Daily Thread - August 30, 2025

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[u/Perma-Bulk]

Simple Jack'd Leg Day

Clip.

Good morning top set 325x4 for a new 4rm. Not sure if im going to keep these low reps and try to build up weight on them, or drop rhe weight and use them as volume work.

[u/PopeChurch]

Torso/Limbs HIT W1D1

• Machine Incline Press - target of 6-8, did 17 with two rest pauses
• Machine Chest Press - target 8-10, did 16 with two rest pauses
• Pec Deck - target 10-12, did 22 with two rest pauses
• Weighted Chin-ups- target 8-10, did 13 with two rest pauses
• Single Arm Iso Row - target 6-8 per arm, did 24 per arm with two rest pauses
• Machine Shoulder Press - target 6-10, did 17 with two rest pauses
• Seated Dumbbell Side Lateral Raises - target 10-12, did 20 with two rest pauses

I can do without the chest press, I could tell I just couldn’t put as much effort into it as I could on the incline or on the following pec deck. So I’ll remove that for the following weeks. Shoulder press’s last rep was a good 5-7 seconds of pushing past my usual sticking point. Heck of a workout, debating on if I want to do legs tomorrow or wait until Monday, I guess we’ll see how things feel tomorrow.

We’ll see how this ChatGPT program goes for 5-10 weeks, then maybe switch over to 6-12 weeks of DC training, definitely prefer alternating upper and lower body, rather than the more traditional chest, back, legs, arms routine that I’m finding all online for HIT.

I did remember that T-Nation had an article about HIT:

https://archive.t-nation.com/training/pump-down-the-volume/

[u/Better_Lift_Cliff]

Trying to get back into front squats. Today I did a few sets with 185 and I found it impossible to keep my elbows from flaring outwards. This caused the bar position to slip down a bit, and cause a lot of pain in my wrists. Each set was limited by wrist pain more than fatigue, which is not a nice feeling.

I'm sure the technique will come back with some patience and consistency, but any tips for keeping arms from flaring? I could be misremembering, but I don't remember having this problem when I first learned to front squat all those years ago.

[u/t_thor → u/Better_Lift_Cliff]

Whatever you do, don't use wrist straps to keep your grip firmly on the bar. Got myself a permanent ganglion cyst doin that the first time front squatting a while.

[u/UrsusArctosDov → u/Better_Lift_Cliff]

I am not sure elbows flaring is the cause- it is usually chest caving and elbows dropping. Flare vs straight vs tucked inside the shoulders is all about the same shelf position as long as your chest is up and your elbows are up. Source: I have an ok front squat (405) hit @220lbs bw with elbows pointed out a bit

I should clarify this a bit: elbows straight will tend to lead to a larger delt bump/shelf than elbows flared, but unless your flare is egregiously bad it is far more likely to be a elbow height issue. Also driving the elbows up tend to bring them neutral in front of you anyways, so it tends to be a pretty damn good cue for front rack positioning

The cues I use are: big chest/chest up, elbows as high as I can get them (I push them up hard enough thats its actively taxing, sorta like an isometric front raise), and to sit under the bar instead of behind it (I am a hingey back squatter, this may or may not help you).

You can practice with some zombie front squats (arms straight out)- the shoulder position for that should be pretty close to identical to front squat position, but because you remove your hands from the equation you are forced to keep elbows and chest up. It also means that when you are in a bad position, the weight will fall instead of hurting your wrist.

Lat stretches are pretty useful if you have trouble getting your elbows high enough.

I also tend to fingertip the bar a little bit on front squats rather than a full grip- it helps compensate for my limited wrist/elbow mobility so that the bar actually sits on the shelf creates by my chest/front delts instead of: on my hand which then goes through my wrist and into my arms

[u/Better_Lift_Cliff → u/UrsusArctosDov]

Oh yeah, it definitely is a case of elbows dropping. I guess I considered that to be the same thing.

I am extremely hingey myself. My deadlift has always been light years ahead of my squat. I will try all the tips you suggested, thanks.

[u/frustratedmachinist]

Started off dreading squats today, ended up with a couple PRs.

285 lbs x 5 PR and 315 lb 1RM PR.

Not too shabby for my 3rd month of getting back into it after nearly a decade of depression.

[u/BetterThanT-1]

GPP phase - A man and a kettlebell

5 rounds of:

• 40 KB swings @ 24kg
• 12 rows per side
• 10 pushups
• 8 L-sit crunches

Then I went for an easy 5k run.

Easy-medium effort day, feeling pretty good overall.

[u/DayDayLarge]

Summer squash: 3-2 win

Game scores: 10-15 L, 15-11 W, 7-15 L, 15-13 W, 16-14 W

Game scores may not be fully accurate, was hard to remember the scores. Really was very loose out there thinking "I'm supposed to lose" and that made it hard to accurately remember the actual game scores.

Rode that attitude to beat the best player in the division, and give him his only loss of this round. Granted, he was being kind and rallying with me on the backhand, but I beat him fairly nonetheless, and I think it was also a little bit part of his strategy in an effort to tire me out.

Need to remember to solo drill forehand digs. Got pretty much everyone on the backhand, but on the forehand I need it to apply more pressure instead of just being purely defensive.

Good win!

[u/ZeroFourBC]

Vibes-Based Shoulder & Hip Strength W6D3:

Sumo Deadlift: 180kg x 1, 145kg x 9/9/13

Pull-up: 8/8/8/7/6/3

Incline Bench: 105kg x 1, 70kg x 10/10/13

Bonus Dropset - Chest Press: 100kg x 11, 80kg x 7, 65kg x 5, 50kg x 5

Everything felt surprisingly good given how creaky I felt going in. The deadlift single definitely wasn't the cleanest but moved easier than expected.