thread of getting sw0le

I feel like I'm finally starting to "get" squats now that I'm focusing more on my form. The effect is almost profound -- I left the gym today feeling like I was aligned much better and it was even taking some of the pressure off my shoulder that often gets tight.

they are magical, the 1 true lift

if i only take one thing away from my months (now years!!) of steady swolestyle it is that when i bend down to pick something up i do it with a straight back. i think of it like a gift i'm giving a future me.

cause let's face it i am never going to be truly yoked.

Yeah I don't care much about that. Look decent and feel good is my goal.

a guy gave me unsolicited squat advice yesterday re my lack of flexibility/inability to go past parallel lol

he was all you ever think abt going past parallel and i was all i cant

then to be nice to him i asked him if he had any ideas for gaining flexibility and he was all uh lift more

you don't need to go past parallel it's all good

yeah idc

I'm from fitness and I'm here to help

trainsplaining

if i only take one thing away from my months (now years!!) of steady swolestyle it is that when i bend down to pick something up i do it with a straight back.

so otm. squatting w straight back to get a pot from the floor cupboard.

you don't need to go past parallel it's all good

― illegal economic migration (Tracer Hand), Thursday, September 17, 2015 5:58 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

yeah, you're right, but when i do, my butt gets bigger, no joke. i think it's just people's preference

please try to hit parallel lagoon. it's good.

i think he is? just not going past?

yes ^

you don't need to go past parallel it's all good

― illegal economic migration (Tracer Hand), Thursday, September 17, 2015 5:58 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

yeah, you're right, but when i do, my butt gets bigger, no joke. i think it's just people's preference

― F♯ A♯ (∞), Thursday, September 17, 2015 2:57 PM (27 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

my butt is big enough for me

cool

ok. i was worried about your knees. i'm worried about my knees.

when i go past parallel i often lose a bit of rigidness in my back (i think this is called "butt wink"?) y cause i am not really that flex-ee-blay so i don't really push it

yeah the guy was telling me that going past parallel wld be better for my knees idk

(i think this is called "butt wink"?)

ew lol

i don't do it often. i usually hit parallel most of the time, then every so often i'll go past it just to vary it up a bit

fwiw ive done lots of diff athletic style activities over the years including thousands of hours of running and basketball and never had any knee problems knock on wood

seems like its my quads thatre tight/preventing me from going lower, sure it wldnt be too hard to work on that

feel like ive been saying "i shd do more yoga" for a decade

prob longer tbh

more than one class a year and some occasional half hearted stretching

a good hip stretching routine before you squat is impt

i dont really "like to" stretch

actually i do like it i just dont do it

I don't like doing it when I have a limited workout time window, which is pretty much always now, but know I should. I do a little warmup and crab-walky thing before I lift, and I tend to do a little light stretching after but not really a full routine like I should as often as I should.

I actually love stretching after a workout. In fact my ideal is like 2 hours in the gym with 1-1.25 hrs working out, then some stretching, then the sauna before showering, but that's just not doable for me on a work day or pretty much any day.

breathing practice in yoga has been impt for me in lifting and running. wide-legged squats make my ass go boom fyi.

^ +1

yeah I know I'm the local yoga stan but it's hard to overstate how much it helps w/everything else

my new gym has yoga classes

Learn to squat ass to grass and other people will tell you that you don't have to go that deep.

If you want to work on your mobility, you might get some help from this video by Alan Thrall: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zvGr7wXQfwE&t=1m44s
My one superpower at the gym is great flexibility, so I cannot vouch for the efficacy of his advice.

Skip to 1:44 to get past the joeks and intro speech.

cologne guy was there tonight and i tried not to get so bothered. he was doing spider curls on an incline bench.

i like big compound lifts and isolation moves. right now i'm like, fuck it, five day body part split. back legs shoulders/traps chest arms. trader joe's is perfect for this shit. pre-cooked chicken, pre-cooked brown rice, broccoli, curry sauce, microwave it all. total bodybuilder action. it's such a domestic lifestyle.

https://vimeo.com/channels/highmaintenance/79948720

matt does not strike me as a tim ferriss devotee

me neither, just echoing the "domestic lifestyle" comment

pre-cooked chicken, pre-cooked brown rice, broccoli, curry sauce, microwave it all. total bodybuilder action. it's such a domestic lifestyle.

― mattresslessness, Friday, September 18, 2015 5:52 AM (13 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

i go to tj's every week and i've yet to see any of these things. they sound good for quick meals? gonna have to look harder tomorrow if i use the (raw) chicken today

in my tjs precooked brown rice is in little bladders above the asian meal freezers

pre-cooked chicken is by the salads in mine.

good lookin out doodz

I decided to eschew brown rice a couple of years ago, I don't like the taste/texture and I'm baselessly unconvinced that it's all that much healthier. I'm a maverick.

i don't really care about white vs brown either but it's what they have precooked in my store. i definitely avoid bread if i can, not gonna claim some gluten allergy but my body always throws a fit when i eat it, like "i'm gonna bloat and give you a weird bread hangover in the morning"