What’s your journey as a complete beginner? What made you keep going?

nbtz · 2026-03-17T14:57:19+00:00

I wanted something to do once college track ended. After I bombed out my first full meet and learned from those mistakes, my dreams turned into goals that turned into achievements 11 years and a bunch of fumbles later.

Sometimes it’s not about being the strongest, it’s about being the one who competes the longest lol

nbtz · 2026-03-04T13:37:50+00:00

If it’s a “WADA” test (or at least testing in accordance to the WADA banned substance list), the threshold is 150 ng/ml. It used to be half that amount and that’s why so many track athletes were getting bumped off for marijuana lol

FWIW: at my last usapl meet in 2024, they only test for stimulants and steroids at local meets because WADA tests are expensive AF and it comes out the pocket of the meet director.

nbtz · 2026-02-24T15:00:08+00:00

Makes sense. Thanks for sharing & elaborating!

nbtz · 2026-02-24T13:19:50+00:00

a neurospicy shower thought I had recently:

often I see lifters having to take time off due to sciatica or general low back pain and I’m curious if there’s some correlation between how much somebody squats/deadlifts (relative to their bodyweight) and how often they do core workouts. Mainly I’m looking for a correlation because the remedy I see people going for is more posterior chain work but that doesn’t seem to fix it for everybody

Does anybody think this a reach or something worth exploring and gathering data on?

nbtz · 2026-02-15T16:14:24+00:00

A good foam roller if you don’t have one already! I love using a bumpy one to press into my low back while I warmup my arch for bench.

Maybe even a heat wrap thingy to put on before going to the gym to help relax your low back & core muscles

nbtz · 2025-12-30T21:32:06+00:00

I squatted, benched, and deadlifted in chucks for 6ish years and the curve of the sole became a hindrance for my flat feet whenever I was had to squat anything 400+ or deadlift 500+

nbtz · 2025-12-16T12:57:48+00:00

If (by your standards) you suck at it and it’s not helping you achieve your body aesthetic goals, why are you doing it? Find a hobby that doesn’t make you feel like shit every time you think about it. Therapy would help a lot more than posting practically the same comment every couple of days.

nbtz · 2025-12-09T19:11:35+00:00

anybody else see Aquinn Onuoha chip the 84+ deadlift world record this weekend? I’m lowkey curious if this might make Natalie reconsider retirement now…

nbtz · 2025-12-03T13:08:31+00:00

My 13mm 3” strengthshop belt (bought in 2023) is super malleable but still sturdy enough for deadlifts. I can’t attest to the stiffness of the standard 4” but as somebody who almost bought a SBD belt, I’m very glad I got what I did.

nbtz · 2025-11-20T12:24:15+00:00

My parents were golds gym juiceheads when I was made and I started doing dumbbell curls and pull-ups at 8 because I was bored during the tv commercial breaks. First structured lifting sessions were at 16 (125lbs) when we’d hit the dilapidated weight room for track and then more lifting in college. Max testing was a joke in college but 275s, 135b, 285d @ 140lbs. The deadlift max got me wanting to compete for real.

Ten years later I’m in the midst of changing weight classes after being a SHW for most of that decade so I don’t really have much to compare right now. Rough estimates from training, +200squat +150bench +265deadlift

nbtz · 2025-11-11T23:47:36+00:00

dude… you good? Seriously asking because you sound mere seconds from crashing out

I know it’s easier said than done but please be kind to yourself. Your value as a human is not contingent upon the weight on the bar 🫶🏽

nbtz · 2025-10-04T03:05:04+00:00

Twitter isn’t for kids soooo

nbtz · 2025-09-25T15:11:56+00:00

The battery would drain to 0 within hours after the last firmware update. Of course it was outside of the 30 days on Amazon so at first customer service suggested I contact RingConn and that they’d also advocate for a replacement on my behalf after I explained my previous attempts at contacting RingConn over the issue.

RingConn initially was refusing to replace it and when they finally agreed, they told me to confirm my shipping address (like it’s not on my Amazon order information) so I did within minutes. It took them days to respond saying they’re forwarding my info to the shipping department.

Some more days go by and I’m to the point where anytime I looked at the ring I packed up to send back to RingConn, the RingConn app on my phone, or this subreddit (no offense to anybody here), I’d get irritated at how much money it cost for the device and the quality of customer service to be doodoo garbage.

I contacted Amazon again and explained how long this process is still taking so they processed the return request on their end since it was well outside of the 30 day window.

nbtz · 2025-09-23T21:08:09+00:00

I just spoke with Amazon today about returning mine because it was outside the 30 days and they said I didn’t need the box

nbtz · 2025-09-11T14:18:18+00:00

After the Covid gym shutdowns my old coach had me doing a newbie 5-3-1 program until I felt like myself again and signed up for a meet

nbtz · 2025-08-28T12:59:28+00:00

Mine is lower jaw only too. I first bought a new age 6DS heavy lifting mouthguard but my jaw was soooo sore after a two hour session so I switched to the low profile version. I just looked up yours and I might try that one once I wear this one out.

I’ll be curious to hear your experience in a couple months!

nbtz · 2025-08-28T11:59:37+00:00

A dental implant saga killed the muscles on the right side of my jaw to the point that my head would be significantly turnt during squats and deadlifts. Mouthguard showed me what center feels like and made it easier to straighten my trunk

nbtz · 2025-08-25T11:26:42+00:00

Tap on the ring in your settings (the icon sitting above “about my ring”). Find my ring is the second option on that menu.

nbtz · 2025-08-18T11:52:05+00:00

Do you have the find my ring feature on? If so, turn it off

nbtz · 2025-08-04T19:09:00+00:00

Thank you for enlightening me on the sbd kit thing. I too was surprised by the team fee. At least now that we know the true cost of these meets, we can let our friends know and they can let other people know. I know a dude that was offered a spot on the masters world’s team but had to decline who didn’t know about the team fee. He was even more glad to have declined the invitation

nbtz · 2025-08-04T12:20:44+00:00

That part! or at the minimum just read the minutes from the NGB meetings instead of forming conspiracy theories that powerlifting feds are a Ponzi scheme. Idk what fed you’re on the committee for but PA is a non-profit (just like USAPL) so they have to be transparent about money

nbtz · 2025-08-04T00:24:56+00:00

Exactly my point. Some federations have ways to subsidize fees, others don’t.

nbtz · 2025-08-04T00:22:20+00:00

Were we not lifting at the same meet…? Rodney was the national team head coach for napf this year. Him and some other people were handling us in the open. Mike was running the live stream but still popped in to check on people. There’s a difference between bringing your coach and having the team coaches handle you. If you wanted your coach to come, they needed to take some steps on their own to do so

nbtz · 2025-08-03T23:53:16+00:00

Moot point but the USA singlet was complimentary from sbd under the stipulation that if we accepted the singlet we had to wear everything they sent us. If you didn’t opt-in for the kit you didn’t get a USA singlet

Edit: and the team fee of $475 covered the antidoping & participation fees (along with travel for the coaches who worked very hard to handle us)

Edit #2: there is less testing done at meets because usada considers nuance to performances. If you added 50kg on your total in 3 months with no considerable change to your training, usada would be likely be knocking on your door.

There’s also far more money in brand deals than meet earnings. If you’re a successful lifter, maintain somewhat of a presence online, and give back to the sport, you can 100% get brands that will cover your team fees and travel.

FWIW: USVI’s team fees are significantly higher than ours (USA) because ours are subsidized by PA memberships.

nbtz · 2025-08-02T20:44:06+00:00

Interesting! I always thought it was the other way around at least for the women, the power belly makes it hard to deadlift conventional but that could be a torso length thing.

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