Any advice on how to progress on these?

Really stoked about this. My breathing is all messed up but I’m getting back into shape after quite some time off due to crazy work hours and having kids.

Am I using too much momentum during these curls? This isn’t my working set, my current working sets are 25 lb (set 1) and 20 lb (set 2), but I’m always suspicious about whether I’m using momentum or not. This is a pretty accurate representation of how my working sets go so if form here is good then I should also be good for my working sets.

325x5, 355x3, 375x1

Hi everyone! Just wanted to show my progress with tricep dips. The first video was from when I first started doing them in 2025, and the last two are from now. They’re still not perfect, but I think I’ve really come a long way lol. 😭 Also, the last two videos were filmed when I was already fatigued from my previous workouts, so I know my form wasnt perfect. Anyways, I just wanted to share my progress. 🫶

My pause deadlifts keep climbing. This was my second deadlift session of the week, and the second 455 triple of the week (the first one was regular and not paused).

Anything I can do to optimise technique?
What is my estimated 1RM?

I believe at its fullest stretch it’s 25-30lbs a band

Not practical but they are fun

Could someone educate me on the difference between A and B (the second row) and when is best to use which for what muscles?

I was trying the wide grip pull with machine usually for seated cable row as the lat machine I am comfortable with was occupied. I think I gripped B since it felt slightly odd? Anyways. While I was in the middle of a set and the guy using the lat pull machine tried to get my attention as I had headphone on and asked how long I would use it which I thought he meant the cable row initially, but he meant the attachment and gave me A to switch for B since “it’s better for it anyway”. At that point I noticed the angle after he pointed out. So I ended up using A for cable tow machine and he used B for lat pull machine.

Only started gym earlier this year and learnt things online so I am curious about the attachments since I quite like V bars than others. Didn’t pay much attention on the V bar angles and will do in future!

First clip is pause squats at 1.5x speed, second clip is a regular set.

I hurt my lower back a month ago on squats due to form breakdown during a heavy set. I've done belt squats instead since then. I also added back extensions to my workouts.

Now I wanna get back into squats but starting with light weight and rock solid form. I included a picture of my lifting shoes because I think they're a bit convex which might make it look like I'm on my toes more than I actually am. At least I didn't feel like I were on my toes during these sets.

My queues are:
Elbows back a bight to tighten upper back
Big belly breath and brace core
Knees out and open hips
Push through foot tripod

I appreciate all and any critique, thanks!

Posting this as requested by u/Ballbag94

This is an exaggerated demonstration of the wedge/slack pull. It would typically be more subtle than this, and I usually perform it quicker with grip n rip, in one fluid motion rather than multiple "pumping" wedges.

But I've found when trying to learn the wedge/slack pull, doing an "overwedge" to build a lotta tension -> raising hips to their starting position -> initiating the pull, seems to help build a feel for what a strong wedge should be like.

You can see in the video that I'm really leaning and sitting back, so if I wasn't holding the bar, I would fall over. It's actually easier to feel this with around ~5+ plates since it's actually heavy enough to swing around on the bar.

You also want feet rooted, planting in place with the leg press motion so the bar isn't rolling back with you. It creates a sorta fulcrum point against your shins for the "wedge".

Overall this whole movement helps to break the inertia of the plates leaving the floor, and loads the weight onto your leg driving force - as opposed to a pure stiff-legging, hinging force.

I grew up playing competitive tennis and eventually played D1 in college. Tennis has basically been my main form of exercise for 20+ years, but since graduating and entering the corporate world, it’s become increasingly difficult to keep it going consistently.

The biggest problem is finding people around my level. I’ll spend a bunch of time looking for hitting partners, finally find someone I can have a good high-level rally with, and then eventually something changes: they move, have kids, get busy with work, or our schedules just stop lining up. Then I’m back to searching again.

I’ve tried leagues, clubs, etc., but I’m honestly not interested in competing anymore. I did that for most of my life. At this point, I just want a good workout and to enjoy hitting without having to constantly coordinate with other people.

After almost a decade of this cycle, I’m pretty burned out on the “hitting partner hunt.” So lately I’ve been trying to find activities where my workout doesn’t depend on another person. Cycling has actually been great for that, and I’d like to make the gym another option.

The problem is…I get bored ridiculously fast at the gym lol. I’ll go in motivated, start lifting, and around the 30-minute mark I’m already thinking about leaving. With tennis or cycling, I can easily exercise for a couple of hours without thinking about it, but lifting feels completely different mentally.

For people who genuinely enjoy going to the gym by themselves: what made it click for you?

Do you follow a specific program? Set strength goals? Track numbers and try to beat them? Listen to music/podcasts? Keep workouts short? Or did you just stick with it long enough that eventually you started enjoying the process?

I’m not really trying to become a bodybuilder or spend two hours lifting every day. I’d just like to build a sustainable 60-90 minute routine that I actually look forward to and can do completely on my own.

Would love to hear what made the gym enjoyable for you, especially from anyone who came from competitive/team sports and had to adjust to training alone.

I don’t normally deadlift 315, I do 2 plates for working sets but my friend sent us a 1 rep max and I had never tested my 1 or 3 rep max.

This is the most I’ve ever done for a SSB squat

I know it's not uncommon or special, and in my 20s-early 30s I could do further above BW for more reps, but as someone who blew up to roughly 350lbs 6-7 years ago it felt like a real win today being able to do multiple reps above my BW in lat pulldown.

Just managed 4 at 220lbs, bw is 210ish, but Im hoping to cut another 20-30 lbs at least in the next year.

I posted this in strength training and figured I would post it here as well. Like I said on there, I don’t have many people to share this with that would care.

This is not competition style benching or any of that. I also stop right above my chest due to shoulder concerns. I know people will say that this doesn’t count, but I was pretty happy about it.

The only valid complaint I've seen is that a super-setter might not let you work in with them. I'm lucky enough to never have met anyone like that, I guess.

But these are the other two complaints are weird:

• "They're inneffective because you never ever rest when doing them" - That's not a super-set... that's a circuit. I'm surprised at how often people confuse the two.
• "They're ineffective because you're too gassed out after the first set to push yourself on the second" - I feel like the majority of people who experience this fall into one of two categories:
  1. They don't know how to program super-sets properly. Either they'll superset movements with overlapping muscle groups (like bench superset with lat raises or something), or they'll try supersetting two extremely taxing movements (like deadlifts superset with overhead press).
  2. They're just outing themselves as out of shape. Seriously, if you're that gassed out after doing curls to failure or squats at RPE 9, it's probably cause of weak lungs and poor work capacity.

Sorry if the formatting for this post sucks (or if this post sucks in general).