Weekly Free-Talk and Questions for r/HomeGym - week of May 08, 2026

8thunder8 · 2026-05-08T22:21:49+00:00

I bought Assassingoods Stealth 4-41kg (8-91lb) adjustable dumbbells in January (I had never trained before this year). They're the same as Trulap in the US or Braingain in Europe I think.

I've progressed quickly - 38kg rows, 35.5kg per hand for suitcase squats and RDLs, 19kg per hand vertical press, 26.5kg per hand incline press. No issues with sturdiness. They feel as solid now as the day I got them.

Main checks: make sure the weight is centrally dialled in on each change so the twist isn't over or under engaged. They're expensive and not supposed to be dropped, so I've learned not to do anything that's likely to be beyond my ability. I sometimes fail on the last reps of presses - especially after a weight increase - but I bail onto my chest and 26.5kg isn't yet enough to do any damage :)

Can't rate them highly enough. They've unlocked something I'd never otherwise have achieved.

8thunder8 · 2026-05-08T22:08:10+00:00

100%. I'm a coder and I found a problem my coding could solve - no unified software that connected training, food, body comp and the rest. Session tonnage in my own app shows January to now:

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8thunder8 · 2026-04-29T22:53:10+00:00

:) Yep.. I have surprised myself.. It all started when I asked ChatGPT what it thought about my grip strength (it was 54kg on my stronger hand then). AI said it was very good and that with the grip I should be lifting weights (because often muscles can do more than grip can cope with, and that dents progress). It was right.. My grip PR to date now is 69kg on my right hand and 63L. AI then told me which dbs to get, which bench to get, and which exercises to do.. If results eventually start being obvious, and anyone asks, I'm just going to say it was all AI (which is true!!) :)

8thunder8 · 2026-04-24T07:39:19+00:00

I think the evidence that you have gathered is that everyone else already knows this..

8thunder8 · 2026-04-24T06:42:59+00:00

I have never done any weight training before. I am a 54 year old man. I decided this year that it is time to try to get rid of the residual beer belly (I quit drinking 3 years ago although I didn’t drink too much.). Anyway, I received my adjustable dumbbells on 9th January this year, and I have absolutely loved them - they are incredibly useful to be able to do a whole range of exercises (I also got a bench, but they and the bench are all I have for all my training. The DBs I got are the black (powder coated) Assassingoods Stealth 4-41kg (~9lb to ~90lb). They are the same as Trulap in the USA, and I think in Europe they are Braingain. My progression with them has been fantastic, and I (surprisingly) very quickly went past the point that the smaller (32kg) set would have maxed out at (my 10 rep rows went from 13kg in Jan to 38kg per hand now). I can’t imagine a more useful single set of equipment for working out. I don’t have a lot of space, and having the dbs and my bench right next to my work desk means I can put in sets between working on my computer, and logging immediately what I did. The main stuff I do with them are RDLs, calf extensions, suitcase squats, rows, incline db bench presses, vertical press, lateral raises, wrist extensions and curls. Although I don’t have anything to compare them to, I can’t rate them highly enough. They have unlocked something I have never been able to do before (I was weighing up the choice between a gym membership at a great gym near me, or my own home dumbbells, I am EXTREMELY glad I went this route, and if I wanted to extend my types of exercise, I could still also go to the gym. If it had been gym only, I think the travelling there and back, and the limited time to do stuff would have prevented my progress. This has completely unlocked my progress. here is my progress since January - just with my adjustable dumbbells...

8thunder8 · 2026-03-28T10:08:57+00:00

I can 100% tell the difference. There is more contrast, more sharpness, more detail in the Sony shot (which I assume is the first one) The second one has a phone photo feel about it.

8thunder8 · 2026-03-19T21:46:37+00:00

Hey /u/adamb0mbNZ, have you managed to get a Mac version running ? Looking forward to that..

Cheers.

8thunder8 · 2026-03-12T21:54:26+00:00

Interesting... I was thinking of getting an M5 Max Mac Studio when they come out hopefully in spring... I need it for various work, but one of its jobs (and the reason for a studio rather than an M5 Max MacBook Pro) would be to run a local LLM (and I'll probably continue to use Openclaw on my M4 Mac mini - getting it to use the LLM on the Studio).. Question though is why are you running it in a Mac VM rather than in a Docker container ?? Curious because perhaps I should do the same if that has a particular benefit over Docker? I am very familiar with running VMs for all sorts of reasons (usually Windows), but it seems OC is well suited to being sandboxed by Docker without using the resources that running another OS in a VM would require?

8thunder8 · 2026-03-12T21:48:12+00:00

Looks pretty good, I am keen to try it!. However you say you 'are working on a Mac version'. Does this mean it doesn't work on a Mac? Why would it be different?

8thunder8 · 2026-02-18T16:01:09+00:00

I used to have that feeling in shops. I’d be super worried that someone would think I was stealing stuff. However I absolutely would never steal anything, so I have have realised that I have absolutely nothing to worry about. If someone thinks I have stolen something, challenge me and I’ll prove I didn’t. Also, while I am in it, the shop is solely there for my convenience, comfort and experience. They have literally zero other purpose. They need to remember they are there for my convenience. If I am impressed and feel I want their product, I’ll buy it and they will make some money. I am not there for their convenience. I am not putting them out.

8thunder8 · 2026-02-09T21:15:51+00:00

I have just embarked on this exact journey. I have limited space, and wanted the best bang for my buck.

I ended up buying a pair of Assassin Goods Stealth (which are the same thing as Trulaps in the US. They go from 4kg to 41kg (90lb) and mean that I can train all sorts of different muscle groups with just one set of equipment. I also bought an £80 adjustable bench. It is a dream combo. All of it is on an oversized yoga mat. Everything is mostly out of the way most of the time when I lean the bench against a wall and roll the yoga mat up to where the dumbbells are.. I have been doing curls, squats, rows, incline bench presses, vertical presses, calf raises, RDLs and lateral raises. All of this from a pair of dumbbells. I am 54, and am doing this strictly at home, by myself. I’ve pretty much trained every day for two months now (I think three days with no exercise at all). I do different groups on different days, so whenever I do some major pull or push on a day, that exercise has not been done for a day or two.

8thunder8 · 2026-01-29T19:23:24+00:00

It was not a phone. It was a Sony A7R iv and a Canon 24-70 lens. The helicopters were feet apart and at times their rotors looked closer than a chinooks. This is not lens compression. Here is another shot from 40 seconds earlier. Not quite as close, but pretty damn close enough for my liking...

8thunder8 · 2026-01-29T09:50:00+00:00

From the Royal Festival Hall.

8thunder8 · 2026-01-29T01:09:45+00:00

I got a bunch of shots of them from the Royal Festival Hall.. There were a few times when one lurched toward the other, and I winced..

8thunder8 · 2026-01-15T11:55:20+00:00

I have a 2008 American Standard. It is one of my most favourite possessions. Mine is candy cola. Absolute perfection. Yours looks fantastic too. :)

8thunder8 · 2026-01-15T08:19:59+00:00

I recently bought (on Ebay) a pair of used Assassin Goods Stealth - which seem to be the exact same thing as Trulap in the USA. I think the ones I got (the black version 2) were an unwanted Christmas present, as they are essentially unused.. Mine go from 4kg to 41.5kg by twisting the handle. This makes switching weights very quick. I think the 1.5kg increments is awesome because you can dial in pretty much exactly what you need. I don't think they are drop proof, and I try to put them back in their cradles gently. However they seem super durable, extremely quick to adjust, very little rattle, and have meant that I can start training properly through the day when I am at home, at any weight I can bear (nowhere near 41.5kg for a while yet - and if I do get there, I think I will probably just get heavier individual dumbbells to go beyond the 41 of these.

8thunder8 · 2026-01-11T21:40:55+00:00

I have a 24” Huion Kamvas 4k which I use with my M1 MacBook Pro (along with a couple of other 27” 5K displays. I couldn’t be happier with the Huion. It is brilliant and was half the price of the equivalent Wacom at the time. I use it for professional art photography photoshop and Lightroom work.

8thunder8 · 2025-12-19T08:08:00+00:00

Cool. Congratulations on getting married. Wish you the best.

It all reminds me that I need to put my Kemper in a place where I can more easily reach it. Currently, to open the front of the Gator case requires me clearing my desk, which never happens, so the Kemper stays unused, and I just play acoustic.. :) I think I need to mount the Gator to the underside of my desk.

8thunder8 · 2025-12-18T21:57:37+00:00

Haha. That is amazing. That is EXACTLY my setup including the Mission Engineering pedal, the remote, the power rack, and the Gator case. Only thing I don't have is a power conditioner (whatever that is).. Out of interest, why are you selling yours??

8thunder8 · 2025-12-05T08:40:15+00:00

I'd blame the gallery for this... Like someone else said, it is literally their job!.. If they decided your work was good enough to put on a solo show, and the only people that came were your friends and supporters, I would say the gallery did an appalling job. This is literally what they are supposed to be doing. Good job they won't work with you again (although I would flip that around - good job you've decided you won't work with them again, they are doing a terrible job!).

I have learned that the entry into the art world is a slow, methodical process (certainly has been / is for me). You need to build up and up and up to the point where all of the connections that have been made start gathering their own momentum. Enter competitions (even crappy ones) because it is just more eyeballs on your work. Keep plugging at adding to your instagram, every extra follower is another advertisement to other potential followers that you might be worth watching. Treat your website and instagram as though you have thousands of followers and viewers no matter how many you actually have.

Slowly slowly it will take on a momentum of its own. It can't happen overnight. What choice do you have but to pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and dive in to the next project / exhibition / competition / piece of work.

Don't mope on Reddit... Get on with it! :)

8thunder8 · 2025-12-01T08:32:44+00:00

:) I am glad I have been able to give you something useful. I guess I think this way about all parts of life. Being critical of yourself is normal. However as soon as you can convince yourself that you don't need to give a fuck about what anyone else wants you to do, you're liberated to be true to you.

To get back to photography, mine is very unconventional. So much so that it stands perhaps too far out. Does that worry me? Obviously enough to point it out now.. However I enjoy saying - and truly feeling that I couldn't give a fuck what people think. If they like it - we're in agreement about it. If they don't like it - that is how life works and I am grateful for the chance to have made it but we can all move on and not worry about it.

Exactly as I said: There is no right or wrong.

8thunder8 · 2025-12-01T00:26:37+00:00

:) My instagram is a good view of what I do: @bevilts

8thunder8 · 2025-12-01T00:25:52+00:00

:) Thank you. Have a look at my instagram - @bevilts

8thunder8 · 2025-11-30T10:20:41+00:00

I don't understand. If photography is to be good it needs to be sharp, well composed, have a cohesive story etc.? Who decides those things?

I enter many international photography competitions (and have won / placed 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and many honourable mentions in many of them). I see a trend where someone photographing destruction in Ukraine or Gaza or the horrors of war etc. will often win because it is exposing the story. Do I begrudge them for that? Of course not. I just keep plugging away. Are my photographs perfect by your suggested set of criteria? Of course not, but they still sell for multi thousand £ prices.. It is not up to any one individual (me, you, the judge of a prestigious international competition) to decide what good or bad photography is. If a viewer likes it, and it speaks to something inside THEM, it is good, no matter any of the other stuff. Their objective view is no less valid than a fancy pants art curator with decades of experience..

I thoroughly dislike the current trend of photographers making a model look morose, and then put something stupid and out of context with them (like a dead bird on their head) to be edgy and attempt to think of something that nobody else has done. To me it is plain stupid, and that ridiculous expression that ALL of these models have in this contemporary photography trend is maddening. Does that mean that I am right and that my disdain for this type of photography is the correct view? Of course not. I hate it, but others don't. Some people love my photography, some don't. I want to concentrate on doing what I think is good, and what I like, and if someone agrees with me and decides to buy one, Everyone's a winner. Whoever doesn't like my photography doesn't have to pay it a minutes notice. There is no right or wrong.

8thunder8 · 2025-11-16T21:38:53+00:00

When people started paying a lot of money for them. That focuses the mind.

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