Suggestion: General Fitness Forum?

Off Topic
21

I think it is a great idea to have a “General Fitness” forum in some ways, but I do feel a lot of the topics that could be covered under the category of “General Fitness” are already represented here on T-Nation.

If someone new to lifting and exercise wants to be able to do a single pull up or bench press body weight but not much beyond, then what is to say that they can not benefit from the Strength Sports forum? After all, getting stronger is getting stronger.

Same with those who want to “tone,” which is more or less building muscle in my opinion.

Weight loss topics are scattered about the forums, in articles and covered in the Physique Clinic.

The only thing I haven’t found is a forum centering around athletic and endurance conditioning, which could be due to me not looking hard enough.

Plus, there is the Beginners forum.

The idea of not getting “that big” or “that strong” is something of a flawed way of thinking that will inhibit progress and achievement of fitness goals. There are plenty of challenges to overcome, so why should a mode of thinking be one of them? Just focus on what you do want and not what you don’t want, unless it’s something you’re trying overcome.

Point is, there are a lot of aspects covered by “General Fitness,” and I believe everything you need really is more or less covered in the Forums already. One just needs to know where to look, and know to what degree they want to take it.

22

[quote]nordikelt wrote:
Tiribulus wrote:

You can’t be looking at the same forums I am.

EDIT: Or if you are your frame of reference diverges drastically from mine

Ok… let me clarify a bit.

My point was that the serious pursuit of body building, strength sports, fitness and shape competition, etc are outside what is socially mainstream. And therefor, extreme. The social norm from my perspective is a lot of couch-sitting, twinkie-eating, Oprah-watching, sheepish, sorry asses. From that point of view, anything I consider to be remotely active is extreme.

And, while there are those here who take offense at every counter-opinion, they tend to not be as prevalent as on other forums, in my experience.

Or… maybe I’m simply projecting what I’d like this site to be.

YMMV

[/quote]

I think Biotest would probably make a bunch more money from people buying stuff like Metabolic Drive and Superfood if the population grew as much as I think it would if they had a forum like that. It doesn’t really mean much o me though because I’m not really into that sort of thing.

23

[quote]Tiribulus wrote:
Professor X wrote:
meangenes wrote:
Let’s name it “Ah… Mediocre”

Other suggestions:
“I actually trained today”

“For those who hate to sweat”

“Pre-Spring Break forum” (also known as “New Year’s resolution forum” and “I’ll see y’all next year forum”)

“Ew, icky muscles Forum”

and my personal favorite, “I’ve got 15” arms, how do I lose some of this extra mass so that I stop scaring all of the girls away forum"

My point is these people are here and there’s more all the time. Don’t you think a place where they can gather and have themselves in common is better than having them in the bodybuilding forum. We may as well forget about the past. Those days are gone. I’m trying to facilitate discussion of a more socially efficient way for more people to be here. You know I’m on your side, or at least you should, but if not this then what?

Am I reading you wrong in thinking you don’t like this idea? Yours is one of the opinions I’d be most interested in hearing, not to take away from anybody else.

[/quote]

I don’t like this idea. I will tell you why. The people who log on the first time making some statement about how they don’t want to be too huge usually aren’t even serious enough to actually have a real goal. It isn’t like these are well trained athletes. Most of these guys probably look like they’ve never even seen a gym. They wouldn’t even understand the difference between “general fitness” and bodybuilding. “I don’t want to get too huge” is the same as putting a road block in the way of any progress you could make when this is mentioned by a beginner.

Further, what is “general fitness”? That is like inviting every single vegan PETA sympathizer to take up residence here.

If this site does go in that direction, they might as well do away with the forums all together.

24

[quote]Tiribulus wrote:
I mean this with only the most positive of intentions and good will toward T-Nation. Also, this has to have been brought up somewhere either here or in a meeting at some time.

What does everybody think of a “General Fitness” forum?[/quote]

Isn’t that more or less what the beginner forum is for?

25

[quote]Professor X wrote:
<<< I don’t like this idea. I will tell you why. The people who log on the first time making some statement about how they don’t want to be too huge usually aren’t even serious enough to actually have a real goal. It isn’t like these are well trained athletes. Most of these guys probably look like they’ve never even seen a gym. They wouldn’t even understand the difference between “general fitness” and bodybuilding. “I don’t want to get too huge” is the same as putting a road block in the way of any progress you could make when this is mentioned by a beginner.

Further, what is “general fitness”? That is like inviting every single vegan PETA sympathizer to take up residence here.

If this site does go in that direction, they might as well do away with the forums all together.[/quote]

THEY’RE HERE

Vegan peta sympathizers and all, invited or otherwise, we’re way past the whether or not stage man. The question now is do we want them to have somewhere to compare ab rocket tips and tofu recipes or do we want to keep tripping over them in what is supposed to be a bodybuilding forum? I have no illusions of influence either. I don’t expect the suits to leap into action because of what they see in this thread. I’m only trying to be a good citizen.

“general Fitness” is all the guys you mention. People who don’t have ultimate personal physique achievement as a goal. No solution is perfect and yes there would be some bumps in this road. Maybe this whole point is moot and the powers that be don’t see a problem at all. I don’t see the home page doing anything special to make serious people feel less or aspiring underwear models feel more welcome so I’m tentatively figuring that they’d like for serious trainees to still be around. It’s s public site. What are they supposed to do?

Who cares how many of them show up if they have a fitness nursery to romp around in that keeps them (at least more than now) from starting inane threads in the bodybuilding forum? Any second Tim or TC might chime in here and call me an arrogant condescending snob and end the whole discussion anyway. I don’t know, but I’m tired of seeing the guys I like leaving and would like there to be a way to maybe change that trend.

Instead of having 85 threads in the bodybuilding forum asking how to underachieve they could just be referred to the “General Fitness”/Just Look Good Nekkid" forum where they can stroke each other and leave us and our hideous attitudes in peace.

26

To me, it is not necessary, because as others have pointed out, that is not the point of this site. It is not what it is all about. (I could be mistaken) T-Nation can’t be everything for everyone. There are other sites and forums for people who just want general fitness. Others have mentioned MH, for instance.

Like I said, T-Nation can’t be everything to everyone… Just because people are misdirected here and think that we are all trying to get those abs and set new curl PR’s. Those people should go to forums where there are others who are trying to accomplish the same “goal”.

To me, adding a “general fitness” section would be like adding a Running section, just because there is a sudden influx of population that is interested in it. There is Runner’s Journal (or whatever it’s called) for the runners, and MH for the general fitness’ers. To each his own.

27

[quote]CJK wrote:
To me, it is not necessary, because as others have pointed out, that is not the point of this site. >>> [/quote]

See my post above yours.

EDIT: Also, no offense, but you have 25 posts which likely means you haven’t been around long enough to fully appreciate the gravity of what’s under discussion.

28

[quote]Tiribulus wrote:

Who cares how many of them show up if they have a fitness nursery to romp around in that keeps them (at least more than now) from starting inane threads in the bodybuilding forum? [/quote]

What plague of insanity has caused you to think they will stop posting dumbass questions everywhere?

Remember, right now, we have a huge leak. Once you open the flood gates, you won’t be able to close them.

29

I like the idea Tribulus. You can send them to the General Fitness forum. They don’t need special articles for their training, they can read what is coming out.

Maybe they even catch the bug and by then when they post in the Body Builders forum they know what to ask and how to take advice.

It’s happening now. Let’s not be the original culture that gets drowned out by the new. Let’s be the originals that convert the interested.

and yes,… I know in comparison I am a newbie, but see, you’ve converted me. So you may say, “we can do that to all the others”, not with the wave that is coming.

T-Nation even changed the motto on the welcome page. It isn’t Bodybuildings underground think tank it is, “World’s Largest Bodybuilding and WEIGHT LOSS Underground Nation.” This means housewives and armchair quarterbacks. They are coming.

30

[quote]Professor X wrote:
Tiribulus wrote:

Who cares how many of them show up if they have a fitness nursery to romp around in that keeps them (at least more than now) from starting inane threads in the bodybuilding forum?

What plague of insanity has caused you to think they will stop posting dumbass questions everywhere?

Remember, right now, we have a huge leak. Once you open the flood gates, you won’t be able to close them.[/quote]

LOL! Plague of insanity?!?! That’s a friendly non sarcastic chuckle BTW.

OK, here’s where I go out on a bit of a limb. Especially since somebody, probably under Tim,s instruction changed the title of this thread to include the idea of a “General Fitness” forum which leads me to believe they want that idea easily visible because they’re interested in seeing what kind of response it gets. Then again that “plague of insanity” you mentioned may be striking once more.

I’m heading out on that limb now.

It is my considered opinion that they are not interested in discouraging anybody, no matter how feeble, from being here. Every pair of eyes is a potential customer and it is not reasonable to hope that any business is going to limit their potential customer base on purpose. That IS NOT a criticism guys, I would do the same thing. Having a way for everybody to coexist here in as much harmony as possible is in everybody’s best interest and being that a certain degree of inherent hostility is going to exist by nature between “us and them” a bit of mutually agreed segregation is the answer that makes the most sense in my opinion.

That’s the position I started this thread under.

31

[quote]OctoberGirl wrote:

This means housewives and armchair quarterbacks. They are coming.

[/quote]

I’m going to say it if no one else will.

  1. Your Avatar Picture Freaks Me Out.
  2. This Forum is attractive because it’s meant to be a community of people who are serious about weight training. How serious is serious? You should either compete or intend to compete in either Bodybuilding or a Strength Sport.
  3. The Armchair Quarterbacks and Housewives DO NOT NEED space on this forum. If you’re just concerned about General Fitness you’re not going to need to read up on Optimal Training, Cutting Weight, or Conditioning the Organisms Tissue with Dynamic Effort Training and Psychometrics. All you really need to do is some pull-ups, some lunges, and some push-ups. And eat 4 meals a day. BAM! You’re fit. Having casual gym-goers on this site is a waste of time for both them and the more competitive people who are really invested in their training.
  4. Why doesn’t the NBA have a league for weekend warriors who play half-court ball once a week at the YMCA?
32

yeah fuck that shit. this a bodybuilding and powerlifting site. if you want to talk about “general health” go over to mens fitness or something.

33

[quote]OctoberGirl wrote:

I like the idea Tribulus. You can send them to the General Fitness forum. They don’t need special articles for their training, they can read what is coming out.

Maybe they even catch the bug and by then when they post in the Body Builders forum they know what to ask and how to take advice.

It’s happening now. LET’S NOT BE THE ORIGINAL CULTURE THAT GETS DROWNED OUT BY THE NEW. Let’s be the originals that convert the interested.

and yes,… I know in comparison I am a newbie, but see, you’ve converted me. So you may say, “we can do that to all the others”, not with the wave that is coming.

T-Nation even changed the motto on the welcome page. It isn’t Bodybuildings underground think tank it is, “World’s Largest Bodybuilding and WEIGHT LOSS Underground Nation.” This means housewives and armchair quarterbacks. They are coming.

[/quote]

Emphasis mine:

See there, OctoberGirl understands. The choices are these. Leave or find a way to share this site with the ab worshipping metro squad in some fashion. Here’s how I envision it.

Beginners is for anybody who knows they don’t have a clue.

General Fitness/Look Good Nekkid is for the I don’t wanna be huge guys/functional guys.

Bodybuilding is for the guys who do wanna be huge.

Yes Professor you are correct, some of them will fancy themselves bodybuilders because they they saw Pumping Iron and will post idiotic threads in the Bodybuilding forum, but we would then be free to inform them of their error and direct them to the General Fitness forum. Also yes, some debate is inevitable as a few will insist that their goals qualify under the bodybuilding forum when they clearly do not and in some rare cases it may even be a genuinely difficult call, but is how it’s going now preferable to that?

The bodybuilding guys would of course be free to offer sincere advice to the look good nekkid guys in their forum, but in fairness it would have to be understood that that forum is off limits for flaming the short sighted anorexics… uuuhhh, I mean general fitness folks.

The other side of that coin would be that any mention of how non functional leg curls are in the bodybuilding forum is fair game for immediate and merciless abuse.

Is this a perfect solution? There’s never going to be one, but it would promote some understanding of what’s what and leave the various groups in relative tranquility compared to how things are now, especially after the idea took hold and was gotten used to, again in my opinion.

34

[quote]Tiribulus wrote:
CJK wrote:
To me, it is not necessary, because as others have pointed out, that is not the point of this site. >>>

See my post above yours.

EDIT: Also, no offense, but you have 25 posts which likely means you haven’t been around long enough to fully appreciate the gravity of what’s under discussion. [/quote]

I understand your logic with the posts thing, but I had an old account that suddenly stopped working on me, and just had to make a new account in order to order more supplements. I remember when you joined the forum, and started participating in the AD thread. I have been around since about May of '06. (I know that’s not a really long time, but just so you know I am not just some new guy spouting off random shit)

Basically, I know the gravity.

35

[quote]CJK wrote:
Tiribulus wrote:
CJK wrote:
To me, it is not necessary, because as others have pointed out, that is not the point of this site. >>>

See my post above yours.

EDIT: Also, no offense, but you have 25 posts which likely means you haven’t been around long enough to fully appreciate the gravity of what’s under discussion.

I understand your logic with the posts thing, but I had an old account that suddenly stopped working on me, and just had to make a new account in order to order more supplements. I remember when you joined the forum, and started participating in the AD thread. I have been around since about May of '06. (I know that’s not a really long time, but just so you know I am not just some new guy spouting off random shit)

Basically, I know the gravity. [/quote]

Fair enough

36

[quote]Tiribulus wrote:
CJK wrote:
Tiribulus wrote:
CJK wrote:

Fair enough[/quote]

No hard feelings. I understand, if some dude whose join date was recent and had posts in the twenties acted like he understood T-Nation I would question it too.

/hijack

37

[quote]Tiribulus wrote:

Is this a perfect solution? There’s never going to be one, but it would promote some understanding of what’s what and leave the various groups in relative tranquility compared to how things are now, especially after the idea took hold and was gotten used to, again in my opinion.[/quote]

It sounds good to me… but I’m not sure why the Beginners forum wouldn’t work for those who are new to the site and “don’t want to get huge”?

But you’re right, lots of members AND potential newcomers want to look like a Men’s Health/Shape cover model, yet don’t have a forum dedicated to them.

38

[quote]andersons wrote:
Tiribulus wrote:

Is this a perfect solution? There’s never going to be one, but it would promote some understanding of what’s what and leave the various groups in relative tranquility compared to how things are now, especially after the idea took hold and was gotten used to, again in my opinion.

It sounds good to me… but I’m not sure why the Beginners forum wouldn’t work for those who are new to the site and “don’t want to get huge”?
[/quote]

Because they think that since they’ve been going to a gym for a month and are members of a bodybuilding forum, they are no longer beginners.

39

This thread is wrong on so many levels.

40

[quote]Tiribulus wrote:
Professor X wrote:
<<< I don’t like this idea. I will tell you why. The people who log on the first time making some statement about how they don’t want to be too huge usually aren’t even serious enough to actually have a real goal. It isn’t like these are well trained athletes. Most of these guys probably look like they’ve never even seen a gym. They wouldn’t even understand the difference between “general fitness” and bodybuilding. “I don’t want to get too huge” is the same as putting a road block in the way of any progress you could make when this is mentioned by a beginner.

Further, what is “general fitness”? That is like inviting every single vegan PETA sympathizer to take up residence here.

If this site does go in that direction, they might as well do away with the forums all together.

THEY’RE HERE

Vegan peta sympathizers and all, invited or otherwise, we’re way past the whether or not stage man. The question now is do we want them to have somewhere to compare ab rocket tips and tofu recipes or do we want to keep tripping over them in what is supposed to be a bodybuilding forum? I have no illusions of influence either. I don’t expect the suits to leap into action because of what they see in this thread. I’m only trying to be a good citizen.

“general Fitness” is all the guys you mention. People who don’t have ultimate personal physique achievement as a goal. No solution is perfect and yes there would be some bumps in this road. Maybe this whole point is moot and the powers that be don’t see a problem at all. I don’t see the home page doing anything special to make serious people feel less or aspiring underwear models feel more welcome so I’m tentatively figuring that they’d like for serious trainees to still be around. It’s s public site. What are they supposed to do?

Who cares how many of them show up if they have a fitness nursery to romp around in that keeps them (at least more than now) from starting inane threads in the bodybuilding forum? Any second Tim or TC might chime in here and call me an arrogant condescending snob and end the whole discussion anyway. I don’t know, but I’m tired of seeing the guys I like leaving and would like there to be a way to maybe change that trend.

Instead of having 85 threads in the bodybuilding forum asking how to underachieve they could just be referred to the “General Fitness”/Just Look Good Nekkid" forum where they can stroke each other and leave us and our hideous attitudes in peace.[/quote]

They’re here, but like I said in my first post, the people this is designed to target wouldn’t relegate themselves to this general fitness forum. They’d still post in the bodybuilding forum.