creatine pills are not. Creatine gummy bears are not. Creatine in preworkout (yet another constantly shilled powder) is not. The massive list of non-monohydrate creatine products are neither cheap nor effective lol. When we say “definitely everyone should hop on creatine!”, a good percentage of people will end up going down one of those paths.

    And to top it all off, the beneficial effects for muscle building are dramatically overstated. People talk about it like it creates some cascading compound interest effect you can’t afford to miss out on, when in actual reality, everyone who has been around the block knows you reach the point of diminishing returns very quickly when you are consistent in the gym lol. If you put 5 hard years in without it, there isn’t a soul on earth who could pick you apart in a lineup of creatine users.

    Now your response to all this may be “none of this is really that big deal!” and you know what? I agree. I frequently cite creatine as being one of the big three non-scam supplements (protein, caffeine, creatine). They have a real effect, unlike virtually all other gym products. My issue, to put it most broadly, is with the attitude we perpetuate regarding supplementation in general. That it’s so thoroughly and totally taken for granted that every single person should want to pay for and incorporate every single advantage.

    That we frame it as being “an advantage” at all, as if the simple love of training is not in and of itself a great joy which transforms the lives of everyone it reaches. No no, instead, as is typical of all “worthy” pursuits, it is an investment to be capitalized upon. Faster is always better, bigger is always better. Do not allow yourself to be captivated by the scenery flying by, if for a moment it distracts you from shoveling ever more coal into the furnace of this godforsaken train everyone insists our life must become.

    ahem. Well, apologies for going off the rails a bit there. That’s been stewing in me for a long time. I also don’t take protein powder lmao

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  • train more faster

    We can discuss the merits of specific supplements all day, but I find this mindset paradoxically results in worse progress for most people

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  • I personally take it a step further and question whether the extra 25% is worth it at all.

    Even creatine has its downsides, in that it’s a powder you have to pay for and remember to choke down every day. And in the end, all you get is the same progress you would have gotten anyway, just a bit faster.

    For me, who cares if what took you 5 years could have been done in 4 if everything was “optimal”? Why are we so obsessed with “optimizing” everything, when in reality this mindset just results in 90% of people giving up?

    *I should add I have no critique of someone who wants for themselves every possible advantage, or educates others about it. But presenting these things as being synonymous with the gym is a huge public disservice. It would be like aggressively trying to funnel every single person who wants to buy a car into becoming an F1 driver

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  • Gym myths are my favorite. The best past is the extreme prevalence of survivorship bias, with most of the bad advice coming from people who have succeeded but are themselves mistaken about why.

    i.e. Massive bro is adamant that everyone should be taking BCAAs, beginners are inclined to believe it because it looks like he knows what he’s talking about.

    I think the fitness industry makes most of its money this way tbh

  • Democrat wins special state Senate election in Pennsylvania in major upset [Flipping a Trump+15 district]

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  • Let’s keep that ball rolling

  • How do I put on weight without feeling terrible?

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  • How do I put on weight without feeling terrible?

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  • Nice! Yeah the only thing I would recommend, especially if you do pick up some strength training, would be to try and balance things through the week and not try to load the majority of your protein into the weekend.

    Resistance training puts your body into a “muscle building state”, which will last for like, a couple days after you workout. You also want there to already be protein in your system before you hit the gym.

    So even if you’re only strength training on the weekend, it works out that you’re gonna want the high protein on Monday and Tuesday as well, and also pick it up again by at least Thursday’s dinner. Which is basically just every day of the week at that point haha

    No pressure of course, just my 2c based on experience getting people going in the gym. It’s more than a night and day difference between the ones who take the protein seriously and the ones who brush it off. I actually emphasize this far more with my clients than the actual training itself haha

  • How do I put on weight without feeling terrible?

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  • I don't know my exact numbers daily but I consume a lot of whey-protein

    Hey, different person here and also with a totally unrelated point to what you two were talking about haha

    But I train people in the gym and it’s incredibly common for people to be massively under eating protein while also firmly believing that they must be getting enough.

    I’m not saying you are! But the pattern is always the same, where my clients will list a few foods with a “protein reputation” and sort of hand wave away the actual number. Then when we actually tally it up they’re shocked to learn they aren’t even at 30% of their daily goal.

    Again not trying to insinuate that you’ve been doing anything wrong, just wanted to let you know that that’s a thing I see happen a lot. It’s worth going through a few typical days and calculating your actual number. I’m a vegetarian too fwiw, typically I suggest going like 10% higher than the general recommendation for meat eaters

  • Get your new PebbleOS watch

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  • From their FAQ, emphasis mine:

    You shouldn’t get one if…

    You need a perfectly polished smartwatch. This project is a labour of love rather than a startup trying to sell millions of watches. There may be some rough edges (literally). Things will get delayed. Some features will not be ready at launch. Things could break. Things could not last as long as you’d like. The only thing we can guarantee is that it will be awesome and a lot of fun! Every time you look down at your watch, you will smile

    So yeah, I’d say your take is pretty accurate. At least they’re honest lol

  • NSFW

    gbrwtbrtbrtbrthrth

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  • Double down, I trust you guys to tell me what’s really going on

  • What do you enjoy sharing with others, or providing guidance about (besides the fediverse)?

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  • Ha, yeah wow we posted that at the same time

  • What do you enjoy sharing with others, or providing guidance about (besides the fediverse)?

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  • Lifting weights!

    Becoming stronger has such a powerful positive effect on people’s lives. One of the world’s strongest men right now, Mitchell Hooper, is a professional exercise physiologist. He teaches elderly patients how to deadlift, progressing them from whatever point they are capable of initially. Many patients can barely bend over to begin with, but little by little, the practice of resistance training restores their mobility, alleviates their pain, and improves their quality of life in countless other ways.

    Literally their bones will get stronger, and their balance will improve, thus reducing the likelihood and severity of falls. Which is a huge killer as you get older.

    What’s cool is that anyone at any age has a ton of benefits to reap. But I think everyone generally understands a 20 year old can go hard in the gym and get results. Far fewer people in their 40s, 60s, and even 80s consider getting started which is a shame because getting started at those ages can TRANSFORM your life

  • Looks like Lemmy is climbing up to the 2023 exodus days numbers again

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  • Wow! I saw the initial post before all the follow up images were posted, thanks for bringing this back to my attention

  • Looks like Lemmy is climbing up to the 2023 exodus days numbers again

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  • Seriously though, I’ll scroll for hours at a time. Some of my favorite online communities ever are here on lemmy. What we’re building here is awesome.

    It’s not uncanny to the point of having a full community for every game, hobby, and random concept that’s ever crossed someones mind. But honestly after seeing the internet evolve over the years I’m kind of over the idea of trying to cram everything into one giant website. Fedi is particularly awesome for that of course, moreso than ever now with loops and pixelfed doing so well

  • Failure

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  • I need to admit I didn't read your post well enough and so my response was a little off

    Sure, no worries

    I think it's important to point out that when you say beginners should train to failure often, this doesn't mean every workout or every set of every workout, it's just a tool that lets you learn where failure is and how many reps you can perform.

    Definitely, training to failure should be done at least occasionally for this reason. Although I would add that if one simply enjoys training to failure on every exercise there isn’t any inherent problem with that. Tons of people bring every exercise to failure without it ever causing a plateau, it depends on your split and your recovery.

    I think it's pretty well accepted that training to failure does not in itself provide results above other methods.

    Everything 0-3RIR is equally optimal when volume is equated. So any method that keeps you within that range can be made to work very well. The important thing is to make sure you’re not one of the 80% of people training waaaaay too light

  • Failure

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  • I’m sorry, but the overwhelming scientific consensus is that you need to come within 3 reps of failure (as I said).

    Your own source confirms this outright

    They definitionally establish their RPE system in terms of reps in reserve (reps away from failure) and their workout templates require you to bring your working sets to RPE 7+. If you look at the graph, you will see that RPE 7 is simply “three reps away from failure”.

    Their method for figuring out how close to failure you actually are is also identical to what I described. Notice the graph with the line that says “this is too heavy” and how their lifter is constantly pushing right up against that line.

    Additionally, the specific post you linked to is a nuanced take regarding RPE10 vs RPE8 situations. These are very high level programming concepts related to fatigue and total training volume; he’s saying that it’s possible you could train slightly more if you consistently leave 2 reps in the tank vs if you go to full failure every single set. It’s not something beginners should bog themselves down with in my opinion, but more importantly, it’s a complete misread for you to represent it as “training to failure doesn’t increase strength or hypertrophy”. Again, the consensus of experts (including the ones you are citing) is that it does.

    I even touched on this exact point when I said non-beginners should “remind themselves [where failure actually is] often” as opposed to taking every set to failure.

    I have many extant criticisms of their RPE system and their training recommendations in general, but we are in complete agreement about the basics. My apologies again if this post was overly forceful or rude, but I very much do not want people to be misinformed about this topic and you did present misinformation as if it were a medical fact

  • Failure

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  • Training to failure is a pretty great idea for beginners and something that should be done often at any training age. Main reason being you need to take a set to within 3 reps of mechanical failure to get a proper growth stimulus. So you need to lean where the line actually is, and remind yourself often.

    The vast majority of people have no idea how to push a set hard enough. That’s not my opinion btw, 80% of the people you see walking around the gym get this wrong.

    Doesn’t cause any notable damage. You will be extremely sore however if you rush into it. But once you’re accustomed to it you can pretty much train a muscle every 2 or 3 days if you wanted, as long as your sleep and nutrition are on point.