thread of getting sw0le

x-post: knees and shoulders are dumb -- sometimes the fatigue pain in those areas feels real close to injury pain; the fact that it comes a fair bit after exercise is a clue that it's fatigue pain. If you can walk through it and it doesn't get worse and gets better within a day or so, you're ok.

Squatted today and it was much better. The chair pose thing got me to align my spine right, was a huge help. Also focused a lot on loosening up my tight shoulder since it interferes with my alignment. Thanks, swolebro.

Like a lot of things with form it was as much a "kinesthetic intelligence" issue as it was a physical one.

it's there, you just gotta find it. like chiseling the statue out of the rock

Svelte, average looking dude here right now deadlifting 400. P impressive.

lil Wayne?

Lol. Idk I see this dude a lot here. Seems to be seriously *training*. Does a ton of low rep sets.

Still on Starting Strength, doing much better after I just started eating more and bought some 1.25 lb plates so I can go up even just a tiny bit each session.

But I'm still really struggling with the power clean, and after a lot of searching (not limited to the SS forums) have noticed something: has Mark Rippetoe ever given a straight answer to a beginner legitimately in need of help it is he just congenitally unable to be anything but a snide, condescending dick? The site culture on his forums is bizarre; it's up to charitably minded members to do anything but accuse people of stealing the book and make cracks like "maybe you have ovarian cancer."

there's this one dude who works out at the y, he's fit admittedly but this dude will see other ppl (that he knows but not like that well) and be like 'that's not how you do it, here's how you do it' and then work in on the next set all grunting and going 'like this' over and over in this kind of randy savage tone. any way i make him sound worse than he is really, those dudes are humoring him, but two things he does that kind of amuse and befuddle me is he'll say 'this isn't a library, it's a barbecue' like there's some wisdom there? also, apropos of nothing, he'll occasionally just kinda blurt out 'tarantino!' it's like he has some kind of meathead tourette's.

loving your gym, balls. that is amazing.

lololol @ "this isn't a library, it's a barbecue"

We're not hitchhiking anymore! WE'RE RIDING!

TARANTINO!

'this isn't a library, it's a barbecue'

lol send this to @animatedtext

But I'm still really struggling with the power clean where do you feel your issues are with the clean ?

The long arms problem, still. I've been trying to get into the gym and practice with just the bar whenever I can, but no matter how narrow or wide I make my grip or whatever weird shit I do with my shoulders, I can't raise my elbows even close to parallel with the floor without jamming the bar into my neck.

"This isn't a library, it's a barbecue" is dumb oaf talk for "I grunt when I lift, get over it." Although I am somewhat sympathetic to the concept -- I hate getting dumb looks when I count a little louder on my last reps -- dudes who say stuff like this are ostentatious show-offs who grunt like porno dudes throughout their entire routine for no reason other than their own joy.

I'm ok with the idea of there being different kinds of gyms and that if you really really feel the need to grunt a lot you should go to a proper lifting gym.

Tbh to get to a good front rack with elbows up youre going to jam that bar in your throat and it's going to be somewhat uncomfortable.at least ime anyways. Xpost to TT

Working on just wrist flexibility helped me some though

x-post: as opposed to an improper lifting gym? If you have weights at your gym, you're going to have some people making sounds of exertion, I think. I am not advocating for the 'roided out maniac, but I don't get zero-tolerance-for-grunting gyms at all. I work out at a gym with competitive bodybuilders and competitive weight lifters, and it's not the grunt-fest you'd imagine for regular work-outs with these dudes -- it gets loud when they are entering their competition headspace, but otherwise, it's no louder (and sometimes less disruptive) than folks talking too much on the treadmills.

I think "proper lifting gym" is code for "any place other than where I am at" that said I don't find grunting to be a big deal, but specific dude cited above sounds annoying.

he sounds amazing.

I'm glad to have the library/BBQ mystery cleared up, but I'm still baffled by TARANTINO!

TARANTINO!

deadlift pr on saturday: 3x3 @ 255

not a whole lot on a global scale but it felt pretty good! def at the point where i feel my grip giving out before my back does

I hit 3x265 last week. My deadlift weirdly seems to progress faster than my other lifts. I wonder if I'm just built for it - short stout legs, long arms for my body.

I went for my first run tonight since i started seriously lifting -- granted it was perfect, cool running weather, but man, running is so much easier for me now, it's like my body just does what it's supposed to do and I don't have to drag it along.

Had a breakthrough with breathing today, really figured out how to use the inhale for stability and the exhale for explosiveness and got the timing better. Strength, endurance and speed were all improved.

i turn away from the mic to breathe in

i used to hold my breath with exertion but now i try to keep breathing all the time, breathe more not less, and do the ujayi yoga breathing where you don't lose your core. also getting more breath in more often. helps me get through the last squat or two with better form.

I only tried this on Bench and Squat so far, which is what I did today, but I started to take a full breath in before lowering the weight, lower the weight all the way with my breath sucked in, and then breathe out somewhat forcefully as I raise the weight -- it seems to make it easier for me to raise the weight, like my physical pushing is in line with my breath pushing. I'm not sure what the equivalent would be for deadlifts or pullups.

I also on some reps did a full breath in and out before doing another rep.

i think generally you want to breathe out when starting the positive part of the lift, so what you're doing sounds right to me. i used to hold my breath and then let it out slowly. since i tend to lift pretty slowly i would run out before hitting the top and kind of wilt. also lose some momentum at the bottom of the lift when i was holding my breath. i still breathe out when i start moving against gravity but i'm not afraid to take another breath while i'm pushing up through a squat or when i'm at the bottom of it, just to keep the energy high.

For a while I tried to inhale while lowering, which I think I read somewhere, but it seemed to just distract or weaken me. I prefer to get the inhale "out of the way" so I can focus on lowering the weight. Whereas exhaling seems to dovetail with the action of raising the weight.

yeah. that rhythm sounds familiar to me especially for bench press. i think finding a rhythm that works for you is good. with my squats, i just discovered recently that i needed more breathing at the bottom and up through the lift, probably because i do them so gd slow. deadlifts are more of a one-to-one ratio for me like bench. i like to imagine all sorts of things with breath though that aren't science-based at all, probably just focusing on it in whatever way keeps my attention in the right place.

so if you're keyed in to your breath like that i think it makes sense that it's helping you.

i hold my breath the whole time so as not to lose tension. sometimes i do 2 bench presses on one breath. kind of like swimming two lengths of the pool underwater.

If you people had trainers you wouldn't need to breathe at all.

Seriously, though -- the main thing is to breathe. I used to stick solidly to negative-inhale, positive-exhale, but there are a couple of exercises where I have started to reverse that so I can bend more deeply, and doesn't make me weaker. Then again, I am not doing the YOUTUBE POWERLIFTER ACTUALLY MORE THAN 3 REPS IS A GODDAM WASTE OF TIMES SISSIES program.

no i have a trainer that only specializes in breathing

I go to a breathing gym twice a week.

i pulled out some of my old theater training, been working on breathing into my belly instead of just inflating the upper chest. seemed to help; helps solidify your lower core

otm. I'm no trainer but i do a lot of OLY lifts and proper breathing control in critical.

is* critical

who knew voice lessons would help me get sw0le

Ordered a pair of SBD knee sleeves that came in the mail today. Holy shit where have they been all of my sw0le life?!

They're not like powerlifting wraps or anything that actually increase your number, but I've never been great at squatting and my knees are not the best. These sleeves keep them warm and tight and this is by far the best my knees have ever felt after squatting.

i did better breathing tonight thanks to all ur breath stories, high fives everyone

this knee sleeve sounds interesting, feel like the day is approaching when i'll want to try something like that.

http://www.alaskafit.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/v312.jpg

Deadlift to 295 today. Really wanted to add 5 for the even number but was losing form a little already.