Mitchell Morgan Johnson at The Paris Review:
Went back to the gym after ten days out of town. On vacation in Oregon, with my family, I didn’t work out a single time. On the plane home, I watched an episode of Succession with Alexander Skarsgård in it and thought, I’d like to look like him. He probably works out even when he’s on vacation. But he’s rich, of course, and likely does other extreme things like steroids and blending chicken into smoothies. Still I would like to look more like Alexander Skarsgård than I currently do. I’m 6’3, almost his height, but far skinnier.
Today I felt weaker than before the trip, but maybe that was in my head. I set the assisted pull-up machine to sixty pounds and could complete only four before my arms gave out. I moved on, humbled, to the leg press. I’ve googled “how to do a pull-up” a few times, which has inspired Instagram to start showing me Reels about it. One man with shoulders like cantaloupes explains proper technique. Arms no narrower than shoulder width, he says. You don’t want your body just dangling loosely in space.
more here.
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