"The Kiss of Death Mistake"

You replay the conversation at 2 a.m. She texted back fast yesterday. Today, nothing. Was that smile friendly or flirty? What did the shoulder touch mean?

Every hour you spend decoding her signals drains your confidence and hands her the controls. Women can sense that insecurity from across the room — and it repels them.

One of the "22 Rules" kills the obsession on the spot: assume she likes you, and act accordingly. Sounds too simple. Works anyway.

Her interest tends to rise to meet your expectations. Psychologists call it a self-fulfilling prophecy.

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Soreness

Being_the_Don

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Hey guys,

I went to the gym this afternoon, started out okay. My routine was

bench press 5 reps X 5 sets at 90 pounds
horizontal rows (on machine) 10 reps X 5 sets at 130 pounds (that's an increase of 20 pounds from when I last did them about 4 weeks ago-I rarely do the machines now)
barbell curls 3-6 reps X 5 sets at 75 pounds*
pull ups 4-5 reps X 5 sets
over head press 0 sets using 20 pound bar at 40 pounds*= PAIN

Last Tuesday I was doing my barbell curls at 4-5 reps X 5 sets at 80 pounds then did some vertical barbell rows 3 reps at 80 pounds. Then I got a pain in my trapezius right side. It hurt like heck and I was stiff. The thing is I had progressed up to 80 pounds on the vertical rows from the week before. At that time it was 8 reps X 5 sets at 75 pounds. Steady increase weekly no problem until last week. So then I decided not to ride my bike so as to let the kinks wear out. When I went to the gym on Thursday I was barely there for 25 minutes because of the pain in my traps. Today I went in and was doing sort of okay until I went to the overhead press and felt the pain in my traps. It bothers me because I know I can do better. *Last week I did 4 reps X 5 sets at 75 pounds on the over head press using a lighter barbell. My pull ups were terrible today. I was so sore from last Tuesday that I didn't do any dips last Thursday or today (I do 10 reps X 3 sets easy).

What to use to get the soreness out of the traps? It's the upper and middle traps mostly and I can barely reach that area. This isn't going to hold me back. It has me PO'd because this isn't my limit. The stiffness is there a little but not so bad, but I worry it will return when I go back to the gym on Tuesday.

And I don't want to drop my weights because I'm glad about the progress I've made so far. And I don't want to take time off because I'm concerned about muscle loss if I'm sitting idle. I don't like this snag, though.
 

"Stop Asking Your Friends What to Text Her"

Your buddy Dave has been single for three years and thinks "hey u up" is a valid strategy. Your other buddy Mike just got dumped and told you to "just be yourself."

You showed them her text. You asked them to decode the emoji. You drafted four responses and sent the screenshot to the group chat for a vote.

She's been waiting forty minutes.

Put the phone down. Stop crowdsourcing your love life. Type something that sounds like you. Hit send. Then go do literally anything else with your evening.

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Being_the_Don

Master Don Juan
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ATX1001 said:
Your BP is 90lbs but you are curling 80lbs???

As for the soreness in the traps, try a massage or buy some deep heat..
I'm starting out light on the bench press. I had been doing inclined dumbbell press at 30 pounds in each hand for about a month; I sat in a reclining chair. Then I decided to increase it to 40 pounds in each hand on bench. After that I just moved to the barbell bench press. With the dumb bell bench press it was like this: 10 reps X 5 sets. The curls aren't so difficult, though. Soon I'll post my work out journal.

I've been standing under the shower to get the kinks out, trying to massage those areas myself. I'm doing okay today. Hopefully I'll be much better by Tuesday so I can get my full work out. Deep Heat sounds like a good idea, too. Thanks.
 

JoeBlack

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Make sure you warm up well, stretch inbetween sets and then warm down.

A warm bath after training can help and also a massage from time to time is a nice idea.

You may also want to consider a recovery supplement. ETS is very good at reducing soreness which sometimes can be inevitable if you are training and working your muscles hard.
 

Being_the_Don

Master Don Juan
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JoeBlack said:
Make sure you warm up well, stretch inbetween sets and then warm down.

A warm bath after training can help and also a massage from time to time is a nice idea.

You may also want to consider a recovery supplement. ETS is very good at reducing soreness which sometimes can be inevitable if you are training and working your muscles hard.
Thanks for the advice.
 

"The Coffee Shop Girl You Never Spoke To"

You've replayed it a hundred times. She stood three feet away, scrolling her phone. You had an opening. You composed the perfect line — after she was gone.

For all you know, she's married now. To some guy who said something. Anything.

Openers are cheap. Almost any sentence works when it's delivered within three seconds. The expensive part is the standing there, drafting and deleting, while the window quietly closes.

The "22 Rules" stripped out my hesitation. What to open with, how to keep it alive, and the one habit that costs guys more women than anything else: waiting for perfect.

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