thread of getting sw0le

there's a woman who comes in to pedal the stationary bike with a comical slowness, just endless reserves of lethargy in this woman, and she reads a novel while she does it. she's been doing this for at least 3 years now. the novel nut.

I remember posting somewhere about exactly this phenomenon -- there's a special kind of passive aggressiveness to it.

there's a few people who do that on an elliptical at my Y. should start a new group class fad that's just 40 mins of siberian trudging

"Ok fine, society, I'll go to the gym, but don't expect me to get anything out of it!"

oh, fanny pack was back yesterday. i again changed the time i went. about 2 hours later than on saturday. he did the same. there is a guy there who is friends (?) with him and he is hearing impaired, and they talk to each other, both loudly but for different reasons. he says, "oh, it's great to see you bench pressing! let me know if you need a spot. any time. i mean it." NO. he and his friend did seriously the worst deadlifts i had ever seen. he was telling the friend, "no, squat down lower." because they were squatting down so low it was a struggle to get 145 pounds off the ground. there was lots of loud grunting. the only serious powerlifter in the gym was there and he was telling him something, and fanny pack said "thanks for the tips, man," not having internalized any of these tips.

something weird i have observed, is there is an elderly korean man who does that same kind of aimless lethargic cardio and talks to himself. it's fine, he's old. but fanny pack, who is also korean (though born in the u.s. or came here as a child) has these brief interactions with him where he talks to him as if he doesn't think anyone is watching, and i think he may be being mean to the guy. i cannot figure it out. he said something to him just before leaving yesterday.

i don't remember how to increase dumbbell bench press. trying to get more reps with the 45s and i can only do 2 or so, maybe 3, and they feel impossibly heavy. but that's how it felt to start with the 40s, iirc. i just can't understand how to do it. i can row the 45 a bunch of times pretty strictly. dumbbell row is my favorite thing lol.

i've been doing 1-arm rows with the bar in one of those lever socket things. getting your feet right is kind of a trick, since you have to row through an arc and not a straight line against gravity.

harbl: can you like stair-step it? if you're in a 3x5 mode, say, do the first set with 45s at however many you can, then finish the last 2x5 at 40?

that said: does anyone here mess with periodization (like 5/3/1 or something)?

― gbx, Monday, September 18, 2017 3:13 PM (three days ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

i'm doing this on a few of my lifts now, and i don't think i like it much? take it w/ a big grain of salt bc i'm v deloaded and rebuilding on a couple of them, but:

1. it's fun to pull heavy triples and singles but idk if it's enough work
2. the working set is really supposed to be "as many as possible, with 5 or 3 or 1 the minimum for success" and i really just don't have that kind of mind, i like a specific target
3. set-aside deload weeks are nice every month (instead of doing one when you get stuck) but again i can't tell if these are well timed relative to 'progress'
4. i'm still a 'novice' and might be forever; the program is prob best geared to someone whose maxes are already pretty high where something more linear is just impossible.

my plan is to stick w/ it for the rest of the year and see how i feel then.

yes goole that sounds good. could do like 2 sets of 2 and 2 sets of 5 or something. i am improving very much at my negative chin-ups now. verrrrrrry verrrrrry slowwwwwwww descent.

i'm gonna try a couple months of the 5/3/1 "boring but big" template, which is the 5/3/1 working sets followed by 5x10 at a much lighter weight. i share goole's concerns about volume but i think i've been pushing too hard and compromising recovery this summer, to the point where my linear progress has slowed to a crawl (and i'm not lifting that heavy).

anyway i wrapped up my current program today and start the 5/3/1 on monday, i'll let yall know how fuckin jacked i get

i also want to try his "building the monolith" 6-week program at some point purely b/c it's a good name

today fanny pack asked why don't use whatever that bar pad thing is when i squat. then he was helping some women on the machines.

this guy is really something else

oh yeah also he was on his weighted dips again. a guy came and asked if he could do dips too. he was like "yeah, i'm lifting some heavy weights, i need a lot of time to recover." a simple "yes" would suffice, you ass.

in non-fanny pack news i squatted the most i have ever for 5 reps and it was after 2 other sets of 5 where i also squatted the most i had ever, at the time

*applause*

Builiding the Monolith diet -

all ate at least 1.5 pound of ground beef a day and ate one dozen whole eggs a day

oh god the farts

today fanny pack asked why don't use whatever that bar pad thing is when i squat. then he was helping some women on the machines.

― assawoman bay (harbl), Saturday, September 23, 2017 3:46 PM (two days ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

https://media.giphy.com/media/Jlsz81x2c62Vq/giphy.gif

this is unholy.

Meal 1

8 whole eggs
4 pieces bacon
4 pieces toast
2 bananas
Meal 2
1 pound ground beef mixed with marinara sauce and some kind of pasta
Meal 3
2 Double Cheeseburgers
French Fries
Meal 4
6 whole eggs
.5 pound of taco seasoned ground beef
Cheese/lettuce/tomatoes/taco sauce
Combine all of this and make egg/meat burrito

hey remember when ilx fitness people were all cyclists, what happened with that

too hard to get all that ground beef into my camelbak

how many squeezes of agave nectar go in your 8 egg scramble

hey remember when ilx fitness people were all cyclists, what happened with that

― goole, Tuesday, 26 September 2017 3:09 AM (two hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I, for one, started falling apart from the ankles upwards, which led me to Pilates.

I love it, if I did anything in the weight room I would injure myself on a weekly basis. So this way I get to exercise in a controlled environment with my tassie Disney princess of an instructor (she played Cinderella at Tokyo Disney) giving me ever tougher routines. The results are fantastic, not swole, but I have abs, core strength and can walk down the street without spraining my ankles (and do pull-ups which was unimaginable a year ago).

I should get back on the bike though, really feeling the lack of cardio in my life right now.

i just want to backtrack for a second and gape at harbl hefting up 2x45lb dumbell presses. applause.gif indeed

yeah but the thing is like, i can't really. i'm stuck on 40s! but i should stop and think about how much improvement i made. when i was in college i could not bench press the 45 lb bar. need to look through my logz but i had a hard time doing the 30s not so so long ago. i can do the 45s, sometime soon. i wanted to do the 50s by the end of the year. lol.

it feels extra good to go beyond 40s w/ dumbbell row though because when i first was able to do it i was like this is one entire bag of dog food :)

I do 12/10/8/6, increasing 5kg per set, and if I get the last set clean I do a final set to failure and increase the starting weight next time. It works extremely well for me. I'd rather get stronger and bigger than know "how much can you deadlift, dudebro?!?" but that's just me.

i think i need some suggestions on how to get rid of fanny pack. i can't take it anymore. tried to go even earlier yesterday so he wouldn't be there but i was wrong again. he immediately approached me to talk about the weather and ask if i am on a different "program" (no, go away). then he was telling some kids that "at a different gym" he used to row the 110 lb dumbbell but they only go up to 100 here so "this is just a warmup for me." the way he does rows i am surprised he has any elbows. he is too small to be doing that, too. he then comes up to me again and says that he is inspired to do some squatting after i'm done but he needs to do some running too, it's ok because he's used to it. he used the bar pad and rapidly quarter squatted 95 lbs, the same amount he was rowing, fanny pack bobbing up and down all the while. i was cringing too hard to look at him and didn't want him to see me in the mirror. i just know it was bad. something is wrong with this guy, in his brain.

i wish i had advice but i don't. boundary-free weirdos are the worst and they often seem to like me :/

i feel like i should learn cleans but i'd really like to be coached through that

Man, I was feeling all happy for having dropped 5 lbs just from adding a 7 minute walk into my work commute and virtually halting my beer consumption but y'all are several levels beyond that

Maybe by 2019 I will feel not-gross enough to go back into a gym

not trying to get all self-help on the thread but this is a thing i have learned: if i wait until i "feel like it" or feel not-gross, i will never go, because i will never feel like it and i am always gross. i have the worst procrastinator brain of anyone i know but i have managed to train it to ignore most excuses not to go. also i reminded my brain enough times that calendars and weeks are fake, so that i will not say "i will start over on monday" (this may be why the gym is the worst on mondays?), *now* is a suitable time to start over always, and levels are fake. there is always someone 900 levels past me but i am also 1 billion levels ahead of my former self, because my levels are miniscule. YOU CAN DO IT! i mean even once a week is several levels up from 0 times.

i had the best time at the gym today

^^^extremely valuable post

Sure is. Also, starting this stuff makes you feel better before you look better, which makes you look better, which makes you feel etc.

good post harbl

welp i've got plantar fascitis :/

ugh so much suck, sorry man. Takes forever to heal. What's your game plan?

lots of stretching my calf and heel. elevating my foot when i can. laying off the squats :( :( :(

there seem to be equally vociferous schools of thought about arch support. one side says you need srs orthotics and never walk barefoot; the other side says barefoot all the time or those vibram toe-sock things (i'd rather just go ahead and die)

sorry about the squats :(

i did not accomplish a chin-up by my birthday but i did do 3 sets of 3 45 lb db bench presses. the last rep of the last two sets was a bit ehh but still solid.

damn sorry tracer :(

yeah it's pretty maj!

i'm choosing to see it as my body telling me to focus on something else besides lifts for awhile. and stretch more. and learn better posture. it's all connected. what's bumming me out the most is i basically can't run. which is a problem for playing tennis, or football w my kids. when i was little my dad was best friends with a guy who wouldn't play b-ball with us because he had "bad feet". i wonder if that was this. i am just going to be diligent with the stretching and rolling (a baseball under the sole is perfect) for the next couple of weeks and see where i get to. i don't have a lot of the other stuff that can exacerbate it like being overweight, having a bad diet, fallen arches etc, so i'm optimistic.

harbl sounds like you unlocked BEAST MODE

i did HOT YOGA yesterday w my gf and got owned pretty thoroughly

one of the things that was the hardest and hurt the most was what it did to my feet -- weak feet are a thing

anyway point is do yoga i guess

tracer all you have to do is skip leg day

i'll be the guy with massive pecs hobbling after my young son

https://thumbs.gfycat.com/InstructiveAdvancedCicada-size_restricted.gifhttps://thumbs.gfycat.com/InstructiveAdvancedCicada-size_restricted.gifhttps://thumbs.gfycat.com/InstructiveAdvancedCicada-size_restricted.gif

it me

(the dog, obv)

tracer foot

I also have the plantar fasciitis and aside from spikey balling the foot, which is your number one friend, I also use the double balls on the back of the leg to release the tendons. Something like this:

https://m.ebay.com.au/itm/Double-Lacrosse-Ball-Mobility-Myofascial-Trigger-Point-Massage-Ball-Gym-Physio-/131774181321

I’ve pretty much given up on wearing any shoes without arch suppport and any shoes that aren’t ASICS/onitsuka tiger, which seems to have a arch support that fits my feet quite nicely. I’ve put arch supports in my dress shoes but I’d rather just wear purple sneakers with a suit and not risk my feet flaring up.

i want to play tennis again :/

I’m playing ultimate frisbee with no ill effect, although if I’d done this when I first got the PF I’d have been on crutches. Lots can be done to strengthen the feet - my osteoporosis recommended some good exercises but I think Pilates has done more for me because I’ve done more of that.

I’ve had people say good things about Barre and dry needling but haven’t tried either.