cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/50916806

Relatively easy single!

I just want all of you to know that I've run a run a half marathon. Think I may even be obligated to do so. Was it also a trail one? Yes! Did I also not finish in the last 25%? Yeah!

Honourable mention to the guy in the rear finishing at about 4h30min. But he did it! Extra cheers to him!

I need a pull up station, NOT a pull up bar, because I plan on doing bodyweight dead lifts in the middle of summer AND winter and jungle gyms just dont cut it in the fall and winter obviously. Im only 5’9 and Im in toronto if that helps.

Any ideas please? Could I just go to like a landfill and pick up some discarded metal bars and like get them welded together? Or do I just buy one of those big coat racks and remove the wheels on the legs and weld on a steel platform for each of the legs??

Thanks to anyone who answers.

Edit: oh sorry forgot to add that I live in an apartment so I cant screew in anything cause its illegal . also those pull up bars that use thresholds to stay put are also not enough for me because I plan on doing some absolutely looney stuff on that pull up station lol.

and by Bodyweight Deadlifts I mean this: https://m.youtube.com/shorts/SjqhGRQcMJE

I also plan on doing this: https://m.youtube.com/shorts/EVCeuFlBRHc though I have no idea what the exercise is called but FlexyDave showed it to me and I fell inlove with it. And Ill even be swinging while Im upside down like that. AND Ill be doing abdominal curls or 'upside down sit-ups' (if thats what theyre called) as Im upside down like that.

And Muscle Ups.

Male, 40, I have been lifting on & off for about 2 years, but lifting seriously for 7 months. I hit a Personal Best on incline bench press (185 lbs) yesterday and on my favorite lift (seated dumbbell shoulder press 65 lbs) last weekend. But earlier this year, the 60 pound dumbbells for seated shoulder press was my main goal and I made about 2 solid attempts every month, even when I was nowhere close to ready (and video recorded my attempts) which somehow contributed to a feeling of amplified hype evidenced by my spending of several hours writing shoulder press poetry in the style of this video.

When I succeeded on the 60s, it felt infinitely more satisfying and was the most meaningful strength achievement I've ever made (as a weak guy). Bench press nor incline bench press are among my top 20 favorite lifts so I can't say I'm excited to ever achiever 225 or 315. It might be a stretch but seated shoulder press with the 100 pound dumbbells would be awesome though, but no other number between 60 - 95 excites me or feels meaningful or fulfilling.

In fact, I still love knowing I can do the 60's and I find great joy every time I do that lift with that particular amount of weight. I even find great joy knowing that I'm likely strong enough to do that particular lift more than 50% of any given days of the month. This isn't a rant post, overall I'm still very, very, very satisfied with my daily gym habit and I still love all my favorite lifts. I'm just curious to know from more experienced lifters what climbing up the weights felt like for them? I'd love to hear other's perspectives so I can know whether to taper my expectations or try to re-shape my enjoyment of particular elements in the strength journey. 💪

TL;DR: Does hitting new 1-rep-maxes lose any fulfillment or meaningfulness if it's easily predicted by good training habits (sleep, diet, and hypertrophy stimulus) and feels more like "going through the motions" of deterministic inevitability?

(english is my second language)

I have multiple causes contributing to a terrible health/mind health. Found the cure in an unexpected way. Three months ago, I started walking 30mn ago just to move a bit. Decided to up the steps, and I went from 2k to 15/20k daily divided in two daily walks. Felt good immediatly (happy chemicals), persisted, now it feels even better and it lasts long. I used to suffer non stop mental & physical torture, these are all gone.

And thats just the tip of the iceberg. I also lost weight and I multiply new healthy habits, slowly but surely.

I used to rely on ADHD meds for peace of mind&body. In fact I was living for the meds and they were a lie, by that I mean 1/2 hours of feeling (too: mistakes) good followed by hours long anxiety comedown or repeated redoses.

Motion is lotion.

I've been sidelined for several weeks with back pain, first day testing the waters squatting again. Feels good!

This isn't my first time with back issues so goal is to focus on volume rather than max weight for awhile to reduce risk of aggravating whatevers going on.

I've just recently become more consistent in working out (from once ever few months to now at least once a week.) What are some tips to stay motivated and how do you stay consistent?

A lesson I learnt came from a fitness guy I watched. He said, missing out one day happens. Shit happens. Missing out 2 days is a choice.

I couldn't go out yesterday cause a storm came through. So I did 2 times what I normally do. I don't know if the effects will pan out, but at least I can say I did not slouch. I am ~3lbs away from my desired weight.

For context, I've been back at the gym now for about a year and I've taken nutrition and activity more seriously than ever before to challenge myself. Since after highschool I've always sat around 25-30% bodyfat (peaking a little higher) and I'm down to something around 15% now.

For the last about 7 lbs of this journey, I've had a lot more misses in the gym as far as did seta. Like last week I did for example 50 lbs for 8,8,7 then this week I had to drop down, since I could only do 5-6 at 50 lbs. It doesn't happen for every lift, but it's pretty consistently at least 1 lift per week. I know at some point, the game becomes just trying to preserve strength/muscle, but I figured that would be more of an issue if I get closer to 10% bf. Any tips or experience is greatly appreciated.

Background: Male, 40, lifting seriously for ~6 months. Before that, about 2 years of aimlessly familiarizing myself with the gym and overcoming the intimidation of simply being there. I mainly visited the gym for the treadmills and would wander around the weight room for 15-20 minutes afterward but could never get into a flow state until earlier this year when I finally noticed my first real strength gains in January.

My reason for posting today is because I recently watched a youtube video providing a summary of the Schoenfeld meta-analyses on volume/intensity and effective reps. What I don't get is the experience of it. When I'm grinding a heavy triple, there's this narrow window of total focus and there's zero ambiguity of when I can do 1 more rep (or 0 more reps) because I have tons of experience at low-rep sets at ~90% of my 1-rep-max.

If I'm being honest with myself, I kinda hate doing sets of anything higher than 5, even on my favorite exercises. One of the most helpful things I've ever read in my life online from a fitness discussion & comments section was when someone said they mentally reframe Romanian deadlifts as kettlebell swings and that instantly clicked for me and has made me so much stronger at that exercise, nearly overnight. It becoming my 2nd favorite exercise (after seated dumbbell shoulder presses as #1).

What I'm hoping for today is to hear from more experienced lifters who actually enjoy that rep range of 8-12 or 6-15. Instead, I find it confusing, unfamiliar, and mentally uncomfortable primarily for these 3 reasons:

• no matter where I stop barring absolute momentary muscular failure, I always finish the set feeling angst of not knowing truly how many RIR I still had left in me. Not knowing whether I had 2 vs 3, or 3 vs 4 RIR, it is totally a trivial and unimportant issue yet it drives me crazy for no good reason.
• for longer sets, it stops feeling like lifting and starts feeling like a chore I'm waiting to finish, similarly to if your dentist told you to wear 20-pound weighted gloves and to brush your teeth until your wrists hurt.
• the difficulty in finishing your final planned rep (when you plan to leave 1 or 2 RIR) for a working set of 8-12 reps has a different type of mental difficulty than the difficulty I'm familiar with at working sets in my 6-rep-max range. The final rep of a short sets gives me the feeling afterward of having accomplished something significant but the final rep of a long working set gives me the feeling afterward that I'm punishing myself (perhaps because my brain does not connect the effort to the reward yet).

This is not a rant however, I'm just trying to look for some ideas on positive re-framing. Especially as I have branched out into other exercises where doing shorter working sets of my 6-max range do not make sense due to form issues when using weights that are at too high percentage of your 1-rep max (such as lateral raises or French presses).

TL;DR: I need help understanding how to enjoy (or at least positively reframe) my lifting experiences at the gym from lifters who enjoy performing their working sets in the 6-15 or 8-12 rep range as someone who exclusively prefers heavy triples and heavy singles.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.dbzer0.com/post/72275768

I've been walking 4.5 miles a day, 5 days a week since Jan 2nd. As of today, I have lost ~53 pounds, gone from being pre-diabetic to normal levels, lost my entire wardrobe in the process, and finally my Vans died. They have been loyal a.f.

Glad they helped me on this journey to better health.

The bad part of walking/jogging in the cold is when it's over

Took a walk earlier today, when it must've been around 10ºC, and it came to mind, the cold can be comfortable as it helps controlling the body's heat. But also, when you're done and sit down, after some minutes you can feel the body cooling off in real time.

Still, despite this last part, it's an activity I'd totally recommend. ^_^

(Age 40, male, 260 pounds, lifting diligently for just under a year)

For background, here is my post 23 days ago where I struggled to find a single tricep exercise that successfully targeted my tricep muscles. Thankfully I got good answers and played around at ridiculously light weights at high volume focusing on form and "flexing" my tricep during every rep especially during lockout to help my brain learn how to recruit tricep motor units. As a result, the most successful tricep exercise that "works" for me and isn't constrained by my limitations is assisted dips while keeping the body upright.

This makes me feel very fortunate because many fitness youtubers (Jeff Nippard and 2-3 others) argue that dips are arguably the best single tricep exercise followed closely by overhead cable tricep extensions, which I still struggle with but is a top priority that I'm focusing on for the next 3-4 weeks incorporating into my push day. The only other tricep exercise I feel I'm able to perform correctly and with acceptable form and good tricep targeting is the Close-Grip (slightly Incline) Bench Press however I struggle immensely with my elbows wanting to flare out and I have difficulty keeping them tucked in, especially my ~5% weaker left side elbow which brings me to my next question.

##Question #2

If I can't do more than 6-7 good reps in clean form (with about 4-6 more in shoddy form) of the Close-Grip bench press, does this mean I need to lower the weight until I can do 12 reps in good form? Or does it mean I need to stop when my form gets bad after the 7th rep and compensate by doing more volume by doing more sets? My goal is functional tricep strength and/or hypertrophy but I would slightly prefer strength by a tiny margin. (as an aside, ai says 30-45 degree elbow flare is fine apparently?)

Primary question (in title): What does it mean if I can perform 25% more reps on my 2nd working set of tricep exercises than my 1st working set of the same weight? And does it mean I'm failing my warmup sets or something else? My typical warmup routine is 5 minutes on treadmill at 3mph or 4.8kmh, 2 minutes of "elbow circles" (due to some men having proclivity for elbow pain when working triceps), and 1 warmup set of 40% - 50% weight of my working set for about 10 reps.

A couple of months ago I switched to the big lifts: squats, deadlifts and bench presses (and OHPs, rows, and lat pull downs).

I am exhausted after the big three lifts. Breathing is the most difficult part when squatting. I am tired afterwards. How do you still find enough energy to do accessories?

I am also still learning the lifts. It's incredible how long it takes to master them.

Im 38 now, trying to get back into a 3 day a week routine. I work a high stress job, and i play hockey 2 times a week. Im also married and my weekends are usually full of housework. Lately i feel like I cant stay consistent because i just have no energy any more. I also dont feel like my body is recovering either.

I drink protein shakes, and try to pound energy drinks to keep myself going. Other than that, im out of ideas. Any got any advice on getting energy and recovery at my age?

I've just moved into an apartment with a built in gym.

Yay! I can save money on my gym membership

BUT! They dont have any barbell or squat rack. How will I ego deadlift now????

Wondering what dead loft alternatives I have on a cable machine?

Also willing to consider kettle bells or anything else I can buy / donate to the gym short of an entire barbell set and squat rack

There are very few downsides I've noticed to getting stronger, but I definitely miss the feeling when I first started and every dumbbell I would ever use for my working sets always felt "light" in the sense that I never felt fear of the dumbbell, I never had problems maneuvering it, racking or unracking it, walking it to the bench etc..

But now when I pick up the 55lb or 60lb dumbbells, I feel a significant and unsettling hint of angst/dread because they are noticeably too big to carry around effortlessly. I genuinely enjoy going to the gym and I'm always in a happy mood but the 55lb & heavier dumbbells act sorta like a buzz-kill, especially if I do fewer reps then expected or have an off-day, essentially creating a negative feedback loop where my angst/dread is "reinforced" as valid (which it's not valid, there should never be any dread/angst from selecting appropriate dumbbells from the rack).

Is there a mental form cue or reframing trick I can use to spin that apprehensive emotion into a positive one? If there are no shortcuts, then what muscles do I need to strengthen in order to make the 55lb & heavier dumbbells feel light/effortless like the 20lb dumbbells felt when I first began lifting? I improved my PR yesterday by 1 rep but I couldn't properly enjoy it because of the slightly unsettling vibe that larger dumbbells give me. Lastly, the problem is getting worse lately due to the self-reinforcing nature described earlier so I'd really prefer to nip this problem while it's still in the bud. 💪

(Age 40, male, 260 pounds, seated dumbbell shoulder press, lifting diligently for just under a year)

I am taking a rest day today because I have way too much systemic fatigue apparently. I have been doing seated shoulder presses almost daily for triples (sets of 3 reps) all year, typically for 1-2 sets but occasionally more. It's my favorite exercise and it's the only lift I actively work towards getting stronger at. (my other lifts have gone up some but less as a percentage) Here is my workout from yesterday and all previous workouts this month follow a similar volume:

Jun 5th 2pm

Shoulder Press DB

• 3 reps x 55lbs
• 3 reps x 55lbs

Close-Grip Incline Bench Press

• 5 reps x 115lbs
• 5 reps x 115lbs

(45 minute mcdo break)

Shoulder Press DB

• 3 reps x 55lbs

Close-Grip Cable Row

• 3 reps x 187lbs

EZ-Bar Curls

• 2 reps x 100lbs

10 minute rests, moderate glycogen levels estimated

6pm 2 sets of 45lb kettlebell swings for 15 seconds each

7pm 40 minutes of zone-2 cardio

My 1-rep max early last month was with the 60-pound dumbbells but I only achieved that once in my life, and I've failed to get 60 pounds twice since then, so I'm estimating that my true 1-rep max is closer to 58.8 pounds, of which taking 85% yields 50 pounds.

Yesterday I was able to successfully perform 2 triples (2 sets of 3 reps) with the 55-pound dumbbells with a 10 minute break in between, which was the first time I've been able to accomplish that. Prior to yesterday, I could only get 2 reps on my 2nd set following a 10 minute rest using the 55-pound dumbbells. I absolutely would not have been able to do a 3rd set of 3 reps with the same weight yesterday after another 10 minute break because it mentally crippled me and I felt useless all day yesterday after my morning gym session, which is why I'm taking a rest day today.

Tomorrow, my goal is to be able to get at least 10 triples (10 sets of 3 reps) using the 50 pound dumbbells but hoping for 20 or 30 sets of 3 reps since the 50 pound dumbbells feel very light/easy in comparison to the 55 pound dumbbells. However, I've never done more than 4 sets per day of the same exercise so my goal might be unrealistic. It's just what I want to do tomorrow, which is my reason for posting.

TL;DR: If tomorrow I do sets of 3 reps of 85% of my 1-rep max with 5 minute rests (as many sets as possible), what info will my number of sets tell me about my strength endurance or my conditioning or my physiology? Or is an entirely useless benchmark to track?

Quick update post for the new v1.0.0-rc.4 release.

LiftTrace is a self-hosted lifting tracker I posted here a few days ago. It's an open, AGPL-3.0 alternative to subscription apps like Strong ($5/mo), Hevy ($6/mo Pro), Jefit ($7/mo Pro), Fitbod (~$80/yr), and the coaching tier of Trainerize / Caliber. Single Docker container, PWA plus a signed Android APK.

Repo: https://github.com/TraceApps/lifttrace Image: ghcr.io/traceapps/lifttrace Latest release (with APK): https://github.com/TraceApps/lifttrace/releases/latest Full changelog: https://github.com/TraceApps/lifttrace/blob/main/CHANGELOG.md

What's new in v1.0.0-rc.4

• NutriTrace federation: if you also self-host my sister app (NutriTrace), each completed workout's estimated calories burned auto-logs to your NutriTrace diary. Wearable data (Fitbit / Garmin / Health Connect) still wins for overlap so you don't double-count. Set up in Settings → Integrations → NutriTrace with a personal access token.
• Editable workout duration on the completion summary: the Duration tile is now a button. Tap to pick from quick presets (30 / 45 / 60 / 75 / 90 / 120 min) or enter a custom value. Useful for the "forgot to start the timer" case, and the kcal estimate updates live.
• Fallback kcal estimate when no duration was tracked, derived from completed set count and badged "rough" so you know it's less precise than a timed session.
• Persistent "Connected" pill on the federation card so you can tell at a glance the integration is still healthy, plus a shared loading spinner across Diary, Programs, Coaching, Exercise detail, Statistics, and the Workout editor.
• Polish pass: stronger affordance on the editable Duration tile, title-case sweep across about 20 button and menu labels, better error surfacing for Settings → Backup and Radio when the upstream isn't reachable, and a small wizard celebration screen at the end of first-run setup.
• Fixed: workout-complete notification firing on every set toggle when re-opening a completed workout's summary (rc.3 caught the main flow; this patches the toggle edge case).

What's in it (full feature list)

• Diary with sets, reps, weights, RPE, persistent rest timer that survives navigation, supersets, warm-up generator, and natural-language Smart Add (e.g. "bench 3x5 @ 225, A1: curls 3x12 @ 30").
• Programs: build mesocycles, assign templates by day, progress through weeks.
• Exercises: full library from wger, free-exercise-db, and exercisedb, plus your own custom entries with images, GIFs, or YouTube links.
• Statistics: volume, PRs, frequency, body stats trends, RPE overlays, sparklines.
• Coaching: trainers can prescribe workouts to athletes, leave per-set feedback, two-way reply threads. Replaces a Trainerize or Caliber subscription for small training rosters.
• Trace AI: optional chat coach, multi-provider (Claude, OpenAI, Gemini, or any OpenAI-compatible endpoint like Ollama, LM Studio, DeepSeek, Groq). BYOK, opt-in, disabled by default.
• Radio: built-in music player for Subsonic, Jellyfin, Plex, and Emby libraries plus Icecast, Shoutcast, and HLS streaming stations. Lockscreen controls, now-playing metadata, frequency visualizer on the FAB.
• OIDC SSO: Authentik, Keycloak, Pocket ID, Authelia, Auth0, Google, anything OIDC 1.0. Multi-provider supported.
• Import from Strong, Hevy, FitNotes, and Jefit CSV exports so you can leave your existing app in about a minute.
• Android: local SQLite mirror with optional server sync, native ExoPlayer for radio, biometric sign-in, signed release APK on every release.

Deployment

services:
  lifttrace:
    image: ghcr.io/traceapps/lifttrace:latest
    ports:
      - "3002:3003"
    volumes:
      - ./data:/data
    environment:
      JWT_SECRET: ${JWT_SECRET}        # required in production
      INSECURE_COOKIES: "1"            # only if not terminating TLS

docker compose up -d, browse to http://localhost:3002/, finish the first-run wizard. Full env-var reference, reverse-proxy examples (Caddy, nginx), OIDC setup, SMTP setup, and the four supported "connecting from Android" paths are in DEPLOY.md.

Signed APK SHA-256 is published with each GitHub Release for verification. Debug APK (accepts HTTP and self-signed certs) is npm run android:debug for LAN-only setups.

No telemetry, no analytics, no anonymous usage pings. The app phones home only to your own server, or doesn't phone home at all in Android local mode.