thread of getting sw0le

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.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3QvAs8LpmRE

I went five days in a row, which is a bit intense, but made me feel extremely charged up and energized during the day and then insanely tired by night time.

psa for new year's: PLEASE don't wear cologne to the gym!

ugh, just reading that made me gag from the smell

I'm recovering from COVID now (first time!) so probably at least a few more days before I hit the gym again, but so far I don't feel like my strength will be too much diminished. Here's hoping.

now have gotten past the two month mark of exercising, for the first time ....ever. stomach is getting flatter, I'm down 12 pounds, starting to see the beginnings of actual ab.

but I have an unrelated question - do you all notice your core body temp is higher, permanently or semi-permanently, after starting an exercise regimen?

because of my (literal) obsession with body temp in the pandemic age, my standard temp used to run between 97.9 - 98.3 most times. nowadays it seems to be between 98.6 - 99.2, esp in the hours after I finish exercising. but I don't feel feverish or have chills, i just notice when I check. a few times it made me think I was getting sick but then I started to think what if it's a byproduct of the exercise (since it's been like this for a month and a half now).

Long-term exercise tends to improve your body's resting metabolic rate, so it's normal to run a bit hotter than you used to even when you're not working out or recovering. One cause of boosted RMR is increased muscle mass relative to body fat (muscle tissue burns more calories than fat tissue even when you're inactive).

I'm relatively back on my sw0le grind again. I'm trying to mix up running and lifting now rather than pure running, bc (1) I discovered I really like trail running and (2) it just seems kind of silly to do lifting as my only exercise when it's not like I'm trying to train for a meet, and also I work a sedentary job and don't get a ton of other physical activity. I'm trying to lift at least 2x per week and run at least 3. Sequencing can get a little tricky, but I today I ran the day after a heavy leg day and it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be.

running a day after squats or even the day after is surprisingly not bad for me once i get warmed up, it's the 5 minutes of warm up that's gnarly ime. the lift that most noticeably improves my speed / stamina during a run is a power clean.

err even the same day

trying to extend my thoracic spine lately & it's very grumpy about it

apparently like every upper body muscle connects to it somehow. working on posture is hard. esp after years of lifting heavy things without a lot of mobility work.

i've been feeling a lot of breakthroughs lately by focusing on diaphragmatic breath when i lift weights. it's similar to ujjayi breath, but i'm not strict about it being nose-only (though maybe i should try). the basic idea is to keep the core "turned on" through the entire breath cycle, relying continuously on your diaphragm to move breath in and out. breathe out like you're trying to fog a mirror to get a taste of it (then do the same thing in reverse for the breath in). it's a challenge to really dial it in and do it continuously through motion but i've been getting better at it. the effect for me is that i strain a lot less and feel more space to move. it feels like the ingredients i need to make a movement happen are much more efficiently marshaled. also my abs are looking a little nuts as a result.

I've been doing a lot of calisthenics working up to handbalancing, and diaphragmatic breathing has really helped in terms of getting my body into better positioning while staying relaxed where I need to

I'm on the verge of joining a gym but fear the mockery of the swole. Is this a thing or am I overthinking it?

not a thing.

working up to handbalancing

been thinking about taking a "handstand course" from some instagram fitness guy lol

Xp thanks

profile of a swole woman fwiw

^^ one of my former coworkers went the swole woman route, was actually in some People magazine article, and quit being my coworker to do her swole woman t-shirt business full time. much respect

I am on a pullup mission. So far I barely have enough grip strength to hang fir a few seconds. Doesn’t help that I have a quirky shoulder.

Pull ups are a bitch for real.

decades ago i had a group 'tryout' for an rotc scholarship. oh, a shuttle run? oh you want me to kneel and throw this basketball off the back wall? cool

and then i managed like 1.5 pull ups

Pull ups are—humbling is not the word.

But I feel like I should be able to do at least one, because in 2024 end times I should be able to do this + shoot gun and whatever else survival shit I will need.

If you keep at it it's pretty remarkable how quickly you can progress

Spouse has said same but he is not an estrogen-starved post-double mastectomy woman! His swole gains come so much more quickly than mine. But I can say that my grip strength is notably better than just two weeks ago. I’ll get there.

I remain horrible at pullups. I'm sure it's partly that I weigh almost 200lbs, because in terms of rows and pulldowns and the like I have a relatively strong upper back. I can usually only hit like 3 in a first set, maybe 2 in subsequent set. I do try to do the full range, all the way down/up pullup.

Unrelated, I recently signed up for a swim class because for years I've only marginally been able to swim. I find it to be a great compliment to lifting because it uses the full body and there's so little stress on the joints. The "stretch" for the crawl feels like it's training my core in a way that also helps with my squat and deadlift form.

Yes swimming is great but boring and it always makes me super sleepy afterwards for whatever reason.

I find it less boring than running on a treadmill, although maybe that's partly the novelty of it. More boring than running outside probably, but also kinder to my body.

My pullup progress is. . . barely progress. My grip strength has definitely improved, so at least now I can tolerate hanging on the bar and doing some small "scapula shrugs" or whatever.

At this rate I will be doing my first full pullup at like 80 years old, which I guess is its own sort of accomplishment.

still weak as hell but down 20+ pounds. so the new clothes I bought last year have to be belted lol

i'm going to have to switch to swimming or something for cardio, plantar fascitis is keeping me from runs outside for a while, we'll see what the running foot doctor has to say tomorrow.

i've added a bunch of hip and shoulder things to my yoga session. the things that feel the most stimulating are high kicks / side kicks / rear kicks and soft throws (where you just make the motion of throwing a ball without the ball). also i can balance a handstand for like 5 seconds now! it's progress.

i don't really have any helpful advice for pullups other than try different grips (i've landed on a neutral side grip) & the assisted pull-up machine can help you work your reps up. i would say this but breathing can be helpful. clenching your jaw can help. idk there are probably instagram accounts out there with a million good tips on it.

if you don't have access to an assisted pull up machine get someone to give you knee spots :)

down 20+ pounds

looks like it's cuttin season

for pullups it helps to be skinny as a fuckin twig ime but other than that i'd say just try hard pretty much every day and it'll come

Since the climbing thread is pretty quiet, going to post here.

I am projecting V8-V9 boulders in my gym, which tends to set more "traditional" style (aka training for outdoor climbing) than "comp" style (aka its own sport, more akin to American Ninja/gymnastics). I am stronger than I've ever been. Can do about 10 one-arm pull-ups on each side, and really rely on doing frenchies and ladders on tiny crimps to keep my fingers strong.

Also bicycling ~40-50 miles per week for cardio/aerobic exercise.

I never thought it would happen, but I'm a jock!

I know climbing can be obnoxious but I really think a lot of people would like it, particularly if they don't like team sports and aren't into traditional "gyms" but want to get strong and feel more embodied.

I think people who aren't "jocks" miss out on a lot of things they'd really enjoy because they've internalized all kinds of ideas about the types of people who do and don't do those things, whether they be lifting, climbing, whatever

xp high five! i love being a jock tbh. climbing always sounded awesome and great to me. i've tried it a few times but i'm a heavy ass bitch haha. i like weight training for mass too much. maybe i'll get back into it. sometimes i'm left a little dissatisfied with my weight training, it feels a little one dimensional compared to some other things. i want to try a contact sport (jiu jitsu) but i'm worried it will be too much money atm.

I'm an adult jock at this point, def nowhere near as accomplished in anything as most other people but I spend a lot of time doing physical activities and don't really have the "I gotta be the best" thing hanging over my head that I did when I was younger, so everything's way more fun

ugh it's so much more fun when you can just move around and have fun and stuff. make movement fun again is my motto.

exercise because you can not because you need to

also sometimes it's a good realization to have, 'i don't know what i'm doing,' because it can lead you to 'well what am i doing' and 'what do i want to do?' i feel like i don't know what i'm doing pretty regularly, i think it's important to pay attention to that. i've moved from 'getting through this exercise pretending to myself i know what i'm doing will make me feel what i want to feel' to 'i get to express how i feel through how i do this movement, the weight, me handling it, how i engage to make it happen, the little flourishes that make each rep a little different, etc."

yeah, that’s what’s been really great about climbing in the past year or so for me— i’ve really come to understand and work on my strengths and weaknesses, as well as have a sort of preferred “style” of climbing. i’m much more in tune with what/why/how i’m doing what i’m doing physically, even outside of the gym.