thread of getting sw0le

it's fun but deep soreness you know? time for another light week.

Been trying a wider squat stance with some success, also focusing a lot on bracing and tightening my upper back. Form looks better in the videos I take of myself. I also feel my inner thigh muscles a lot more after -- I think I probably have a little imbalance and this may be helping to correct it.

Suddenly the squat changes I’ve made gave me a breakthrough today (in combination with greater frequency and more sleep) and I was able to do 245 x 5. Generally going to the gym more frequently has been helping me and I feel less sore rather than more as my body seems to be adjusting.

nice

Two weeks ago I got a new-to-me ACL and this point it is hard to imagine that I will ever bear weight again, much less squat. BUT I SHALL. OH I SHALL.

In the meantime my PT is leg raises, which I do while imagining I am 1980s Jane Fonda.

Deadlifted 325 today and was also able to do my best match grip set ever - 255 x 5

i'm at my heaviest ever for everything more or less but taking a week off over christmas for travel

nothing like a yoga class to realize how stressed my body is from lifting. we did a high fish pose where you squeeze your shoulders back as hard as possible for like a minute. it isn't a super dynamic pose or anything but i was shaking. it's the first thing that has truly relieved tension in my constantly tight front deltoids in like a year.

class was excellent, three other people, small room, lots of hip stuff, $10. think i'll be doing it pretty much every sunday.

That's great!

I really pushed myself last week, doing 4 Hatha Flow classes, which is the most I've ever done in a week. My shoulder and knee feel slightly strained, but I want to keep up the pace through the end of the year, while I'm off work. I've definitely gained some muscle and flexibility, and reduced chronic pain. Been able to refine a lot of poses and do some stuff that was impossible for me previously.

6 weeks post ACL reconstruction and double meniscus repair, just got cleared by ortho for full weight bearing, meaning PT is gonna get pretty real.

Did my first "off the toilet unassisted by hands" today and felt very swole!

But some day I will squat again. I will!

hey, sw0le bros. 2019 has been my worst gym year in a long time. struggling with a lot of probably job-related fatigue and blahness, not caring about anything, skipping weeks at a time, just feeling weak. i decided that for a while i'm just going to do some treadmill running because getting sweaty and mentally torturing myself on that hell machine makes me feel like i've temporarily scrubbed my brain clean. feels good. also it will carry me through the bad time that is the gym in january, as there are usually enough treadmills in spite of the crowds.

BRANE-SCRUBBING is among all-time reasons to go to the gym - otm

also, i confess: i've long wanted to try the GERKIN and ARMY etc functions on the fancy gym treadmills, so i will work up to that and it helps to have something to work up to

I have never heard, and am afraid of, these "functions" of which you speak.

the damn pickle army

Lol. Anyone try the manual treadmills? Goddamn they kick my ass

Thinking bout joining a fancier gym for more $.

manual treadmills seems like a very 80s hotel gym kind of thing. I remember them. They were rough.

i tried one once idk

for me being able to set the pace of a regular treadmill is a big draw, but thats more a particular training for actual running thing rather than just general exercise

Ok whatever guys they’re good but i guess you just want to be haters

maybe you found a really nice one? my knees hurt just thinking about the friction.

manual treadmill feels like a pretty canonical piece of swolequipment

i am not sure what a manual treadmill is but my gym has like non-motorized treadmills where you can also pick up weighted handles to do farmer's walk. is that what it is?

yeah, this guy: https://www.woodway.com/products/curve/

def not 80s style. awesome and brutal. there's a learning curve to get a good pace going.

it's basically like a 4% incline that you have to constantly control based on where your toes land

my bro science opinion is that it's really good for hills and/or sprints

feels really different than running on a standard treadmill cuz you're powering everything.. i did 10 minutes on a manual then switched to a regular for a minute and my legs were v. confused

also it forces you to run on your forefeet

oh ok, that's not the one we have. it's this thing
https://www.fitnesszone.com/Merchant2/graphics/00000001/stairmaster-hiitmill-x-treadmill-1_270x270.jpg

woah!

What the fuck is that??!?

you can add weight to the handles and do a farmer's carry on the treadmill. i believe it does not have power to the belt but may have some sort of resistance system with magnets? i've never used it.

curve is the type i have tried

i finally went back to the gym yesterday and actually touched some weights. i'm sore. i am hoping i can put myself back together again in february. i am very unswole now, but i was having a hard time in life.

get em!

for those of you who lift on the heavy side, what do you do on non-lifting days? I can't help but feel like my alternating between heavy lifting and very sedentary days is probably not the best thing, but I also don't want to overdo it on in-between days.

i def don't lift on the heavy side but i've been swimming on my non-weight days and man it feels p good

Running like 20-30 mins

When I lift heavy I rest on non-lifting days. What seems to work best for me for balance and recovery is weights 3x a week and running once on the weekend. Have been meaning to etch out some kind of schedule where I do a high volume full body routine twice a week then run and do yoga as many of the others as possible without burning myself out.

i should note i swim slowly and not for terribly long. more of a dynamic stretching than anything

weights 3x, 1hr of youtube yoga 4x or as toddler allows

light stretching or even a walk is nice to alternate w heavy lifting imo swimming is amazing if u have access, swim a lil hanging in the sauna eat some food take a nap just be a body very nice

lol there's a dude with an alan thrall tshirt on at my y right now

hes training untamed i assume

I like Alan Thrall but I feel like if I was wearing a tee of him or any "training" guy I would be giving off the pretense that I was "training" and not just casually lifting weights which is what I am more realistically doing.

i hope you casually walked up to him and growled the catch phrase

"where's the beef"

i hope you casually walked up to him and growled the catch phrase

― forensic plumber (harbl), Thursday, February 13, 2020 5:30 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

sorry to admit this didn't even occur to me! not to gymshame but was not particularly accomplished. his lifting partner was pretty yoked, i thought the whole thing was cute tbh