thread of getting sw0le

that is fn burly bro, nice

bet you were eating a lot of ...... carne asada

been back at the gym this last week for the first time since early November - got covid, then gyms closed here due to covid. did leg day yesterday and had to take 20lb off my squat and then could do one less set of 6 and I am hobbling like an old man today.

glad to be back at it tho

definitely

squats after a break are no joke, takes me 3 days to walk normal again

always nice to be back though, have fun

How do I shot kettleball swings; I can’t face sorting thru YouTube on my own

Really need to focus on abs and hips action, which is used for jumping ponies way more than any quad/other leg action.

And glute action obv

goblet squats? i find them very satisfying

my cleans are ok and improving

the jerk i had to learn from scratch since i've never really done it before. but with light weight i'm getting it.

at this rate i'll be able to put together a decent clean and jerk by the spring.

i always seem to bang up my right shin so have to wear long socks or tights when i do them

hey gym buds, I'm helping a friend of mine start gymming. he's been at it for a month and is frustrated w his lack of results, but I think there are a lot of ways he could improve his routine and start seeing some real #gains. this is his current routine, I believe it's all machines and no free weights:

20 min cardio, 15% incline. 3.5mph

bicep curls, 4x12, 25lb
tricep press: 4x12, 70lb
lateral raise: 4x12, 15lb
row: 4x12, 55lb
pulldown: 4x12, 55lb
chest press: 4x12, 25lb

his goals are muscle growth/improved physique, and with his current schedule his only available gym time is 3 days on and then 4 days off which I know is tricky bcz you're supposed to have rest days, etc. so my questions are:

• what is the best workout format for him? like a 2-day weight lifting split w a day of cardio btwn them? or a 3-day split 3 day sin a row w a bit of cardio each day? no cardio?
• should his reps be 3x10 instead of 4x12?
• what else?

a month is not too long especially considering when youre just starting youre building your capacity and just figuring stuff out, theres no real right answer to any of this stuff people do all sorts of things that work but imo lifting heavier with fewer reps is an easier way to get a good pump on just because its less physically painful and psychologically tedious, also he should consider using free weights they are better and more interesting you can watch youtubes to learn how to do cool lifts such as the squat and the bench press, a classic schedule is doing upper body lifts one day and lower the next so that youre giving the muscles you worked the day before time to recover which is where the benefits mostly happen, doing a lil cardio before lifting makes sense to me as it helps you warm up, also he should recognize the benefits of exercise aside from getting swole and try to enjoy going to the gym otherwise its all pretty hopeless, or do yoga instead idk

agree, also i think 12 is just too many to have fun when you are starting out. it takes a lot of endurance and you cannot see yourself getting stronger as quickly and will end up doing bad reps. 6-8 is nice imo. also y he hate legs?

A month is very little time. Muscles only grow so fast and fat only gets burned so fast. There's also questions of what kind of physique he's starting from and what his diet is (they say "six packs are made in the kitchen, not the gym").

People mix up getting lean with getting strong/big -- if you are low bodyfat, you look more "ripped/shredded" but that's as much a function of diet as anything (you can look "ripped" with pretty modest muscle development if you are low bodyfat, whereas a very strong, muscular guy with higher body fat can tend to look more tank-like or even fat, depending on BF percentage)

Generally, I am not a fan of machines - although the cable-based ones that allow a freer range of motion have some uses (i.e. I am against the ones where your range of motion is more or less on a pre-determined track). You get so much more muscle engagement from the full range of motion that comes from dumbbells, barbells, kettlebells, bodyweight exercises, or even cables. Maybe a trainer would say that the machines are ok for an absolute beginner, idk.

I agree with fewer reps/more weight, but it's a little hard to say how much weight/how many reps without knowing how hard those sets are for him.

He really needs some leg, hip, and core stuff in there. Planks, kettlebell swings, goblet squats, mountain climbers. Don't waste time on leg press machines and shit like that, they're complete bullshit.

A trainer would be ideal if he can afford it, not only to maximize workout but to learn form and avoid injury.

Form is EVERYTHING.

this is all v v helpful! based on my own exp if he’s working out hard enough to be sore the next day it’s prob gonna be a slog to have 3 consecutive gym days w a proper 3 day split so I am thinking maybe a 2-day split like the one mentioned above and then maybe like a lighter day btwn them?

yeah thats prob what id do, im pretty lazy tho

i agree w harbl on the reps - fewer, but more weight

agree w lagoon and man alive about whole-body compound lifts. that should be days 1 & 3 imo.

the middle day could be what man alive's suggesting in terms of mountain climbers & planks - high rep body-weight exercises to strengthen the core

something like:

day 1: stretch, squats, deadlifts, stretch
day 2: stretch, plank, kettlebell shenanigans, burpees etc, stretch
day 3: stretch, bench press, dips, pullups, stretch

12 reps is fine for hypertrophy as long as there are enough reps that are close to failure as far as I can tell from my bro science research

also not too much cardio before a lifting session. you don't want to tire yourself out for the lifting. a quick warmup is fine, or doing cardio after

FWIW, when I was barbell lifting I heard over and over again from credible sources "all you need is the lifts, don't bother with the other stuff." And I listened, over and over again, yet my body told me that was bullshit over and over again. A sedentary lifestyle plus lifting really heavy weights 3x a week and nothing else is not really the ideal way to be in shape, or even to be strong. I always felt better when I also mixed in other stuff, and it helped with mobility for lifting.

haven't been able to go to the gym this week after being used to lifting 5 times a week and it feels terrible

throw sled training in if you can, I am sledding all over the gym in a weird pattern these days

it doesn't have to be some insane amount of weight at 6 i just think a beginner doesn't know how much to do and 12 is a lot. when it's too easy you can go up. going up in weight when you are doing 12 is more difficult. i like to leg press btw

i also like to leg press :(

a squat to clean to overhead press with some dumbbells or kettlebells is a really good way to activate a lot of muscle in one lift, could be efficient in a two-three day split.

if he's not used to a barbell i would suggest doing compound lifts with dumbbells/barbells - more forgiving wrt form and i feel like the increased range of motion is helpful for getting a mind muscle connection.

cable exercises are great for back imo

just a few random thoughts

oops i mean compound lifts with dumbbells/kettlebells

some kind of lunge is a good idea

if he wants to look more athletic, jumps are good to do, burpees as suggested and "ice skaters", frog jumps, lunge jumps, that kind of thing, maybe some axe chopping movement with a band, something that involves a twist. two days weights one day power bodyweight and conditioning stuff. tracers split is good. though for day one i'd suggest

squat-clean-overhead press with dumbbells/kettlebells, let's say 5 sets
lunges, 4-5 sets
cable face pulls 3 sets

the other weight day:

bench press (dumbbells/kettlebells), 4 sets
rows (dumbbells/kettlebells), 4 sets
cable pull downs, 3 sets

hello asp1ring sw0les

i threw $10 at casey johnston for her ebook LIFTOFF, and to pay her a little for the nice articles she's written over the years

it's good! in effect it's kind of a "pre-Starting Strength" ie for folks for whom pushups or unweighted squats are not trivial. there's a good starting progression in there.

i'm still rehabbing my knee, big setback in march when i got covid which had me on the couch for a while

hey goole, nice to see you. still at it. still lifting heavy, still wish i could lift heavier, form is better than ever though (thanks yoga and core work). just got some knee high compression socks to keep from scraping my shins and rly excited about them lol.

since i moved to my new place i had to leave heavy weight behind, so i've been focused on movement and mobility -- moving around with kettlebells, integrating my physical therapy movements into my longer warmups -- and it's serving me really well i think.

i miss the feeling of "damn that's heavy and i picked it up," though.

get swoll pic.twitter.com/Grqxtlu2D6

— catatonicyouths (@catatonicyouths) June 13, 2022

^could have used a cw re: the r word and guns. also can i request sw0le positive or empathetic content itt only please? thanks.

sometimes you just know what's going on with someone when you watch them for a few minutes? this guy was working out with his girlfriend today and just like, the masculine performance going on was disturbing. the thing about dangerous toxic masc is it's not too cartoonish or outlandish, has to be subtle enough to be convincing. the woman he was with was so obviously cowed. yikes.

I have switched cults and am only part time paying attention to the knee cult stuff and am now in the crawling around floor gymnastics cult, which has been a very good move in terms of biomechanically coordinating my upper and lower body together

i am definitely crawling-around-floor-gymnastics-curious. some yoga brushes that territory. i'm expanding my yoga practice lately and seeing immediate results in a lot of ways.

i would like to do more bodweight power moves but i'm already doing a lot of other stuff and i wouldn't know where to start / what would give me the most bang for my buck.

After a long time of not lifting in the gym but also not really having a consistent routine, I think I finally have something I can stick to for a while. I'm mixing in running because I read that research is pretty clear it's good for ADHD. So I'm basically doing a four-day split

Day 1: Pushups, mountain climbers, standing rear lateral raises, dumbbell arm raises, standing dumbbell rows, diamond pushups, plank (at least 3 sets of each)
Day 2: Run
Day 3: Dumbbell squats into shoulder press, kettlebell swings, dumbbell lunges, Kettlebell clean and press (5 sets of each except for the clean and press)
Day 4: Run

Just repeating that for a while,

I do miss the heavy weight sometimes. If I can stick to this for a while and really improve my squat mobility I may try to get back into the gym again. Heavy weights only was not really great for my physique and probably a little hard on my aging body, so I'm kind of glad I rediscovered a more holistic approach to fitness.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FaGqepCXkAEH90f?format=jpg&name=small

appreciate that

glute-ham raises: so real

leaving the gym
guy rolls down window
"did they kick you out because you're too big?"

😎

anyone else sw0lin it these days?

this guy is wild & seems to have a biting / jaw fetish

https://www.instagram.com/strongcamps/

been doing a lil lifting, nothing serious

👍

I just restarted this week after almost 3 years out. Felt really good. I think I'm going to mix it up a bit more than just pure barbell strength training/maxing out numbers -working in more kettlebells and dumbbells. I spent a couple months training for a 5k before this and really enjoyed that, but I don't like running in sub 40 degrees and I hate treadmills, so I plan to focus more on weights til it gets warm again and then maybe mix running and weights.