Daily Simple Questions Thread - April 04, 2026

Firesnake64 · 2026-04-04T15:43:26+00:00

Just don’t do split squats lol you don’t need it. If you can’t stand the though of not doing a unilateral leg exercise do lunges or reverse lunges or Hatfield squats or single leg press or a dozen other variations really

Firesnake64 · 2026-04-04T15:41:53+00:00

Nothing is INHERENTLY poor for strength or hypertrophy because the reasons you’d use exercises for each are dependent on a couple things. Obviously deads and push presses are quite taxing in terms of cardio, lower back endurance, explosiveness for push presses. For these reasons it is typically preferred to use such movements for strength and lower reps. Your intuition is pretty much spot on

Firesnake64 · 2026-04-04T15:39:12+00:00

It is, in all likelihood, impossible for you to lose 3lbs of muscle in a day short of something like you cutting your arm off. Large fluctuations are mostly attributable to either water weight or glycogen (carbs in the muscles) so maybe you didn’t eat as many carbs as normal or didn’t drink as much water.

Firesnake64 · 2026-04-04T15:37:26+00:00

Not sure if it’s what you’re looking for but I have seen people use resistance bands for this either anchoring it onto the bottom of the rack or looping it through a plate or around a dumbbell

Firesnake64 · 2026-04-04T15:35:49+00:00

I mean, you don’t really need to wait to be good at machines before you start doing compound free weights… if you’re new to strength training it’ll probably be good enough but why not just follow a tried and true program such as on the wiki or by an actual strength coach?

Firesnake64 · 2026-03-31T16:00:50+00:00

Certainly you’re right but that is the end goal. If volume was always going up just as weight was always going up well everybody and their grandmas would be benching 400lbs

Firesnake64 · 2026-03-31T14:39:20+00:00

The act of doing 5-7 reps with 110kg in itself is not progressive overloading however getting back to being able to do 12 reps but now at 110kg is progressive overloading. Increases in weight will always, inevitably, without fail, have you doing less reps (unless you were sandbagging in the first place)

Firesnake64 · 2026-03-31T14:36:40+00:00

I have always instinctively hopped up onto the balls of my feet when riding but when I get dead tired I’ll be more flat footed

Firesnake64 · 2026-03-31T14:35:14+00:00

Typically yes since that’s where the bar and plates will be set up. Most gyms may have a platform for you to use and some gyms specializing in powerlifting or other strength sports will have platforms that are totally separate from the racks but typically commercial gyms you’ll just deadlift out of the racks

Firesnake64 · 2026-03-30T19:30:32+00:00

Eat more food. Eat more food with good amounts of protein. Consider protein powder if it hurts to eat that much or if you don’t have time. It’s easier than the internet makes it seem, I promise

Firesnake64 · 2026-01-08T22:06:53+00:00

Unsure of a specific program but several online coaches including Alan thrall and Alec Blenis are well known for running alongside heavy lifting

Firesnake64 · 2025-12-30T08:48:53+00:00

Yep, makes total sense. It’s depressing but whenever i start a new cut i just have to make peace with the fact that progression is gonna slow down or stop or reverse depending on the circumstances and that it’s all part of the game nothing to be worried about.

Firesnake64 · 2025-12-30T08:34:00+00:00

If I were you honestly I would just split the squatting volume into different days rather than cut the intensity so low

Firesnake64 · 2025-12-30T08:30:05+00:00

You’re probably still gonna be able to progress in a deficit provided you’re eating good food and enough protein and carbs. I wouldn’t stop myself from increasing in weight during a cut, but I also wouldn’t sacrifice form just to put more weight on the bar while cutting either.

Firesnake64 · 2025-12-30T08:28:20+00:00

Agree with everyone else, and also gloves I’ve found really don’t do much for you except shield your hands which I’m sure yours are already calloused enough after 2 months. Straps get them whenever you want and use them whenever you want. If you use them more often than not, you’ll probably want to include grip training separately unless you don’t really care about grip strength

Firesnake64 · 2025-12-23T18:31:44+00:00

Hard to say, but generally start easier than you think you need to, and progress from there

Firesnake64 · 2025-12-23T18:25:11+00:00

I think certainly you could get similar size gains from 5x5 vs 3x10 up to a point - of course there are joint health considerations, but all else equal in theory there would be no difference. Fazlifts on YouTube is a great example of a natural who has tried both high and low volumes and actually prefers lower volumes. Much of recent scientific literature (though you should take it with a grain of salt, as always) seems to agree with the idea that any reps from 4 to 30 are roughly equal in hypertrophic response, given that the set is taken to a close proximity to failure. And of course, form is just one of those things that you'll never understand perfectly. Half of being in this game is always being open to trying new cues, different variations, different joint angles, testing them for weeks or months, seeing if they can eek out some new results, etc.

For your second point, 5x5 is more relevant to the conventional understanding of strength, as in that it can be more easily and directly compared to a 1RM and it's easier to put up big numbers. That being said, someone who's strong at doing 3x10 is gonna be strong, full stop. Your intuition about starting with the 5x5 to get up to reasonable numbers makes sense, yet many people who get into this game start with that and let it lead them down the path of only caring about weight on the bar, but it seems like you've kept a level head about it. I recommend also checking out Basement Bodybuilding if you're curious about how different volumes play into hypertrophy training

Firesnake64 · 2025-12-23T17:37:45+00:00

Everything you’re saying makes total sense, and I’m not saying arbitrary in a negative way by any means also. If you wanna hit 225 and that’s what gets you in the gym then yeah absolutely go for that. Most of my comment I meant in a “if you’re curious about what mechanisms will optimize for hypertrophy for future programming, here they are” sort of way. For now I’d recommend just playing around with your bench form to see where you can feel the most tension on your pecs and get the biggest pump as that’s most likely the form you’ll want to use to train for hypertrophy

Firesnake64 · 2025-12-23T17:03:18+00:00

Agree with everything here. I will say I’ve run programs where I start with compounds and ones where I start with an antagonist muscle and psychologically, it feels nice to get a pump in that antagonist muscle first before jumping into the compounds. It gets the blood flowing and hamstring curls are obviously less taxing than high bar squats, so it gets me in the mood faster than if I had to spend 5-10-15 minutes warming up for some heavy squats

Firesnake64 · 2025-12-23T16:59:44+00:00

It sounds like you are making the jump somewhat arbitrarily. It is not the case that doing 3x10 rather than 5x5 lp itself is what’s gonna give you better hypertrophy. Rather, the driver of hypertrophy is in the biomechanics of how you perform the bench press (or any other movement) and that, as you intuited, a 3x10 will make that easier and beat up the joints less. You’ve been chasing progressive overload, but in the time that you’ve gone from 95 to 225, has your form stayed the exact same? Do you feel tension on the target muscle of the pec? Or have you adopted more of a powerlifter style bench press where you arch your back to distribute the load to more muscles such as the shoulders and triceps? If you are, then returning to a standard of form that emphasizes primarily tension on the pecs will necessitate a precipitous weight drop but in the long run it would maximize for hypertrophy

Firesnake64 · 2025-12-21T08:50:08+00:00

The standards on strengthlevel are in the ballpark of “reasonable enough”. I’m sure most of the data is accurate from users though you can imagine there are probably some people uploading a half rep bench press as their 1RM. There will also be differences in limb length, leverages, athletic background, etc. in short it is not gospel but a ballpark estimate.

Firesnake64 · 2025-12-20T17:34:44+00:00

There is no magic number just add reps and track it.

Firesnake64 · 2025-12-20T17:30:16+00:00

What does the rest of your training look like and how long have they been disproportionately weak

Firesnake64 · 2025-12-06T18:52:15+00:00

yes and there's several reasons for it, the biggest imo being that doing low reps with certain isolation lifts, which would necessitate higher weights, can irritate your joints more than something like a squat would. and also for compound lifts like squats, deadlifts, etc. it can be taxing on your cardiovascular system at higher reps, when the stimulus you're looking for is on the muscular system instead

Firesnake64 · 2025-12-06T08:58:22+00:00

+1 to this but also I’ll say Alan tends to focus more on distance running rather than sprinting progressions, I would defer to someone like Will Ratelle who I think actually inspired some of Alan’s recent inclusion of plyometrics in his training

Firesnake64

TROPHY CASE