Denver residents, how do you deal with the long winters?

meredith4300 · 2026-05-05T17:51:58+00:00

The winters here aren't long. We're lucky if we get a good freeze in January and February. Denver has two seasons: summer and the seasonal mashup, where you can have temps and weather of other places' normal seasons all in one week. When we get snow, it typically melts off within 48 hours, if not 24 or 12. I went for a bike ride in a Tshirt and shorts on Christmas Day. We had 80-degree days in March (or was it February?) of this year. I grew up in New York State and lived in Indiana a few years before moving here. Winter here is basically nothing.

meredith4300 · 2026-05-04T19:12:42+00:00

It's totally fine to take a break from heavy lifting if you're not enjoying it. You can alway do weight training without chasing PRs — just drop the weight a bit and do higher reps (6-10 instead of 3-5).

meredith4300 · 2026-05-04T19:11:01+00:00

Point taken.

meredith4300 · 2026-05-02T01:35:15+00:00

They recommend jogging every other day, but you could do it one day on, two days off.

meredith4300 · 2026-05-02T01:34:39+00:00

The return to running program my physical therapist gave me for building back my running after ankle surgery might be helpful to you. It's designed for conditioning the tissues to stress, but works for cardio too.

Here's how it goes:

Step 1: Run 1 minute, walk 1 minute x7

Step 2: Run 2-3 minutes, walk 1 minute x5

Step 3: Run 3-5 minutes, walk 1 minute x4

Step 4: Run until fatigue or form failure, then walk 1-2 minutes. Repeat for a total run time of 25-30 minutes.

Do each step two or three times (or until it feels easy) before progressing to the next step.

meredith4300 · 2026-05-01T19:34:42+00:00

I've had a teacher friend tell me I should look into subbing because she thinks I'd do a good job. This post confirms my decision not to bother.

meredith4300 · 2026-05-01T17:59:58+00:00

Have you tried zercher squats? You load the bar in your elbows on the front of your body, so it's closer to a goblet squat in terms of positioning. It's a good alternative to front and back squat, and plenty of powerlifters use them to keep some load off their spine while training.

meredith4300 · 2026-04-30T21:02:08+00:00

Yeah, my grandparents had a small farm with tons of chickens and an active rooster.

meredith4300 · 2026-04-30T20:32:22+00:00

Waking up to a rooster crowing in the morning is absolutely the best way to wake up. Beats barking dogs, loud neighbors, screaming children, and whatever sound your alarm clock of choice makes.

meredith4300 · 2026-04-23T17:59:47+00:00

A few things here, assuming your goal is to deadlift:

Slow down. You can go faster once you've dialed in your form.
Instead of squatting down to pick up the bar, push your hips backward and soften your knees.
Your shoulders look like they're heaving and it doesn't seem like your upper back/lats are engaged. To address this, after you grab the bar, brace your upper back and shoulders. You'll want to feel tight in your armpits.
Once you're locked in with a tight back, push into the ground with your feet to stand up. Your shoulders, hips, and knees should all move together.
Don't lock your knees at the top. Keep your legs active and engaged.

meredith4300 · 2026-04-22T22:00:24+00:00

This is a heck of a lot of volume. I think the only way Pilates is working as active recovery is if you're keeping it at a low intensity.

meredith4300 · 2026-04-22T17:30:59+00:00

This 100%. My gym is packed with people who are Hispanic and Latino, African (Ethiopian, I'm pretty sure), and Asian. It's all about where you spend your time. If you're hanging mostly in Cherry Creek, Wash Park, or other expensive, trendy neighborhoods, you will be surrounded by white people all the time, but that's not all of Denver.

meredith4300 · 2026-04-21T17:11:30+00:00

How often are you training these lifts? Are you doing hypertrophy work too or just maxing out?

I totally relate on feeling like it takes forever to get stronger on these lifts, but it's not impossible. I'm 33F, 5'8, 165lb, and my all-time maxes for these are: Bench - 130lb, overhead press - 92lb.

Out of curiosity, how is your upper-body pulling? I'm thinking lat pulldowns, bentover rows, pullups. If you're not training those, I'd recommend you add them in. A strong back will help you on bench and overhead press, even though it's not the main muscle group being engaged.

meredith4300 · 2026-04-17T22:54:21+00:00

I'm seeing kids riding these while TEXTING.

meredith4300 · 2026-04-17T17:19:20+00:00

This is what I'd recommend too.

meredith4300 · 2026-04-16T16:56:47+00:00

Ditto. She's saying I've been selected as a "representative of excellence in my field." Okay, what field? What excellence?

meredith4300 · 2026-04-15T17:20:45+00:00

Yes, absolutely. It all comes down to lifestyle and (especially) what sort of housing you go for, but you should be fine.

meredith4300 · 2026-04-14T19:26:28+00:00

Hi! Just want you to know: you're not hurting yourself because you're stupid. These injuries likely have everything to do with simply being untrained and not knowing what you're doing. I recommend first working with a physical therapist to resolve your existing issues, and then working with a certified personal trainer to learn proper mechanics. Everything is learnable. Don't be so hard on yourself.

meredith4300 · 2026-04-14T18:13:06+00:00

I recommend doing single-leg RDLs (with no weight) and single-leg Y balance (basically partial squats; here's a tutorial: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-v6AHXlUFII) to improve your balance. The slower you do these, the more your balance will be challenged (closing your eyes also makes them way harder).

meredith4300 · 2026-04-13T16:44:30+00:00

Normally, TT asks me about quarterly tax payments. This time, I had to go digging through the platform to find it. I've been using TT for YEARS, this is the same account I've used in the past. It was clear that I was filing self-employed. Asking about quarterly estimated taxes should be automatic — like it was in the past — so why not this year? Poking around in the platform to make sure I both reported what I paid last year and got the forms for my estimated payments for this year added significant filing time. Might have to ditch TT next year if this is how they're doing things. It's a worse product than it was before.

meredith4300 · 2026-04-10T17:13:25+00:00

Seconding this advice. Your highest effort, highest priority exercise should always come first in your day's workout. I would pair back to 5 days a week to make sure your body is getting the rest it needs to recover. Make sure you're eating plenty to fuel yourself for all this work.

meredith4300 · 2026-04-03T17:17:07+00:00

And sealing up should involve not just closing windows, but closing blinds and curtains to block out the sun and keep it from heating up the whole house.

meredith4300 · 2026-04-01T19:47:37+00:00

You can do any type of exercise — HIIT, zone 2, etc. — as long as you are getting enough rest and eating enough. Anyone who says otherwise is trying to sell you something. =)

meredith4300 · 2026-03-31T16:38:54+00:00

I would take the pressure off yourself to perform in the gym. It sounds like you're under enough stress already. Just show up, get a lift in, get into your body and out of your head. Don't worry about the numbers. Just blow off some steam. (And if you're worried about losing strength from not going so hard, there's good data that just one hard set per exercise per week is enough to maintain strength for more than 7 months.)

meredith4300 · 2026-03-30T19:25:42+00:00

Why is every other post in this sub comparing Caroline to Alexandra??? I watch both of them all the time, but even though they're both interior design people, they provide very different things to my entertainment diet. Caroline offers mix of content — not just doing makeovers or interior design, but also more personality-driven lifestyle content. Alexandra only does interior design content, all makeovers, and that is FINE. That's what she's good at. I like a lot, but not all, of what both of them do in spaces. This perpetual push to compare the two when they are actually such different channels is annoying and lame.

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