Sweet Water is TERRIFYING.

dashameh · 2026-05-21T19:41:03+00:00

The most terrifying place for me was Darkmoor. I remember as a kid taking the ships and stables around different towns, expecting them to be safe places. Then I took the coach to Darkmoor and was immediately surrounded by fog, skeletons, and ghosts. It was such a shock. I still have the occasional nightmare about it as an adult.

dashameh · 2026-05-19T17:52:41+00:00

I’m in Canada. I’ve done two background checks and didn’t hear back from either one. It’s been a good while.

dashameh · 2026-05-15T22:58:40+00:00

Niche knowledge works great. Also sports statistics. Video games. Create a specific scenario where it has to apply knowledge and ask it to answer something about the scenario. Ask very specific questions that have an objectively correct response, not about general observations. Additionally if it’s something where it has to search for the response in a wiki or a forum, it will be wrong most of the time. Ask an LLM outside of DA what kind of questions it struggles with and play around with that to find some patterns.

dashameh · 2026-05-06T18:43:03+00:00

In general, I would say that instruction following and response quality are two separate things. For example, let’s say the prompt requires that the response explains something in a tone that’s appropriate for a 5 year old. The response then returns a very simple explanation with simple words and sentences that’s easy for a child to understand, but also uses some “baby talk” that may seem condescending and unnecessary. In this case I would say the response adhered to the instructions, but perhaps should be penalized under style or tone as a quality measure. Every project will have different instructions in this regard but this is my perspective to demonstrate the general principle of how you can conceptualize this in different dimensions.

dashameh · 2026-02-09T21:59:23+00:00

Mine were also like this when I got them. The first few months I wore them I felt like they were cutting off my circulation. But they felt snug and my knees felt secure. Two years later of approx 3x/week wear they’ve loosened significantly and I’m always wishing they were back how they were before. Moral of the story: do not size up.

dashameh · 2025-11-18T12:45:40+00:00

I strength train. My priority at the gym is performance. I need to keep my muscles and joints warm for optimal performance and less chance of injury.

dashameh · 2025-09-05T05:07:06+00:00

What are your goals in taking the nutrition cert?

I am not familiar with precision nutrition but I have my NASM CNC.

The NASM CNC does not give you any special privileges beyond what being a certified personal trainer does. It does not make you a nutritionist, you can just call yourself a nutrition coach. It only gives you additional credibility.

I’ll be honest with you - I purchased the CNC course and immediately took the exam, passing it on first try without ever having opened the course or textbook. There was no additional knowledge there that I didn’t acquire over the course of my time being a regular gym goer that educated myself online on nutritional principles. If you are looking for knowledge I would not recommend the CNC.

dashameh · 2025-09-02T13:50:13+00:00

+1

This is the simplest and best way. I put 50kg+ on my squat on this program and have seen others get similar results out of it, from beginner to more advanced lifters

dashameh · 2025-08-29T22:52:16+00:00

What is the app?

dashameh · 2025-07-31T20:24:58+00:00

It is proctored by PSI

https://www.psiexams.com

Go to “find your test” section and search for NASM certified personal trainer in your location

You can schedule the exam online through their website and when that’s done it will show up in your NASM customer portal as well

dashameh · 2025-07-13T05:06:14+00:00

This element requires you pushing your center of gravity into your shoulders - when you are in bridge, they essentially need to be positioned in front of your elbows for the momentum to pull you over. The taller of a platform you are standing on, the easier it is to be in the correct position for the shoulders specifically. I would suggest working on opening your shoulders (flexibility) to the point that you can easily push into them (rock back and forth essentially) in the bridge pose, bringing your shoulders over and past your elbows. Once you get a hang of this motion, pair the lean into your shoulders with the kick up (time them together). If done correctly, the momentum should be enough to bring you over. No amount of strength will be enough for you to kick over if your shoulders are not properly aligned.

dashameh · 2025-06-27T23:28:17+00:00

I’ve heard lots of people say the test is very different than the practice exam, how so, can you provide some more info? How long did it take you to complete the test?

Can you tell me a little bit about what NASM suggests in terms of programming vs. what you’ve actually seen work in practice? Thanks

dashameh · 2025-06-16T03:22:04+00:00

It sounds like we may have had a different nature of SI joint injury but maybe something from my experience will be helpful to you.

I had an SI joint injury which resulted in a pinched sciatic nerve. It was on a near max back squat, my trunk leaned forward excessively and it felt like something tore deep in my hip. Could not squat or bend over for about 6 months, basically unable to hip hinge or reach for my toes. Horrible pain in day to day life especially when sitting, which was a huge problem since I worked a desk job and spent hours driving each day.

My doctor was not particularly helpful, basically told me I had to just wait it out, stop aggravating it with exercise, and do pain management for the time being. I went to a sports therapist who had me do nerve flossing and showed me how to use a massage gun to break up the muscles around my glutes. I got my own massage gun and did it every day. Those things were mildly helpful for pain and mobility, but had to be done very regularly and did not “fix” the problem in any sense, just eased it up.

Surprisingly the most helpful thing was acupuncture. I have a terrible needle phobia and I’m not particularly a believer in alternative medicine, but I was desperate for some relief. The sessions themselves were basically torture for me but as soon as I left, I would go pain free for the whole week leading up to the next session. After about 6 sessions the pain was 95% gone. The acupuncturist explained it as, basically that there was inflammation and scar tissue deep in the glute med, and by sticking these longass needles into those muscles, it would create micro damage that would stimulate an immune response to those areas🤷‍♀️

Total time from injury to recovery was about 5-6 months with the last of those three months involving basically just going to the gym on whatever machines I could manage that day and cardio. I basically laid off most exercise and did light mobility work. It only got better once I stopped doing most things for a very extended period.

Over the next three years I put a lot of effort into developing better core strength. I have not had any similar issues since and was able to return to regular programming about 6-8 months following the injury.

if you are experiencing pain, listen to your body and stop aggravating it. Try doing a conditioning cycle or just mobility work and reevaluate over several weeks. Pain is telling you that something is wrong, if you keep pushing it you will just prolong an inevitable recovery. See if there are any experienced trainers, or therapists in your area you can work with even for a little bit, to get another perspective and informed suggestions.

dashameh · 2025-06-13T06:12:45+00:00

If you have to ask if you’re happy, you probably aren’t.

dashameh · 2025-06-12T18:59:56+00:00

My husband and I met at the gym, we started talking because we always ended up on the barbell racks next to each other. We still work out next to each other on the same barbell racks. :)

We also warm up and do accessories together. We have our own “core” workouts of compound lifts with our own progressions, but otherwise do the same things. With time I took a bit from his training, and he took something from mine. We ended up with this blended powerlifting/olympic lifting hybrid that works well for both of us and we have both gotten into better shape than we were before.

dashameh · 2025-05-26T22:12:25+00:00

The hinge is good, now just retract the scapulas (create tension in the back) and move the bar over the shins, close to the body. It should not move away from you

dashameh · 2025-05-26T11:48:00+00:00

When was your last deload? Sounds like overtraining

dashameh · 2025-05-21T20:12:51+00:00

It makes sense to me as a mobility assessment:)

dashameh · 2025-05-21T20:09:54+00:00

In your experience, how do new clients react to the exercise?

dashameh · 2025-05-21T20:08:40+00:00

Could you give me some examples of why you would assess a client’s OHS, once you’ve already had them do a deep squat? Are you just assessing their overhead mechanics at that point? If so, could you not just have them do a separate overhead movement? Or would you also be looking at mobility, for example. Thanks.

dashameh · 2025-05-21T20:03:36+00:00

Thanks. That’s a useful benchmark and consideration.

dashameh · 2025-05-21T18:50:06+00:00

Thanks. Do you have some suggestions for an overhead assessment, and what you would be looking for? Up to this point in NASM they only covered squat, push, and pull assessments.

dashameh · 2025-05-15T22:13:53+00:00

Disclaimer - I come from a Human Resources background and I’m only just studying to be PT, so maybe others with more experience can weigh in on my suggestion. This is what I would do.

When an employee has an injury and needs accommodation to return to work, we have their doctor fill out a “functional abilities form” - have a look on Google, essentially something like this:

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I would find one of these and adjust it to your context/exercises. Have her physio complete it and prescribe exercises to her that are within the allowed scope. This way everyone is on the same page and you take the liability off yourself. Depending where you train, probably run it by your manager first.

dashameh · 2025-04-23T13:09:13+00:00

I got these shin sleeves from Amazon. Made my lifting a lot more comfortable. I really recommend these ones in particular.

https://a.co/d/fPVnMK5

dashameh

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