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Comment by hellbanner | Hacker News Reader

Thanks for saying this - another reminder to do more core (got down and planked).

What exercises did you find most beneficial for strengthening?

On a related note -- I periodically do stretches where I stand on one leg and roll my hip & waist out to the side extending it behind me -- that helps alleviate tension in the side.

Similar - hanging on my forearms from chairs or those ab machines at the gym.

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The deadlift will get you the most results for the amount of time you put in. It directly strengthens all the muscles involved in keeping you upright and in a normal anatomical position. A barbell and plates will put you back about $250-$300. Then, if you spend 20 minutes every Monday, Wednesday, & Friday deadlifting and just increase the weight on the bar by 5-10 pounds each workout, you'll be a totally different (better, stronger) person in about 2 months.

yes - in my opinion, everyone should do barbell training, including (especially) women. it fundamentally changes you for the better. physically and mentally.

beware the person who warns against it - they have an agenda. it's unquestionably good for you when done properly and within your limits of capability.

i've heard less of the "but i don't want to get huge and bulky like a bodybuilder" these days, probably because as resistance training increases in popularity, people are realizing how incredibly, ridiculously, ludicrously, unreasonably difficult it is to build and maintain muscle.

Agreed, based on personal experience.

For a typical person without special circumstances deadlifting with proper posture is the most important exercise you need to be doing, IMO. Personally, I was amazed that my minor back aches were gone, my shoulders stayed back without effort, and I was more confident in my posture. Why didn't someone tell me to deadlift sooner in life?

I hear lots of discussion that deadlifting with proper form strengthens the core. Also, being a compound lift, you'll hit tons of other muscle groups as well.

Mark rippetoe's book on starting strength is a great read on how to execute compound barbell exercises like the deadlift, and also has some great information on things like progressive overload. I'd recommend it even if you don't plan on following the starting strength program.

The same can be said about the squat, since you have to contract your core to maintain your spine in a correct position.

Anecdotal data point: my lower back pain disappears when I squat regularly.

anecdotal counterpoint :) -- squatting aggrevates my lower back. I think its because my hamstring flexibility is terrible which causes my squat form to be terrible. I'm working on that.

I also have flexibility issues (I'm tall), and I used to strain my lower back on heavy squats until I widened my stance and pointed my toes a bit more outwards, to prevent my lower back from rounding. You could ask someone to check if your lower back arches towards of the downwards movement.

I've been lifting for a few years now and I really dislike the cargo cult mentality when it comes to heavy lifts, mainly barbell deadlift and squats. If you're not trying to become an olympic lifter, barbell squats and deadlifts will do more harm than good. There is a significant chance of injury if you perform these lifts improperly, and it's hard to know when you're doing them right. There are good alternatives to each (goblet/dumbbell split squats) which are safer.

Hence why learning proper form is key.

I do understand where you're coming from though. We often times see guys at the gym quarter squatting or pulling with a rounded back which is indeed doing more harm than good.

Well, there is a basic risk/reward here. If you just do arm curls working one muscle group and you'll be pretty safe but you won't be getting much return on your overall physical health. The deadlift involves your whole body and so you are increasing your surface area or exposure to risk of injury. But that was the whole point of recommending the deadlift in the first place, it works the whole body with one basic movement. And the movement is one of the most basic human movements, to squat down and stand up with a load. There are risky exercises that you should generally avoid. But standing up with a barbell in your hands is a well designed exercise where your body is just doing what it is optimally designed to do. The problem isn't the movement it is ignorance about the body in general and your body's movement in particular.

I think a compromise to your point (e.g. safer alternatives are better than deadlifting) is that advice to do heavy barbell lifts should come with the warning that injury can happen easily and be serious and/or permanent. Proper posture is best learned from someone who is experienced and that you trust your well being to.

"If you're not trying to become an olympic lifter, barbell squats and deadlifts will do more harm than good."

Sorry, but this is utter insanity. The squat and the deadlift, properly performed, are the most important lifts _any_ human being – young or old, male or female – can do. And a person _does not_ need to go heavy on either of these to realize tremendous benefits in their day-to-day life. Spending 6 weeks to get up to a 135x5x1 deadlift (bar + big plates for 1 set of 5 reps) – and then just doing that once a week in perpetuity – would be single most efficient way the average human could improve their daily wellbeing.

Anecdotal data point: I didn't have lower back pain until I started squatting heavily (I'm 25).

anecdotal advise: don't squat so heavy.

You're going to get muscle twinges as you get stronger. If it's disks, though, you either have an underlying issue or you're doing it wrong.

In case anybody cares, IMO it's a great book but not a great read!

That book is a great starting point but can be dangerous by itself, you need to hear other points of view and balance out your understanding of the lifts with further research.

Yes well the book recommends "Try this for 30 days and see what happens".. minimal effort, and 4.5 stars.. always additional research is good but I think the results speak for themselves!

I can't really say, since I'm not really "into" fitness at all, and everybody is different. Just let a good personal trainer look into it; the whole added value of a personal trainer is that they know what they're doing, so you don't have to know.

Mine let me do a number of test exercises and then created a program to work on the weak points she noticed (while explaining everything clearly), and it worked really effectively.

For example, in my case I needed to work a bit extra on shoulder support muscles because I'm somewhat hypermobile. This helped with all kinds of other exercises, because the shoulder muscles were the weakest link "holding back" the other muscles.

> the whole added value of a personal trainer is that they know what they're doing, so you don't have to know.

there's also the external and financial accountability that a personal trainer brings. that's a huge factor for a lot of people including me. i've tried going to the gym at 6am without a person and a significant dollar figure attached to it - i can't do it.

For a very simple, basic routine that is probably only useful to someone (like me) who has done nothing for a long time, try something like in this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bCMNMHBY1Dk

I did the exercises facing the wall rather than crushing myself on the floor; the primary benefit was in awakening a few back muscles enough so that I would feel the soreness if I was sitting incorrectly.

I recommend yoga, and I'm surprised that no one else has done so yet ITT.

Only because I hadn't gotten here yet. I also recommend yoga, but be aware that certain positions can aggravate back problems. Cobra, in particular, aggravated my back pain so I skipped it in class until I finished my PT from an injury 2 years back.

If you have joint, neck, back or muscle issues, ask your instructor for modifications that will work better for you. If they're competent they'll help you get into a good pose that won't cause other problems later on. Think limping when you've got a sore or injured leg, it causes back and hip problems or problems in the other leg if you limp too much. The same thing can happen with a poor choice of a modified yoga pose.

I wish I could support this claim more.

Yoga has been a great help for me since I started. I used to just run, but doing yoga really helped with strengthening the core muscles and changing my posture (at work, while walking, etc.)

And to repeat what Jtsummers said, always do the exercics right, at your own level. Just like with any sport-like activity, you can injure yourself quite easily.

I started using row machines at the gym for this exact reason. It's a really low impact workout but provides great cardio and involves your entire body.

Please be very careful with rowing machines. If your vertebral discs are herniated you have a very high risk of making things much worse. (As told to me by my physical therapist and surgeons...)

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