Powerlifters are probably not the best people to go to for form, especially not as a newbie, they tend to have a "whatever works" philosophy. You do what they do, you'll get hurt. Some will have great form of course, but as as newbie, how would you know? Also powerlifters tend to have very unbalanced physiques. You might see some dude who can bench 500lbs but can't do chin-ups. He's well-adapted for his sport, he's not an all-round athlete (nor does he want to be).
Bodybuilders do tend to have good form, but probably aren't doing the exercises that you want to do. A lot of gym equipment is specifically for bodybuilders. They use leg extensions and cable crossovers specifically to build symmetry and definition, for example. Bodybuilders typically aren't interested in "functional strength" (e.g. they are training for bodybuilding, not to be better at some other sport). Again they are not, nor are they interested in being, all-round athletes.
Basically, what I'm saying is, if you want gym advice, first you have to find people with the same goals as you. If it's just "get fit" you'll need to be more specific in order to ask the right people the right questions.
This is very good advice, but mainly for people who are already in shape.
However, this set of articles seems targeted at couch potatoes. You can't get started doing much of anything until you can do the basics: a 4 mile run, 20 pushups, 60 situps, 5 pullups and 50% bodyweight squats (less upper body for girls, I guess). Once you get to that point, optimize for bodybuilding, powerlifting, etc. But reaching that basic level of fitness will be the same for any sport.
By the way, here is a very good document on reaching that basic level of fitness:
Comments
Powerlifters are probably not the best people to go to for form, especially not as a newbie, they tend to have a "whatever works" philosophy. You do what they do, you'll get hurt. Some will have great form of course, but as as newbie, how would you know? Also powerlifters tend to have very unbalanced physiques. You might see some dude who can bench 500lbs but can't do chin-ups. He's well-adapted for his sport, he's not an all-round athlete (nor does he want to be).
Bodybuilders do tend to have good form, but probably aren't doing the exercises that you want to do. A lot of gym equipment is specifically for bodybuilders. They use leg extensions and cable crossovers specifically to build symmetry and definition, for example. Bodybuilders typically aren't interested in "functional strength" (e.g. they are training for bodybuilding, not to be better at some other sport). Again they are not, nor are they interested in being, all-round athletes.
Basically, what I'm saying is, if you want gym advice, first you have to find people with the same goals as you. If it's just "get fit" you'll need to be more specific in order to ask the right people the right questions.
This is very good advice, but mainly for people who are already in shape.
However, this set of articles seems targeted at couch potatoes. You can't get started doing much of anything until you can do the basics: a 4 mile run, 20 pushups, 60 situps, 5 pullups and 50% bodyweight squats (less upper body for girls, I guess). Once you get to that point, optimize for bodybuilding, powerlifting, etc. But reaching that basic level of fitness will be the same for any sport.
By the way, here is a very good document on reaching that basic level of fitness:
http://sill-www.army.mil/bolc2/FM%2021-20%20(PT).pdf
Powerlifters do 'whatever works'...
huh?
In order to do olympic lifts, makes sense to go to a powerlifter -- who do have good form.
Powerlifting and Olympic lifting are different sports.