thread of getting sw0le

B-)

i think i might try to clean if anyone has any tips my plan so far: watch youtubes, try it w just the bar, practice the constituent motions seperatly

BTW what is the deal w/ reverse incline bench? Like is there a reason to do it? I do incline bench sometimes assuming it works upper chest/shoulders more.

Supposedly reverse grip's better for your upper pectoral muscles.

lag∞n cleans are def my fav thing to do. just bar yes . I would work on hang cleans first just to get the turnover fluid and comfortable finishing in the front rack. plenty of youtubes out there tho

I find anything with cleans almost impossible to due to lack of wrist flexibility which I guess is something I should probably work on...

do you have to drop the bar at the end of a clean? because I don't feel like my gym is a good place to do that

No hang cleans it starts and ends mid thigh.

cool ty carne, shd mention ive been doing some front squats and have developed some minor comfort w that form

@Alex in SF, w.r.t. cleans and racking the bar, it shouldn't really be a matter of wrist flexibility unless you have injuries or the like, since if your elbows are properly forward/up, and the bar steadily on your deltoids and the very tips of your fingers, then your wrists aren't required to bend very much at all...

so more than wrist flexibility, I'd work on your rack position, getting your arms relaxed and the elbows REALLY up and the bar on the very tips of your fingers. If it's a mobility issue, it's more likely in your upper back, shoulders or triceps.

To help find the spot, and stretch your shoulders/upper back, you can take a rack position with the bar and have someone GENTLY! push your elbows upwards (while you make sure you don't lean backwards or collapse your back to compensate).

(I could be wrong and maybe you really have exceptionally stiff wrists, but it's usually getting the rack position wrong that makes people think the problem is with their wrists)

how much are you supposed to drop down when you get under the bar? i extend my hips enough to get under and rotate but somehow it feels like i'm not dropping enough.

I've been having trouble with cleans too... I'm at the point in Starting Strength where I'm supposed to add power cleans- well past it, actually, but I missed a full week for the holidays and my squat progress has been slow as hell so I gave myself a little more time- and I'm just a goddamn mess. I'm trying to break it down into three parts and practice them individually as in the book, but I'm stymied by my freakishly long monkey arms. The top position is difficult to achieve because even if I have my hands almost perpendicular to the floor I'm still jamming the bar way into my throat. Has anyone else dealt with this?

i tried hang cleans w just the bar today and this cld take a while lol didnt really feel like i was getting it at all, think maybe putting a lil more weight on there might be more informative as its so easy to just lift the bar up w yr arms i cldnt really tell if i was even doing anything

they have a whole olympic lifting area at my gym as well as some weird ass crossfit-y jungle gym thing but i think ive only seen ppl doing olympic lifts a couple times

First leg day in chucks. Depth is definitely better.

@mattrresslessness, you're meant to catch it at the height to which you pull it. you'll end up going lower naturally as you increase the weight and your technique becomes more efficient, but since it isn't a competition lift, there's no set depth you need to reach.

what you DON'T want to do is to drop lower than you pulled it and let it crash onto your shoulders.

look at Dimas; since it's easy for him to pull that weight high, he also doesn't drop much to catch it.

@lag∞n, it definitely helps to try adding some weight to the bar for cleans, since with an empty bar you can just curl it and it's hard to get a sense of the proper mechanics.

@Telephone thing, the simplest thing to facilitate your long arms would be to take a wider grip. If that doesn't help, there is something else wrong with your technique.

Can you take a front squat rack position without the clean part? imo you should practise that -it helps to do front squats, like just light ones after your regular ones or something- if it's giving you trouble, rather than trying to learn the rack position as part of a clean where you're thinking about so many other things at the same time. it's also a lot easier to learn to clean if you are comfortable with the final rack position first.

the more you get your elbows forward and up, and the more the bar is held only on your fingertips, the more of a shelf your shoulders will create for the bar and the less you'll have to bear it with your neck.

also, can you hold the bar in the rack position on your shoulders if, rather than keeping your fingers on it, you extend your arms forward without holding on to the bar, like this? if not, learn that, then come back to the normal front squat position. if yes, try the wider grip.

i was just shown this as a youtube ad

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7oW3su_6ots

was able to get my deadlift up a little to 245x5, but grip is still a huge issue for me -- couldn't complete more than one set of five because the bar was just slipping out of my hands.

Sw0le yogin, do any of you try to hold the bandhas (locks) while lifting heavy weights? Does it feel safe and helpful?

I imagine it wouldn't work very well, since I usually feel I have to brace my core very strongly to feel safe doing squats & deadlifts. It takes a LOT more energy than holding the bandhas. Also, I do not really breathe steadily while lifting, but use it to help me with the explosive parts of the lifts. (e.g. before squatting I fill my belly with air, hold it in while squatting down, then breathe it out while standing up.)

I've yet to recognize the point of the root lock (the pelvic bandha), but that at least seems like something I *could* hold while lifting normally. I just have no idea if it would do any good.

Relatedly: I just tried a handstand for the first time in a long while, and did it better than I ever managed when I was actively practicing it. Pretty sure I have the yoga to thank for that!

After years of avoiding it like the plague, I have taken the plunge and signed myself up for the free facility in my new office building. My main objectives are a) maintaining/improving cardiovascular health, b) shedding some spare tire fat, and c) slowly turning into a short, black Hulk. Any resources/workouts that you guys recommend for someone without a trainer trying to remember his way around a gym could use to make the transition back into working out easier? (I haven't toured the facility fully yet so I am not sure if they have free weights; they definitely have machines.)

Basically I'm looking for a starting point that I can adapt to the environment I'm in.

bench press/deadlift/squat + running or maybe that stair machine, or just get extremely angry until u burst out of yr clothes

Blulk

you could try something like Mark Rippetoe’s Starting Strength while mixing in some running and stuff like that.

http://www.muscleandfitness.com/workouts/workout-routines/4-week-guide-starting-strength there are other resources for this you can easily find too

ohhhhh man this is PERFECT for me to read, thanking u

rippetoe has one of those big weird muscly bellys

welcome

xp

rippetoe has one of those big weird muscly bellys

― lag∞n, Friday, February 19, 2016 11:49 AM (7 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

This is what has always put me off actually reading Starting Strength, although rationally it seems more likely that he just eats a horrible diet than is fat bc of his program.

lol his advice on nutrition is notoriously suspect

ya the thing abt having strength as yr fitness goal its much easier if you just eat a ton of food which is maybe not actually that healthy and very likely not that sexy

No. 3: Eat Enough
Most people will not eat enough during the program so they won’t recover and wind up getting stuck. Depending on your height, eat between 3,500 and 6,000 calories a day with at least one gram of protein per pound of body weight. The caloric surplus traditionally comes from milk. Supplements can be used to make up the deficit between meals and this requirement.

so i mean if yr looking to loose some fat around yr mid section i wld consider not eating 6k calories a day

maybe just 5000 will do

yeah I mean I read that and went "lol I am not training for the World's Strongest Man competition, come on dude"

my current fitness regime is "carry my twin toddlers around as much as possible" which has given me the best arms I've ever had; I fear that's not a sustainable workout plan, though

like losing body fat and gaining strength are fairly oppositional goals

its not impossible to do both at the same time but its muuch easier to only do one

which doesnt mean u shdnt lift weights if you want to lose body fat just that u shdnt expect huge gains in the amount u can lift

idk i totally changed my body composition and got the gainz from just not eating semi-clean and lifting a lot . no cardios

just not eating semi-clean

despite my "black Hulk that fits in yr pocket" fantasies, that is a lower priority than the cardio thing, which would have direct impact on my breath stamina when singing, so while swole is a goal I'm okay with not getting there right away (wait until I hit 50 and the midlife crisis BECOMES REAL, tho; I might try to live on nothing but protein powder)

I really can't get with the purist max gains strength/powerlifting program because ultimately my goal is not to lift the max amount of weights at all costs. The strength purists get annoying inasmuch as they act like max weight pushed/pulled is the only goal anyone should reach for. I want to be stronger, but I also want to play bball better and try to develop a muscular but svelte aesthetic.

I am stronger than when I started, and it feels really fucking good -- when I am swinging my four-year-old around like nothing, when I am just like standing in the boss's office and I feel the solidity of myself, the way my legs feel like they are rooting me in the ground, like I can't be easily pushed over. It's good but there is a limit to how much better I'm going to feel from even more of that. There is no scenario in which I actually have to lift 300lbs off the ground or press 180lbs over my head, so as much as I hope to one day reach those goals, I'm not in a hurry.

And yeah I have also seen body comp changes from a program that is like 80-90% lifting and relatively good eating with a lot of protein.

idk i totally changed my body composition and got the gainz from just eating semi-clean and lifting a lot . no cardios

― (•̪●) (carne asada), Friday, February 19, 2016 12:05 PM (34 seconds ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

semi clean huh

I basically do one of the three compound lifts, followed by a few more targeted exercises for the same muscles, followed by either a short jumprope session, a short ab session, or a stability training thing I kind of made up but that seems useful to bball (medicine ball movements while standing on a wobble board).

i mean u guys yes if you go from eating poorly and not exercising to eating somewhat better and exercising yr body will change and u will be able to lift heavier weight, and if you ate 6k calories a day you wld be able to lift even heavier weight, and if you ate healthier and less you wld have less body fat and be able to lift less, this point is not actually hard to understand

no sugar, no dairy, very little processed food but i wasn't all paleo or whatever i'd eat rice and beans and a little whole wheat bread once in awhile .xxp

back to my original point getting gainz is prob not the healthiest fitness goal, tho if it motivates you its def way better than nothing

oh yeah i agree i was a complete mess dietarily so i definitely benefited from noob gainz

just eating better than i was and lifting heavy was enough for me to lean out and get stronger for a good year

I just googled to find a pic of Mark Rippetoe because I didn't know what he looked like

http://content.tigerfitness.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/mark-rippetoe1.jpg

I'm just gonna come right out and say that this is not my fitness goal so I will be dialing back on the caloric intake if I incorporate his training program into my workouts

yeah his basic workout is great, and his technical advice on those lifts individually is terrific, but overall you can take or leave his approach with his very powerlifter-y

lol rippetoe is such a weirdo, the whole youtube lifting scene is populated by maniacs, its such a funny contrast to running youtube where everyone is the boringist person in the world

and then the anxious serenity of yoga youtube