thread of getting sw0le

i was mostly off this summer and haven't lost much progress. i never make much progress anyway though :)

That is very encouraging; pretty much exactly what I needed to hear right now

Much better to take time off than to aggravate injuries to the point where you don't have a choice

I'm looking into some articles on the Internet and they say that taking a break from the gym for a few weeks can help your muscles rebuild stronger in the short term. So that is comforting, the idea that at least some good could come of this.

Arg I am on day 11 of no gym and my shoulder feels no better. I'm going to give it a few days and return to the gym. At this point I'm not convinced working out has a huge impact on how my shoulder feels one way or the other. If it's gonna feel the way it's gonna feel I might as well work out.

how many days are you doing? xp yes always great to see a variety of people getting into it

― mattresslessness, Friday, November 14, 2014 6:08 PM (4 days ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

leg days are one to two, depending on how well/poorly i do and how much i eat (i get busy with work sometimes)

then one other lifting day, but i keep the exercises simple. i'm kind of focusing more on my legs and abs, then do some type of light upper body

also, i'm not sure where people are at in their exercising life, but after training for a half marathon, i was very thin and stopped doing everything and ate anything i wanted. it took about two months of not doing anything to actually start gaining a few pounds, though i did do the occasional running. i started losing muscle definition after the first month. but i wasn't huge at all.

the only thing i'd be careful of is trying to pick up where you left off, weights-wise. i heard that's how many injuries occur. you try to lift as heavy as you did a month or two ago. you have to build up to it, even though you can build up to it quicker if you only stopped for a month or two

that is also true of my stopping and starting experience, which i guess i'm pretty good at since i do it so much.

I actually haven't lost as much muscle as I thought I would. I feared I'd revert to square-one scrawny after just a few weeks, because that really is my default.

Where I've lost the most mass is my pecs, and particularly my upper pecs. Those are going to be the hardest to rebuild, since so many presses are off the table for me. Not sure if I can build good upper pecs on flies and cross cables alone.

fell into a sedentary lifestyle for a bit because of busyness. back on the wagon tomorrow morning. downloaded an app to track my macronutrient intake and, for today at least, it was bad. 4 pop ems donuts and a bag of trail mix (cashews, dried cranberries, and chocolate) given to me by my octogenarian grad school adviser was actually wayyyyy too much saturated fat for a single day. this is a problem because she gives me a huge bag of this trail mix a few times a week. i also ate a whole avocado but that's "good" fat. basically i foud out that i need to eat more calories of better stuff, which i knew.

tomorrow i am doing compound barbell exercises and running 3 miles. this weekend i am going to do yoga, so i am thinking 3 days a week lifting and running whenever i feel like it and also yoga. this seems balanced. my goal is to adjust body composition.

gave myself a mental fistbump today when the resident gym strongman saw what i was deadlifting and said "that's heavy" and came over and did a couple of reps, and then insisted on watching me cause i'm fairly certain he was skeptical of my ability to actually pull it, which of course i did cause mama didn't raise no fool. basically at this point i am DLing 250 lbs and still look like a skinny streak of piss. have i earned some "aesthetic" workouts, y/n

hi5!

is there a simple list of good & bad fat foods?

bravo Tracer, can you arrange to be in NY the next time I need to move house?

think avocados, olive oil, almonds and other nuts

I think it's really difficult to tell how much someone can deadlift just by looking at them. I can do 265x5 but I have thick looking legs. I've seen much scrawnier looking dudes do upwards of 350.

that's awesome tracer!

heres the list from the book diet cults that imo is pretty good and simple, good stuff on the top bad on the bottom

Vegetables
Fruits
Nuts, seeds and healthy oils
High-quality meat and seafood
Whole grains
Dairy
Refined grains
Low-quality meat and seafood
Sweets
Fried foods

i skip arm chest & leg days #sedentary4life

the pure c0re workout

that book looks good xp

yah man thx for the tip

i have it but i havent read it i cld take a picture of it for u its currently sitting squished between a book on running and one on javascript

send it to my stomach thx

books pretty fibrous iirc

i have never tried to hit a max deadlift because my form sucks. probably due to lack of flexibility and that i have long legs and arms that are kinda short in comparison the rest of my body.

deadlift is kinda an awkward motion imo

gave myself a mental fistbump today when the resident gym strongman saw what i was deadlifting and said "that's heavy" and came over and did a couple of reps, and then insisted on watching me cause i'm fairly certain he was skeptical of my ability to actually pull it, which of course i did cause mama didn't raise no fool. basically at this point i am DLing 250 lbs and still look like a skinny streak of piss. have i earned some "aesthetic" workouts, y/n

― TracerHandVEVO (Tracer Hand), Friday, December 5, 2014 4:55 PM (2 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

well, i'm no expert, but with deadlifts, the way i know i'm doing them right is if i don't have waist-pain later/following day. mind you, i don't deadlift that much. i never have waist pain whereas before i found i did.

just my two cents, but i could be wrong.

If you're not deadlifting for a competition, a trap bar/hex bar is the way to go IMO. Puts your arms neutral and the weight on your centerline.

this random guy at the gym tried to convince me to squat w/ plates under my heels so my feet are angled downwards, seems a lil unsafe because it's introducing a new level of instability to the whole equation but it does seem to force my form to be a bit better, idk I'll prob stick to normal squats my form's pretty alright

it would be mimic the same effect you get from proper OLY shoes .

dog if you want that weight up off the floor you need to be pulling in a pair of classic steve madden wedges

ballet slippers imo

deadlift barefoot imo

not joking btw

I warm up for squats w/ plates under my heels now tho

my Y doesn't allow you to be barefoot, probably for the best. i roll in a pair of chuck taylors.

dudes in chucks are my favorite gymdudes

minimal running shoes prob a good proxy for barefoot too

chucks are fine for me

there's a guy in my gym who lifts in those vibram toe-glove things which is probably great but man it's a bad look

http://lib2.shopping.srv.yimg.jp/lib/goodchoice/tetsugeta.jpg

I go barefoot for dl and squats, fwiw. Think plates under the heels is supposed to compensate for poor ankle mobility.

My deadlift feels like it's been stuck for ages now, after I filmed myself lifting 160 kg for a single rep, and realized I was cat-backing like hell.

Today I did 5 reps of just 135 kg. Filmed myself. Yup, still taking the expressway to Snap City. I think it's time I get to talking with someone who can really help me figure out what the hell I'm doing wrong. I've watched way too many righteous bros on youtube.

I *loved* deadlifts until I filmed myself. Felt like a movement I really GOT. Blah.
If anything, I feel like more of a n00b now than I did two years ago.

started lifting again this week for the first time in like 3 years (finally able to afford convenient gym, yesss). my legs are destroyed after a couple of sessions of squats, but i'm remembering why i used to enjoy this so much. my deadlift form has really degraded and will require some serious intervention, but the rest of my routine (basic starting strength / stronglifts program minus cleans) is still together.

pretty excited about this. i've been sporadically sedentary until recently, and now that i pass the gym on my walk to work every day, i'm hoping i'll shame myself into keeping up with the routine

university gym is moving so i can't lift for a month ;$

now that i pass the gym on my walk to work every day, i'm hoping i'll shame myself into keeping up with the routine

That worked really well for me when I was starting out. So much harder to skip when you're walking right by the gym with a bag of clothes on your back.

speaking of DLs, local gym hulk recommended a belt + wrist straps. y/n?

y & n, respectively. I generally lift without a belt, but put one on for the heaviest dl, when I worry that a slight slip might wreck my back. It gives you something to push against, which helps with keeping form (which, as mentioned, I struggle with.)
It's worth trying, at least. I don't think it's necessary when not going really heavy, but ymmv.

As for straps -- no reason to wear them unless you find yourself limited by your grip strength, and alternate grip isn't good enough. Even then it seems most people prefer chalk or liquid chalk.

thx Øys

I have this feeling that I can go heavier, but I am (sensibly, I think) holding back, partly because the weights are pretty goddamn heavy even with an alternate grip - they start to slip a little on rep 5 - but also because I am kind of a worry-wart with my back and abs (I have had two hernias in my life, both from way before I lifted at all, both totally motiveless as far as I can tell)

i have left work at 2:30 twice this week to go to the gym and it is so nice. i haven't worked out 3x in one week in idk how long because work sucks and i hate when the gym is crowded.