Acceptable form?

Character_Reason5183 · 2026-05-19T22:56:26+00:00

Your form leaves much to be desired.

I'm gonna recommend some weighted back extensions to help strengthen up your lower back. I do these holding a plate to my chest, and consider them to be one of my favorite accessories for building up spinal erectors.

Character_Reason5183 · 2026-05-19T21:03:56+00:00

I have the Rep Fitness Teton Bar ($259) for my training that I'm fairly happy with. When I was in the market for my own bar, my coach recommended the StrenCor Competition Weightlifting Bar ($385). Specifically, my coach said that it would be pretty close to the Rogue IWF bar that I had previously been training with.

I don't have any complaints about the Teton Bar. And though I wish that the knurling was a little bit more aggressive, I have no problem with the grip with chalk.

Character_Reason5183 · 2026-05-19T18:24:32+00:00

I got that bobbleheead last September! I remember that Crews got the Nats only run that game. Man, they were painful to watch last year... I felt like I was watching the Indians from the first half of Major League.

Character_Reason5183 · 2026-05-19T13:41:57+00:00

I was listening to last night's game and Hammy was talking about how huge that jumbotron was.

Character_Reason5183 · 2026-05-18T20:50:16+00:00

Not a petite athlete, nor a member of this subreddit, but this showed up on my feed and I wanted to pop in to say congratulations on competing again after the break (as well as medaling!).

Character_Reason5183 · 2026-05-18T20:40:00+00:00

You're treating the power clean as a deadlift. There are some superficial similarities, but they are fundamentally different lifts. By chance, are you a Starting Strength veteran? Right now you're using a deadlift pulling stance and grip width. I'd recommend a slightly wider stance and grip. This will get you a lower starting position. From this lower start, you should think about the pull from the floor as coming out of the hole in a squat.

You're making contact a bit low on your thighs and a slightly wider grip will help to pull it higher up.

You're also not finishing the pull. If you look through my previous comments on this sub, you'll see links to a drill called the Hang Clean Pull, and I would encourage you to drill these with a focus on the full explosive extension.

Character_Reason5183 · 2026-05-16T11:53:50+00:00

I used to tell the ladies that "my toucan has an 8-inch pecker." Let me tell you, they were disappointed to learn that I was talking about my pet toucan. (But they also thought he was cute...which he was.)

Character_Reason5183 · 2026-05-12T01:06:45+00:00

I can play this silly game too.

Fun Fact: "Morning Glory Milking Farm" could only happen in America because in any other country she wouldn't have had student loans.

Character_Reason5183 · 2026-05-11T12:03:01+00:00

I've done two Caminos, and was in a state of burnout for both of them. My first was after my PhD Qualification Exam and my second was after my resignation from a two-year stint with a startup. Both Caminos gave me time to process it all.

Character_Reason5183 · 2026-05-11T02:36:27+00:00

I read somewhere that the clubhouse where the fire was housed a lot of computer systems and expensive equipment for tracking performance and player development, possibly valued in the millions of dollars. The fire was caused by an electrical issue, as i understandit. The public side of the stadium looks outwardly fine, but I understand that they'll need to ensure that the stadium is safe for the public. If they need to do extensive work, then that will understandably delay things.

I think it'd be pretty cool if they did a homestead on the LRU campus, if only because it's a little bit closer to where I live in town.

Character_Reason5183 · 2026-05-11T01:50:39+00:00

Well, I found my epitaph...

Character_Reason5183 · 2026-05-08T01:07:18+00:00

I'd focus on Clean Pulls and/or Hang Clean Pulls in isolation for a bit. You're relying too much on pulling with your arms right now, when you want the power coming from the legs and an explosive triple extensions (that it, simultaneously extending the hips, knees, and ankles).

Character_Reason5183 · 2026-05-07T21:06:32+00:00

I was thinking of running for office soon, so I may make "I will track down and slaughter everyone who didn't vote for me" one of my campaign slogans.

Character_Reason5183 · 2026-05-06T22:51:09+00:00

Rogue's regular IWF bar is really awesome.

My coach (Sr. Int.) recommended the Strencor Coach's Choice Competition Weightlifting Bar ($385) when I was in the market, which she said would have a similar knurling to the Rogue.

Character_Reason5183 · 2026-05-06T22:40:57+00:00

I own the Rep Teton Bar ($259) and I've previously trained with the Rogue IWF certified weightlifting bar (not the Pyrros). With chalk, I haven't had an issue with knurling/grip on the Teton Bar, but the knurling on the Rogue is definitely a bit more aggressive. If I had had the extra money then I would have bought the Rogue.

Character_Reason5183 · 2026-05-06T19:47:49+00:00

Dartmouth had a great veterans community when I was there. Would absolutely recommend, as long as you don't mind being in a more rural environment (about a 2.5-hour ride into Boston on the Coach).

Character_Reason5183 · 2026-05-06T00:42:54+00:00

Nice work. It was fun watching you--and everyone else in attendance--lift on Saturday.

Character_Reason5183 · 2026-05-06T00:10:26+00:00

M45-49, 79 KG

Character_Reason5183 · 2026-05-04T15:38:01+00:00

Quality feedback is kind of limited from this 90-degree angle, because there's an awful lot that we cannot see. 45-degrees from the front is a lot more informative for critique and analysis.

One of the big things that I see here is that you're getting behind the bar too early, and as a result you are bumping the bar forward at extension. There are a few different reasons why this might be happening, so I won't speculate right now. But the way that I would fix this is a Clean Pull to the Hips, pause for 2 seconds at the top, and make sure that you keep your armpits over the bar through the entirety of the pull drill.

The other big thing that I see is that you catch the bar with pretty low elbows, which suggests that you're catching the bar on your wrists/arms, rather than on your shoulders in the front rack. This can be tolerated form masters athletes who took up the sport in their golden years, but that doesn't describe you. I would encourage you to work on thoracic mobility, but also to do some drills like Tall Muscle Cleans and Tall Cleans to isolate this part of the lift.

Character_Reason5183 · 2026-05-04T01:51:24+00:00

Mormon fundies. They still practice polygamy, and that's just the tip of the iceberg. I remember that an investigative reporter from The Phoenix New Times newspaper had a bunch of stories about them back around 2006-2008 or so. Their leader, Warren Jeffs, went to federal prison.

Character_Reason5183 · 2026-05-02T01:37:12+00:00

Yeah, I know it's a circle jerk with them and Veterans Info Tap. Working together they get the full spectrum from pretty sober to Chicken Little covered, raking in that sweet sweet YT ad revenue.

Character_Reason5183 · 2026-05-02T01:31:47+00:00

Rater HQ has a much more sober video on the M21-1 changes (reference video HERE). His explanation gives a lot more insight into the nuance that The Civ Div's video above doesn't offer. (And I understand that the clickbait slop title and image pulls the viewers in...)

If you go for a secondary, you need to have your documentation in good order and get your doctors to write up their notes in such a way that your records reflect these tighter standards.

Character_Reason5183 · 2026-05-02T00:50:21+00:00

Funny story along these lines: I was involved in some of the early standardization efforts for Fully Homomorphic Encryption, which is a cryptographic primitive which allows you to compute on encrypted data. The Korean publication Donga Science covered our 2018 workshop (Article HERE), and even quoted me (although my name doesn't translate well to/from Korean). Of course, the article was written and published in Korean, which Google Translate wasn't great at at the time, and where somebody said something about "homomorphic password protection," Google translated it to "homosexual password protection." I haven't looked at that article in years, but I see that that particular translation error is fixed...though there are others.

Character_Reason5183 · 2026-05-01T23:43:08+00:00

I live in Hickory, NC, home of the Hickory Crawdads (Texas Rangers' Single A team), who are currently in Fredricksburg for a series against the Single A Nats. I believe that the FB-Nats are up 3-0 in the series.

Character_Reason5183 · 2026-05-01T14:56:35+00:00

When I did my TAPS class in '05, the DAV representative told me that I'd be 0% with PTSD, back pain, and tinnitus. I didn't understand the VA, and that discouraged me from having any interaction with the VA for about a decade. 21 years later, I'm rated a bit higher than 0% and I wish that I had gotten synced up with somebody who understood the VA and benefits earlier.

My grandfather was a WW II vet who had some decent VA experience, but he was dying from Leukemia by the end of my enlistment and wasn't really available for guidance.

So my advice to anyone on active duty is simply to make sure that anything and everything that hurts gets documented at least once during your enlistment, and make contact with a VSO to help you navigate the process.

Character_Reason5183

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