He seems to have missed an important anatomical fact, that the sacrum is part of the spine. He also seems to miss an important mechanical fact, that the whole back is pressed against the seat, and the load goes through all areas of the trunk against the seat - not just the hips, but all the way up to the shoulders. So a large portion of the spine IS under compression, just from anterior/posterior angles rather than from superior/inferior angles.
Anyway, let's see, bro-sciencez...
- Free weights for mass, machines for toning.
- Moderate/heavy weight low reps for mass, light weight high reps for toning.
- Lots of cardio for toning.
- Actually, anything involving "toning" as an aesthetic description.
- You need to pummel your muscles with 8,000 exercises until your muscles become like meat tenderised by the Mythbusters (ie steak tenderised with explosives). Then you need to rest 400 years before training again.
- "I don't need to train legs because I do some running and walk up and down stairs at work."
- During the bench press, your back should be as flat as possible. Any air under any part of your back means you'll break your back. Any arch in your back is super-dangerous.
Bro-story of the day:
- There's a guy at my gym who scoffs at the idea of drinking milk. Instead, he drinks whey protein shakes all day long and takes calcium pills. Hmmmm....