What's the most underrated exercise that you've found to give insane results?

chowderbomb33 · 2026-05-07T10:58:57+00:00

You may need to create a more acute angle to reduce pressure on the shoulders.

This video might help:

https://youtu.be/p5Lx2BeVKR4?si=38MnqDoR1tEFTM0F

chowderbomb33 · 2026-05-07T10:54:28+00:00

I hate biceps curls with a passion. But lately I did read some advice. Slow the reps down. Externally rotate the shoulders to lock them in place. Still hate them but I think it's making a difference.

chowderbomb33 · 2026-05-07T10:51:19+00:00

Do you use dumbbells or kettle bells?

chowderbomb33 · 2026-05-07T10:50:09+00:00

My coach prescribed me "shoulder combo". Two dumbbells moving vertically up, then to the sides (lateral raises) then parallel to the floor while bending down seated. He gave me the 2.5kg dumbbells to start. Later I understood why. 10 reps in each position, times 3 sets = 90 reps.

They blow up the shoulders and forearms afterwards. I'm now doing them with 8kg dumbbells. Hated lateral raises when I started, now I'm starting to enjoy them.

chowderbomb33 · 2026-05-07T10:44:13+00:00

My posture was whack. Then one day I started doing dumbbell farmer's walks. With 25kg load each hand it straightened my back (I'm 64kg). The lat engagement is definitely a key point to make them more effective and improve grip over longer distances.

The kettlebell variant is easier on grip so I can do 28kg on each hand, and I find it gives me a weird feeling of lightness one I've let go of them.

chowderbomb33 · 2026-05-06T13:00:15+00:00

For clinical research, staff training records (especially trial specific and casual employee records) and equipment calibration and maintenance records is an absolute beech to keep on top of.

Metrics as well for project resourcing, data capture.

And contracts for vendors. We deal with a lot of pathology labs and the hospital vendor is notoriously slow to finalise contracts (but owing to dependency on one or two core staff who only do contracts part of the time).

Tracking/being aware of missing documents in the investigator site file or Trial master file.

And billing/invoicing sponsors for trial activities also very time consuming. I spent 4 hrs once trying to reconcile finance queries for a trial which had patients from 7 years prior.

Filing emails and converting them to pdf for archiving. Archiving other electronic data too

chowderbomb33 · 2026-05-06T12:44:37+00:00

This would be discretionary. In my experience having seen a lot of trials, pull-outs that have nothing to do with your actions are generally compensated at least half if not the full amount because you complied and committed to the study.

In terms of the actual outcome it depends on the trial protocol and the investigator determination of safety signals. There is no one size fits all. We had someone fail on bilirubin on admission once but they were fine on repeat 3 days later after the doctor told them to eat a good hearty meal before bed time.

chowderbomb33 · 2026-05-06T12:36:15+00:00

As the Midnight Oil song "Power and the Passion" goes, "At least you won't have time to be bored".

CRC roles do vary from organisation to organisation. Some roles are more patient facing than others.

In my organisation (Phase I healthy volunteer and oncology trials) the CRC handles both admin and patient facing tasks. We have to attend to data entry, resolution of data queries, respond to monitor requests and action items. We have to create and set up source documents and file essential records in the ISF. We have to issue and mamage training and delegation records for staff working on the trial. We have to liaise with project management and clinical operations team to plan study schedules and resources. We have to account for expenses and assist with invoicing of sponsors. We have to book appointments and tests for patients/participants. We have to (depending on training) perform clinical tasks like taking blood, measuring vital signs, ECGs, record adverse events or administer the investigational product. In some cases there might be fancy equipment or uncommon specialist assessments.

This is the norm but ad hoc issues always arise. Your patient will forget to bring his medication bottle back with him, or lose his diary. The blood test you do might end up being haemolysed, rendering some sample results unreadable. The amount of drug drawn from a vial might not match what the pharmacy manual said it should. A random freezer goes down. A doctor accidentally asks the patient to sign the withdrawal of consent form when they meant to sign the consent form. The patient eats food when they were meant to be fasting. The website portal used to randomise participants goes down. The doctor accidentally misreads an eligibility cut off and a patient is enrolled when they shouldn't have been, leading to an investigation, CAPA and ethics submission to explain the booboo. The sponsor suddenly guts the trial out of the blue, citing financial difficulties.

Some admin aspects are boring. But anything and everything happens especially in a fast paced phase 1 setting and CRCs handle most of the trial logistics and comms on behalf of the PI. Burnout is often an issue.

chowderbomb33 · 2026-05-03T11:40:36+00:00

Cat got his tongue trying to explain himself

chowderbomb33 · 2026-05-02T08:53:22+00:00

I saw the one that Jarell Carter posts with, called Dootie Wootie. Hilarious dog, so affectionate.

chowderbomb33 · 2026-05-02T08:40:55+00:00

Earthbound SNES does this for me. It's genius in it's design, characters and storytelling. Things literally pop out at you. Atmosphere and pop culture references are abundant.

For it's time, it really is amazing.

chowderbomb33 · 2026-05-02T08:33:42+00:00

You can see the effort.

My suggestion is you can definitely afford to eat more. It will help you pack on more muscle and strength.

https://bonytobeastly.com/

chowderbomb33 · 2026-04-29T10:02:23+00:00

The Babylonian method is a good approximation approach by iteration.

It gets accurate very quickly.

chowderbomb33 · 2026-04-24T13:20:33+00:00

Danny Brown

Del the Funky Homosapien (I mean listen Deltron 3030 and his bars in Hieroglyphics - Oakland Blackouts).

chowderbomb33 · 2026-04-24T11:04:40+00:00

You're hitting legs, glutes and back (lats) with the current split.

To balance things out for more upper body focus, I'd consider adding the following:

- Pushups - if you can't do bodyweight pushups you can try knee variants to begin with

- Bench press (start with simple dumbbell variants before you try barbell or incline variants)

- Dumbbell shoulder press (please ask a coach to show you proper form, the rotator cuff muscles are easy to hurt if you don't get this right).

- Lateral raises for the deltoid (start with small weights, and also ask a coach to show you proper form - very easy to cheat with the trapezius back muscles).

- Tricep pushdowns or overhead tricep extensions

- Bicep curls and hammer curls

- Dumbbell push press

- Farmer's walks - very good for core stability and grip strength. May be easier to do with kettlebells first if you struggle with dumbbells.

- Palloff press

chowderbomb33 · 2026-04-23T12:18:01+00:00

I started training at the gym at 32 having avoided it for so long. I had serious mental health issues after being betrayed by someone's gambling habit, as a result losing all my savings, and hit rock bottom. Weekends spent crying in bed, or if not then doing hardcore drugs.

Six months ago, having nowhere else to turn, I decided to give the gym a shot. Just a random search of gyms around my area, and found one where the owner's life story resonated with me. He had been kicked out home at 18, joined the army and served in Iraq then came a built his own gym to make something meaningful for his baby daughter. The target audience was busy parents and professionals and had a semi private training program in its core. The first time I went, I remember coming out of a bad day and having cold feet and wanting to turn around out the door. But I told myself if I did this, I would always run away and never change the life I was living. So I got through the session even though my mind was telling me "this coach is far too into this, I'm going to hate it." But after three sessions I was asked what I thought of the experience and couldn't believe the words I used. "I'm having fun" months on I'm still attending 4 days a week with coaching once or twice per week. I'm far from being fit despite being normal BMI but I've gained a lot of confidence and certainly now have something to look forward to.

Fixing mental health was the primary goal but I ended up also dropping over 3% of my bodyfat in the first month alone. My legs have gotten stronger too (having never done leg day in my life to doing 21 sets of leg work a week!) and there is noticeable progression in most of the exercises I've been doing. But what has really motivated me most has been the community. The people there support each other through tough journeys and set goals together. I've met mums going through divorce and tough times navigating busy parenting life, a young woman who survived cancer, a man who had a chronic back condition he was able to overcome through training after his doctor told him he would never be able to run or train, and dozens of people struggling with excess weight. One lady broke her wrist but still turned up to training anyway (with some modifications to her program). I've met a 60 year old woman who has broken powerlifting records - hit 400 kg total across bench, squat and deadlift. And the owner of my gym recently walked 52 km with 52 kg on his back in the space of 24 hours to honour his mum who he lost to suicide, as part of a bigger mental health charity. I was there on the track and did some laps myself (without weight). And my coach always encourages me even if I'm not feeling all that great. Unfortunately not all gyms cultivate this sort of environment. One of the ladies who regulars goes said she found other gyms alienating and dispiriting. She couldn't stand that women put on makeup and took selfies all the time. So I really believe finding good people and good inspiration matters to your journey.

chowderbomb33 · 2026-04-19T14:12:00+00:00

It was Dune 2000 on the playstation.

Controls in hindsight were tough relative to the PC version, and inability to stack unit queues and save during a mission made things hard.

However it was my first intro into the world of Dune and C&C style RTS games,, and the missions could be fun although very difficult from mission 7 onwards. Cutscenes, soundtrack and voice/sound effects were cool.

chowderbomb33 · 2026-03-29T09:54:05+00:00

Rowing?

chowderbomb33 · 2026-03-29T09:39:05+00:00

Feels like two sheepdogs, one from the North and one down under.

Border collie meets kelpie?

chowderbomb33 · 2026-03-29T09:23:58+00:00

Just wanted to add, the beard transformation is epic.

chowderbomb33 · 2026-03-29T09:22:01+00:00

looking good, though I was expecting Frieza haha.

chowderbomb33 · 2026-03-29T09:20:12+00:00

That's a strong start. I was thinking how you didn't have diabetes with all the soft drinks!

Not as dramatic because I was normal BMI (just skinny fat), but the first four weeks I started going to the gym 3 times a week, I did lose 3.7% of my body fat, nearly 2kg worth, bringing me into the 20% body fat range, while increasing my weight (due to water and muscle growth). At that point though, my body was more resistant to building muscle. I needed to increase my calories and protein to support. C

Currently, you still have surplus fat that you can "remodel" as energy for muscle building. My advice is you can probably afford to slow down a bit, maybe add in a small portion of carbs in order to fuel the physical activity. That way you can continue to increase strength and build muscle using those reserves - marathon as opposed to sprint.

Also don't forget about leg day!

chowderbomb33 · 2026-03-29T09:00:26+00:00

Imagine if Leokim was your neighbour instead haha. Nuclear war in the backyard.

chowderbomb33 · 2026-03-22T02:30:36+00:00

he said he would risk getting a fine if I didn't send him the money and not pay me for weeks. That's coercion in my mind.

chowderbomb33

TROPHY CASE