MollieTheMare
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User ID: 875
MollieTheMare
8d ago
The thing I see done "wrong" the most is starting/stopping in combination with saddle height being too low. Everyone who hits they gym knows hitting a squat ATG makes it way harder to produce force compared to 1/4 squatting. But for some reason people do not translate this to raising their saddle to where they can produce the most torque. I'm pretty sure it's because they want it low enough to put a foot down when they stop. The canonical site about this topic is here.
Honestly some of it may not be your fault but the bikes. It's Not About the Bike, but I'm 80% sure what you have is a bike shaped object from Walmart. I actually think there's a place for that kind of thing, especially for kids bikes, but unfortunately "good" bikes are unreasonably expensive in the US. At least the Euros can get decent city bikes or entry level sports bikes from decathlon for non-absurd prices. Like seriously bikes easily start getting into motorcycle territory pricing in the US.
Riding on the road on the US is frustrating for everyone, as a recent thread here talked about. I do quite like mountain biking still though. Trail systems are color coded like ski slopes. Hit full send on trail where you just about but don't lose it. Upgrade colors as you improve. For fitness basics of any cardio apply, watch out for over use injuries and assume you will have to put in more hours than if you were to train aerobic capacity via other modality.
MollieTheMare
24d ago
If the setup is something where an average sized man has to lift a moderate sized woman, and you're in a position to get the lifting joint below her center of gravity, I do think even a moderately fit man should be able to do it. I assume the original euphemism was more or less a proxy for moderately fit man is able to generally man handle, which isn't that high of a standard.
There's different levels though.
With zero training I would think most guys could lift a moderate sized woman off their feet.
At a 225# bench I would expect you could basically floor press a cooperative calisthenics/yoga woman where you have her hands in yours and she is in a sort of planche/peacock/crow pose. Seems like it would be amusing in a "I’m flying, Jack!" sort of way.
Assuming you are just by grabbing her (handleless) hips and she is not cooperatively holding a nice grasshopper pose or plank but flopping around or bratting. I wouldn't be supersized if it took the equivalent of a 300# bench to cleanly press a slightly larger than average 175# woman from laying directly on top of you. It's not really the absolute load that's limiting, the leverage is just bad. It would be worse than touching a bench press to below your navel. It's hard to find good statistics on it, but a 3 plate bench is low single digit percentage of men. Totally doable for most men, but does require serious training.
It's like the difference between getting a cooperative partner into a fireman's carry and a lifeless dummy. Pound for pound the latter feels at least twice as hard.
To be fair, pressing from a bed is more like a very very unstable JM press than a proper bench press.
Biomachanicaly the pecs are in a more advantageous position, since like a floor press the elbow can't cross the frontal plane. But The delts and particularly the triceps are in a substantially less advantageous position. Assuming your partner is more narrow than you it's also technically close grip. You also don't have a nice ergonomic bar to hold on to, so the wrists are in much greater extension. Finally, you don't have the advantage of a relatively firm platform or leg drive.
If the load is your typical skinny women, it's likely to be somewhat... flopy. Like an earthquake bar. If they are more muscular they can probably hold their body more rigid, but then you have more mass to move. Assuming a random women, you would have to luck out with a gymnast or competitive cheerleader who is being cooperative, in order for it to be anything like lifting straight weight.
Maybe rather than pressing them fully off of you though, it would be more prudent to follow Nelson's advice at Trafalgar and "Engage the enemy more closely." He did seem to have some taste in these things.
MollieTheMare
27d ago
Impressively accurate.
MollieTheMare
27d ago
You can tell a lot about someone from assessing their choice of car. Even if you think your car says nothing about you, it does.
I'd be interested in a car horoscopes reading on the what do you drive thread. I'm a Pleiades. Not a lesbian or an old person, believe it or not.
MollieTheMare
28d ago
Depending on the market it might sort of be there. I don't remember where @naraburns lives, the length of his commute, or the size of car he wanted. But... You can get a used electric Hyundai Kona for a list of $14.5k right now. All up you would probably just push over $15k, but you can probably find one for $15k private party in the right part of the country. With a level two charger in the garage, you would probably come out okay for all but the longest commutes.
It is probably small and crappy relitive to an equal cost compact crossover, though I have never driven one. Could be great or horrible for all I know.
I would expect the Hyundai IONIQ 5/6 is probably roughly as comfortable as a comparably equipped new Honda HR-V/Accord. With a few years of depreciation it should hit that 15k point sooner rather than later. You probably don't need 100% of original battery life if you are just using it for a city commuter and have a gas car for road trips/backup.
MollieTheMare
28d ago
The heavy things also have numbers on them, and if you keep doing it, you can watch the numbers go up.
The analogy I make to guys who don't lift but are into vidya is, it's like an RPG but IRL. (With a few exceptions) When you first start 2pl8 (100 kg) bench is like the first world boss. You'll get smacked down if you approach it without enough XP or skill. But once you level up a bit it just becomes random fodder you blow by in your warmups. You get to pick where to devote training/XP to, strength, size, endurance, etc. And have manna (recovery) you have to manage.
The inevitable regression does suck, but the meta is always changing. You'll see influencers go from "functional" training to pure strength. Then to bodybuilding/aesthetics. Then they'll pick up running. I suspect it's because one training modality does become stale when you saturate that attribute or regress. But having good general physical preparedness lets you transition to all sorts of things as your life evolves.
MollieTheMare
28d ago
The cars I have driven the most:
- Mazda 323 (6th gen BF, 5MT), my first car. Interior was 100% 80s plastic including the seats. Supper zippy compared to anything anyone else in high school had. Surprisingly good rear visibility, probably because it was so short. Promptly riced then totaled by the guy I sold it to.
- Honda CRX (1st Gen 1.6i Si, 5 MT). Probably the worst example you've even seen driving. The previous owner didn't believe in oil. No AC. Had to parallel park it every night with no power steering. Poor rear visibility. I miss it dearly though.
- Toyota Prius (Gen2 XW20 "touring"). Probably the lowest total cost of ownership car in existence. Much safer and quieter ride for highway commuting than the CRX. Surprisingly spacious for passengers and cargo for the footprint. Very poor rear visibility. Possibly the pinnacle of transportation appliance.
- Subaru Forster (4th Gen SJ, post facelift, 6MT). The least soul-crushing family mid-sized crossover I could find. The last of the standard transmission "regular car" Subarus before they switched to exclusively CVTs so the electronic nanny could take over.
MollieTheMare
1mo ago
see for example the Statue of Liberty poem about bringing America the poor and hungry and persecuted.
I do wish people would not truncate the stanza:
"Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she
With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"
(Emphasis mine) Sometimes people even truncate the poem mid line "Your huddled masses." There's not even a comma breaking the sentence there! Critically she doesn't say send me all. Her command for who to send does not require nobility, but does require carrying an essential notion of liberty with you. It is inscribed on the Statue of Liberty after all, not the Statue of Unlimited Open Boarders.
There's not an entirely negligible portion of the population that is fine with even fairly generous immigration policy. They might prefer, though, if the plan is to vote for the same shit policies that you are fleeing from that you do not come to the US.
MollieTheMare
1mo ago
Don't have anything really helpful on the rest, but:
getting different conditioner so my swimmer hair isn't so straw-like
Swimming always messes up my hair, and I keep mine very short and pretty easy to manage. Leave-in conditioner at the opposite end of the day as my regular shower or after swimming seems to help. I take a full shower at night with shampoo and conditioner. So if I swim or gym in the morning I would just rinse off, but then use a very small amount of leave-in conditioner after. I also started moisturizing my face with a SPF 15 face moisturizer as part of the same routine. I think it at least reduces irritation from shaving.
MollieTheMare
1mo ago
You also don't need to start a new hobby to meet people. For hobbies with any women and even a modest number of young people taking any initiative, even the bare minimum, is often enough to make a big difference in your social life.
For example, my local hiking meetup was always desperate for hike organizers. What is involved with organizing a hike? Sending a single email to the list saying "Hey I'm going to X trail at Y time I expect it be Z difficultly. I can take 3 people from W parking lot, if you are arranging your own transport we leave promptly at Y from the trail head." By spending 30 seconds composing an email you get to:
- Choose a trail you actually enjoy
- Any single women that do show up will be primed to talk to you, you did "organize" things after-all
- Meet other men and couples who will expand your social circle. There might not be a bunch of single women who show up, but if you do not give off mega weird vibes you'll probably get at least a couple of social invites per event.
You don't need to directly pull numbers at your hobby to have it expand your social circle.
MollieTheMare
1mo ago
Based on a vague recollection of your training history, you should be able to at least temporarily recomp effectively.
One of the nice things about strength vs muscular mass is it's much easier to measure benchmarks , especially with respect to proficiency. For someone with no training history they should be able to go from untrained to somewhere in the novice/intermediate range while maintaining or even losing weight. My recollection is you had taken training "some what seriously" before, which probably brought you to mid-intermediate. In that case it should take 50-75% of the time it took the first time to reach the same place. All doable while in a 0.25-0.5% BW per week lost deficit. So if you went from a 65kg to a 100 kg bench in 9 months before, myonuclei retention might get you there in in 4-6 months. There is a bit of a compounding effect where if you stop and restart repeatedly strength and size seem to come back even faster. Longer if it's been more than 4 years. Beyond the proficient level and outside of a retraining effect recomping is a slow and painful process.
Protein recommendations I would still shoot for the tried and true 1 g/lb body weight. 2 g/kg bw for round metric numbers is probably fine. There had been some (pretty sus) analysis that got cemented as lore for lower recommendations. The newer stuff seems to have rediscovered the tried and true. Why would you expect a hard threshold in the first palce? If you are not that lean 1 g/cm height works surprisingly well as a benchmark. The easiest way to drastically increase protein uptake is to have a pre and post workout whey shake. Whey is very fast digesting so should not decrease appetite much for your "normal" meals. If you don't want to do dairy for some reason brown rice/pea combo, or soy protein is probably fine. If you are worried about phytoestrogens from soy, corner an endocrinologist in a dark corner of the hospital and wring the truth out of them. Report back what exactly the deal is with phytoestrogens is, I'm interested in knowing.
MollieTheMare
1mo ago
Congratulations, savor this period of rapid progress.
very little way to cheat form-wise
Just make sure you're being honest with yourself on this one. It's easy to get carried away as progress slows. Make sure you're keeping you elbows tucked to protect your shoulders, especially as the weights start approaching the 200# mark. Try not to cut ROM on the bottom, only count reps where you touch your chest as PBs. It's probably better if you keep your butt on the bench too, though I have to admit I've counted reps in training where my butt came off.
Don't do anything stupid, like going to failure alone in the gym. Bench is the only lift that regularly kills people.
On that front, deadlifts are probably the hardest to cheat. My deadlift comparatively sucks to my bench though, fortunately "how much ya' bench" is a much more common question than "how much ya' dead."
MollieTheMare
1mo ago
That is a fun fact. Is there a culture war implication though? Maybe this is better suited for the Friday Fun Thread?
MollieTheMare
1mo ago
absurd amount
IMO the practically available volume is the biggest advantage of using a wheel-less bag. On a standardish 22"x14"x8" (~55x35x20 cm) international carry-on size bag, one with no wheels can easily have 25% more interior volume than an identically box constrained wheeled bag. Especially those four castor bags you are losing a full 3 inches off of the bottom of the bag. People also underestimate the volume used for the collapsing handle and structure to transmit the load to the wheels.
In practice for me, this means that I can fit a "normal" amount of stuff in a max size personal item 18"x14"x8", and never have to worry about being forced to pay for a carry-on or have my bag gate checked.
MollieTheMare
1mo ago
Good luck. Generally the more delayed the more soreness onsets.
MollieTheMare
2mo ago
I've never tried soylent, but had a coworker who switched to hule. He's the one that told me about it. I think Hule Original is probably the closest. It doesn't have a bunch of sugar like soylent but I think does have artificial sweeteners, if that matters to you.
I replaced lunch with Hule black. For sure saves time over meal prepping, and is very macro friendly.
MollieTheMare
2mo ago
I think I'm on a liquid diet for a while
Do you have a go-to for a liquid diet?
I find Hule Black acceptable if prepared in a blender and given a few hours to hydrate. I wouldn't say it tastes good, but it's not as offensive tasting as some of the bad reviews would suggest. The ready to drink is convenient, but has worse macros for some reason.
I've never been brave enough to try a chicken, broccoli, and OJ blender shake. I have met at least one person IRL who's tried it though, so it's not just a meme. Claimed it was fine. I imagine you can sub cooked rice or oats and bone broth for the OJ carbs.
MollieTheMare
2mo ago
Off of a rural lightly travel highway, exercises the ultimate freedom of living in a state of nature.
On a freeway, especially in heavy traffic I'd probably go for a large capacity wide mouth bottle. The large capacity is critical. You do not want to be at 90% full trying to cut off the stream. The main advantage, in addition to discretion, is you can possibly avoid having to exit and reenter traffic that way.
I have no experience trying it with kids, but it seems just unpleasant enough that they might heed your warning to limit fluid intake before the next 2 hour road trip. Not so unpleasant that it just seems mean.
For girls past training potty age, a fancy funnel might be an option? It can also be useful for nasty public bathrooms or when popping a squat is not a desirable option. e.g. peeing in the woods in the extreme cold. There are disposable versions that are basically cardboard with a plastic or wax coating. We keep a couple in the car for emergencies. My impression is that a reusable one called the "Shewee" is generally viewed favorably.
If you want a fancy bottle, "portable urinals" are surprisingly cheap. Some include an attachable funnel adapter. If you don't want to have to deal with dumping and rinsing a container at your destination, you can also buy pouches with absorbent gel. They seal when you are done with them and can be thrown discreetly into most ordinary trash.
MollieTheMare
2mo ago
New Balance
They are also the only main stream brand that has size EE across almost their whole product line.
Width D is almost always too narrow for me, yes even if your band claims to have a "wide toe box." Especially if you have flat feet, shoes are also too narrow around the arch. Width 4E is apparently for people with crazy hobbit feet, where they feel like they are wider than they are long. My experience is like 95% of shoe salesmen will try to tell you you'll be fine with D or 4E. Why would I be asking if you had EE if one of those would work?
MollieTheMare
2mo ago
Reserving commentary on the phraseology of the original question.
Calculating the dates for Easter is a sort of interesting question. Assuming Gregorian conventions. For any date between March 28 and April 20 inclusive the frequency is just over 3%. For April 20th the most recent occurrences have been: 1919, 1924, 1930, 2003, 2014, and 2025 with the next in 2087.
MollieTheMare
2mo ago
I mean, mollie the mare has 200 comments, it's not a dormant troll.
I appreciate you posting this. Pretty rich for a guy with their posting history hidden to accuse someone else of being a troll. I don't post as much as the more prolific users of the forum, but it would have been trivial to check if I was a sleeper account.
MollieTheMare
2mo ago
Conditional on:
- The plane being capable of autoland
- The MSFS model near study level
- There is a CAT III runway within range with ample fuel reserves and favorable weather
- The real fighter pilot has only ever flow fighters and fast jet trainers (No you're in a 737 and he's flown a P-8 Poseidon)
The basement dweller. Otherwise the fighter pilot. In the first case everyone will probably walk away with quite a story to tell. In the second everyone will probably survive, but there might be some injuries and the plane is probably going to be totaled.
MollieTheMare
2mo ago
This video has fairly recent US numbers, pause at the time stamp for the table.
Absolute cheapest are lentils and skim milk. Cheapest "pure" protein sources are chicken, canned fish, and whey. He doesn't have soy protein on there, but it's probably about the same as whey if you are doing isolate. It's probably slightly better to space your intake out rather than having all your protein in one giant bolus, especially for whey. Two feedings is already a lot better than one. You probably face diminishing returns beyond four.
Sorry for the late reply, offline for the long weekend.
Cheap bike is fine for rolling around the neighborhood. Like I said l, I do think there is a pace for them. The short version is good metallurgy is expensive. The sub $500 "mountain" bikes from Walmart come with a warning not to ride them on unpaved surfaces. Making a mountain bike where it's light enough to be rideable but tough enough where you don't taco a wheel is surprisingly difficult. On the road you'll feel every Watt a cheap bikes cheap bearings rob from you, but for "city" rather than "road" riding it matters less.
Because cycling is only semi-weight bearing and has no or little exentric you generate less strain per unit power/cardio zone. Stimulus to fatigue is still good, but raw stimulus is lower. So for arobic fitness you might need to put in 50% more time than running for the same cardio benefit. For example, for the same VO2 max increase from x hours of preceved zone 2 work. If you have a good bike fit it will still be easier on the knees though.
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