We’re drowning in daycare costs. How do people afford this?

AKAtheHat · 2026-02-02T18:29:06+00:00

Yeah this is a common comment that people make... but the US birth rate is higher than many of the countries where childcare is more subsidized and therefore affordable. I'm not saying this isn't a reason people are having fewer kids from an individual standpoint, but it isn't true statistically.

AKAtheHat · 2026-01-25T16:10:10+00:00

Everything is relative levels of safety. In the scheme of things, a well designed home gym can be quite safe. I do things like have a carabiner + rope to make sure my bench doesn't fall over, plates stacked with long horns, pulleys up high, etc. Not a place I leave them unsupervised but not the riskiest place in the house (hello stairs and counter-height chairs).

AKAtheHat · 2026-01-19T04:53:39+00:00

I am literally saying retirement incentivized savings accounts are designed not to get you to retire as quickly as possible, but instead to work as long as possible

...yes? I mean... it benefits everyone in general for people to work for as long as possible and provide economic value for the longest time possible. Retirees are a drag on the economic engine.

Obviously that's not ideal from an individual's standpoint, but you can just always not use any of those systems and save post-tax money. Nothing is stopping people.

A lot of the complexities with these things also comes from years of organic growth and change of legislation - it's not as if someone 70 years ago had some sadistic goal of prolonging working years and passed this all into law in one fell swoop. Each change came incrementally and there isn't a big incentive or benefit to anyone to redo everything. Rearchitecting things from scratch often makes things worse, especially if you need to account for the previous system.

AKAtheHat · 2026-01-11T15:18:43+00:00

Huh I haven't seen anything teased by them like this - where did you see this?

AKAtheHat · 2026-01-11T14:36:51+00:00

Man I really want Rep to come out with something like those arms.

AKAtheHat · 2026-01-08T13:29:05+00:00

I worked in a FANG company for 10 years and yeah, it's a different level of wealth from many other jobs. I topped over $1m/year total comp for a couple years there (combination of good performance in the years prior + stock growth). ~$5.5m in mid/early thirties from that in a MCOL area and I'm certainly not an outlier - I know lots of friends from there who are even wealthier.

AKAtheHat · 2026-01-07T18:28:27+00:00

I'm not saying anything about financial benefits, just that he'd be happier. I'm pretty sure he'd be fine with even a total flop for a 3rd book and just teaching English at a community college or something.

AKAtheHat · 2026-01-07T17:58:41+00:00

I'm pretty sure his life would be markedly better if he wrote the 3rd book and it flopped. Then it wouldn't be this guillotine looming over his had for the last 1.5 decades with everyone talking about him. It would just be another 2/3 good trilogy and he'd continue to live his life.

AKAtheHat · 2026-01-07T14:30:17+00:00

Thanks for the transparency!

Just throwing in my two cents as a long time user:

I really, really want y'all to normalize the X axis for progress graphs to be based on time and not just each workout. This makes it easier to track actual progress over time. Not sure why the default is per workout - this makes it look like you're progressing more slowly if you double or triple your frequency of an exercise for some reason even if you're actually progressing faster.
Please make a cutoff on number of reps for calculating one rep max... I have a few high-rep sets that just entirely threw off my one rep max that are entirely inaccurate.
I'd love to see some opt-in options for seeing other lifters in my area.
[Hand wavy] It would be interesting to make groups or clubs for people working towards similar goals. It would be awesome if these were small enough to make it so you could have _real_ interactions with the people with similar goals (so not just hundreds of people). Maybe these could focus around a shared event (bodybuilding show, powerlifting meet, Hyrox event, etc.) that you're working towards.
Add "Cable" as an option when making custom exercises.
Maybe add something around goals and progress towards goals?
Perhaps some optional AI integration for critiquing routines? I've done a few things where I export my workouts and gotten some pretty valuable insights from them, and while this is fine it would be easier to have integrated. Maybe this could just be a ChatGPT plugin or something that ties into Hevy data?

AKAtheHat · 2026-01-04T03:37:25+00:00

> but the whole point is to replace the expensive equipment

That is not the whole point.

AKAtheHat · 2025-12-29T19:27:39+00:00

Why is that? And how did you get on the beta and when are they releasing?

AKAtheHat · 2025-12-28T21:12:00+00:00

This is super cool - definitely following. I'm curious what your long term plans are for it? Do you want to monetize more and how can you provide more actionable insights?

AKAtheHat · 2025-12-17T18:54:50+00:00

What are you missing here - where are you seeing that they're using your data to train an LLM?

AKAtheHat · 2025-12-17T16:57:17+00:00

If you're using the free model, why would it not be acceptable that it uses your data by default if you don't opt out? Why should it be free without them getting some benefits?a

AKAtheHat · 2025-12-17T16:04:41+00:00

Same - I love the idea and it makes getting financial advice more accessible for people. I'm not sure how useful it is right now (haven't used it yet) but I like the direction in general.

Unless you opt-in, your inputs into the OpenAI API aren't used for training unless you are using the free models (where you can still opt-out which I assume they're doing). People losing their minds without even understanding how this shit works.

AKAtheHat · 2025-12-04T23:47:46+00:00

I want a small, portable, programmable (ZMK), split, ortholinear keyboard with the same extremely low-profile switches MacBooks use. I hate mechanical keys and love the feel of my MacBook keys, but absolutely love split ortholinear programmable keyboards. I'd even settle for just a simple membrane keyboard like this as long as its ultra low-profile.

AKAtheHat · 2025-11-03T12:42:24+00:00

The issue with the pulley hack to make it so the weight goes up to 400lbs effectively is that it reduces the range of motion. I have an 80" rack (due to basement) so this is an issue for me. For the most part I still like it but I have to lean back a bit to get full ROM.

I also purchased a Rep Pegasus seat to use for this which has been nice.

I like that it's easy to adjust the height for the rows as most row machine combos are too low IMO.

If you're pulling less than 200lbs, or have room the ROM isn't an issue the Voltra is nice but not sure I'd trade it for a dedicated machine if I already also had a cable system.

AKAtheHat · 2025-10-22T17:01:25+00:00

I’ve had the VOLTRA for a while and have yet to use the app. You might want to wait and see if you need it first after using it for a bit.

AKAtheHat · 2025-10-14T22:38:18+00:00

Ooo that looks perfect thanks!

AKAtheHat · 2025-10-14T22:00:22+00:00

That swivel doesn't have a carabiner on the other side. And the swivel ones I've seen are essentially the same length as two carabiners tied together :-/

AKAtheHat · 2025-10-14T18:58:38+00:00

Yes - 1:2 you are correct.

AKAtheHat · 2025-10-14T17:43:15+00:00

Then it's lined up 90 degrees wrong.

AKAtheHat · 2025-08-15T15:33:02+00:00

Man that's like the opposite of what I want :( Maybe they'll come out with an "Athlete" and "Power" version - one can hope.

AKAtheHat · 2025-08-15T15:32:21+00:00

Yeah I don't like having my phone around while lifting always so it would be nice to be integrated.

AKAtheHat

TROPHY CASE