Gym member, what are the best machines to use for Primal workout page 2

[Dirlot]

Kettlebells, sandbags and their ilk, freeweight and bodyweight.

[PureFunctionalFitness]

Kettlebells, sandbags and their ilk, freeweight and bodyweight.

+1 for this, and make up a suspension trainer like a TRX for some amazing fun with your exercises. Amazingly versatile, easy regression and progression, and works on core stability on everything you do. check out youtube, you can make one for $20.

[paleo-bunny]

Rowing machines provide the best all-round body work-out ... in the absence of a boat to row in.

[PureFunctionalFitness]

rowing machines are great (I hate them, find it boring), but they are not a great system if you are looking to develop real functional fitness, and I guess if we are eating primal, a lot of people will want to be able to rekindle some of those skills that our ancestors took for granted, speed, stability, agility strength etc.

Horses for courses, but I think that lifting, dragging, pushing, pulling, climbing, crawling, rolling etc are fundamental movements that most of us can't do, and are a good starting place for regaining health and fitness

[paleo-bunny]

I can't achieve real functional fitness due to hypermobile joints.

I am aware that rowing machines are rated highly by NASA in terms of maintaining all-round muscle strength and cardiovascular fitness.

[sakura_girl]

I am aware that rowing machines are rated highly by NASA in terms of maintaining all-round muscle strength and cardiovascular fitness.

I would agree with NASA in that respect. I love the rowing machine the most because I can feel my muscles being used all over my body. For me, it's really easy to hit >800 calories/hr burn on the rowing machine versus running at 10 mph at ~600 calories/hr. Love it.

[jfreaksho]

Also, I have read several people saying that body weight is good enough. I don't get that. Doesn't Mark advocate lifting heavy things? I would not be anywhere near as strong as I am now if I had only been doing body weight squats. You have to stress a muscle for it to grow. And then it adapts and you have to do it again. No?

Have you tried pistol squats? Lifting the majority of your bodyweight with one leg is pretty decent- I would guess about a 1.5x squat weight, which is a pretty decent place for most people. I'm about 150 pounds. A one-arm pushup for me is about 110-120 pounds. That's a 200 pound bench, give or take a bit, plus I've never found anything yet to work my obliques quite as much as a one-arm pushup. Those numbers aren't impressive, but they aren't shabby either, and better than average.

Get yourself some Al Kavadlo, or Convict Conditioning. Check out "Building the Gymnastic Body" and see the feats of strength that gymnasts are expected to do that aren't even considered competition moves- controlled muscle-ups, L-sits, handstands (on rings, no less)- and those are the basic skills.

Bodyweight is more of a skill, but I feel it is more useful. Iron builds strength much faster, though, and in a more obvious progression. The goal is to become more fit, and bodyweight is definitely an option for pretty much everyone.

[tfarny]

What you want more than specific machines or evenspecific exercises is a specific athletic program with goals and progression. There are any number of ways to get fit but in general they all involve smart planning and not just random gym-going. Though at first, just hitting "whatever" hard will definitely help you make progress.

[EvRevFit]

What you want more than specific machines or evenspecific exercises is a specific athletic program with goals and progression. There are any number of ways to get fit but in general they all involve smart planning and not just random gym-going. Though at first, just hitting "whatever" hard will definitely help you make progress.

All true, but there's a caveat to that last part - it doesn't last long...at all. Progressive overload is the only way to make consistent measurable improvements.

[Philosopher Dan]

I would agree with NASA in that respect. I love the rowing machine the most because I can feel my muscles being used all over my body. For me, it's really easy to hit >800 calories/hr burn on the rowing machine versus running at 10 mph at ~600 calories/hr. Love it.

As far as cardio machines go, I always liked the rowing machine, too.

Plus it was almost always free!