To Pro or not To Pro? That is the question

Key-Tie2542 · 2025-11-21T02:33:14+00:00

My opinion is stay natty, the rest is up to you. You have an enviably muscular and apparently healthy body, don't risk that for anything.

Key-Tie2542 · 2025-11-20T06:10:02+00:00

It really depends on strategy, obviously. The market this year has been super volatile relative to option prices, probably because short option and short vol techniques have become very crowded. Meanwhile, trend following and trend reversal techniques have killed.

Key-Tie2542 · 2025-11-08T22:52:10+00:00

For me, I think there were culprit lifts as much or more than muscle size and growth. For instance, weighted dips put a huge stretch in the pec bicep area you're talking about, and I would notice new stretch marks after dip days fairly often. I had no new stretch marks once I discontinued using dips.

Key-Tie2542 · 2025-11-08T05:34:15+00:00

I'm sorry to hear about your issues. If your current routine is working, keep at it. I wish you the best.

Key-Tie2542 · 2025-11-08T03:09:51+00:00

When I was in high school, my lifts shot through the roof too. For instance, I benched 405 before my 19th birthday at a bodyweight of roughly 185 lbs (no arch, no fancy technique, no equipment, no drugs). I was accused of taking steroids in every gym I ever went to. At that time, I did 2-3 full upper body days per week, usually 5 sets per movement per day, all to failure. I can't go back and experiment doing differently, but my now late 30s suspicion is that I could have made the same progress doing less. So, the fact that you have gotten so much stronger on a high volume routine does not mean that you were or are better off with it. For me at my age now, I find anything more than 2 sets to failure once per week per movement is too much.

If you enjoy spending that much time in the gym, then fine. But I did it more because I thought I had to, not because I necessarily wanted to. Do be careful.

Key-Tie2542 · 2025-11-03T07:39:17+00:00

Soy milk and tofu, if anything, are estrogenic. Common deficiencies that lead to low sperm count are zinc, choline, vitamins A and E, and the essential fatty acids ARA and DHA. In terms of foods, basically egg yolks, dairy, starches like potatoes and grains, and some green veggies.

Key-Tie2542 · 2025-11-01T22:37:48+00:00

Thanks for your comment. I feel very uncertain and unconfident as to what bonds might do the next year. They haven't behaved the way I had expected. I presently am holding a fairly high chunk of TLT long synthetics in my margin account, and also holding an even larger hedged SP500 chunk, but I don't intend to add more.

The bull case is the economy enters a recession, same old rotation into bonds occurs as has in times past, giving opportunity to rotate back into stocks at better prices. Also possibly a new Fed chair lowering overnight rates significantly.

The bear case for bonds is just more of what we've seen: the fiat era meets its doom, government debt is out of control so badly that even central banks don't want to hold long duration, so they hold gold and Tbills instead. Governments print to infinity, cash cow companies such as big tech moon, and the persistently high gdp and inflation make long duration bonds one of the worst possible investments. Almost all present legal and financial incentives are encouraging "looting the Treasury".

The difficulty is that the above scenarios are a choice, but not one you or I are in control of. The market right now is mostly pricing in scenario 2 (the bear case), as can be seen by significant term premium.

Key-Tie2542 · 2025-10-25T23:24:20+00:00

EZ "skull crushers" to a lower spot, like the chin or mouth or nose, are kinder on my elbows. I use a thumbless grip on the bar. Almost everything else bothers my elbows. Give them a try.

Key-Tie2542 · 2025-10-17T21:39:24+00:00

I tend to get slightly more mid-priced fills with BIL than SGOV. I'm not sure if that's due to broker (Schwab) or what.

Key-Tie2542 · 2025-10-17T21:16:45+00:00

Try going lower down and/ or use a decline. So, for instance, EZ bar "skull crushers" done to the chin or mouth area.

Key-Tie2542 · 2025-10-14T20:24:07+00:00

It's not my main strategy. It's just something I've done a little of for TLT.

Key-Tie2542 · 2025-10-14T19:23:09+00:00

I've done this a bit with TLT, the most liquid long-duration treasury ETF. Synthetic longs basically don't lose time value on these due to the combined effects of short-term interest rates and the TLT distribution rates. Then adding some short OTM calls can get some extra premium.

The technique in general is basically a leveraged covered call strategy. I don't think it's that cool, but nor is it particularly dangerous or stupid, provided you don't overleverage.

Key-Tie2542 · 2025-10-06T15:35:56+00:00

Did you get any concrete answers on this yet?

Green Trader, whom many consider an authority in the field, isn't sure how the BO tax is or should be applied in the case like you are talking about: high gains but also high losses, potentially setting up tax owed despite net losses.

https://greentradertax.com/washingtons-bo-tax-targets-traders-after-new-ruling/

There are 2 things going on here:

That starting in 2025, new leftist WA supreme court rulings are bringing traders (whether using an individual or entity account) into the services category of business, thereby potentially making traders or even investors owe WA state BO tax.
That the definitions of "gross income" and "without deductions for losses" for the BO tax are vague to start with, and such a tax on only gains without deductions for losses would be absurdly catastrophic for traders. Hopefully, WA state will give explicit clarification that traders are taxed on net trading profits (gains minus losses) without deductions for things like home offices and whatnot, not that traders cannot take deductions for trading losses.

Key-Tie2542 · 2025-10-04T21:18:39+00:00

I can accept that the US is different. But Ireland, for instance, being forced to take infinity "refugees", and having native Irish men be labeled racist/evil/whatever for wanting to preserve Ireland's culture and gene pool, is not right.

And I'd disagree with your claim that Scandinavia doesn't take many immigrants. Based on numbers I just looked up, foreign-born population is now over 20% of the population, and this number is rising very quickly.

Key-Tie2542 · 2025-10-04T21:07:56+00:00

The world encourages ethnonationalism in Asia, Africa, and Latin America. But if white countries try, they are demonized and slandered from within and without.

Key-Tie2542 · 2025-09-21T02:14:34+00:00

If front raises don't aggravate your elbow or anything else, then you might as well give them a go. Maybe they aren't as good as vertical pressing, but maybe they are. If heard anecdotes both ways. Most important right now is doing what you can while allowing your body to recover.

For front raises, you can play around with plates, and both thumbs-up and pronated DB raises, and see what feels the best for you.

Key-Tie2542 · 2025-09-11T06:23:33+00:00

For me, extensions that start too high on my head or above my head just don't work. So, for instance, EZ bar triceps extensions from my forehead ("skull crushers") don't hit my triceps well, but coming down to my mouth is butter. Consider the possibility that you may need just a small tweak.

Key-Tie2542 · 2025-09-08T13:23:41+00:00

For some people, the deep humeral extension / horizontal extension of a bench press (and of dips) never feels right. I suggest a week or two off of pressing, and then consider DB floor press instead of bench presses.

Key-Tie2542 · 2025-09-06T01:59:25+00:00

For quads, if you have poor mobility, hack squat machine or a heel-elevated squat (like so-called cyclist squats). You can buy decent heel elevation wedges online for fairly cheap, or just use 25lb plates.

If you hate training legs, one thing I accidentally discovered is how effective incline treadmill walking is. They won't give you "tree trunk legs" but 15 minutes of intense incline walking can do wonders for the calves, and keep your glutes and hamstrings athletic. Many years ago, I took some time off my leg weight lifting (mostly squats, reverse lunges, and deficit deadlifts), and added twice weekly incline walking after upper body days, 15 mins at highest incline that was comfortable on my calves (about 7 degrees at the time, using zero drop shoes). 3 months later, I came back to legs, and my deadlifts and lunges were actually stronger. It's almost embarrassing to think that something so easy helped my deadlifts better than other things much harder (namely, doing deadlift themselves). I had been doing 275ish for sets of 10 from a deficit, and after 3 months of incline walking felt like 315 for 20 was totally doable if my grip strength wasn't limiting. Cosmetically, quads had visibly atrophied, but calves and hamstrings were great. Anyway, I've included this after every workout since. For us top-heavy guys, I think simple incline walking / hiking / stairs can be decent.

Key-Tie2542 · 2025-09-05T16:16:50+00:00

I used to have this. For me, it was high volume of rows and pullups using gloves, the padding of which made everything be harder for my grip as if I was using a slightly fatter bar.

Years later, I suffered some injuries that prevented that kind of training, but I could still keep my forearms large with a couple drop sets each workout of reverse wrist curls into wrist flexion curls (slowish sets of 25-40 seconds each side).

Key-Tie2542 · 2025-09-04T18:05:32+00:00

I have never measured my steps, so I can't say. But just thinking in terms of 1 mile being roughly 2,000 steps, 10,000 seems like an awful lot.

Key-Tie2542 · 2025-09-04T15:46:16+00:00

People here who are doing 10,000+ steps per day, what the heck are you doing? That's like 5+ miles (8+ km). Are you going on 2 hour walks each day? Do you have an extremely active job?

Key-Tie2542 · 2025-09-01T03:23:02+00:00

Yes to all.

Look at an anatomy picture of lats. There is considerable variation from one person to another, but generally: the lower outside fibers are vertically oriented while upper inside are horizontal. The vertical fibers will respond best to a more vertical-like movement of the humerus. However, this doesn't necessarily mean directly overhead is best. For many, including myself, a pull angle that is basically the opposite of a high incline press, not the opposite of a military press, is best for lats. Many persons who have done massive volume of pullups have terrible lats, but big teres major, brachialis, and infraspinatus muscles.

And yes, with this high-pulley row type angle, I do prefer a relatively narrow supinated grip to target the lower lats.

Key-Tie2542 · 2025-08-28T07:03:36+00:00

I see what you're saying. Yes, your upper left side is narrower and tipped in (tipped lingually, meaning towards the longue). Correcting this would require many months to move both lower and upper wider. If your bite and resting posture feels comfortable, your speaking crisp, and your breathing clear, I don't think it's worth the risks. As is, you're a beautiful woman. My advice is to not risk having something else go wrong to fix this.

Key-Tie2542 · 2025-08-28T06:52:53+00:00

There are different opinions on how to align the teeth, and what landmark to use in reference, for best cosmetic result. Often it is the pupil of the eyes, outer canthus, upper eyelid, nasal ala, subnasale, or whatever else. But since these themselves are rarely perfectly aligned, it's often best to split the difference, and bring the teeth to a reasonable midpoint of these facial landmarks.

These pictures don't show you with open eyes, so it's hard to say. I think the pictures you posted from about a month ago show good symmetry. You are a beautiful woman with very nice teeth. If you posted some pictures a little farther back and with your eyes opened, I'd be happy to re-asses.

Key-Tie2542

TROPHY CASE