thread of getting sw0le

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.

(and by "pretty big," I of course mean scrawny)

look!

https://theawl.com/the-awlcast-returns-4385f425d20f#.za30c4pow

i like the swole woman but the dude on that podcast needs to not be there. annoying. speaking of annoying, i made the mistake of going later in the day yesterday and fanny pack was there and despite my best efforts to avoid him he kept talking to me. he was like "how have you been? haven't seen you in a while!" i was like i've been going in the morning [intentionally, because you're not there in the morning]" then he was asking me if it's hard to get used to going in the afternoon after going in the morning. no. i know i'm a rude person but why can't people understand when you aren't interested in talking to them? i was watching him decline bench as his butt lifted off the bench and his fanny pack kept going up and down.

as i try different times though i realize it's impossible to avoid being in the gym at the same time as whatever man feels the need to make tons of noise and drop weights on the ground for no reason. there are 4 of them now.

i want to be the boss of the gym and ban people who break my arbitrary rules

i need to figure out how to get swole while my dumb leg is in a brace

i know i'm a rude person but why can't people understand when you aren't interested in talking to them?

this is a key question, about life

sorry about your leg gb :(

Still terrible at squatting, but pleased to note that over an interminable 6-ish months of slow cutting I lost about 20 pounds. It's to the point where my squat has deteriorated noticeably and my other lifts are starting to slip, so I'm going back to eating a surplus again and trying the Texas Method- I get the impression that there's no "best" intermediate program, so I might as well pick one that seems to cater to my issues with consistent day-to-day levels of effort. Light day! YAY

it must suck to be a woman at the gym. despite mine being really busy, one of the added bonuses for me is that it's time where I can be left alone with my thoughts and don't have to talk to people. from what my female friends tell me, this isn't really an option for them

in other news I had a pt session last week (rare, because as I say, I don't like having any interaction with ANYONE at the gym if I can help it). anyway, I got shown the triangle method of trying fewer, much harder reps in a set, and it's worked wonders. even my bicep curl seems to have improved overnight. using the barbell to squat too, whereas I was doing goblet squats before.

that is something about life in general as a woman, not just the gym. and i should note that the vast majority of people at my gym do leave me alone.

yeah it's only because someone I know specifically mentioned the gym as a place they get a lot of 'social interest' being displayed, but she said it in such a matter-of-fact way ('some people see the gym as a social club') that it through stuff into perspective as that's absolutely not my personal experience. I do notice it happening around me though - there's always a lot of chat around the rowing machines for some reason

*threw

thx goole

i have been cleared to use machines while seated, which offends my sensibilities, but i'll manage

machines?? i'll need to see some sw0lthorization for that

i'll grant a waiver

it's only temporary i swear

*crosses arms like mr clean* can you at least stick to cables

the gym was HORRIBLE tonight. it's really warm and humid right now so it was extra hot in there. it didn't help there were like 900 people there including my second least favorite screaming nutcase. last week i gave him the stinkeye and i think he noticed. my stinkeye is extra bad. also a guy was there with his girlfriend and he took the barbell off the bench press and got on the scale with it to weigh it. i wanted to just tell him but i felt it might embarrass him more.

i live for harbl's gym stories. honestly.

haha i didn't know they were that good! picture this guy. maybe 27 years old. he is short and stocky. he wears basketball shorts he kind of rolls down on top and he walks with his butt and stomach sticking out. his workouts consist of anything that is too heavy for him and his program seems to require that he throw the weights on the ground. yesterday he "curled" something like 120 pounds by just thrusting his whole body a few times. then he put the bar back in the decline bench loudly and turned to the mirror, flexed, and went YEAH! he can't lift anything without going HRRRRRGH. he also did some kind of shrug in the smith machine and kept dropping the bar there too. it's too much for me.

what is the logic behind doing an exercise such as a dumbbell row but you are doing it about 20 lbs too heavy so you can only do like 4 reps before throwing it? just because you are a man?

it's part of our weekly checklist iirc

harbl this is appalling

rolling down the top of his shorts, what

meanwhile i joined a gym that's basically a west hollywood club.

24hr fitness in west hollywood is disgusting last time i checked (admittedly over a year ago)

this place has a rooftop pool and has to be at least 60% gay men.

It's a gym in West Hollywood.

well male bodybuilding is still associated with gay culture in parts of the us and in some parts of the world (asians still believe weight lifting is a gay person sport) so i wouldn't be too surprised

p sure more gay men are preoccupied with staying fit compared to straight men though

i am a rebel in that regard

(asians still believe weight lifting is a gay person sport)

what

this is in washington dc by the way. it's called VIDA. overall it's a great gym. very expensive. i would not be able to afford this place normally but someone i'm close to works there. sometimes it seems like there's more staring, socializing, and checking cell phones than you would see at a normal gym but that's probably just my perception. i would rather be at a gold's or w/e but it's really convenient. on the wall of the entrance to the men's locker room there's a giant print of a smooth pec-y torso from the late 90s, which i think is pretty funny. it's the cruisiest locker room i've ever been in. no lewd acts though, it's too rich for that.

they have some really nice barbell racks and platforms but the dumbbells are strangely bad with plastic-y grips. i've gone way down on my squats and deadlifts again but have managed to make it there 2-3 x a week in spite of moving to a new city, starting a new relationship and a new job and with all of that the hardest part, trying to put together some semblance of a diet.

good luck to you in all that!

sometimes it seems like there's more staring, socializing, and checking cell phones than you would see at a normal gym

― The times they are a changing, perhaps (map), Wednesday, February 8, 2017 11:53 AM (fourteen seconds ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

men are more forward regardless of sexual orientation

same thing happened to me in west hollywood

gold's is p good tho, but have heard they are more popular among gay men

xp

xp thanks goole. :). i've found myself thinking about harbl's gym a few times since i moved here just because baltimore is not very far away.

my gym is just the Y!

and Y not?

just moved from goblet squats to barbell squats. i have a very sore neck this morning, a dull pain like a headache in the back of my neck, so i must be doing something wrong. probably placing the bar too high and not enough on my back/shoulders

read up on high-bar vs low-bar squats.

low-bar is the canonical sw0le style but a little harder to master at first. you can lift more with it, though.

i loved the gym today. i just wanted to stay forever.