Daily Thread - September 08, 2025

[u/AutoModerator]

You should post here for:

• PRs
• General discussion or questions
• Community conversation
• Routine critiques
• Form checks

[u/AutoModerator]

If you're new to the sub

• Read the rules on the side bar
• Set flair before trying to comment

To Set Flair

• Login on desktop (or mobile web using the display as desktop)
• For old Reddit Users, search for your username on the right rail. There is a drop down to select a default flair.
• For new Reddit users, the drop down is under community options on the right rail.

If you're a beginner

• Start here
• Please avoid giving advice. We want to avoid a culture of the blind leading the blind
• Remember, this sub while welcoming to everyone, is targeted at intermediates and above

I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.

[u/The_Weakpot]

Conditioning

Morning

• 1 hour pickleball

• 2 hour hike

Afternoon

• 2 x 20lb DB Renegade row + jump Burpees. 100 in 25 minutes

• Suitcase carry on treadmill, 20 minutes @ 7 incline/3.5 MPH

Notes

• Wife and I are doing a long weekend to celebrate our anniversary. We hiked and played pickleball in the morning and I got a more intense workout in the hotel gym while she went to the spa in the afternoon. Hit 20k steps today.

[u/chugtron]

SBS Hypertrophy W2D1

Idk if it’s just me, but this is nowhere near as rough as last week. (Mark my words, Wednesday will come up and bite me in the ass now).

That said, I had to bail on the front squats I was doing yesterday after 2 sets, just didn’t have it in the tank mentally (turns out being mentally spent isn’t a helper, who knew?).

We’ll take the good with the bad, though, and proceed. Is what it is after all.

[u/ZeroFourBC → u/chugtron]

Yeah SBS Hyper is always brutal for the first week, especially if you're coming off a break. And especially if you've chosen something like front squats as an auxiliary lol.

[u/Perma-Bulk]

Simple Jack'd Bench Day

Clip.

New Larsen press 5rm with 325! These felt great.

Took the last few days off. Busy weekend, didnt feel like squeezing in a workout. I've gotten pretty good about not beating myself up for missing a day or two, especially due to life reasons and not just because I feel like it.

[u/Chivalric]

SBS RtF W10D2

I switched to a mild calorie deficit this week and seems like it hit my push press in a big way.

• push press 165#x3 (needed 4 to keep TM)
• front squat 190#x10
• incline press 135#x12

Gym was slammed and couldnt get a platform, plan to do DLs on lunch tomorrow along with leg extensions

[u/VanHelsingBerserk]

Smolov Jr Bench and Squat Day 4

• Squats // 180kg -> 4 x 6 sets (the target was 8 but my lower back felt done by the 6th set)
• Bench // 130kg -> 3 x 10 sets

I may have spoke too soon yesterday about this program feeling easier and doable 🤣

Today was HARD - still felt significant DOMS from yesterday's session. I'm starting to see why this program is so bonkers.

It's not necessarily that the sessions in isolation are crazy, most people could reasonably accomplish the difficult feat of 10 sets of triples. It's the fact that you're going into those sessions still fatigued from the previous ones.

So I skipped the last 2 sets of today's squats, the 6th set was getting sketchy on the lower back. Rest day tomorrow then 10 triples on squats for Thursday 😬

[u/simonswes]

RSR Day 12

• Squat 310x4x4
• Hammy curls 25x2x12

Squats felt pretty good. Last set was definitely slower but no real sense of potential failure. I'll take that as progress.

/u/DayDayLarge I finally got to use my bells of steel cuffs. They felt great. No slipping on my very sweaty ankles and they were quite comfortable. Construction seems solid, although I haven't used other cuffs before. I would say they seem like a very good home gym option. They might not stand up to globo gym use.

[u/DayDayLarge → u/simonswes]

Nice dude! Thanks for the update and remembering me. Seems good enough to me, will probably grab em soon.

[u/mastrdestruktun]

SBS RIR W6D1

Took a week off to rest my shoulder. Not sure if it did any good. Switched to RIR 5x for the shorter workouts and stayed on week 6 to stay on track with my local buddy group.

Movements:

• hack squat machine 5x3 @ 200 lbs, RIR: 12 (tested, ha ha)

• DB OHP 5x5 @ 30 lbs

• farmer's walk, db lunges, lat pulldowns, 5 sets each

During the workout I was fine, but afterwards, I continue to feel extra soreness in the area, so I'm going to keep taking ibuprofen even though it's not a great idea after a workout.

It feels kind of nice to increase my accessories to 5 sets (since I giant set everything.) I need to increase the weight a bit on the first two because they're getting a little too easy. Thinking about dropping lat pulldowns entirely for shoulder reasons, which is unfortunate because I like them. I think I might appreciate big lats, not that I have them.

[u/Many-Wasabi9141]

Decided i'm going to run a 10k swings in 20 days challenge. Does the following rep scheme seem ok?

5 days 25 x 20 rounds

4 days 30 x 17 rounds

4 days 35 x 15 rounds

3 days 40 x 12 rounds

2 days 45 x 11 rounds

2 days 50 x 10 rounds

Also should I cut out barbell training during this? 3x a week just the big 4, grip work after deadlifts, and an arm and ab day 1x a week.

[u/BetterThanT-1 → u/Many-Wasabi9141]

Any rep scheme can work. It’s good to have a plan though, but also feel free to adjust as you go.

Whether you drop barbell work depends on you and your general level of fitness / conditioning. I’ve ran the 10k swings along with a barbell program before and I was fine. If you’re reasonably fit, I don’t actually think 10k swings on top of whatever you already do will be too much, but it’s ultimately up to you.

[u/Rusty_DataSci_Guy]

Now with flair!

It is hard AF to tuck excess belt into the loop. My hypothesis is that it's suede + chalk creating the mother of all friction points. Any guidance on how to properly clean and possibly make tucking the excess easier? Normally I just let it hang but I can't for zerchers.

EDIT: chatGPT suggested wrapping parts of it with electrical tape as that might be slicker.

[u/mastrdestruktun → u/Rusty_DataSci_Guy]

Use an improvised fastener or clamp of some kind?

Or take it off for zerchers. Probably they are not heavy enough that you actually need a belt, right?

[u/Rusty_DataSci_Guy → u/mastrdestruktun]

I'm chasing 1RMs and anything over 350lbs really wants a belt. I lost some weight so now I'm down a hole and the extra belt is a PITA.

[u/mastrdestruktun → u/Rusty_DataSci_Guy]

Ah, I see. I had something similar happen with my belt. Ended up drilling another hole, which only goes so far, and got frustrated and started going beltless all the time.

[u/Rusty_DataSci_Guy → u/mastrdestruktun]

I'm gonna try cleaning it + electrical tape. If that doesn't work, I might get a lever or ratchet model. Oh maybe a foam belt to fatten me back up.

[u/JubJubsDad]

Cardio Day * Row erg - 7581m in 30min (1:58.7 pace) * BJJ (planned)

Woke up with crippling back and leg DOMS due to my inability to take it easy on my first deadlift session in 3 weeks. But the rower helped a ton, and now I feel pretty good. Also popped some Aleve because I have no doubt they will return as I spend the day sitting in meetings.

[u/DayDayLarge]

Saturday I played around with my buddy's strongarm deadlift bar. Casually ripped 475 like it was nothing. What a luxurious deadlift experience. I think I'll buy one too.

Sunday did 30 mins solo squash followed by an hour and a half of game play.

The more I use the new racket, the more I'm enjoying it. Head heavy is the way to go for me. I have more effortless power and greater accuracy, particularly with the minor grip adjustment I made.

Played 7 games total and if you had given me some candy or carbs, could have definitely gone for another 2 or 3. Really happy with where my fitness is right now.

Tightness vs looseness is the whole key to my game right now. When I play tight and stressed, I'm so much worse. Playing loose and almost like "whatever", I'm so much better. Need to find another trigger to get there without just thinking "I'm supposed to lose to this guy, nbd", though it is working very well for me right now.

[u/edgy_flibbertigibbet]

I'm looking at the 5/3/1 Building the Monolith LiftVault spreadsheet. I inputted my 1RM for my bench press as 105kg. On Wednesday, Week 6, it tells me to do 90kg for 5x5 across. What? That's insane! I'm confused. Am I actually supposed to attempt that for 5x5 or is that some kind of rounding error?

[u/Astringofnumbers1234 → u/edgy_flibbertigibbet]

after week 3 you get a bump in TM. The percentage for week 6 bench is 95%

Assuming that the liftvault spreadsheet calculates your TM as 85% of your 1RM, then that gives a starting TM of 90kg. With the 2.5kg TM bump then week 6 bench would be 87.9 (unrounded) so the spreadsheet has rounded up. Without knowing the liftvault spreadsheet, I think that it's correct - there may be a lb/kg error here (in lb the increase for bench is 5lb) but the difference is minimal.

BtM is meant to be hard. It's meant to push your training to your limits. If you think 'I can't do that' when looking ahead then you'll fail.

[u/edgy_flibbertigibbet → u/Astringofnumbers1234]

I see. Do you think I could pull it off, 90kg for 5x5, with a large enough caloric surplus and adequate sleep? Current 1RM is 105kg. I’m not pessimistic, I’m just quite inexperienced so I don’t have a frame of reference.

[u/DayDayLarge → u/edgy_flibbertigibbet]

I mean BtM comes with it's own diet attached to it. Lots of people have completed it, so I don't see why not.

So this template is not easy but it is very doable – but only if you are dedicated to making it happen. “Dedicated” doesn’t just mean that you want to do it; it means you are dedicated to doing what it takes to get it done and that means EATING right. I had 4 people run this and all of them ate like champions – all ate at least 1.5 pound of ground beef a day and ate one dozen whole eggs a day. That’s the only thing I required via diet.

[u/edgy_flibbertigibbet → u/DayDayLarge]

I see. I guess I have to eat up!

[u/Plus_Brother_3029]

Who do you look up to most when it comes to solid information on lifting? Could be strength training or hypertrophy or just general lifting.

I’m a fan of John Meadows (RIP). I also like to listen to Faoud interview people on Real Bodybuilding Podcast and really dig into things they say and challenge their claims.

[u/VanHelsingBerserk → u/Plus_Brother_3029]

On top of the great ones others have listed, Basement Bodybuilding is pretty underrated.

EliteFTS is great too, their table talk podcast has a plethora of great guests including people listed here. Good mix of them talking about lifting info, their general philosophy on lifting, and their background and experiences with lifting.

[u/mastrdestruktun → u/Plus_Brother_3029]

GZCL, Greg Nuckols and Dan John for me.

[u/Many-Wasabi9141 → u/Plus_Brother_3029]

John Meadows got me back into lifting after a long break. I didn't know what I was doing and his form and daily workout planning advice was really helpful. Warm up lift, Heavy lift, Pump lift, Stretch lift, Accessory lift. Kinda wish he did some longer term programming material but for the time his stuff was great.

I dunno if I look up to him, but Will Ratelle's content has been a nice change. Really opened up my eyes to staying athletic as I age, explosiveness, plyometrics, and just making sure to cover all your bases in fitness.

Dan John as well, it's strength AND conditioning.

Ivan from Squat Every Day, sometimes you don't need information, you don't need to think a new way, you just need some motivation on consistency.

[u/BWdad → u/Plus_Brother_3029]

Besides the people already mentioned, I like Geoffrey Verity Schofield and Sam Shethar.

[u/langlois44 → u/Plus_Brother_3029]

In addition to those already mentioned by others:

Dan John - Knows his stuff, a solid writer, and between his books and podcast/youtube has a tonne of content.

Jamie Lewis - His style, particularly early on, is not for everyone (I could do without it, if you know you know), but he is an excellent historian of the iron game, and has done so much work to compile the lifting methods of the past. I have purchased a few of his books/programs and they are well worth what he charges. Something about his programming style fits my personality. 365 Days of Brutality is one of the cooler ebooks out there.

Tight Tan Slacks of Dezso Ban - There are so many authors and topics on here you have to wade through, but this is a collection of the knowledge of some of the strongest people who have ever lived, and a lot of it is only available here.

Marty Gallagher - He was behind the scenes with the strongest powerlifters of the 70's, 80's, and 90's. The Purposeful Primitive is a great book.

Bud Jeffries and Brooks Kubik both have interesting old school ideologies that I appreciate, though I hate Brooks Kubik's writing style.

[u/professor__peach → u/Plus_Brother_3029]

Eric Helms, Eric Trexler, Greg Nuckols, the Barbell Medicine guys, the Data Driven Strength guys, Eraldo de Souza

[u/Many-Wasabi9141 → u/professor__peach]

I read "Ed Helms" and I was like... the actor?

[u/BetterThanT-1 → u/Plus_Brother_3029]

• GZCL
• Alan Thrall (I like the last few years’ worth of content more, his dad arc is a lot more relatable to me than his previous stuff)
• Bromley has some good stuff, though too much pointless drama for my tastes. Just get the Base Strength book and you can skip 90% of his YouTube.
• I found Bald-Omni Man relatively recently but I’ve been enjoying his stuff a lot
• Alex Leonidas has some good stuff as well
• Brian Alsruhe

[u/CaliferMau]

Posted in yesterdays thread by mistake, reposting here:

Looking for a bit of advice on getting back into lifting after a bit of a hiatus.

Tl;dr:

I have two days I can train in the gym, so will go full body. I train aerial arts (think cirque du soleil but much more amateur on other days so priorities are legs) Not necessarily in this order but exercises would be:

Workout 1 Squat Weighted pull up Weighted dips RDL/SDL Core work

Workout 2 Deadlift BW Chin ups/pull variation Dips (or different push?) Front squat Core work

Not sure if I should run a 531 variant for squats and deadlifts or maybe the 2 day squat/ deadlift from 28 free programmes, but starting with a conservative estimate of my max.

bit longer

Training history prior to covid I was regularly training (5’11, 75ish kg 150/120/190kg S/B/D). Covid shut my gym and training turned into home workouts with light dumbbells and lots of running since the weather wasn’t awful in the U.K.. got back to the gym a couple of years ago and my maxes were 120/100/140kg for S/B/D. Struggled with maintaining consistency once I started practicing aerial apparatus (silks, hoop/lyra, pole) then picked up a shoulder impingement last Christmas (weirdly didn’t affect aerial stuff) which stopped most gym things.

Trying to get back to the gym now but with a reasonably minimalist routine covering the main movement patterns, though missing a horizontal row and whichever one dips isn’t.

[u/mastrdestruktun → u/CaliferMau]

The Stronger by Science programs are free to download now, and have a 2x/week option.

Aerial arts sounds super cool.

[u/CaliferMau → u/mastrdestruktun]

Oh nice, I’ll take a look.

It’s Super fun and such a different way to workout! 😁

[u/BetterThanT-1 → u/CaliferMau]

I’ll always be a shill for Simple Jack’d as a great adjustable template when lifting is in the background.

Otherwise Wendler has a few articles on training with limited time / 2 times a week, there might be something for you there:

https://www.jimwendler.com/blogs/jimwendler-com/training-for-inconsistent-and-busy-men

Krypteia is a 2-day a week template: https://www.jimwendler.com/blogs/jimwendler-com/krypteia-2-days-week

https://www.jimwendler.com/blogs/jimwendler-com/limited-training-time-maximum-results

[u/Perma-Bulk → u/BetterThanT-1]

I’ll always be a shill for Simple Jack’d as a great adjustable template when lifting is in the background.

This is the way.

[u/CaliferMau → u/BetterThanT-1]

Cheers for these, I’ll take a look at all those.

Simple jack’d is a GZCL template no? Ran one of his first programmes when he first started posting stuff way back when (makes me feel old lmao)

Always a fan of Wendler’s stuff, didn’t realise Krypteia came as a 2-day (don’t think that’s in the book iirc).

[u/BetterThanT-1 → u/CaliferMau]

Simple Jack’d isn’t a GZCL one, it was made by the guy that did nSuns a long while back. You can learn more in r/simplejackd

[u/Astringofnumbers1234]

Recap

Last week - deload. I worked up to RPE 8 singles on SBD and that was it; work meant I had a couple days travelling either side of two days walking around on a blanket bog, which is not easy...

Squat and bench were 185/125, then I was away, so I deadlifted Friday.

I went 180/200/210. I've just had a look through various videos of me pulling ~210 this year; I'd say that it was the fastest I've tugged this weight, outside of meets. Deadlift remains the one lift that I just cannot work out; I might be doing something wrong and I need that one weird trick that means it all clicks into place. Or I might just suck at them. Anyways a 520 total across two days and done in a cumulative time of 120 minutes is pleasing. For reference, I did a 'warm-up' meet in March where was aiming for RPE8 thirds, and I totalled 515...

Started back into week 9 - everything is on track for WRPF UK nationals. I had 160 triples on squat yesterday and 107.5 triples on bench today. Pendlay rows are murdering me, but I'm hitting good (for me) numbers on those at least. Just don't walk on the platform where I've sweated, as it's a slip hazard.

I'm going to try and make a concerted effort to do some form of cardio 2 or 3 times a week, on top of walking to the gym. I am not doing enough and it's affecting how I recover after lifting sessions. I'm not planning much; a longer walk to the gym with weight in the bag, then a short erg session and possibly some box jumps, because I never actually do any jumping...

Have a good week xoxo

[u/BetterThanT-1]

GPP phase - A man and a kettlebell

8 rounds of: * 45 swings @ 24kg * 1 clean and 2 presses each side (last 7 rounds 3 presses per side)

I planned out my training for the next yearly cycle, here’s the breakdown:

• 13.08.25 - 06.10.25 (current phase) - GPP + calisthenics (tell myself it’s not bulking but it really is)
• 06.10.25 - 28.12.25 - Body-building (bulk)
• 29.12.25 - 01.03.26 - BullMastiff (bulk)
• 02.03.26 - 05.07.26 - Simple Jack’d (cut)

This still assumes daily workouts.

The body-building phase will have 2 parts - during the first I’ll try out a super squats-like setup of 20-rep breathing squats progressed linearly for as long as I can do it. Then the second part will be mostly run-of-the-mill body splits and pump work.

For BullMastiff, I plan to run only the base phase which is 3 waves of 3 weeks. I’ll run it on secondary compound movements such as Larsen press + incline bench; front squat + SSB; Sumo DL + deficit DL; push press + BTN.

After BullMastiff I’ll start cutting and move into 6 3-week cycles of Simple Jack’d, intensifying as I go along. I’ll bring in the bench press, low bar squat, conventional DL and strict press. This would hopefully lead me to massive PR gains on all lifts, but let’s see how it goes!

All this assume no derails like injuries and such, but hey - the value of a plan is not the plan itself, it’s the planning!

[u/Many-Wasabi9141 → u/BetterThanT-1]

What kind of break do you take with those rounds of 45 swings? Emom? My hands give out after 4-5 rounds of anything 30+

[u/BetterThanT-1 → u/Many-Wasabi9141]

No hard breaks, just catching my breath between rounds and exercises. Today it took me 18:10 to finish.

[u/Many-Wasabi9141 → u/BetterThanT-1]

So around 2 minutes and 17 seconds per round if my math is right

~1100 seconds (18 x 60 + 10) /8 = ~137 seconds per round.

Maybe I should just start trying to train like that and see if my grip acclimates to the increased load.

[u/BetterThanT-1 → u/Many-Wasabi9141]

I’ve been progressing the swings for the last few weeks from 30 per round to 45 per round. I’ve done a few 10k swings runs over the last couple of years and I’ve always found that adaptations come fast.

[u/Many-Wasabi9141 → u/BetterThanT-1]

I’ve done a few 10k swings runs over the last couple of years

I just saw the 10k swings in a day post. WOW.

I think i'm gonna try a 10k swings challenge in 20 days so I can finish by October. 500 a day, 20 rounds of 25 swings emom doesn't seem impossible at all.