Moderator: Chebass88
So much yes. I’ve always found curls to be miserable in every form. I’m weak at them and find everything about them uncomfortable, without the satisfaction that comes from being uncomfortable, say, squatting.
I was reminded yesterday of the bracing cue, “pull your belt buckle to your chin,” and used it today - much easier / better than separately thinking of squeezing quads, glutes, and abs. Give it a try. My personal (so massive grain of salt) addition to the cue is to think of it more as pulling your belt buckle up and through you to your chin, rather than letting it end up being too much of a rounding movement / standing crunch.
Yup, fuck em. I don’t have giant calves, but they’ve got good aesthetics that easily are raised with a week of jump roping or sled pushing. There’s not enough time in the day to justify turning good into great when there are so many other (more productive and fun) gym things to do, especially since nearly all calf work fucks my knees.xng wrote: ↑Fri Jun 16, 2023 8:40 pm Almost as much as curls, I hate training calves. I already have calves so giant that I can't wear high boots. They don't look big compared to my thighs, but they are. Perhaps soon I will replace calf work with shrugs or neck curls or something relevant to grappling.
Logged the same thing within the past week. Felt them entirely in my lower back and not in a good way, and not at all in my hams and glutes. Had a far better experience with back extensions, doing them while in slight, braced flexion both up and down.
Oh yeah, I forgot to say so but I tried them out because you mentioned them. I was doing them unweighted and didn't feel much of anything except for, on one downswing, a big uh-oh jolt radiating from my lower back. So that was a no from me, boss. Too bad, because I thought it would be nice to get the lower back a little traction and a little loaded flexion/extension to help it realize everything is okay.
Welcome back - glad to see you.xng wrote: ↑Sat Jul 22, 2023 12:55 pm Low bar squats feel so great. Everything just feels tight and pulled-together and unable to move except in the correct way. I don't know why a couple inches' difference in bar placement should feel like a completely different lift. Maybe it's just that I learned to squat low-bar in the first place and only really started high-bar squatting in 2020 when I joined the weightlifting gym. Also I have really long legs and a short torso, so low bar is a helpful accommodation for my handicap.
It feels good during the lift. I can make up a story about how it helps proprioception / reinforces keeping immobile the things that ought to be immobile, but I don't really know, because what it feels like is "Belt Friend is here to help and everything is going to be fine". Maybe I'll do the next cycle beltless, would probably build character to reduce psych dependence on Belt Friend.