thread of getting sw0le

here are some HIIT sessions you can try. these channels have plenty of content so lots of choices about length of session, body weight vs dumbbell, primarily cardio, music in the background or not, etc.

30 min dumbbell
25 min body weight
35 min dumbbell / body weight
20 min body weight

i did not tear my meniscus, i just may have irritated it. i got an x-ray last week. it's cool to look at your bones. shortly thereafter my pain started decreasing suddenly like maybe when i heard that i instantly started to feel better. i am not supposed to squat, i can do other things that don't hurt. should be healed in 3 weeks or so, then i will be more ambitious. i went to the gym sunday and did mostly arm things. today i did concept2 short workout of the day. rowing sucks but it's good to get that hard exercise euphoria feeling. and to pick up a thing i was good at a long time ago! cat is also curious about it.

cool. i've tried rowing a few times but it doesn't do much for me.

i slept in this morning :|. winter inversions here make me feel like used charcoal. my mood / mental health gets fragile if i skip too many days though.

has anyone tried ... this?

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/01/technology/confessions-of-a-virtual-reality-gym-rat.html

so depressing

Even if it doesn’t quite scratch the gym itch, it’s a good-enough alternative until a vaccine makes it safe to heavy-breathe in public again.

no

remember when virtual reality seemed cool

honestly i hate cardio enough that i'm inclined to give it a shot even without a pandemic

i don't understand how it gets you to exercise? how many calories can you really burn waving your arms around. walking for an hour is free and burns like 300.

i walk for 30 minutes carrying my fat baby son (20lb) every day and yet i am fat.

maybe you, like me, are eating too much ;)

try it and report back? xp

since it's too cold and depressing to run in an inversion with > 50 pm2.5 i'm doing 20 minutes of intervals (30 seconds walking, 30 seconds jog, 30 seconds close-to-sprint) on the curved manual treadmill after i lift. it like really helps to watch myself in the mirror while i run? cuz my running form is "naturally" pretty shitty, my legs are all out of alignment and i have to concentrate to land on my toes and keep an upright posture. anyway i've noticed some improvement. i don't like injure myself on it anymore (manual treadmills can really kick one's ass if one is not careful ime), and my speed has gone up - feel like i'm running more efficiently / "athletically" now. also it keeps me from getting fat though i have a bit of flab i don't usually have when i'm doing regular runs outside.

i, also, eat too much.

xps

unless the body movements required were very simple and undemanding, these VR products would be too dangerous to sell, so I doubt they have much value

paying close attention to my movements in non-virtual space is the only way I can get the results I want, or even be able to judge how far off those results are

going for a walk or doing some calisthenics or HIIT in your bedroom >>>>>>>>> any workout performed while looking at a screen, imo

maybe you, like me, are eating too much ;)

― superdeep borehole (harbl), Monday, January 4, 2021 3:03 PM (one hour ago) bookmarkflaglink

definitely got a case of the covid 15.

paying close attention to my movements in non-virtual space is the only way I can get the results I want

co-sign mind-body connection, which screens are terrible for. mirrors on the other hand can be really useful ime.

it remains my firm opinion that if you're recording anything on your phone you're doing it wrong.

I have found mirrors to be very helpful as long as I don't use them constantly ... if I looked at a mirror every time I did a move, my attention would focus too much on my image and not enough on my sensations and proprioception

somebody once told me, "Don't trust the mirror, remember that it shows the reverse of what everyone else sees," and kind of blew my mind

lol. i like the mirror for, like, macro corrections during yoga - seeing that a leg isn't really extending as far as it should, for instance. but yes most of the 'meat' of my exercise experience comes from connecting my consciousness to my body.

hey swoles what is a good way to get protein without resorting to shakes, bars, or a lot of calories. Other than lean meat/eggs/low fat dairy.

Protein holy grail please.

Oh and must be delicious obv

you named all the possible sources?

i mean other than beans but i don't like them as a protein source because you need to many calories to get as much protein as i would like

i like costco sliced turkey as a snack that has as much protein as a whole meal would but very little calories

Fish, seafood in general

cod, tofu, edamame, and seeds maybe.

goddamnit, plate-loaded dumbbells are still like a fucking million dollars each, why is demand still so high ughghdhghghg

it will prob be faster to get vaccinated and wait for gyms to reopen than to try to source remotely affordable dumbbells

lol ikr it’s insane

milk jugs and rice imo

but a full milk jug is only like 8 pounds and I want something in the realm of like 20-30 :(

ballbearings in a milk jug reinforced with duct tape for maximum dirtbag look?

three milk jugs each side, rope, and an old chinese man shouting at you

it's the marvel way

obsessed with this photo of my grandmother with her weightlifting class from a few years ago (finally, facebook memories shows me something good!) pic.twitter.com/bMiImanysA

— Claire “kick the cops out of the AFL-CIO” Lower (@clairelizzie) February 26, 2021

<3

thought: crossfit and "functional" fitness is more removed from daily usefulness than bodybuilding.

i watched a group of twenty somethings do shit like pull a fake sled with fake weight on it with a fake rope across a fake astroturf "field" and then do some complicated love-making maneuver with a heavy beanbag all while they were cheering each other on. they seemed to be cosplaying starship troopers. the "coach" had on a black t-shirt advertising a gun store. "still not legal in california" the back said.

at least bodybuilding is more honest about its ueslessness. it's somewhat more clued-in that it's decorative in nature. the decoration is the point, and the usefulness. the utility is in the aesthetics. it's fun to look buff. the only exercise that's "useful" to what i do all day in the sense of making sitting at a desk in front of a computer easier, or like doing the dishes, is yoga.

i’m appalled you would question the utility of my perfectly sculpted triceps

i agree wholeheartedly. most people don't have the endurance to keep properly doing an exercise for as long as those circuits require. i would rather do something at a reasonable pace like 6-12 times and stop for a while.

Does anybody have a good lead on affordable adjustable dumbbells? The last year has been utterly disastrous for me between depression and my gym being a very early casualty of the COVID rent squeeze, and while I've tried, I find I kind of hate Ring Fit. I desperately want to lift again but the adjustable db's I'm seeing are either staggeringly expensive or out of stock everywhere :(

ugh i'm sorry. they're pretty much all expensive as hell afaict. can you look into another gym?

Is yoga really more beneficial than basic weight lifting? both can strengthen your core, help with balance, improve brain function etc

although, sure, what you're referring to as weight lifting is more likely to result in an injury

you're missing two things i said. i didn't say yoga is more beneficial overall but that it's absolutely more beneficial than weightlifting when it comes to sitting at a computer or doing dishes. for instance, spinal extensions and spinal twists--both exercises that help with lower back pain. it's hard to do an effective spinal extension or twist with weights. maybe if you're doing explosive movements but i'm not an olympic weightlifter, are you? strength is important and it's related to range of motion, but weightlifting almost always ends up over-emphasizing the strength over a limited range of motion, which creates problems over time.

also, the weightlifting i was referring to wasn't crossfit, which is bad. it's squats, deadlifts, bench press, etc.

i lift nearly every day and have for years. i do yoga nearly every day and have for years. the more i lift the more i realize that it really tends to exacerbate alignment problems that doing lots of yoga has made me realize i have. the more i see of aging people (mostly dudes) who lift a lot the more it confirms my experience, that unless they've discovered extensive active stretching to go along with it, their bodies are jacked up and their lifting ability is suffering.

the mind-muscle connection that yoga tends to reveal to oneself is monumental, in my opinion, and one that mindful lifting only scratches the surface of.

lifting weights feels great, is great for my mental health, is a great way to focus and redirect aggressive energy, plus looking sw0le is fun. yoga is what i do to tie my body together and keep it mobile.

I am feeling super excited for getting back to the gym and geting sw0le again

😎

ME TOO

i am gonna keep cycling on the menu, largely because i bought this stupid bike, but pushing cardio/endurance barriers doesnt have anywhere near the same mental health benefit as squatting heavy. also i like being swole.

map i suspect you are familiar with kathy acker's writing on bodybuilding which is kind of the only good writing on the subject

yeah!!!!!!

and it really is like the only good writing on the subject and i looked around there for a few years lol.

interesting, map. i'm in rough shape due to having two kids (1,4) and packing up my home gym for construction. all this led to me herniating a disk in my lower back while lifting a kid and having crippling sciatica for about two months straight. i've only been doing moderate walking and stretching so far but i think i'm ready for some weights. gotta be careful though

and yeah, i agree that lifting without stretching is not a good combo, but i would say i find some of the mind-muscle connections you were referring to in weight lifting as well. i gave up pushing my max with weights a long time ago

ooo yeah i'm sorry to hear about your herniated disc. have you seen a pt specialist? if you can afford it i would recommend looking into it. cat-cow might also be good to try? https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-1-d&q=cat+cow+pose.