thread of getting sw0le

x-post i'm back to hook grip on deadlifts after years of sidestepping my weak grip via straps or mixed grip and doing much better. i think it just took swallowing some ego (but my back can lift more!) and being persistent.

I've been doing mixed grip for 6+ years now and while it's possible I am imbalanced I haven't had any injuries.

I try to remember to use double overhand for my warm ups but sometimes I forget...

is anyone else loving the oly weightlifting? i've only watched the 62 kg men's snatch so far. dug watching the egyptian do some kind of breath work to prepare, beautiful first attempt. and then the columbian who won the gold is something else entirely.

n.b. i don't think it's "bad" to use mixed grip? straps though are a little lame.

occasionally

saw the chinese and north korean win which was pretty cool

after that i've been following swimming and sometimes gymnastics

gymnasts are more inspiring than weightlifters for me

well something isn't working for me, bc lower back started to bother me at the end of my deadlifts today. Not debilitating pain but definitely a brief but firm "stop doing that" pain.

Give it a day or two. I've definitely had days after high reps of deadlifts where my lower back is all "Whoa. It's cool, but just . . . whoa."

I did the bench portion of the 3x2 workout I posted above, and blew through it with few problems. I think I may be stronger than I thought?

I fucking love lifting. Shit is so addictive.

Yeah, it happened to me once before and I wound up fine after, but I do feel like I need to fix something in my form. One thing about me is I definitely listen to my body and don't push the envelope wrt potential injury.

there was a *that guy* at the gym today. had like eight plates on. doing uh straight-leg deadlifts? yelled something about almost shitting himself. didn't rerack anything. then moved to the cables, screamed through unidentifiable exertions. not pretty. a little weird because this is a student (and staff / faculty) gym at a university and he definitely seemed out of place. also i hate it when people leave their plates on, major breach of etiquette imo.

are straight-leg deadlifts not OK? I have no idea pros and cons on that.

I don't even know what that is, like a deadlift where you have your legs straight the entire motion? How would that even work?

they're fine but i was skeptical that this person who had 300+ pounds on the bar was doing them correctly.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WtWtjViRsKo

If he wasn't he'd probably be injured. 300 lbs is pretty heavy. SLDL and Romanian DLs are usually done at a significantly lighter weight than regular DLs.

I dunno I am flexible enough that I can have legs straight, back straight and reach the bar. I've seen straight-leg deadlifts in videos? Maybe it is restricted by flexibility, or maybe you can't do as much weight as on bended knee? Curious.

Two years hardcore, tremendous gains and no injuries for me, but hey, trainers are for chumps, right?

― Three Word Username, Wednesday, August 10, 2016 12:06 PM (6 hours ago)

congrats, bro, but why do you keep posting like this in this thread

Again significantly less weight than regular DL (but usually need either bumper plates or 45s to get bar high enough). It also doesn't start from floor so bar doesn't always hit the floor depending on your range of motion. Idea is to build hamstring strength not destroy them. :)

If he wasn't he'd probably be injured. 300 lbs is pretty heavy. SLDL and Romanian DLs are usually done at a significantly lighter weight than regular DLs.

― One bad call from barely losing to (Alex in SF), Wednesday, August 10, 2016 11:00 PM (2 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

he was doing just that, 300+ pounds, not bending his legs, sets of 5-6. i didn't really scope his back or anything and he seemed to be getting through them, loudly, so he was probably ok. i get all side-eye when someone has that kind of weight on the bar and they seem a little crazy which is judgey i know. but romanian deadlifts, that bend, hard to keep tight with a lot of weight!

xp yeah it's basically an eccentric motion hamstring exercise. probably some butt in there. a lot of movement for it too. i try to be careful with them. not a go-for-broke exercise imo.

Two years hardcore, tremendous gains and no injuries for me, but hey, trainers are for chumps, right?

― Three Word Username, Wednesday, August 10, 2016 12:06 PM (6 hours ago)

congrats, bro, but why do you keep posting like this in this thread

― assawoman bay (harbl), Wednesday, August 10, 2016 11:02 PM (17 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

because he will never not be abrasive and will never not expect everyone to deal with it. best to ignore.

I think it's a good exercise but yeah it's not something I do 2-3 reps with max weight...

Did the deadlift portion of the workout today; same thing. I think I need to up the weight by a little bit - like 5-10 pounds. It's based on my 1 rep maximum, which I estimated a little low apparently.

Still feeling the creeping soreness of a post-workout, so maybe no increase? Man, I don't know. This shit is all relatively new to me, and so damn fun.

Humid as fuck today and I felt like it affected me in the gym. I got some serious fear on the bench and didn't want to push my max. That's my biggest setback on bench I think, so I wind up increasing very slowly.

Added 5 - 10 pounds to each portion of the squat workout, and that was the right move. Totally more satisfying workout. I am also fully committing to eating right and not drinking booze the nights before workouts. The difference is amazing.

Squat days are the best days. I am so perma-chill for the rest of the day.

No, because I like lifting and I hate macho self-reliant nerd culture and I hate seeing you dudes fuck yourselves up well telling others to do thusly. Unimaginable, I know.

(WHILE telling others)

I have nothing against trainers except a family to feed with the money I'd have to spend.

Trainers aren't a cheat code against getting injured.

Anyway today felt like I fixed the lower back rounding that led to the minor pain and was able to hit 285 without a twinge.

Also hit a new best on overhead press -- 145. Don't know why my overhead press improves so much more easily than my other lifts.

lower back rounding on deadlift I mean

i would like someone to teach me how to clean properly -- i tried it again for the first time since working with a trainer (over a year ago) and i managed to aggravate a chronic elbow/bicep injury somehow

No, because I like lifting and I hate macho self-reliant nerd culture and I hate seeing you dudes fuck yourselves up well telling others to do thusly. Unimaginable, I know.

― Three Word Username, Monday, August 15, 2016 4:55 PM (3 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

this thread is the least macho self-reliant nerdy lifting discush i've ever seen.

Forreals. I kinda treat this thread as a place I can talk about lifting without sounding gym-bro-ish.

Finally felt like it got squatting today. Like, put in some solid effort and struggle without losing form. So so cool.

tbh i never really got injured except i think i was going too hard on my triceps for a few months when i first started lifting

hit them a little less and the pain went away (more of a ligament/tendon pain)

but definitely a newb mistake is overdoing it, which is what happened to me

it takes slower to build muscle than people think and bulking/fattening up can give you a sense of strength that is not necessarily there, so your bones and joints are prone to injury

there are tonnes of bad trainers. the good ones are pricey for people who just lift as a (nonserious) hobby

i think there is a point when even if not getting injured, after many years of lifting or performing some type of sport, your body changes and neither trainers nor doctors have solutions for you (my girl is at this point), which sucks, so you just have to experiment with different things and learn to listen to your body and get to know it really well

The trainer who convinced me to do compound lifts in the first place was a lot better than others I've met with -- have gotten way better results out of a consistent lifting routine than out of any herky-jerky quasi-crosfit series of rapid fire exercises that are mostly just overly complicated cardio with a minimal strength element.

I have another free session with a diff trainer on Wednesday -- my gym gives them out every so often to try to get you to sign up for training packages. I hope to just use it as a form check but he may try to get me to do some fad shit.

been seeing a trainer for like a month, i'm really new to all this apart from having used a kettle bell a bit at different points in the last few years. interesting to see the discussions of hamstrings upthread, i am like the least flexible person in the world, i know this from my time training in acting and attempting the many yoga-like exercises. i definitely notice that it's hard to actually feel anything in the hamstring stretches. often my calves and shins just get the strain and i feel nothing above the knee.

equally when i try and do groundwork or anything close to a burpie, the stiffness in my legs makes it almost impossible. i tend to feel my legs stiffening up once we've done like one exercise - it doesn't make it hard to do all the reps, just anything that involves flexibility.

that link caek posted seems useful - my toe-touching is pathetic. never realised that was all hamstrings.

gotta say i'm really enjoying pushing myself though, i always have a bit of trepidation before going but it makes other exercise so much easier. the idea of going for a run feels so easy when you have a one-hour session of intense hell each week. i'd never work so hard on my own. feel like my lung capacity and breathing is improving a lot too. today i did a plank and i was able to stop and think and breath my way to holding it for longer, which felt cool, like the first sense of real control and calm.

No, because I like lifting and I hate macho self-reliant nerd culture and I hate seeing you dudes fuck yourselves up well telling others to do thusly. Unimaginable, I know.

― Three Word Username, Monday, August 15, 2016 4:55 PM (3 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Say whattttttttt?

i was gonna go to the gym but i didn't want to get hurt there because it's weird all 500 times i've been there i've hurt myself

i think TWU got banned

may he enjoy his time away from ilx getting sw0le

Time to double the sessions with his trainer.

Squat back up to 175 x3 with improved form.

Bench hit 190 x 3 and felt like I could go to 195 but fear stopped me.

woop

i get fear on the bench too. every time i ask someone for a spot i end up making the set without their help.

but thanks for standing there bro

lol

I feel like I need to hit like 2 plates to not be embarrassed to ask for a squat. Dumb I know.

Ask for a spot I mean.

needing a spot is why I don't bench -- started working on standing cable press (which is I guess more "functional")

lol spotting a squat is something you don't ask of strangers . thank god for squat racks with safety bars xp