Stupid: Men's Health Muscle Madness

[flak]

Taking their cue from the college basketball tournament brackets that always show up this time of year, Men's Health magazine is having a bracket-style "competition" that invites website users to vote for their favorite resistance exercises. Eventually they'll narrow it down to one winner, the "best exercise of all time."

Some of the match-ups are puzzling (biceps curls vs. Bulgarian split squats), and the classifications moreso -- there's a "strength" category and a "power" category, but the only Oly-related lifts are in the "strength" category. And deadlifts are in the "core" category.

Here's the link -- http://www.menshealth.com/musclemadness/?cm_mmc=DailyDoseNL-_-2008_03_18-_-MainBlk-_-Muscle_Madness

Have some laughs, cast some votes, throw a 5-pound plate at your computer screen! Whatever else you do, refrain from asking yourself "why does flak know what Men's Health puts on its website, anway?"

 

[Urban]

HAHAHAH!!!! squats vs calf raises!!!

 

[Calvo]

I bet the machines will win in the power category.

 

[Urban]

regardless, This needs to be drudged up on the 22nd to see how things have progressed.

 

[joshetc]

I think everyone on S&P should vote.. theres no reason some of these lifts should ever even be done, let alone be recommended as the best in men's fitness. Who the hell does seated calf raises??

PS. I hate how dips and pull-ups are in the same bracket..When I saw lat pulldowns I immediately though pull-ups should of been there, instead.

 

[brian80]

Yeah, I hear those machine hamstring curls are great for power...

 

[Tamil]

At least those are mentioned. I don't get women's mags 'cause most of them are all about 'toning' or 'let's do yoga or walking, that's all you should do!' Bah. The closest thing I can find is M&F Hers, and that has a definite emphasis on bodybuilding and using machines. They do have occasional good stuff, but they only come out bimonthly or even quarterly.

 

[Ninjelaphant]

Are dumbell bicep curls a 1 seed?

What are the odds that bicep curls will win?

 

[Henry Swanson]

At least those are mentioned. I don't get women's mags 'cause most of them are all about 'toning' or 'let's do yoga or walking, that's all you should do!' Bah. The closest thing I can find is M&F Hers, and that has a definite emphasis on bodybuilding and using machines. They do have occasional good stuff, but they only come out bimonthly or even quarterly.

Yeah. Women's fitness is fucking lame. My second year of college I had to take a lame health class and the prof had a guest speaker one day, a nutritionist friend of his. This chick had an amazing body, really fit to the point where even the chicks were oohing and awing. So after the lecture she gives a Q&A. Majority of the girls in the class raise their hands. The first chick asks her, "What kind of training do you do to get that kind of a body?"

This woman goes on a rant about the training she sees women doing in the gym and then says, "You wanna look like this? Watch your diet and train like the guys do. Too many women step foot into the gym and grab the pink dumbells, years later I see the same woman doing the exact same exercise with the same pink dumbell. Lift iron. Watch what the guys are doing and do that."

I was really wet.

 

[flak]

Here's the online "Letters to the Editor" function for Men's Health -- http://www.menshealth.com/cda/custom.do?incFile=lettersToEditor.jsp&pageTitle=Letters+To+The+Editor

Y'know, in case you wanted to provide a generally accepted definition of what "power" is, or say "squats vs. seated calf raises = WTF?" or whatever.

 

[Ziltoid]

Yeah. Women's fitness is fucking lame. My second year of college I had to take a lame health class and the prof had a guest speaker one day, a nutritionist friend of his. This chick had an amazing body, really fit to the point where even the chicks were oohing and awing. So after the lecture she gives a Q&A. Majority of the girls in the class raise their hands. The first chick asks her, "What kind of training do you do to get that kind of a body?"

This woman goes on a rant about the training she sees women doing in the gym and then says, "You wanna look like this? Watch your diet and train like the guys do. Too many women step foot into the gym and grab the pink dumbells, years later I see the same woman doing the exact same exercise with the same pink dumbell. Lift iron. Watch what the guys are doing and do that."

I was really wet.

HAHAHA!!! Awesome! I have my wife working out right also now. She likes to do the powerlifting routines much more than the average person does at the gym. My 8 year old son is starting to get interested too, lol!

lols @ seated calf raises. WTF??!!

 

[Chaseg1520]

hmm... you can vote more than once I see.

 

[joshetc]

Yeah. Women's fitness is fucking lame. My second year of college I had to take a lame health class and the prof had a guest speaker one day, a nutritionist friend of his. This chick had an amazing body, really fit to the point where even the chicks were oohing and awing. So after the lecture she gives a Q&A. Majority of the girls in the class raise their hands. The first chick asks her, "What kind of training do you do to get that kind of a body?"

This woman goes on a rant about the training she sees women doing in the gym and then says, "You wanna look like this? Watch your diet and train like the guys do. Too many women step foot into the gym and grab the pink dumbells, years later I see the same woman doing the exact same exercise with the same pink dumbell. Lift iron. Watch what the guys are doing and do that."

I was really wet.

That's awesome. It really is amazing what squats and deadlifts can do to a woman's body.

 

[Barut]

There was an article on kettlebells on page D2 of the Wall Street Journal yesterday.

 

[CEF]

I feel dirty voting for tricep extension over lat pulldown.

 

[Ian Coe]

There was an article on kettlebells on page D2 of the Wall Street Journal yesterday.

I'm sure its accurate but.....I just don't see you reading the wall street journal


Your english character is slipping through


TOFF *points*

 

[Deleted member 130905]

I almost picked up a MH a few weeks ago so I could kill some time at work. Now I'm glad I didn't. That bracket is ridiculous.

 

[thethirddiaz]

I think everyone on S&P should vote.. theres no reason some of these lifts should ever even be done, let alone be recommended as the best in men's fitness. Who the hell does seated calf raises??

PS. I hate how dips and pull-ups are in the same bracket..When I saw lat pulldowns I immediately though pull-ups should of been there, instead.

I'm pretty sure there are guys here that do Seated calf raises as an accessory exercise. There really aren't many lifts that should "never be done," but there are a lot (like seated calf raises) that people do for all the wrong reasons. For example, heavy quarter squats can be done if you have problems at the top of a squat. They shouldn't be done because you have no fucking clue what depth is.

As for your PS, why would they put those two together, that would, like, make sense...

 

[vince89]

I was going to be positive and say good things about this and then I read this:

"People like traditional squats because theyre easy."

 

[Buckminster]

I was going to be positive and say good things about this and then I read this:

"People like traditional squats because theyre easy."

Shocking, shocking, that Bicep Curls are a 2 seed.
Also, Pullups and Dips matched up in the first round? Weak. Those are two clutch exercises.
Thirdly, I hated having to choose between Tricep Extensions and Lat Pulldowns.