Cork

If I were to have discovered a thing, surely it would be in the same place I would want to write down my workouts. @hogg

@CaptainMidnight I feel your pain with those tires. I did them once with a sleeveless tee and had pretty bad marks that were like bruise/stretch/blood blisters. Completely pain free though. If only I still had access to that gear though.

I think OHS are a good illustrator of whether you can stabilise weight overhead and your shoulder mobility but unless you're doing o-lifting or CF (and need them for your sport, essentially) I feel like there are better barbell squat variations if the goal is strength building or hypertrophy. Most people seem to need months before they can put working weight on the bar.

I totally agree with this. Overhead squats are pretty pointless for an average athlete. Just not worth the return once you get over the learning curve. I might even be inclined to generalize and say the whole snatch. The clean and jerk translates way better... says some unknown guy on the internet.

So I join a tattoo forum and I immediately find a lifting thread lol. Combining the best of both worlds.

I have a few questions for those more decorated than me - do you take gym time off (other than avoiding areas that are fresh and could get irritated like back tattoo & squats) post tattoo? Like avoiding sweat or avoiding the gym with fresh work because its non-sterile? I suppose the same question applies to cardio and / or saunas with fresh work...if this has been asked and answered 1000 times please ignore my rudeness while I read back a few pages.

As for me, I'm a strongman & powerlifter with a few tattoos. I had a big piece scheduled to start a few days from now but unfortunately my last comp (last weekend) left some nasty friction damage in part of the work area so my artist and I pushed the start date. Boooooo.

I take time off until I'm ready to move again. But I might be a special case because I'm getting a kame no koh, and I'm a baby. I have to take about 3 full days off before I feel comfortable lifting again. Even then, benching is out of the question for about 7 days.

What do you have planned? Might want to pick a safer spot that won't have an atlas stone tearing at it?

Looks great!

I'm surprised how many people are saying no back. Doesn't make sense to me. Maybe I'm biased ;)

So good @Wilhell I can't stop looking at it. I'm sorry it's on your back.

Alright well I can't really get a good picture, but the ink on top of stretch marks looks fine. Maybe eventually when it starts to fade, the marks on the skin will be less hidden, but the ink will probably still hold up. That's my guess. There was also another user who got tattoos on her lower stomach and upper thighs to cover stretch marks, and I remember her being very excited at how will they were covered. I can't remember her name though...

Very cool. I'll send a you a PM closer to the date to remind you. Fair warning now though, I'm just a plain old nerd who just so happens to like tattoos. Though if you know Dana, I'm sure he'll be happy to see you, so the trip won't be a total loss for you, haha.

Oh boy, that's not near Read Street at all. The sessions are normally 4 hours.

@Bunny Switchblade @irezumi

Being that I travel to Read Street every 3rd Monday or so, I'd love to meet you guys. Irezumi, I'd be very interested to know when/where you'll be guest spotting. Might not be able to finagle a tattoo, but I'd enjoy shaking your hand. Bunny, I know you've said it before, but where do you work? My next appointment with Dana is May 13th at 5. Is your shop close to Read Street? I could take a side trip and stop by and introduce myself. And yes Dana is working the convention, he said he was fully booked up except for 1 slot as of Monday.

I am no where near as deep in the world as you guys are, so I can hardly appreciate what's going down here. I don't mean to derail the thread.

I have a few stretch marks on my hips and upper thigh that the back piece has covered up. Maybe even my thigh baku has covered some of my front thigh stretch marks (I grew like a little devil in high school). I'll try and remember to get some pics tonight. In summary though, I think the stretch mark areas have taken the ink well, which seems to follow the trend in this thread so far.

The sunshine and warm spring time temperatures have me very motivated to lift and be active. Right now my schedule is Sunday and Wednesday Olympic lifting program. Right now this involves doing 5x5 of a overhead press, a squat, and a deadlift. The goal is to build strength through these movements then "graduate" into doing cleans, snatches, etc. Monday and Friday are crossfit days. Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday are either rest or light running. So far it feels great being more active than I have been in the past 5-6 years.

The nice weather is always a good motivator. I find myself getting out and trying to play more leisurely sports like beach volleyball and tennis. Weightlifting is still a priority but it's fun to get outside.

Those crossfit days will probably really help your oly movements provided you have good coaches. Have fun with that.

Does anybody else have a copy of " Becoming a Supple Leopard " ? For me the stretching and mobility sections are outstanding .

I've heard that this book is really poorly put together? I was thinking about buying it, but I am hesitant after hearing that.

I'm doing Pavel Taatsouline's "grease the groove" protocol at the moment because I can't get to the gym. I've picked the pull-up and push-up as movements and basically I'm just doing sets randomly through the day, accumulating volume. No sets to failure. Yesterday I did 55 pull-ups and 92 push-ups. Mostly sets of 5-7 and 10-14 respectively. The only issue is in not sure when 'enough is enough' per day? I've been at it a week so far, still adding reps daily.

I did something like this for a while too with pull ups. I enjoy a lot of Pavel's writing and the way he explains certain things. I would say 55 pull ups in a day is pretty good. You figure if you were doing them in a normal workout, average would probably be 3 sets of 10-12?

Anyone else having stretching issues, I highly recommend the Limber 11 by Defranco. It may have been mentioned in this thread already, but I figure it's always good to get a reminder. I really like this routine for hip flexibility. He has one similar for shoulder mobility, but I don't think it is nearly as effective as the Limber 11 is for hips. I prefer Starret's shoulder mobility exercises from what I've seen and used on myself.

Sick helmet. How many sessions in are you now?

I just looked it up. Awesome!

It was nice to see you again as well. If not sooner I will see you again at the bay area convention. I also have to say your back is amazing and I can't wait to see it when its finished.

And your back too? Have you posted pics in this thread?

First from Dana's Instagram, second from my own phone.

So much coverage from this session. All the fire and the blue. The next few days are going to suck.

I'm stumped. I tried to look up and see if the drums that Raijin beats on had any sort of significance. At a high level search, it seems they are not significant except for the tomoe symbol. I haven't seen drums anywhere else other than those little charm dangle ones, and I doubt that's what you're looking for. See image below.

Get the tattoos you like and screw everyone who comes up with bullshit terms to try and make you feel guilty. Cultural appropriation... who ever came up with that should have gone to school for a real degree so that they could have contributed productively to society instead of trying to fragment it more.

@idyllsend When I was getting my back done, it was basically whatever I was comfortable with. They had no problem setting up the screen. As far as looking out the windows... well anyone peering in the windows got lucky. Reverse bathrobe is the best bet. For me I have a fundoshi and a towel. But I don't really have to worry about covering up boobs.

@Ditch Belgium It's all relative. Fresh hits are the worst, but as soon as the area gets used to being tattooed, the pain eases up as you can acclimate to it.

Hair isn't an issue for me either. The only areas I could get tattooed that aren't hairy would be my hands, feet, receding hairline/forehead. You're young though, right @Jnvlv ? The hair will grow. Even my damn triceps look like a sasquatch. Sheesh.

The lady with the tiger back piece is Burning Lotus on tumblr. Don't ask me why I know that. Very NSFW if you look her up.

Fantastic progress so far! You are going at a great speed.

wait I already posted in this thread. d'oh

This thread is a like a time capsule. Browse through it a year from now and you get to respond, "Whoa, I said I'd never get my genitals tattooed. I was wrong."

All that in one sitting? Are you sure you aren't really @peterpoose ?