Thought of the day

From Miguel at Gun Free Zone:

Amazed to find out that exercise equipment is designed for people that are already fit.

“If I had the weight limit you recommend, I would not need your ****ing expensive machine to begin with.”

You can say that again!

It’s depressing to shop for fitness equipment, only to find that its maximum weight capacity is a long way below one’s present weight.  What’s more, even if one is within the weight capacity of the machine, it’ll creak, groan and complain during use, as if to say, “Only just!”

Of course, with so much exercise equipment now being made in China, where people are naturally smaller, that explains a lot of it.  That’s also why early Japanese cars were so tiny inside – they sized them for Japanese drivers and passengers.  They had to figure out that selling them in America and Europe required designing them for larger people.

Hmmm . . . now that so much military hardware (tanks, self-propelled artillery, etc.) is being made in countries like China and South Korea, and is being actively exported:  are they sizing it for export customers’ populations, or expecting them to recruit only small soldiers?

Peter

7 comments

  1. Re: military hardware being made in China for sale to Western (and other) nations — has no one read THE COLD CASH WAR by Robert Asprin?

  2. Koreans have grown to be almost American sized. In height, anyway. It's amazing what a difference proper nutrition and adding meat and fat does to the growth of children.

  3. There's also the basic fact that the majority of people who actually USE exercise equipment are at least moderately fit. They have the habit of exercise. It doesn't bore them. Making equipment that can support somebody who weighs 300 lbs (to pick my own tipping point) is expensive, and doesn't matter to a vast majority of the potential customers.

  4. You have to buy the heavy duty stuff like what pro-atheletes and muscle-jocks buy. Which is usually more expensive just because the quality of all materials is so much higher, and the quality of manufacture is also higher than stuff that can be masked under crappy plastic shields.

    Don't expect to buy the good stuff on-line or in-store cheaply. If it comes with a slick sales infomercial, it's not for real users.

    Do consult with the local gym rats and do consult with the local Fitness store (if one is in the area.)

    And… Don't overlook making it yourself if you are halfway handy. 4x4s and 2x6s (don't use 2x4s) and some heavy plywood, lag bolts or carriage bolts and washers and a deck chaise lounge pad all make a great freeweight bench that can easily handle non-stick people.

    A heavy-duty bike and actually riding it outside is much better than a bike-machine-thingy.

    And buying a selection of sledge hammers of different weights and splitting mauls and using them instead of hand weights is a great way to get into condition to actually use splitting mauls and sledge hammers.

  5. The Soviets made and exported tanks for short tankers for decades, and their Russian successors still do.

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