Introductions

[rydra_wong]

Because I thought it might be interesting to see where everyone's coming from ...

Here's a thread to say hi, and say a bit about your interest in movement/embodiment/whatchamacallit.

What movement things do you do -- or not do? Or: what did you do in the past? Or: what might you be interested in learning more about, but haven't tried yet? Or: what do you love reading about even though you'd never want to do it personally?

I suggest that people feel free to jump all over each other and ask questions if you're curious about something someone else mentions (if you'd rather not answer questions, please just say so), or want to say "me too" or compare notes.

Comments

[lunabee34]

I do some weight training (I've focused on it more in the past than I am now), and I almost always use the machines rather than lifting free weights. Is the shoulder press the one where you sit and push up straight over your head? Because that one is sooooooooo hard to me. Even when I really focus on weight lifting, I generally see very little progress with that one while I see lots of progress with how much I can do on the row or the leg press.

[cesy]

I do a mix - more free weights when I'm with a group or my trainer, more machines when I'm on my own or not confident of my technique for a particular one. It helped once I got clear that for most muscles, there's a free weight option and a machine option, and it doesn't matter too much which, though free weights will tend to work the muscles around a bit to stabilise, help your core strength and so on, whereas the machines focus on just that muscle. So I try to do free weights when I can.

Shoulder press is that one, yes, though there are a few variants. The machine increments are too big for me, so I much prefer free weights for it, where I can see the difference between 6kg, 8kg and 10kg, rather than beating myself up for not being able to jump from 10kg to 15kg. I'm never going to hit the big numbers some of the guys in the gym do, but that's okay - I have a different body shape and a day job. Arms are always going to have smaller numbers than legs, but I see good progress on biceps and triceps as well when I go regularly.

[lunabee34]

Oh, I hadn't realized that was the argument for free weight vs. machine. I tend to use to the machines just because we don't really have trainers and I know the machines are designed in such a way to help you have the correct form, etc. I hadn't realized that doing the free weights actually worked the muscles differently. Cool.