thread of getting sw0le

and i would have to hang out with other grapplers

Grappling is great for fitness. Striking arts and sports are also great. Doing both grappling and striking is even better.

Injury risk depends a lot on what kind of activity you are doing, the coaching and instruction you're receiving, and how invested you are in competition. People tend to age out of MMA pretty young because of accumulated injuries and slower healing times. Traditional martial arts can be different -- there are plenty of karate, judo, and aikido lifers who stay active into their 70s and beyond. Talk about time intensive.

someone should invent a true paleo sport that combines steer roping, lumberjack skills, strongman and endurance dancing

― goole, Wednesday, May 18, 2016 11:13 AM (3 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

steer roping is agricultural man! That's not paleo!

Replace with chasing bison off cliffs

One of the big paleo guys was on TV a couple of years ago doing paleo hunting where you chase a deer until it dies of exhaustion.

loooooooooool

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KlT7kEXXaZk

I think this was it but it's not what I thought, they used weapons.

http://www.runnersworld.com/general-interest/watch-new-film-inspired-by-born-to-run-debuts-online

this is probably the other half of my memory - persistence hunting but no paleo guru

latter doc is on Netflix

christ, these people are psychotic.

i'm basically approximating a paleo diet but i refuse to call it that. "i'm on a low-carb diet / bread doesn't agree with me."

anyone have any good tips/vids about how to know your limit/avoid failure when bench pressing alone? I mean I'm never literally alone because I'm in a gym with people around and could call for a spot, but I'm still perhaps unreasonably afraid of failure, and as a result I don't think I'm pushing myself quite as hard as I should. But I kind of don't feel like I know how to tell when I'm walking the line.

I have no idea how to responsibly spot someone, so maybe ask someone nearby to be your buddy first, and make sure you know they're versed in lifting? I use some free weights but if I was nearby and tried spotting you I would likely accidentally drop it on your windpipe :(

this is really where having a few personal trainer sessions would be very useful

If you're not lifting a ton of weight, you can fail safely by yourself - look up the "roll of shame." Basically you lower it to your chest and roll it toward your legs until you can do a situp and roll it onto the floor.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fEUvI8Q6JDk

i've done that before. drag a flat bench into the rack and set the bars above your nose? smith machine bench? heavy db press? otherwise just ask those fucks to spot you. i've never asked for a spot and gotten anything but enthusiasm or at worst a grunt and nod. they're into it. good way to get into the gym crew and always helps to have some stranger shouting at you to keep the bar moving upwards.

i see tons of ppl do presses in the rack. i do the roll of shame, i wonder if there's a wriggle of shame where you're trying to do a pullover but you're at failure and so you're arms just stay down behind you and then your legs rise and you look like a baby getting it's diaper changed cuz i've done that too. i wonder how much of a difference there is really between doing presses w/ dumbbells vs barbells.

i'm switching to heavy db benches for a while because i have run into that same problem, plus lingering fear of lower back strain.

one rule of thumb i've read on an equivalence between barbell and dumbbell bench is: subtract the bar, and the remainder should feel about the same.

I saw a big difference in results when I started doing bar bench press and not just dumbbells, and it was apparent in how much more I could dumbbell press when I tried it after a few months of bar pressing. I'm not sure why -- maybe because with dumbbell press you have to focus more of your energy on just stabilizing the weights and can't focus it all into pressing?

maybe cos u got stronger man who knows!!

I know, just saying that I got stronger a lot faster in a few months of bench pressing then in doing dumbbell presses for much longer.

interesting

I feel like a dumbass because I've been having upper back pain on the reg that disappears with cracking and foam rolling, was on the verge of buying some of those crazy devices like the table/chair where you hang upside down and shit. (tbh I might find one on Craigslist anyway, that just looks fun if I can get it for $25)

Then I remembered that when I had shoulder/deltoid/bicep pain I fixed it doing one arm doorway stretches for my chest... tried them with both arms (elbows parallel to shoulders, forearms vertical on door frame, push in). Hurt like hell doing it for 60 seconds a few times a day for the last couple of days but I haven't had to crack my back at all. Should have thought harder about this weeks ago.

Have worked my way past the last sticking point on my squat (175)- my last two workouts were 180 and 185, though I feel like I tweaked the tendon or whatever it is just above my right kneecap today, so I'm going to slow down and do 2.5 lb jumps for a bit instead of 5. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a little disappointed in the results after deloading and eating more, but on the plus side, tracking my weight, I've found that I can almost certainly eat a little more without suffering for it (my weight gain over the last ~20 days with a weigh-in every other day has been pretty much within the margin of error; there is an upward trend but it's barely over a pound), without class I'm able to get back on a Monday/Wednesday/Friday schedule conducive to doing my local gym's beginner yoga classes twice a week, and while I haven't made as much progress as I'd like with it, I think I'm on the right track by doing light front squats as a supplemental exercise. If I can get to a non-awkward rack position, I'm going to try and switch to power cleans, but for now I think it's helping me stabilize higher weights on the back squat.

Up to 195! Upper back started to round toward the end, though, and that seems like the express train to Injurytown, so I might need to put a temporary hold on the 5-pound jumps until I have that under control :(

the battle against back rounding is my biggest lifting issue, both for squats and, lately, deadlifts. I mildly strained my lower back at deadlifts of 285 last time bc of bad form, was ok after a couple days but need to be careful.

tweaked my back a little yesterday deadlifting :(

i really need to commit to some kind of off-day flexibility routine for hamstrings. it's been my biggest problem forever.

The standard advice for back rounding in squats seems to be narrowing your grip to force the shoulders in and chest up. Going to try that on Wednesday and see how it goes.

Oof. Yeah, it did not go well. I went against my own advice and went up five pounds, and experienced two things- tightness in the lower back, even during the warmup sets, and my first truly heavy squat failure. I'm glad I remembered to bring the safety bars up, because I fell over forwards on the upward portion of a squat, taking an extra 200 pounds with me.

I think most of the back tightness and some of the failure can be attributed to walking four miles, half of it with a backpack full of library books, but even then, it's depressing. Took the rest of the workout off, going to get a full night's sleep, a big meal or two and try again early in the morning at the same weight before any heavy activity.

ugh that sucks!

one thing about working out at the university student center is it's full of fucking kids. oh well, pros and cons.

i'm back to doing this full-on bodybuilder split 5 days a week chest/back/shoulders/legs/arms thing instead of 3 days a week squats/bench/row, deads/pull-ups/shoulder press, cleans/lunges/romanian deads. still doing all those but adding bodybuilder-y pump-em-up lifts, drop sets, isolation exercises, even *shudder* cable exercises. stuff that doesn't feel like you're doing anything until suddenly you hit failure. then the next day it's like wow this particular muscle is very sore. i wonder how long i can keep it up / not get bored / tired this time.

Seems like last week's "back" tweak was more of a hip-flexor thing -- started to get some pain again in that area when I squatted yesterday and it's been bothering me a bit since then, not excruciating but getting pain in certain positions. Hip flexors have always been tight for me, so obviously need to work on mobility.

hope you all take care of yourselves and get back to lifting safely / well soon! warrior poses, happy baby pose are v. good to my hips fwiw.

The worst thing actually for me is sitting -- I can really feel it doing wrong to my hips (not just now but even before the tweak) but i haven't found a way to sit that avoids the problem. May be time to get that standing desk.

Yep, here come the injuries. Good luck, rugged independent men of the future.

I think it's probably time for me to recognize the hubris of being a mid-30s guy lifting three times a week but being sedentary on other days. Maybe I'll finally take a yoga class.

The other thing I personally hate to admit but have had to accept is that once you're over 34 or so (YMMV), you are way more weather sensitive -- barometric pressure and humidity have much bigger effects on how fatigued muscles feel -- the combination of a heavy back workout and bad weather moving in will make me feel old the next day, but stretching and making sure every thing still moves where and how it should really helps.

Seems like last week's "back" tweak was more of a hip-flexor thing you really going to need to rest for a bit , recently had a hip-flexor strain that nagged for a long time until i shut down the squats for like a month.

being mid-30s myself i've only recently reconciled myself to the fact that the good majority of time in my workouts will be taken up by warming up (at least 20 mins of low intensity cardio on top of warm up sets) and stretching. also i try to schedule any hip-intensive workouts on days when i know i can avoid sitting in a chair for long periods of time for at least the next few days. it sucks.

The other thing I personally hate to admit but have had to accept is that once you're over 34 or so (YMMV), you are way more weather sensitive -- barometric pressure and humidity have much bigger effects on how fatigued muscles feel -- the combination of a heavy back workout and bad weather moving in will make me feel old the next day, but stretching and making sure every thing still moves where and how it should really helps.

― Three Word Username, Thursday, 26 May 2016 07:14 (8 hours ago) Permalink

Oh man, this is so true. It got much hotter and more humid in the last few days and it had a huge effect on my workout and how I felt. As Ryan noted, longer warmups would also probably be wise for me.

And yeah, I'm definitely going to stop squatting/deadlifting until I don't feel the strain at all anymore, although even yesterday vs today I feel a big improvement.

turning 33 in a few months :((((((

Made it through the workout with 200lb squats today, but I had to rack the bar and take a little mini-break during the last two sets. I'm taking the full two-day rest off for the weekend- and maybe three, come to think of it; need to find out if my gym is open for Memorial Day- eating yet more (up to 3200 calories*) and a few other considerations.

I reread the troubleshooting sections for each of the major lifts in the SS book, and made some adjustments to my foot angle, stance width, knee tracking and back posture, and started using THE VALSALVA MANEUVER (which, come on, I can't not say in a silly voice, it sounds like some Star Trek shit). I'm thinking about trying to find a legit coach for one or two sessions to check my form, but I would have no idea how to do it. Had some lateral knee pain, not on or around the patella (which would have had me worried enough to stop squatting for a while) but along the ligaments or tendons or whatever running vertically on the outward-facing sides of my knees. It's completely gone after a few hours, so I'm not super worried, but I've also started thinking about getting some real lifting shoes instead of Chucks- arch support is one thing, but apparently proper lifting shoes also have heel depressions to keep the foot steady. I pronate my feet unconsciously just walking, so doing it under 200 extra pounds of pressure can't be good for me in the long run.

Also made a huge breakthrough in overhead press when I realized I'd been wasting my time for months- I must have skimmed the chapter the first time, because the very first step in it is to use a grip sufficiently narrow that the forearms are completely vertical. Fixing that let me zoom through 85 pounds like it was nothing whereas last week I was struggling to finish the third set at 82.5, and I'm excited about finally making progress there again.

*re: food, I'm also trying to do macros instead of just counting calories, not eating crap, and trying to get enough protein. I figure it couldn't hurt, and fixing the percentage of my caloric intake that was taken up by fat (instead of the recommended 40/40/20 protein/carbs/fat, my fat was up in the high 30s most days) just makes more room for either protein or low-GI carbs, which has to be helpful for lifting over the long run. Especially now that I've gotten over a lifelong dislike of sweet potatoes and found that a baked yam drowning in hot sauce is THE BEST FOOD.

i think i lost 2 ~actual~ lbs w/ my consistency lately. i always, always stay the same weight +/- 2 lbs and i'm below my normal threshold now. trying to drink less wine.
we just got a new water cooler at work that our agency is paying for and there is delivery of the water but before that my supervisor would buy the water at sam's club and i got the privilege of carrying it from her trunk and now that there's delivery i don't get to do that anymore. it was funny she'd be like "do you need me to move closer to the door" and i'd go "NO!" i mean it's only like 45 lbs but still. at least the new ones have handles so i can pick up two now, there's just nowhere to carry them.

I feel like I have this chain of poor alignment that emanates from the persistent tightness behind my right shoulder blade and connects to periodic stiffness in my lower back and hips. Don't know if I need a chiropracter, surgery, yoga, or what.

those kinds of problems can be incredibly difficult to figure out. took me years to figure out that my sciatic nerve pain issued from tightness in my calf which created a chain reaction up my leg to my lower back. best to address things like that as holistically as possible.

decided that, at 36 with lordosis and thus persistent and maybe permanent posture issues, i can only do "sumo" style squats and deadlifts from now on. on the plus side, lately i've been living quite the swole lifestyle and been adding quite a bit of muscle and feel great.

I may eventually reach the point that I just give up on back squats if I can't figure it out. Deadlifts are much less of a problem for me, although the shoulder blade tightness sometimes interferes with keeping my upper back tight.

weird twinges lately at the edge of things, a tiny pinprick in my lower stomach, a slender filament of calf muscle that yelps in heavy lifts

Thread of getting sw0ld

I got kind of put off at the gym the other day. Just going through my usual routine (I'm not a swole guy, just trying to stay fit etc). Suddenly there's a trainer
'hey buddy, what you doing there? What sort of exercise is that??'. Turns out it was a stomach exercise I'd been taught by another instructor.
'That is an exercise but it's for people who are already buff - keep doing that, you'll injure yourself'. Fair enough. He then insists on giving me a big sales spiel/impromptu training session that I really didn't want,
'I can make you gain weight, lose weight, whatever you want' blah blah. Anyway, I made my excuses and cut my gym session short. I don't really like being instructed, it feels like ritual humiliation to me. Don't mind someone showing me a few exercises and letting me get on with it. I got three free training sessions when I signed up and I've only used on of them for that reason.
Also a bit alarming that one trainer would teach me one thing and another one would come along and say it's dangerous. For what it was worth, the exercise was most probably damaging my knees quite badly and I'd all but given it up.

What's a good stomach/abs exercise for novicey types?

I kind of hate when self-appointed instructors give me tips at the gym, although occasionally if I get past my embarrassment I actually do learn something.

Anyway the wisdom right now on abs seems to be that crunch-type exercises are bad for the spine, and it's better to do stuff like plank. I don't see any reason why plank would be bad for a novice.

The new trainer is full of shit and wanted to sell you on some training sessions.

If you're capable of doing an exercise, it's not for "people who are already buff" - if you're badly doing something too advanced, okay, but it doesn't sound like that was the case.

http://www.theonion.com/article/hillary-clinton-sets-personal-single-rep-squat-rec-52967