thread of getting sw0le

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.

I don't think issue is frequency but rather committing to do it a weight where you will go to failure. But yes if you don't increase weight inevitably you be less sore in future workouts.

do a little less weight imho, or fewer reps. it's normal to be sore the first few times but your joints shouldn't hurt that bad. the failure thing is a myth.

i promise! i am way stronger than i used to be and it's pretty rare that i (1) fail anything and (2) am in pain

well i almost fail presses sometimes but it usually means i'm tired or didn't eat enough, it's not normal

What about loss of flexibility? I feel that temporarily from the soreness, but wondering if it will go away long run. I definitely felt more energetic and less run down after my previous workouts, but results were coming more slowly, whereas I feel like I've seen noticeable results from just a single week of this style workout.

you are sw0le now

loss of flexibility will not stick around

My wife pointed out that I looked more sw0le

*applause*

it is perfectly normal/perfectly healthy to have soreness and stiffness any time you change workouts. the difference between good shape and game shape. the second day is usually the worst.

tbh i've got to the point where i enjoy it a little.

Yeah I mean I have been sore before, but this was some really fucked-up feeling, entire upper back is a single slab stiffness lasting a few days. Some of it may also be starting a new workout at 35 vs at 25.

listing to failure is actually bad because yr form fails before yr ability to lift weights fails which risks injury, redefine failure as yr form breaking and youll be better off, olympic weight lifters like the ones in the actual olympics often do sets of one and then even complete their set of one if their form isnt perfect, tho obvs they r lifting extremely heavy things

btw i saw an extremely fd up injurded limping ass trainer in the gym today lol

also do compound lifts functional strength etc its whats cool now not legs days

^^ troof
tho it's certainly still possible to emphasize different areas on different days
just for god's sake no machines
except maybe freemotion some of those are okay
and maybe the leg sled
that's not really a machine i think

i do the row, bench and press machines if somebody's hogging the weights, i'm not proud. it's like driving an automatic, i'll do it if i need to

I have definitely generally been focusing on functional strength in the last few months -- bodyweight exercises, TRX straps, freeweights, kettlebells, etc., but I do feel like the compound lifts tap into something that I haven't been getting with that stuff -- deadlifts, actual bar bench presses, real squats etc. seem to work muscles in a way that the other stuff hasn't so far, and maybe force me to use muscles I wouldn't naturally use in an exercise otherwise. I think I'm going to keep up the strength stuff but just with slightly less weight/not to failure, and maybe try to mix in some bodyweight and resistance bands at home on off days (not hitting the same muscle group I just hit obv).

I do avoid the machines except for the cable-based ones, unless nothing is open.

seem to work muscles in a way that the other stuff hasn't so far, and maybe force me to use muscles I wouldn't naturally use in an exercise otherwise.

totally. If you are doing barbell squats and stuff you are engaging a ton of other muscles for stabilization. in basic strength training it's only 5 different lifts but still a whole body workout.

i am 2.5kg away from 100kg squat :D

I feel like I'm finally starting to "get" squats now that I'm focusing more on my form. The effect is almost profound -- I left the gym today feeling like I was aligned much better and it was even taking some of the pressure off my shoulder that often gets tight.

they are magical, the 1 true lift

if i only take one thing away from my months (now years!!) of steady swolestyle it is that when i bend down to pick something up i do it with a straight back. i think of it like a gift i'm giving a future me.

cause let's face it i am never going to be truly yoked.

Yeah I don't care much about that. Look decent and feel good is my goal.

a guy gave me unsolicited squat advice yesterday re my lack of flexibility/inability to go past parallel lol

he was all you ever think abt going past parallel and i was all i cant

then to be nice to him i asked him if he had any ideas for gaining flexibility and he was all uh lift more

you don't need to go past parallel it's all good

yeah idc

I'm from fitness and I'm here to help

trainsplaining

if i only take one thing away from my months (now years!!) of steady swolestyle it is that when i bend down to pick something up i do it with a straight back.

so otm. squatting w straight back to get a pot from the floor cupboard.

you don't need to go past parallel it's all good

― illegal economic migration (Tracer Hand), Thursday, September 17, 2015 5:58 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

yeah, you're right, but when i do, my butt gets bigger, no joke. i think it's just people's preference

please try to hit parallel lagoon. it's good.