thread of getting sw0le

ya wld like to try that xp

A friend asked me for exercises that isolated front quads because she tore her MPFL a couple years ago and has been compensating ever since, which has led to some atrophy in the affected leg. I tried to tell her that lunges and squats would help but she's adamant about specifically targeting her quads. Is there a way for me to better explain why she should work multiple muscle groups than just balance? And are there any other exercises besides squats and lunges?

Seated leg extensions, but you need a machine for that. Walking lunges should do the trick, weights in hand if she wants.

The best way to correct her compensations is to focus on improving movement quality; isolating a particular muscle group is not necessarily going to improve her ability to stand, walk, dance, etc.

This makes more sense in the context of Gray Cook's other work, but here's an article on Isolation vs. Movement Patterns.

So in addition to movement quality, working multiple muscles will help remap the muscle top the brain?
Forks, ankle weights can help with extensions, no?

I.e. being able to do extensions at home without a machine.

I think work on bodyweight squats and lunges would be really important for your friend to do alongside, possibly, some quad-specific exercises. Natural, compound movements like squats and lunges help develop balance and stability, and progress on those moves is likely to transfer directly to normal movements in daily life. That transfer may or may not happen with isolation execises.

I'd recommend that anyone trying to improve or rehab movement quality do a self-screen and periodically re-screen to see how training is actually affecting quality:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h8G6jkEf1uI

Doing a bunch of Amosov assisted squats every morning helped immensely with my creaky knees (which probably had something to do with weak quads) - grab both sides of a doorknob and squat with shins parallel, repeat a couple dozen times. Grabbing the doorknob doesn't make it physically that much easier (in terms of weight moved) but taking balance out of the equation lets you do more of them quicker IME

using ankle weights for leg extensions pulls the weight straight down as opposed to at an angle, like on a leg extension machine... can be problematic for the knee joint at levels that have impact. Wouldn't necessarily recommend it.

i'm about to go to the gym for the 5th time this month wow

in august i'm just lucky if i can tread water tbh

7 times now. i only went once in july because i was working too much. i think i'm finally "getting" overhead presses!!!!

i don't think i ever really got them :( tried for awhile, did not progress quickly at all, pulled my back a couple of times, that was enough for me

i switched to alternating benching and pressing to just doing both on the same day because it's not like i do either heavy enough to get too tired. i have gone from struggling wet spaghetti to much stronger only somewhat floppy spaghetti in just a few weeks.

switched to = switched from

not an impressive number yet but it'll come. i have extremely long arms fyi

http://www.wsj.com/articles/the-lebron-james-of-weightlifting-1440371008

also: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-v8OexNKrug

153kg (331lbs)

get ready to feel inspired or feel like shit

he's 14 years old there

like it's not even that hard for him

Olympic Weightlifting is inspiring and terrifying, but who compares their lifts with 15yo phenomenons?

300lb C&J is a goal of mine. but i weigh like 220 this kid is 160 lbs

that ruled hard

warning, there's a butt

https://video.xx.fbcdn.net/hvideo-xta1/v/t43.1792-2/11402153_1133717843322282_1607497084_n.mp4?efg=eyJybHIiOjE1MDAsInJsYSI6MTAyNH0%3D&rl=1500&vabr=743&oh=25395ed201063be96e883f6b96b19a7b&oe=55DD0DB6

lol

there is this guy at my gym, a 50ish guy, who wears a fanny pack that says OCEAN CITY all the time and he tries to lift dumbbells that are way too heavy for him and goes YEARGHHHHH. yesterday he asked me if i was training for a competition because i was "making notes." this week i am off work so i am eating a lot. i ate 204 grams of protein yesterday! so sw0le.

there are two "that guy"s at my gym. one is 50ish, has that burnt-orange fake tan going on, kind of chatty, fannypack, wears the most awful cologne that stinks up the whole gym and makes me want to puke. the other guy is 40ish, power lifter type, lifts very heavy, is very loud when he lifts, has some b.o. issues going on.

i try not to judge the second guy but the first guy, ugh. putrid cologne is not ok.

it feels vaguely wrong to dislike people for smelling bad at a gym, but goddam buddy, you fucking stink right now

people totally have control over how bad they smell at the gym. choosing not to exercise that control is dislikeable.

i may have fixed my hip pain problem so i am barbell squatting again. i ordered shoes also.

guy at the gym came up to me shook my hand and said "you sir have magnificent calves... gimme"

ppl get kinda weird abt this shit

feel bad for ppl trying to cultivate beautiful calves when they come naturally to me

"do you even squat bro?"

i have no calves because calves are genetic. i couldn't cultivate them if i tried.

'we must cultivate our calves' - swoltaire

lol

wait calves are more genetic than yr other parts?

no that would make no sense. it's just some people can't grow them. my brother runs miles and miles every day and still nothing. i've never been able to have them.

running up hills is fine if u want strong-ass calves that can do things but all that cardio will set u back

if u want meat cantaloupes back there u gotta lift bro

― resulting post (rogermexico.), Friday, October 3, 2014

i mean check out mo farah's calves some time pfft u can tell he's been skipping donkey presses

every time i use the donkey machine i feel like an ass.

I can't find the full text online but the kathy acker essay "the language of the body" is easily the best thing I've read about bodybuilding. not that i've read much or anything good at all.

i know about big muscles vs. strong muscles but i mean we just don't have *any* in my family. also i read one thing about east africans that makes their bodies good for running is they have thinner calves????

yeah big calves r bad for running via the pendulum effect

funny the guy at the gym who coveted my calves had a wiry strong body which is imo preferable to a muscular build via not being predisposed to fatness, grass is always greener i guess

i always notice that considerably overweight white men tend to have the most sublime calves

that makes me sound like a creep but w/e

lmao

So true. Still, glad I'm not overweight, et al.

Yeah, I was fat for a few years and have some real thick and juicy calves now.

So after a few months of regular working out (3x week consistently) a trainer advised me to switch to doing strength workouts with one chest day, one leg day and one back day per week, 4 exercises 3x10 with weights heavy enough that it's hard for me to complete three sets. My first week of this I just feel sore and stiff to a degree that does not feel healthy to me. Is it really appropriate for a non-bodybuilder to do 1x per week all out on a muscle group instead of working muscle groups more frequently at slightly less intensity?

OTOH maybe I just need a couple weeks to get used to it? But I don't like the feeling that I need advil to recover from a workout, and it also makes me feel like I might be risking injury.