thread of getting sw0le

my new gym has yoga classes

Learn to squat ass to grass and other people will tell you that you don't have to go that deep.

If you want to work on your mobility, you might get some help from this video by Alan Thrall: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zvGr7wXQfwE&t=1m44s
My one superpower at the gym is great flexibility, so I cannot vouch for the efficacy of his advice.

Skip to 1:44 to get past the joeks and intro speech.

cologne guy was there tonight and i tried not to get so bothered. he was doing spider curls on an incline bench.

i like big compound lifts and isolation moves. right now i'm like, fuck it, five day body part split. back legs shoulders/traps chest arms. trader joe's is perfect for this shit. pre-cooked chicken, pre-cooked brown rice, broccoli, curry sauce, microwave it all. total bodybuilder action. it's such a domestic lifestyle.

https://vimeo.com/channels/highmaintenance/79948720

matt does not strike me as a tim ferriss devotee

me neither, just echoing the "domestic lifestyle" comment

pre-cooked chicken, pre-cooked brown rice, broccoli, curry sauce, microwave it all. total bodybuilder action. it's such a domestic lifestyle.

― mattresslessness, Friday, September 18, 2015 5:52 AM (13 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

i go to tj's every week and i've yet to see any of these things. they sound good for quick meals? gonna have to look harder tomorrow if i use the (raw) chicken today

in my tjs precooked brown rice is in little bladders above the asian meal freezers

pre-cooked chicken is by the salads in mine.

good lookin out doodz

I decided to eschew brown rice a couple of years ago, I don't like the taste/texture and I'm baselessly unconvinced that it's all that much healthier. I'm a maverick.

i don't really care about white vs brown either but it's what they have precooked in my store. i definitely avoid bread if i can, not gonna claim some gluten allergy but my body always throws a fit when i eat it, like "i'm gonna bloat and give you a weird bread hangover in the morning"

brown rice is goof imo it tastes good, it doesnt pair as well w as many things as white but like just as some rice that youre eating w some veggies or w/e imo its better

good bread is fucking amazing i am never giving it up

I'm trying- again- to retool my gym routine toward fat loss but there's so much conflicting information I don't know if what I'm doing will make any difference. Right now, the axioms I'm starting from are lower caloric intake (because physics; this at least seems to be pretty much immutable), high protein (aiming for 1g per lb bodyweight, though hitting 185g of protein per day is difficult) and lifting heavy for smaller sets, with short (20 min), intense cardio when and where I can.

My workouts are 3x week, M/W/F, to have a full rest day between each and the longest 2-day rest between compound leg lifts (I do one major/compoud lift per session, Mon: squats, Wed: bench, Fri: deadlift).

Aside from continuing to work on my diet, does this plan make sense?

for me it's very much about the diet. I work out a lot but don't eat very well usually. This results in some decent strength gains but I could stand to lose some fat. The key really is food intake ime

I've been working out steadily 3x per week since early june, and I have stayed exactly the same weight, and I'm pretty sure it's my nighttime snacking that's the culprit bc otherwise I eat pretty reasonably. However I do have to assume that means I've replaced some fat with muscle. My clothes fit better, I see a diff in the mirror, etc.

yeah that's exactly what you're going for iirc

3x5 100kg squat

:D :D :D

i would have done a full ric flair sw0lebro "whoooooo!!! SUCK IT FEEBS!!!!!!" if i were that kind of person

that's good shit !

thank you! it feels fucking great. 2 years ago i was psyching myself up to go for 60kg.

i look exactly the same afaict

shrug.jpg

how much is a kilogram

j/k that's awesome

Do any of those body fat % measuring scales actually work? I'm willing to put up with a little inaccuracy so long as it's inaccurate in a consistent way and, more importantly, doesn't cost hundreds of dollars. Looking for something less abjectly horrifying than calipers to measure body composition since scale weight is staying pretty much the same

thank you! it feels fucking great. 2 years ago i was psyching myself up to go for 60kg.

i look exactly the same afaict

shrug.jpg
― illegal economic migration (Tracer Hand), Wednesday, September 23, 2015 9:02 AM (1 week ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

This is a good reminder of something I've been thinking about a lot at the gym -- the fact that as a guy in my 30s I can actually conceive of progress measured in years instead of weeks or months, that I can actually think "I'd like to be able to do x in a year, in two years" etc., and that's one advantage I have over my 22-year-old self that helps make up for any loss in inherent ability.

yes, the bfp scales are generally effective. I have an older tanita and was actually surprised how close it came to the results of a caliper test.

Was able to finish 3x10 back squats today with a plate on each side (so I guess like 135?). Small milestones. Also got in some weighted lunges, a few machine exercises and some weighted calf raises. Legs feel like jelly.

30 reps at 135# is hard work man. good job!

wai to go sw0lebro!

thankig u

i keep straining something in the same spot in my back >:|

the biggest predictor of a pull/strain is it happening before. this sucks! it happens when squatting, but it's not the lifting erector part, but along the side (part of keeping a lock on the bar, pulling down)

w/o getting too graphic, i have a huge scar on my right side from a surgery i had as a kid. my lat on that side is cut right in half, and, well, it's basically really gnarly looking while working. the disconnected part under the scar is sort of atrophied. it never feels unbalanced during a movement but i guess it is. the strain happens somewhere in there.

i took a week off, and i'm gonna reshuffle the exercises i do to include more chinups, hope i can sw0le up that whole underarm + outer back zone. and it's an excuse to get in more bicep work, so i can fit in with the other ymca patrons young and old

BFP scales work for some, not for others -- I have an organic cystic thing that throws the result significantly off. It's also important that you be at more or less the same level of hydration when you take measurements, which is harder for some than others.

Today I was able to do 3x10x135 deadlifts -- I've read that your deadlift should be more than your squat, but this was the most I've deadlifted so far, and it was not fucking easy. Actually part of what made it hard was just what it did to the skin on my hands and how much I felt it in my wrists. Thinking I might need gloves for my soft hands.

It's super vain, but lately I am kind of psyched to see myself in the mirror straining to do these lifts and just being like "holy shit, I am actually lifting"

mix grip on the deadlifts will help with that a bit

Deadlift is generally more than your squat, but grip/hand strength can limit your deadlift. You will build up callouses.

yeah that sounds like what happened to me (not that they were easy otherwise, but my grip was what gave out first). was not aware of mixed grip until carne mentioned, but googled and found this, which is very useful:
http://www.crossfitinvictus.com/blog/when-to-use-mixed-grip-or-double-overhand/

In the interest of full disclosure I don't think my above-mentioned squats were full ass-to-grass. Still working on that. Maybe will take the weight down a little next time and work on form.

Some controversy about whether or not a-t-g is ideal for all peeps. Form is more important than depth.

Try squatting to a box just below parallel until that is comfortable with good for . then you can work on depth

Form not for

Stay tight keeping engaged don't like sit down just use it as a target

what do you guys do about your exercise routines when you get sick?

do i LIFT THROUGH THE PAIN

i am in the same sitch -- tomorrow morning is WEIGHTS and i feel gross and congested

nb the answer is don't do it

If I've had fever, vomiting or diarrhea I'll skip. Otherwise I go, but I might do a lighter workout. I've also made a new rule for myself that "I didn't get enough sleep" is not a reason to go unless I pulled an all-nighter or something.

feel like physical exertion can def prolong/exacerbate minor illness i usually shut it down unless its just like a cough or w/e

I've also made a new rule for myself that "I didn't get enough sleep" is not a reason to go unless I pulled an all-nighter or something.

― on entre O.K. on sort K.O. (man alive), Wednesday, October 14, 2015 8:55 PM (45 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

this rule isn't that great

I disagree, but it has more to do with psychology and routine/habit for me than it does with lifting efficacy.