thread of getting sw0le

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.

this is good shit everyone

As a weird side effect of my habits, there's a certain iPhone ringtone that to this day makes me crave teryaki from the teryaki truck that was in between my old gym and my old office, even though I haven't worked there in nearly two years

This might not work for everyone

8) if you forget your gym stuff - go and buy a new set rather than miss the workout.

I’ve done this enough that pretty much all my gym stuff comes from the 2XU outlet by my old work. Luckily I haven’t done it too many times.

Yeah I agree with that -- especially if it's just one thing like socks or your locker lock.

i know everyone knows this but it bears repeating in the gym "motivation" conversation. for me, this is why the "i will do 3 things" is really effective if i have taken a week off and am suffering from no-gym inertia. i only choose basic things i find useful. it makes me hate it more if i do 7 things and one of them is calf raises. i will never have calves. i feel stressed and annoyed when i watch these moms working with the trainers at my gym (except the one guy who talked to me who does appear to do a good job). they have them all doing these boring unbalanced band exercises and planking forever. there's no way she's going to feel like she improved next time she comes back and you're doing another random thing. like, do some dumbbell benches and walking lunges and stuff that you will be better at next time you try it.

Finding it extremely difficult to not give up entirely after making no headway on flexibility, falling back into the same patterns of plateauing after getting back into the gym, and now having to take at least two full weeks off to recover from septum surgery. Starting to feel like at 35 and with the mobility issues I didn't fix in time I'm never going to get past beginner numbers for my compound lifts and that feels like absolute dogshit

whaaat you will do it if you lift and stretch. you will! i mean, probably. and even if you don't you'll feel better then not doing it at all, so..

took a break for about two weeks, lifted maybe 4 times therein. this week i'm going back at it with a daily split and last night i slept like 10 hours. i feel like 2 lbs heavier lol

https://lithub.com/on-oliver-sacks-obsession-with-weightlifting/

nice!

man, lifting just makes me so damn HUNGRY, no wonder I've gained this much weight -- I had 12 days away from it and my diet was just naturally so different. Day after first night back to lifting and I feel insatiable.

homina

Yayyyy, I've managed to injure my shoulder again! Impingement or tendonitis probably. Hopefully I can DIY some PT off of youtube.

hey everyone, some exciting updates

I've switched from curl ups to pull ups, I can do more pull ups than I thought I could (that is, more than 0) and it's really tearing up my back muscles in a good way, i guess it is the lat muscles? like my lats have been sore from I assume the pull ups in a way that they have never been sore and it feels good to work them

also took everyone's advice and switched from 3x10 barbell benches to that reverse pyramid jawn where I do 12, 10, 8, and 6 and add 10lbs after each set. I also spent a LOT of time yday reading about regular bench and incline bench form, and feel like I'm "connecting" better and have a better understanding of some things (like how the angle of the incline bench is a matter of preference depending on how much you want to work the chest and how much you want to work the shoulders). also keep reading tons of conflicting reports abt regular grip vs suicide grip, and my conclusion is that suicide grip prob hits some muscles a little better and is very slightly more "optimal" but the gains aren't worth the risk of a 100+ lb bar falling on your sternum from a height of a few feet? yes? I admit it feels better to do barbell benches w suicide grip but it also just like.... scares me

I was also doing both cable tricep extensions and skullcrushers but have nixed the skullcrushers and replaced them w chest dips which also is hitting my chest in ways that feel good

next week I'm going to reincorporate deadlifts after several months off which I am also stoked about, I tried to do it this week but after waiting like 20 minutes for the bar to be free I just gave up

working out is fun