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Salkin8 t1_j5iou0e wrote

To get the most for your buck don't even pay a gym and do bodyweight exercises. It's free at home.

Or even better if you can: do physical work, so you also get real things done (gardening, construction building, renovation...)

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ixramuffin t1_j5j14jr wrote

Physical work is a very ineffective way of building muscle.

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NegativeAccount t1_j5j5lo7 wrote

What, you don't spend your free time digging ditches and hauling bales of hay?

/s

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JohnTomorrow t1_j5jnzt1 wrote

It's a great way to build muscle. It's not a great way to get into "shape". You'll get strong doing physical labour, but nobody goes to a construction site thinking they'll look like a superhero at the end of their shift.

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ixramuffin t1_j5jtfhw wrote

Depends on your definition of "great". It's very inefficient in terms of time invested. Furthermore, physical labour rarely involves progressive overload.

Your body quickly becomes accustomed to the level of strain that is required of it. You will reach some base level of fitness required for the job and quickly plateau.

I don't know what you mean by getting into "shape" but I would argue that physical labour is much better for that. I understand getting into "shape" as losing weight (highly dependent on your diet, though) and possibly gaining some cardiovascular endurance.

In short, physical labour is great for burning calories but not for building muscle.

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Scuka1 t1_j5ipghj wrote

Something is better than nothing, but there are limitations to bodyweight exercises.

The big advantage of barbell exercises is the fact that they can be adjusted for each individual, regardless of where they are. From complete beginners to elite athletes, everybody can perform a barbell exercise in a way that's beneficial for them. You can precisely dose the weight you need at that particular moment, which is something that's much more difficult to do on many bodyweight exercises.

But, if you don't have access to a gym, do bodyweight by all means, it's still a great thing to do.

Btw., I believe the OP didn't mean "buck" in the literal sense, as in money.

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JohnTomorrow t1_j5jnt71 wrote

Tradesman here, horticulturist specifically. I've probably planted more trees, dug more trenches and walked more distance than you've ever seen or experienced. Doing physical labour for a job doesn't mean you'll look like a superman. Sure, I'm a strong guy, that comes with it. But for years I was also grossly out of shape, due to lack of exercise and bad diet. You can dig retic all day long for five days a week, but if you have a pie and a sausage roll with a 600ml coke for smoko and lunch and don't do any exercise outside of work, you'll become a fat fuck.

I've recently started watching what I eat and exercising more regularly and I'm getting into better shape, and becoming stronger too. You're body adjusts to your day to day, you need external stimuli to grow outside of that.

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Megahert t1_j5jui2n wrote

physical work is extremely inefficient for building muscle. Its more of a cardio activity than a muscle hypertrophy activity.

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