thread of getting sw0le

jumping rope with a weighted vest or something? god

these days my palms are actually wrapping OVER the bar on low-bar squats, which feels comfortable and my wrists are straight so..? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

gonna try squatting 2-3 times a week for a while. Now that I'm getting the hang of low bar my form is so much more natural and leaves my hips less tight after. Also, Rippetoe says that the bar "should be uncomfortable" on your back, not painful, but tight.

haha don't worry there's still plenty of weird tightness going on w me

keep us up to date on SQUAT MONTH

My first couple times low bar I had to lower the weight, less because of my ability to get down/up then because of difficulty with getting and maintaining the right bar position. So I just did working sets at like 165.

Got my low bar squat up to 205 x 5 now which is where my high bar squat was. Def still haven’t perfected the bar hold though, gets pretty uncomfortable at that weight.

Have you tried the thumbless grip? I found the low bar squat a fair bit more comfortable once I adopted it.

I've gone back to goblet squats. Screw it, they're hard enough and once I get some flat-heeled trainers I can try out on the bar bell stuff again. Yesterday was the first day back at the gym since Christmas where I didn't feel exhausted after 20 minutes. Feeling good!

One-leg squats are pretty awesome too partic for stability, get a heavy dumbell in each hand, try to keep perfect form and it's hard as shit

I just don’t like squatting. There’s no way around it.

i love squats

i can squat every day

engaging my leg muscles in general makes me feel good

which is probably how i pulled a groin

*squeezes buns*

*will smith shaking his head no*

https://im-01.gifer.com/3o4I.gif

i genuinely enjoy the challenge of how not good at squatting i am

i also like the challenge. it never gets easy. i've been working on front squats, so hard.

i've also been working on a clean and press. it feels great when i get the pull to hip extension to clean but sometimes my timing is off and i fuck it up.

my new gym has a lot of space, two stories in a converted warehouse, full of racks and platforms. astroturf strip upstairs for your sleds and farmer walks and rope juggling or whatever that is. lots of women lifting which makes for a good atmosphere. people are really into bands here. i had a dream where someone was all tied up with like 20 bands.

hottt

it's been linked in this thread a few times already, but i just found http://exrx.net/ and it's basically the site i've been looking for for years. comprehensive no bs no clickbait exercise information

i bought a 35 pound kettlebell and a book called "enter the kettlebell" that claims there is a routine of just two (grueling compound) exercises i can do four times a week to get jacked to all hell. don't discourage me.

have fun getting jacked to all hell!

Yes, I believe it’s referring to the bench-n-deadlift and the squat-row-n-press

i don't have a barbell. i went to crossfit once for an onboarding and an image of myself snapping my spine in half flashed before my eyes when i saw what those people were doing.

CrossFit has a very bad reputation among *lifters*

yeah, i know. if i had access to a gym with barbells and someone to spot me i think i would try to get into a bench/squat/dead routine and i might do that someday. but this kettlebell thing seemed like a good stopgap.

Yeah kettlebells are fine. Im curious what the two exercises are.

no one should ever bench

Kettlebell swing + Turkish Get Up are the two exercises IIRC

Kettlebell swings are awesome but my favorite KB exercise is the overhead press. Most natural feeling way to press overhead IME, even more than dumbbells because of the way they rest at the bottom.

treeship i'll spot you

i'm excited to bench press today, so excited i have been ~resting~ all morning, and i'm about to eat a load of rice, just to get ready

it was fun

one weird tip i tried yesterday: if you are doing bulgarian split squats hold one dumbbell in the hand opposite the planted leg and you will balance better than one dumbbell goblet or one dumbbell each hand

i like to hold 40kg tho - my gym's dumbbells only go up to 30kg. i will try with more reps tho maybe. also I'm kinda masochistically into the extreme difficulty of balancing, like the harder it is the better?! it's crazy how sore my ass is after split squats. even though it's less than half the weight i lift with the barbell.

ok those are small dumbbells! it wasn't better enough that i would discourage you from doing what you were doing. i kind of agree about the balancing, too. i have a sore ass right now because i hadn't done them in a while.

one of the ten songs that is always playing at the gym is that stupid slow hands song, wouldn't it be better if it was SORE ASS

or this! i don't think i really realized til just now that this was the pointer sisters doing COUNTRY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jIKiB663JD0

I wear headphones at the gym as much to not have to hear the dumb songs they play as to hear my own music

Went back to doing a pre-squat mobility routine and hit 215x5 no problem. Could probably have gone for the psychologically satisfying two plates but saving it for next time. Not only was squatting easier but I felt much less knee pressure. Alan Thrall is wrong.

good one tracer

i don't mobilize but i don't mind if others do it's cool

225 x 5 squat tonight relatively easily. Low bar changed my life.

nice

i thought i had a similar moment the other day and then just realised i hadn't put enough weight on the bar :(

what do you guys listen on at the gym - players/headphones etc. I don't like bringing my phone into the gym so I bought a tiny little clip-on player for about £14 that just plays music on shuffle. It came with some trebly over-ear headphones which sound bad but don't fall out too easily. The clip isn't great and I have to roll up my t-shirt sleeve for it to grip on.

i listen to SOUNDCLOUD RAPPERS obv

I just have some beater sony over-the-ear headphones and do music on my phone. Honestly for lifting you really don't need any kind of special "sport" headphones because the movements don't tend to make them fall off. When I bench I have to adjust the band so it's kind of on my forehead, but that's about it.

i run the headphone cable under my shirt so it doesn't get in the way during rows or deadlifts or whatever. cheap headphones are the way to go imo as they inevitably get sweaty and break. i put comply foam tips on them so they sound better and are more secure.

yeah I also do the cable under shirt thing.

Cheap and cheerful bluetooth headphones. So much easier to deal with.

^^^ wireless is the answer

also i'm that douchebag that tracks everything on my phone, so i ~need~ it

I keep my phone in my pocket but keep accidentally tweaking the headphone cord in its socket during squats, or doing something else (i don't think it's possible with any of the side buttons), to trigger Siri. Tried one of those strappy things to hold the phone on my arm but it is the single most awkward thing I have ever worn :(

claims there is a routine of just two (grueling compound) exercises i can do four times a week to get jacked to all hell

OK I want more info

and yeah bluetooth headphones have been a fucking godsend of late

squats and deadlifts iirc