thread of getting sw0le

I do incline, bench, and flies. Different muscle groups on each.

Have a similar disc story to Travissss above, but as I FUCKIN' HATE pain pills, I went out of pocket to an anestheologist/pain specialist and got a spinal so that I could start strengthening PT right away (this was with doctor approval -- I lived across the street from a sports ortho clinic at the time and them dudes knew what they were doing.). That was absolutely the right decision for me -- remaining sciatica is minor, and only shows up when the weather is changing the day after I do my back work-out.

eating a pit beef sandwich and fries for lunch and leaving work early is the recipe for the best bench press sesh

that sounds delightful

i should add that this beef was very rare, it was still moving, it made me as strong as a bull

damn Ed that sounds awful! i hope you mend soon

peace and light to all your lower backs

damn my squat anxiety post is from a year ago:

"there is something mental, about fearing for my low back, that magnifies all the (relatively minor) stresses of squatting. like i said, it's not completing the rep but committing to the descent where i'm failing. i've tried to rebuild confidence by resetting but it hasn't done the trick :/ "

it really hasn't gotten any better, it's the weirdest thing. i've bounced around at sub 150lb weights, with some different set volumes, since then.

shame of shames, i've started using the smith machine, 4x5, 2x week, steady progression. my plan is so keep nudging up to somewhere over my bodyweight and then go back to the free bar at say 135.

all of the bro advice about how to get thru mental barriers is about as good as bro advice about everything else ie not.

also ftr i died lolling at goole's "absolutely disgusting" comment. the clip at the end of the weight peg is the icing.

― macropuente (map), Wednesday, February 27, 2019 4:54 PM (one week ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

my only temptation to SPEAK TO A MANAGER is i reeeally want my Y to buy a stand-alone weight rack for the bumper plates on the olympic platform. the platform sits kind of between/in front of two power racks, and the bumper plates are all on the power racks' pegs. i've typed too many words about this but everybody fucks up where they go. people load up bars to squat with half narrow plates, half bumper plates, it's lunacy, i hate it

when my gym opened the bumper plates were of course perfectly evenly distributed and everything had a home. now there are racks that have way too many 45s to fit in the right place so more are sitting on the pegs along with the 25s, 35s, and non-bumper 45s. also some 45s have migrated from where the sleds are. it reminds me of an old cankles post where he proposed to eliminate STDs by only allowing people to have sex with others of the same age (i may be misremembering this). eliminate gym mess by only ever putting a plate back from where you got it.

Isn’t that the basic rule of using a thing? Put it back where it came from.

you would think but in my gym it seems to be forbidden

most people at mine are pretty good with plates but it annoys me that there's always the same bench in the way of putting plates on the bar in the squat rack because there's a smith machine in between the squat racks and of course people want to use a bench for the smith machine and of course the bench ends up getting shunted off to one side or the other of the smith machine.

also there's this guy who shows up about 9-10 who literally paces the entire gym all the time and does this weird snap turn around when he's ready for his next leg of pacing and it DRIVES ME COMPLETELY FUCKING CRAZY.

my dream is to have our own gym only for this thread. we will enforce the gym rules on each other very harshly but we will have the best workouts & most fun

Stevie upthread, as a guy twice your age whose back is more or less fucked from doing strenuous things with bad posture, I have four things to say:

1. see a doctor - whatever has happened has happened, knowing what it is will not make it worse and even if you don't go for active treatment, you will know what's up and what not to do. All treatment is at your discretion so you decide what happens from there on, but you need information.

2. you will need to build up your core strength because the shooting pain is probably generated by muscles being locked tight to protect the injury - you need to work on boring core shit to give you a stable platform for the more "fun" strength stuff. Do not skip this, or you will accumulate compensations and adaptations which will put weird loads on other parts of your back and fuck you up really badly, and will either take years to un-train or may cause fun things like grinding down the articulating surfaces of your vertebrae permanently. The word "pilates" will come up in the conversation - do not be afraid.

3. if you do #2 it may be enough to get you out of trouble once you calm your reflexes and protective tension down. You may not need other treatment and you are allowed to do whatever you like with a doctor's advice, it's your life.

4. see a doctor.

Honest to goodness, harbl, the best gyms I've gone to have all started that way -- groups of serious lifters looking for a mellow place to work hard without bullshit. It's what I look for when I'm in a new place for a while.

you need to work on boring core shit to give you a stable platform for the more "fun" strength stuff

put this in giant type on the wall of the new sw0le gym imo

But lifters say you don't need core work because all of the lifts work your core.

However I am increasingly coming back around to believing in support work. I think I have certain muscle imbalances and bad habits that formed over a lifetime and that I can't break through without some serious targeted work.

it's true that most lifts work the core, which is a good argument in favor of heavy lifters doing more core work

if core strength is the weak link in the kinetic chain (i.e., it doesn't match or exceed the strength of the rest of the body) the core is probably where lifting form will break down first, which means the spine will flex or extend in ways it's not supposed to ... this is most likely to happen under near-maximum loads, which increase the amount of force pushing or pulling discs out of alignment ... if the imbalance between core strength and load gets too extreme, the best case is sore lower back muscles, the worst case is snap, crackle, pop

tl;dr core strength = spinal stability under load

to give the rant a more positive spin: the stronger your core, the better you can support dynamic start/stop and cutting moves and the more power you can transmit through your extremities, which is handy if you are an NFL wideout, MMA fighter, or badminton player ... also, strong core muscles look hot

what do yall do for core work?

i do an ashtanga 1 series with some mods for about 20-25 minutes, then

leg raises, 3 of 10
cable crunches, 3 of 15
dead bugs where i lower one leg and the opposite arm and raise back up to vertical then do the other side, 10 x each side
side planks, hold for 20 breaths

core heavy stuff in the yoga includes planks, warrior 1, chair pose with a twist. oh and boat pose.

i'm still not great at it but ujjayi breathing has been really helpful wrt my core

For core work, V crunches are wonderfully brutal - arms and legs straight, lower em down and then bring em together pointing at the sky. Realistically I'm usually lowering partway down; you'll see.

From a rehab/injury prevention perspective, I'd recommend doing the McGill Big Three and trying to fully own those moves before adding many other core exercises

that little article is much more informative about back injury and recovery than anything I've written on this thread

(note to self: do Big Three more)

dead bugs
planks NOT holding for a long time, like 30-40 seconds of good solid plank
leg raises holding onto bench with my hands
should do more stuff it's good for me

Squats and deadlifts are pretty good for the core. I super-set planks in between squat and deadlift assistance (lighter weight, higher rep squats and deadlifts). I hold for 1 m for five sets. I should probably do more.

For the fear of squats post upthread, I recommend doing pause squats to get used to being in "the hole". They helped me quite a bit with axiety I had for both squats and bench. Plus they are just a good way to do them. Be sure to deload significantly.

Deadlifted for first time since strain. I added weight slow and paid extra attention to form. Stopped as soon as I felt the slightest twinge in the spot where I strained — at 265 lbs.

planks NOT holding for a long time, like 30-40 seconds of good solid plank

fully in support of not holding planks forever, like they should be real hard if you're doing them right??? lol it's probably just my heavy body.

i went heavy on shoulder presses today 🏋💪🏋💪🏋💪 #bouldershoulders ahh yeah baby

oops i accidentally knocked over a thing on the shelf my shoulders are too wide

Shoulders seem to be my strong point, OHP has always been ahead of my other lifts.

My hip/upper thigh bothered me for a few days after the last deadlifts, much less than last time but clearly there’s still something not right. I’m totally starting to get now the fact that those muscles are tightening up to try to prevent injury due to some kind of imbalance but I haven’t figured out how to fix it yet. Still, i took a video of my deadlift and my form is getting much better.

should i switch out my post-workout protein for something fancy like protein + a bunch of other stuff? or is it all hype? tbh I only work out 3x a week and my diet is not what it should be so idk how much it's going to matter, but i'm out of protein powder and need to buy some more anyway so

no just eat better food

and have regular protein powder

ya that was my plan tbh

so I finally faced the fact that I need to buy size L shirts instead of size M -- I've definitely gone up a couple % in bodyfat, but it's clearly also due to swoleness.

I don't know what this One Punch Man anime thing is but I think I might try to do the weird challenge from this video. I am going to switch out the running for rowing though.

https://kotaku.com/dude-trains-like-one-punch-man-gets-buff-1833879480

damn if it ain't me

Guy who never played sports and started weightlifting at age 29: Yeah vegetarianism is cool but as an athlete its just not sustainable for me, i find i need like 450g of protein a day or i get so fatigued at work when im Coding ,

— normal (@normal_now) April 5, 2019

i am fatter now because i ate too much because i just like to eat. i will do better. i have been walking to the gym since stupid me realized it takes 13 minutes to walk there, just about as long as it takes to sit through all the lights and park in the garage. driving made me perceive it to be farther away. i also walked 2 miles yesterday but i ran 2 of the minutes. 2 of them. lol.

Is there a training style for lifting where you ramp up set by set, drop back down, and then ramp up again? I was sort of fucking around the other day and found this worked well for me on OHP -- I did a sets of 5 at 95, 115, 125, 135, and then went for 145 and could only do 3 reps, but for some reason I felt like I wanted more volume so I did another set of five at 115, another at 125, and another at 135. It felt good somehow -- the second set of 135 felt much easier than the first.

if it works you should do it and give it a name yourself imo

sunday i saw a guy in jorts i'd never seen before. he decided to do some kind of deficit push-ups by pulling 3 benches together: one for his feet and one for each hand. he didn't die but i didn't feel this went well for him.

It's just a pyramid and tossing in a couple sets at the end. It's maybe risky in terms of injury and won't have a lot of added value for muscle gains, but has positives in terms of aerobic and psychological gains, which (pace youtube squat brutes) have value. I would suggest increasing the number of reps at the lighter weights, even if that means decreasing the starting weight significantly. I start with 12 reps in the first set and tend to call anything under four reps a failed set for myself.

if it works you should do it and give it a name yourself imo

sunday i saw a guy in jorts i'd never seen before. he decided to do some kind of deficit push-ups by pulling 3 benches together: one for his feet and one for each hand. he didn't die but i didn't feel this went well for him.

― forensic plumber (harbl), Tuesday, April 9, 2019 7:42 PM (yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

one of my favorite time wasters is elgintensity gym idiots compilation videos on youtube. Lots of stuff like this -- excessively baroque and ultimately stupid misuses of gym equipment.

Any tips for getting into the habit of actually going to the gym? I just can't get myself to get off my ass

not really. going the first and second times in a while are the hardest. the second just because of the soreness. tell yourself you will do 3 things then leave. or that you will stay a half hour. remember you will never feel "motivated" to go. also i remind myself that i have never regretted going, only not going.

all really good points.

make a protein shake in the morning from scratch. then if you don't go you'll feel like an idiot.

remember you will never feel "motivated" to go.

I've been lifting for about a year now. I have been working out between 3-6 times a week except during a period of illness. For the most part, harbl is otm. I am forever like "oh jesus, do I have to?" and then going, working out, and feeling great afterward. It's only recently where it's just started becoming automatic without complaints for me: "ok, now it is lunch time off to the gym I go".

Start small and make it a consistent habit.

I used to do this weird thing where I could only wash my hair after I went to the gym. So, I really had to plan that out, because I technically need to wash my hair almost every day and felt weird going to work or out with dirty hair. I used to have very distinct goals and schedule in mind too so it wasn't like just not going when I didn't feel like it.

Maybe have a podcast that you really like but can only listen to at the gym?

I actually have a whole bunch of tips on developing a gym habit, which I adapted in part from reading The Power of Habit. The principal is to eliminate as many "barriers" to going each time as possible so that it becomes more automatic.

1) The closer and more accessible to your home the gym is, the better. Ideally a few block walk if you're in a walkable area. The easier it is to get to the gym, the lower the mental barrier of leaving the house.

2) Find an activity you actually enjoy or at least don't hate, whether it's circuit training, spin, yoga, lifting, etc.

3) In the beginning, just making it to the gym and doing SOMETHING there is most important. If you're out of shape, the first couple weeks of workouts may be a little painful no matter what and you just have to get through them. But eventually you will develop more comfort with the exertion and be more able to get the endorphin rush of working out.

4) If you change at the gym, always have a gym bag packed and ready to go, like a go bag. If you change at home, always have a gym outfit readily accessible and laid out in view, socks, shoes and all.

5) If possible, put the gym on your calendar. Figure out in advance set times when you have no other commitment and it's easy to go -- could be early morning, could be work lunch. I personally do late night, although I don't recommend that if you can avoid it, since it's easier to cop out of a late night workout (for me it's the only time I can go and I relish it).

6) Set an alarm for those times on your phone, preferably with a separate alarm tone that you ONLY use for the gym. Immediately on hearing the tone, you grab your gym stuff and go. Pavlov. This will start to stick.

7) Immediately after your workout, eat something with a little bit of sugar in it. Not a donut, but maybe a piece of fruit. This creates a "reward" in your mind after the workout that you will come to associate with working out. Pavlov again.

i vote for a donut

man alive, those are great tips!

(boo-BOOO) It's the Seven Gym Commandments

another thing i don't really do anymore but that has worked is you might establish a modest goal such as 10 or 12 times in a month and keep a tally somewhere. leave room for another goal for the next month. if only i could do as well with cleaning my house or other necessary tasks.