Introduction:

An exploration of lifting advice and how to optimise it for sexual strategy and aesthetics. This post may come across as narcissistic but I think it provides insight on aesthetics.

18y/o So what do I know?

Edit: spelling and age

TL;DR: a strange emphasis on strength not aesthetics on TRP.

We all know frame is most important, but developing a physique makes game a hell of a lot easier. In it's raw form this sub is about sexual strategy, not smashing PR's, not moving a weight from A to B. We all agree that lifting makes one a better person. But most lifting posts here advocate "Rows, deadlifts, squats, bench." These movements are the most important... if we are talking about becoming physically stronger. They are very important for preventing injury, improving posture (except bench-press - more on that later) and most importantly testosterone. However lifting posts here miss out a point of TRP: to improve sexual strategy. Deadlifts are a very efficient movement for improving strength, but not efficient for aesthetics. And aesthetics trumps strength in sexual strategy. Now all beginners should start off with the 'basic' movements because they strengthen the body and are good for beginner gains but this sub is not only for beginners - it's existed for years and naturally there are lots of intermediate and advanced lifters here as well. Therefore some consideration for aesthetics is needed. When people start lifting they envision a version of their body that has ripped abs, a wide slab-like chest, a v-taper, athletic legs etc. Yet long-term these 'basic movements' won't cut it. Sorry boys.

Aesthetics Brah

There are better movements than the ones usually prescribed. For example: the bench press. This Monday movement is used by every gym-goer, we scream out as we push last reps on 'chest-day'. For a lot of people the bench-press is not actually a good chest developer. Why do we use it then? Because we can lift more weight on this movement compared to others so it feels better. But if you look at the proper movement- elbows not flared, lifting from below chest- we can see that as we move the weight up, yes the chest fibres contract, but they are acting as stabilisers predominantly in a lot of people, while the triceps and front deltoids (front shoulders) do all the work. Now front-delts and chest fibres end up competing for space in advanced lifters: look at many modern bodybuilders: large front shoulders, small chests. So why would we do an exercise so often that favours front delt growth over outer chest growth? A much better movement would be the Gironda neck press which is a like a bench press but with a very wide grip, with the bar lowered to the sternum and elbows flared so that as you push the bar up - your chest fibres are in line with your arms and almost parallel to the bar: more chest stimulation! Especially in the upper chest and outer chest. Use a lighter weight though because a heavy weight cannot be handled in this position. This movement also means that front-deltoids hardly do any work at all, so instead it's mostly the chest working with a contribution from triceps. The next day you feel a pain right arcoss the chest, pain that reaches very wide. So many guys especially previous beta boys will have poor posture and a slight hunch and forward shoulders. This is caused by lack of self esteem and sitting on sofas at home and chairs at school and offices. They already have forward-shoulders: so for them to bench can make their posture worse or at least prevent it from improving because the bench press strengthens the front shoulders. I do bench press now, but less than once a month and only because I don't have forward-hunching shoulders anymore. Think about it: how many lifters do you know that have shoulders like Connor McGregor's? Some people think he looks cool but his posture is frankly shocking and looks ridiculous. Now he has this problem for other reasons (protective posture, forward shoulders for further reach) but too much bench pressing for some people (not all) will have a similiar effect. The bench press will only lead to disappointment for a lot of lifters hoping to maximise chest gains and develop an Olympian physique that helps sexual strategy. Chest cable flies (seated) are also a nice alternative that works the chest muscles.

Another example of a compound basic movement that is good for beginners but has better alternatives for aesthetics is the pull-up. I wrongly thought I could skip bicep work that is always made-fun of in lifting memes and jokes and just do pull-ups to grow both my back and my biceps. To my horror my biceps didn't grow. Now that I have started (dare I say) isolatation work my biceps have grown. And by isolation I do not mean regular bicep curls flinging a heavy weight around with the front deltoid doing most of the work: I'm talking agonising drag curls and 'perfect curls' and preacher curls at lighter loads that hurt like a hand after an exam. Some guys WILL grow large biceps doing rows and pull-ups because they have high testosterone naturally, but let's admit that most of the guys here needed this sub because they sucked at sexual strategy boiling down to low testosterone. I tend to make friends with high testosterone blokes who are naturally athletic and muscular and they have no problem with game unlike most of us did. Now large biceps are not massively important for sexual strategy but they are important for developing a best aesthetically physical version of yourself that is proportioned and beautiful. Remember that pull-ups are great for the back and my lats exploded like bat-wings from bodybuilding-style pull-ups and rows: just not my biceps. This post is not demonising compounds but rather offering a more balanced perspective on lifting for us.

This brings us to abs. Now some people believe one can get abs by doing squats. This is true. However simple growth of abs looks ugly, a bulging stocky waist is not aesthetically pleasing and not going to wow the ladies if you live near the coast. Why do some people have such strong abs but not nice-looking abs? The answer is to be found after diarrhea. Have you ever had a horrible pain from holding in diarrhea? This is the muscle that turns a strong waist into a stronger and more aesthetic waist. The transverse-abdominal (TVA) muscles. These fibres cross horizontally underneath the abs and are the reason our organs do not bulge out. As we age these muscles get lazy and we get guts. Having large abs looks a lot better if they are in place and not bulging out and sideways. The TVA muscles hold everything in. This is why Arnold had a trim waist and frankly how a lot of golden-era bodybuilders kept a trim waist. They knew that pure ab-work was not enough: the likes of Frank Zane and Arnold Schwarzenegger did stomach vacuums almost every day. How? Stand with you hands on a counter or on your thighs and force out all your air breathing out. (https://goo.gl/images/At8tpQ) Then suck you belly button towards your spine and hold... hold... hold. Let go and breathe in. Continue. I superset these with myostatic crunches (yes the girly crunches done over a bosu-ball in the girl area of the gym) for ab workouts. A strong TVA makes your core smaller, gives a V-taper, makes your core stronger for squats and it makes your abs look a million times better since the muscles underneath them hold them in place. As a bonus you will be able to suck in and flex your abs instead of just flexing them by pushing them out. Stomach vacuums and Larry Scott's 'ring of fire' are especially important for older men looking to get their teenage waistline back as Larry Scott (the first Mr Olympia) did. Now yes you can get abs doing squats but isolation is required to shape them. Understandable? Also sit-ups and regular crunches can hurt the lower back and a myostatic crunch advocated by Tim Ferris is much safer and hurts the abs more without stimulating the hip-flexors (https://youtu.be/8Zq_nM5H3bk) Any older gentleman's SMV will be greater if women can see he does not have a bulging waist. The best thing about vaccums is that although they tighten and shrink waist size they actually make your waist stronger so they are a win-win even for powerlifters. Also one should throughout the day be conscious of holding in their waist or at least try hold it in while doing isometric holds for abs.

Squats (I'm going to get so much criticism for this lol). Squats have their place. I love squats. But... they are not for everyone. For a lot of guys squats develop good thighs and a perky butt (the amount of times I've overheard girls perve at a guy's butt). But for some guys they overdevelop the glutes and widen the hips. And even for the people that squats work for, in order to get superstar legs there are better movements that really bring out a thigh sweep: namely the sissy squat. Named after Sissyphus the guy in greek legend who rolled a boulder up a mountain every day only to have it tossed down for all eternity. He has good thighs on greek vases so this exercise was named after him. Now this movement looks goofy and the guy in the video is a bit (very) stiff but "Woah" these hurt a lot. More than squats: https://youtu.be/JuFxNj2jlc4 advanced lifters may benefit from these, especially if you don't like machines but still want to somewhat isolate the quads. Also squats can overdevelop the inside-thigh in some of you and if you have concern for this than sissy squats are for you. (For those of you who have bulging inner-thighs you don't like, also avoid sumo-deadlifts).

The Compound Movements Brah

There is a use for heavy compounds and I'll get to that. Why do a lot of guys prefer the compound movements and advocate large rest times (3 minutes - seriously? Why don't you just play monopoly while you wait?) with heavy weight? I'll tell you why and this will reallly rile some of you... It's easier. (Insert barrage of disagreement). Let me explain. Heavy loads tap into a deep survival mechanism, when you're under a heavy 1RM bench bar, you don't have a choice, you MUST push it up. Deadlifts also tap into an explosive survival feeling that carries you through the movement. This is a good thing and feels great. But it does not feel like suffering. Many blokes avoid isolation because it actually hurts. A 5x5 does not hurt that much, your muscles give up and hurt a little bit but mostly you stop because they won't move. Whereas when doing 8-15 rep isolation you do not tap into the creatine-phosphate system as much and there is loads more pain. Many guys won't admit or consider that isolation work requires much more grit and determination than 5x5 or powerlifting because it actually hurts far more in terms of pain, whereas the former just makes you exhausted. The two are very different. During isolation high rep exercises you can stop anytime, a weight will not crash down on you if you let go, your body knows it doesn't have to succeed. So this makes it harder which is why so many gym-goers pass it off. Or when they do try isolation they fling weight around and cheat. Yet isolation with less rest is way more efficient for developing your dream body. Take a look at Bob Paris or Francis Benfatto: https://youtu.be/ilDwDQ941Gw this type of training is sore but develops the best-looking muscle. I'm not saying powerlifting is a waste of time it is fantastic and sometime I train in that style but a faster-paced isolation trumps it in terms of having a physique. The youtube comment sections of Jeff Seid's videos are full or mocking and criticism by the same type of people who do this in TRP. But look at Jeff Seid's body and his game and results speak. Even I laugh at him but his body and game is great so we can learn from people who put aesthetics first: https://youtu.be/1h5qPiDvTF4 watch and learn.

So when and why do I use compounds? Firtly, squats work for me. But I also do sissy-squats, hack-squats, front-squats and sprinting. Secondly, compound movements are amazing for testosterone, so I do 1RM deadlifts once or twice a week (going past 130kg now and I weigh 65 kg so that's good for my weight). I see them as a testosterone supplement. So for the next few days the T compliments my isolation muscle damage and should theoretically speed-up muscle growth and repair. Because isolation work does not have the same large testosterone and growth-hormone benefits. So the pairing of powerlifting style training with aesthetic training works well!

The Diet Conundrum and Aesthetics Brah

Charles Poliquin the strength sensei who has trained over 800 olympic athletes was recently on LondonReal. He reccomends a low carbohydrate diet and 'earning your carbs'. I'm not going to argue about this... actually I'm happy to debate in the comment section about it lol... low carbohydrate diets are great for fat loss and health (look at LowCarbDownUnder on youtube for latest health research in the topic) and for insulin sensitivity which increases amino acid uptake by muscle cells and therefore should increase growth. Charles also states that "training twice a day is necessary to reach the upper limits of hypertrophy." as a side note with "24-48 workouts a month". And even Frank Zane (one of the few people to beat Arnold in a Mr Olympia) used to dip into ketosis a few times a week. Now the details on low carb are up to you (cheat meals, macros etc) and there are other posts about it so I'm not delving into that. Just saying that it is a quick, sustainable, testosterone friendly way to lose fat (NOT muscle as caloric restriction does) (https://youtu.be/Y2l61X8ILT0)

Why do aesthetic bodies look nice brah?

We know that muscle is attractive because it displays health, abundance, immune system strength and capability. Perhaps a leaner athletic body looks nice becaue unlike a purely stocky thick body it demonstrates speed and running capability which is important for hunting (humans ARE the best long-distance runners in the planet and will beat a horse on a hot day) and seeing how anthropology reveals our persistence-hunting past that existed for arguably 3million years before agriculture, a lean aesthetic physique demonstrated to girls you were not only strong but also a good runner. But this IS speculative.

To conclude I'd like the the comments to discuss how you lift and what works for you guys. And also how much has lifting helped your sexual strategy, and whether powerlifting and heavy loads or isolation work has helped your body transformation.