thread of getting sw0le

miscalculated my plate mathematics and ended up with a PR for my squat today, so that was nice

Finally realized my right knee shouldn't be falling inwards on the squat and my knees should't hurt all the time and my *right hip shouldn't pop like a rubber band what the actual fuck*

So instead of ignoring those for years and accepting I'm never going to break 185 on the squat, went to the damn doctor like an adult and got a referral for a physical therapist. Going to see how this shakes out; Actual Doctor says I have abnormally tight hamstrings, and Dr. Google says it might be IT band problems.

good move

years ago, a few weeks of PT taught me how to manage knee/hip problems that I'd thought might require surgery ... that experience really changed the way I think about training

Apparently I just have super, super, SUPER tight and locked-up hamstrings and calves and hips. I went home with a couple of sheets of stretches (one sheet for the legbones and all that is attached to them, one for my shoulders, neck & back) and a few more appointments to keep tabs. I'm kind of excited! There's apparently no sign of injury or anything that could prevent full recovery so long as I'm conscientious about doing this every day and not slouching like a hunchback all the goddamn time; I regret not doing this forever ago but it's always nice to un-fuck something up.

don't forget to strengthen your butt too. that helped me with the hip turning in. i have been to the gym 10 times since thanksgiving. i really did do a great job since june-ish 2016. i wouldn't say my bench press is anywhere near impressive but it's been exploding lately & i love to bench press. i don't even feel compelled to play the biggest loser at work this year. i never lose anything anyway. i'll just eat and get sw0le instead.

bench is totally my bête noire. i wish i knew a way to "explode" my bench or get into it and succeed the way i have w the squat. i'm unfeasibly strong in my legs and core but still such a twerp up top.

Less weight more reps for a little while. Maybe mix it up -- no flat bench for a bit, but inclined bench + a good pecs machine.

Yeah try variations in lift speed, isolate specific parts of the lift, pauses, push ups, etc. Also bench is one exercise where it really benefits to have a spotter. I'm sure there were a lot of reps I quit on because I was afraid of leaving bar on my chest where if I had someone there I probably could have finished with minimal assistance.

harbl, anything you'd recommend for The Butt? I'm still doing more or less Starting Strength (which is heavy on squats and DLs); I was hoping that an intensive recuperation/stretching program would help me progress on the squats again after stalling out at around 185 at 198 lbs body weight. Right now I'm at about 165 lb work sets at 180 lb body weight, which isn't a *terrible* decline, but I'd really like to keep that number from slipping any further.

I did get the go-ahead from my physiotherapist to keep up the hip abduction machine and Roman chair back extensions I added in the last couple of sessions, since those are supposed to be good for the gluteus medius, which is a major factor in knee tracking and hip strength, so I'm going to keep doing those every session and trying to progress on them.

anything you'd recommend for The Butt?

dumbbell lunges are good for this

i do side-lying clams in my warm up w/ squeezed butt, 20 reps per side, glute bridges, one leg glute bridges, 45 deg hyperextensions (NOT arching my back at the top, i try to keep the low back out of it) for 3 sets of 20 or less reps w/ a 25 or 30 lb dumbbell

also lunges and bulgarian split squats (ow)

re: bench pressing, higher reps dumbbell bench presses all summer are def what helped

like i work up to 3 sets of 10 w/ the weight i'm on because it's slow to progress 5 lbs per arm, then step down and do another set of 10 or so

i do side-lying clams in my warm up w/ squeezed butt

the cadence of this is almost joycean

haha

just realized this is unclear, as if it matters: "3 sets of 20 or less reps w/ a 25 or 30 lb dumbbell" that was meant to be 3 sets of 20, unweighted, or fewer reps with a dumbbell

i was at the gym on sat at like 5 and barely anyone was there and the security guard came and was like "you're the lucky best exerciser of the day!" and gave me a free tiny ymca towel

except for the guy with the fanny pack that i am trying to plot how to ban from the gym

the guy AND the fanny pack are banned

Congrats on this prestigious award!

Did you give an acceptance speech, that might have been a good time to work in some anti fanny-pack-guy rhetoric.

haha. i can't tell how the gym staff feels about him. he is always talking to them. and he attempts to talk to me. that day we had the sleet and freezing rain event but it had ended around 10 and the roads were totally fine a couple hours later. when i got there he was like "did you drive here? how are the roads?" i told them they're fine but thought wtf guy have you been here since 7 am or is this just the dumbest question you could think of? he is always making tons of noise lifting more weight than he should be like RARRRRRRGHHHGHGHGHGH and then making a little "woo!" when he's resting. i'm bigger than him. lol. and why the fanny pack? why why why?

i went 14 times between thanksgiving and now. or was it 16? then i got bronchitis and had xmas travel. i never like to go to the gym in january but i guess i'll go tomorrow.

i mean i got bronchitis starting like a week ago and was working too much before that too so i haven't been in two weeks now!

i was the 5th person in the gym today. i still don't have full lung function. it was hard. in 2017 i really am going to do a pullup. and i'm going to bench 50 lb dumbbells for 3 sets of 10. that one's not really so far away i think....maybe.

goals for this year:
215 incline press max
20 consecutive pull ups (this may be impossible)
225 squat max

Maybe I will do a full push up this year, but probably not. Why the fuck are they so hard for me?

for me too. tall ladies problems.

except for the guy with the fanny pack that i am trying to plot how to ban from the gym

misread this as "the guy with the fanny pack that i am trying to plow"

trying to plow with a snowplow, not trying to have sex wth

with, but also wth

The gym is always so crowded after the new year. Especially at one of the gyms I go it, it really stresses me out. I hate feeling like I have to fight to use a machine or weight

how is everyone doing in this crowded season

shouts to the middle-aged dude -- in pretty impressive shape, mind you -- lifting in kidskin gardening gloves

i went swimming today

Not crowded in my tiny spare room where I do things (not pilates) myself. I also work out in my underwear and barefoot because why not.

I have decided I hate all mat pilates stuff and I'm just not gonna. At all. Possibly ever again.

i have been 5 times. it hasn't been too bad. except this one guy showed up saturday morning. i have never seen him before. things were quiet and then he started running around like a caveman and throwing weights and going RRRRRRRRARRR HRRRRRGH *clunk* GGGGGRRRRRR. very rude imo.

i don't think i'm going to accomplish my goal of 16 times in january. at most 14. i have been 10. that's still almost 50% of the days! i got sleep deprived and busy last week and worked for 8 hours yesterday so i failed. i'm doing a good job though. very sw0le.

i am doing a cobbled-together 2-day version of the 5/3/1 system, with a lot of low-weight assistance reps (the BBB or "boring but big" variation). i'm starting with weights really very low on some of the major lifts, trying to give an uncooperative hip and hamstrings a lot of work without crazy shocks or strains. it's been fun so far!

hi sw0le, every 6-8 weeks I need to switch up my gym routine (right? this is how it works?), and I basically have someone give me a list of things to do.

What is a good quick way to learn about and understand how all of this works so that I can easily develop e new routine that will work w/ the limits of my body (extremely limited range of joint motion due to medical condition, etc)? Don't say Starting Strength.

There's no reason to change your gym routine until you're not making progress on what you're doing.

I'm not making progress AND I'm also using too many machines and want to work more towards free weights.

I mean re: 'every 6-8 weeks I need to switch up my gym routine' - a beginner can set a routine and probably not deviate for at least a year (whether free weights or machines, if the machines go high enough).

I can't really help re: range of mobility but I think something like this is useful: http://danjohn.net/2014/09/five-movements-that-will-make-an-impact-overnight/

Specifically the '5 movements' idea. You can take that and fit whatever exercises you can do into it.

Carries - literally just carry two dumbbells or kettlebells for a set amount of distance/laps, increase weight as you get better at it
Squat - you don't have to barbell back squat - bodyweight squats are good, goblet squats (squatting holding a dumbbell to your chest)
Pull - rows - whether inverted where you pull your bodyweight up to a bar or traditional barbell row; pull-ups are also one obvs.
Push - overhead press/bench press
Hinge - deadlift/KB swing are the major ones

Pull and push are the easiest to do on a machine and for mobility compromises I don't think there's anything wrong with pressing and rowing on a machine (esp. if your gym has the plate-loaded Nautilus/Hammer Strength style)

I get the 'no Starting Strength' thing - IMO, unless you're a kid wanting to gain mass to play football, it beats you up too much, specifically barbell squats. For more detail and to get someone to fit a program to your abilities/compromises, you probably need to find one good trainer in your city to spend an hour going over things and designing a simple program.

There's no reason to pay someone to continually change your program up. Build a foundational program around that stuff and you'll be on the same plan for a year.

in January i've managed to go from attending gym an average of 2-3 times a week to 4-5 and I'm already feeling/seeing results. it's time consuming though and while I'm enjoying it more than ever, I don't know how easy it'll be to keep it up, especially when the summer comes and there'll be more impetus to go to a pub garden in the evenings.

still, it feels good and I'm pretty proud of it. I weigh less than I have done in probably about 10 years and I'm actually noticing a little muscle appearing.

not sure if there's anything I should do outside of workouts to help things along. I eat fairly healthily anyway - protein / vegetable rich diet etc. my workouts tend to last about 90 minutes - mostly machine weights, squats, coreball exercises for now with a bit of cardio thrown in for good measure.
I'm still quite far off what I'd like to be health-wise. I'm down to about 181lbs fr about 190 last year. it's only really recently happened too. I didn't used to be able to run for any length of time but now I find it increasingly easy and my endurance is getting a lot better but I still find about 10mins of constant running fairly exhausting.
some weights are getting a lot easier and I am slowly increasing the weight on those exercises.
weirdly, some things are just as difficult as ever and some things actually feel harder than when I started out. bicep curls for example (I use a machine) I end up failing on on the third set whereas I swear it never used to happen. triceps are much easier.
I also hurt my back about a week ago. I wasn't working out, I was cleaning my trainers in the bath and felt a twinge and ended up having to take the next day off work.
I wonder if I'm doing enough to strengthen my core. my posture has always been dreadful which is half the reason I started going to the gym in the first place, but I only know a few core exercises which I've been doing for years and years anyway.

failing sooner may mean you need a couple days of rest, imo. i find curls to be pretty hard though. i don't really progress on them. my ceps get bigger still.

men explain things to me: gym edition

was it fanny pack man

I wonder if I'm doing enough to strengthen my core. my posture has always been dreadful which is half the reason I started going to the gym in the first place, but I only know a few core exercises which I've been doing for years and years anyway.

maybe try planking every day. set a time record for how long you last and keep trying to beat it. it might be worth seeing a personal trainer for 4/5 sessions - just to give you ideas about how to work. they aren't necessarily really expensive.

it was not fanny pack man because i purposely go in the morning now on the weekends just to avoid him :)

Unabashed newbie req: seeking app recommendations to help generate routines/tracking. I can not afford personal training and also am still a pretty big novice.