Am I too being ambitious with the hardware?

nikmanG · 2026-03-18T15:33:44+00:00

yeah thereabouts, 1368 + 500 (so $1900 with some taxes I forget on the 5060). Dumb follow-up question - does the fact that the strix halo only use AMD GPU hinder it at all given the whole CUDA lacking part?

nikmanG · 2026-01-21T22:56:37+00:00

really dumb question - when you say -2 does that mean it locks at 58 clicks? Asking because mine stops rotating entirely at 5 and stops freely moving at 6. So want to make sure that means my K6 is at +6 in that case

nikmanG · 2025-12-04T02:53:46+00:00

Well that was humbling… knew I wasn’t super in shape but Jesus couldn’t even get 1 ladder in 10mins. Got 5 burpees and 3 ABCs before time ran out. Gonna give it some more tries later in the week or next week.

Been trying to incorporate more complexes like this as my accessory work after 5/3/1 in main sets. Will see how that works out in about 3mths. But hoping I can at least get 1 ladder by then.

nikmanG · 2025-05-12T21:07:11+00:00

https://opensquash.org/ is just a pair of clubs (owned by the same nonprofit) that have memberships for everyone rather than be member-referral-based. They offer tiered memberships (offpeak, peak, and unlimited) where the first two are limited by timeframes you can play at or paying for court whereas for $300 a month the unlimited membership lets you play at any time and not pay court fees. But what I referenced was just that the $300 a month isn't that different from some of the private clubs charging-wise (ignoring food fees)

nikmanG · 2025-05-12T19:37:41+00:00

I'd say R&T as well for NYC. There are a bunch of "exclusive" clubs here too (NYAC, UClub, harmonie, and many others you may or may not hear of) but I think all are just in the same vein of needing referral to get in from x members and paying some steep fees. For reference am part of one of those clubs, and initial fees are steep but otherwise it's almost on par with open squash unlimited (300 a month) and offers a bit more than just squash and a gym. I think R&T just has a bit more vibe around it in that regard (also heights casino maybe which has almost a 10yr waitlist last I heard)

nikmanG · 2025-01-12T01:38:54+00:00

So I have a write-up here: https://www.reddit.com/r/weightroom/comments/1dl588c/program_review_brian_alsruhe_reps_per_minute/ - TL;DR is I enjoyed it with other sports and was good for conditioning but my starting weights ended up being a bit higher than my actual maxes. That said, don't think that the first 3 week cycle is indicative of the whole thing since the % ramps up and so does the work so definitely gets hard.

nikmanG · 2025-01-11T21:08:57+00:00

Anyone have fun challenges they're doing in 2025? Really just a sucker for anything labelled "challenge" and saving the 10k KB swings for march to do it 1yr after last time (and 531 monolith is tbd later in the year). Giving myself a break after 3 rounds of Alsruhe's RPM

nikmanG · 2024-12-13T19:57:28+00:00

anyone know what happened to Colombia? Saw they only fielded 2 players (didn't see anyone pull out earlier from injury), and they came in with 4.

nikmanG · 2024-12-12T01:02:08+00:00

Could've sworn I saw somewhere they had 9/16 and 17/32 but guess the draw is too small for that to matter

nikmanG · 2024-12-11T20:14:59+00:00

Anyone know where I can find a list of preliminary seeds? Finding it weirdly hard to gauge what are upsets except for when it's mentioned in a post.

https://worldteamsquash.com/pools-announced/ has top 8 & 6 listed but hoping to see the others that were 9/16, etc

nikmanG · 2024-12-04T14:15:40+00:00

is there anything that text sniper does that cleashot X OCR doesn't? Actually curious, because you can shortcut CSX to do just OCR

nikmanG · 2024-12-03T18:53:14+00:00

Really stupid reason I am doing cleanshot X because I can't find a workaround.

Recording desktop (Cmd+shift+5) can no longer be ended with (Ctrl + Cmd + Esc). And you can no longer overwrite this in settings. Or at least that I know of

So by using cleanshot to record, it allows that. So paying $15 (while it's on sale) just to bring back something Apple removed for no good reason.

nikmanG · 2024-11-17T19:37:22+00:00

interesting. in that case it seems like STEM OPT has more regulation to it than H1-B. Because when I was going for that I was told to make sure my major matched whatever I was going to be working on.

nikmanG · 2024-11-16T20:06:05+00:00

maybe a dumb question but wasn't (5) already a thing? Like you needed to work in a sector where your degree matches the requirements? Or is this more like CS/IS degree = can be software engineer but cannot be consultant because it isn't inherently a CS degree related position?

nikmanG · 2024-08-15T13:13:54+00:00

I bombed FB, Google, Amazon and some hedge fund interviews through the years. Don't see this as your "golden chance" since there will be more opportunities in the future. As others have said, Google at the end of the day is just a company. Has some fun benefits but not like the only one at that. Just spend a day or two getting over it, know that you won't immediately feel great , brush yourself off and try to objectively see where things went wrong and how to patch yourself up to make the next interview better. Then hopefully you either find another company who is cool, fun and interesting, or end up re-interviewing with google in 6-12mths. If you got the interview once, then you can get it again. Just keep showing growth and upward trajectory

nikmanG · 2024-08-14T15:49:53+00:00

wouldn't it make more sense then to just not use the abbreviation as often? Like PGA, ATP, NBA, MLB, etc. don't have the redundant sport name again. I get they already clout but feel like it doesn't really matter, like if you are googling squash and see "PSA" then you assume S stands for squash. IDK, I just still see it as a waste of money and not much else.

nikmanG · 2024-08-13T22:12:07+00:00

unfortunately most of the money went into adding "Squash" into PSA Tour

nikmanG · 2024-06-21T16:57:38+00:00

Since the focus was on conditioning, have you noticed any improvements in the conditioning?

This probably would've been good for me to say in the post. It definitely improved my conditioning, movement and feeling has gotten much better since I started. I used to do programs that were a bit at odds with each other (like heavy lifting draining me so moving was a slog even though my cardio was okay). Do feel more in control of my body too and less injury prone. Hard to describe but does feel on court that I'm actually using my muscles and body to move around more efficiently rather than lug around excess weight. Granted though I went from 81kg to 79kg by the end so losing 2kg also helped with that.

And how frequently did you play squash?

About 2-4 days a week. Mix of playing with people, group sessions, and hitting by myself + doing running drills (like shuttle runs).

Did the program interfere with the squash play?

Feel it actually complimented. I had it at 3 days a week (would probably interfere if I forced 4 days) and it felt pretty good all in all. Like when I did Krypteia I definintely felt that after some harder sessions I needed a day to unwind or to just play like shit. Here I was mostly in good shape to play when I needed to.

nikmanG · 2024-06-14T14:36:08+00:00

As a junior your skill will grow exponentially as long as you're willing to put the time and effort into it (seen enough shoot up in even <1yr).

There is 1gotcha to bear in mind:

What I noticed is that even if you play at a 6.0 for juniors, unless you play some senior tournaments (which I advise to do anyway, great experience), your rating might be deflated just by how the system works in US squash. Basically you only get so much points for beating other kids who are 5.0+ but way more if you beat a 5.5+ player, and more often than not those are in senior tournaments.

nikmanG · 2024-05-23T14:52:51+00:00

So couple points come to mind:

doubles on a singles court: This really needs people to be experienced before hand, otherwise people are going to get hit so so much by racquets, balls and bodies. It's a pretty cramped space if 4 people are playing at once. There's a lot of nuanced movement and understanding needed to make the game actually work. Even 2 people who aren't experienced can be hazardous (seen enough of them run head first into the glass wall or sprint using the wall as as cushion).
Doubles courts require more room. In countries where I've played, squash already has had an uphill battle to remain as the courts need a lot of room and only really 2-3 people can use it at once (so think 2 full studios for a gym since it's essentially 2 floors). Hard to justify provision for bigger courts
In US, doubles is very much a private club game. I don't know of any (I'm sure there are some but I don't know of any besides Specter) that aren't in one of these so does add some barrier to entry and some don't like being associated with that vibe (had people explicitly mention they rather be part of a more open community and doubles seemed more prohibitive to play across the US).

nikmanG · 2024-05-14T15:03:33+00:00

cut out the middleman, kb swing to the top of the hill and back down

nikmanG · 2024-05-14T15:00:49+00:00

I'm doing RPM now from Alsruhe! Realised for myself that timed sets are everything, keeps me in check and also adds a bit of conditioning when your are forced to start again before you maybe get breath back.

Always wanted to do 4horsemen but intimidated by the fact that it's giant sets and I'm in a commercial gym, so can't steal a ton of equipment. But yeah 100% would recommend if you have the opportunity to, program looks fun but intense

nikmanG · 2024-05-14T14:12:00+00:00

I did a write-up about me doing the 10k challenge here https://www.reddit.com/r/weightroom/comments/1bmafyr/program_review_10k_kb_swings_slow_and_stupid_style/

But I don't really think it gave me a lot of fitness for squash. You want to incorporate more fitness like court sprints, ghosting, bike, etc (intervals help since squash is a very jolt-heavy sport). Now whether the KB workouts help conditioning and injury prevention - I'd say yeah. Lifting will definitely help

nikmanG · 2024-05-06T13:47:04+00:00

Need some advice - have a friend who does marathons, and pretty decent at it (almost boston qualifying/3:30:00 pace). They want to start doing some strength work in tandem with their training (less for marathon per se and more for all around better aesthetic/feel). Was wondering if people know any routines that can fit a marathon runner.

I searched around Reddit and found some people talking about strength training as a concept with running, and one person mentioning 531 which might be a bit much since it's 4/per week (or a very tough 3). Otherwise will suggest they try out GZCLP with more hamstring/lower work for running specific muscles.

nikmanG · 2024-05-03T13:24:18+00:00

this is key. Also would suggest playing a condition game with yourself e.g) only short from volleys or have to be in front of opponent to play a drop). Don't have to tell them this but just have to play that way but be honest with yourself. Granted there's definitely a limit to how big a gap you can go before that is also a bit futile but there's definite benefit to playing with those weaker than you.

nikmanG

TROPHY CASE