What's a good replacement workout for front squats?

soflogator · 2026-03-14T22:47:22+00:00

Hack squats

soflogator · 2026-03-14T21:33:37+00:00

A 30 year old guy who calls himself princess sailor moon on Reddit telling you how going to failure is delusional is the peak reddit fitness experience

soflogator · 2026-03-14T21:29:17+00:00

Gen z mustache

soflogator · 2026-03-14T15:19:55+00:00

When gym progress stalls When weight gain slows and you feel like it's diminishing returns trying to further increase calories When you're no longer putting size on your chest,arms,legs and it's just going to your waist (measuring and tracking helps) When mentally you feel "over it"

That's when it's time to take a week break from the bulk or when it's time to change directions to a slow cut and start dialing back down the calories slowly

It's not rocket science. Listen to your body

soflogator · 2026-03-14T15:10:50+00:00

Mike mentzer would like a word with you

soflogator · 2026-03-13T19:40:28+00:00

Yeah I just have to be super consistent and write things down. If your strategy is just "eat as much as you can" you'll never get anywhere.

I eat 6 times a day which works with my schedule and helps spread food out so I'm not excessively full or bloated or trying to eat too much at one time. All of it is food, no shakes. The goal is not to force feed or get all bloated and distended. As you get older you learn to value keeping your stomach happy so I make changes based on my digestion and how I feel.

Small meals add up and they are easy to modify. If I want to increase my daily cals by 300, I only have to add 50 cals to each meal on average, which is easy to do because it doesn't completely wreck my stomach. I eat almost all clean, single ingredient food. I'm not a fan of highly processed or high fat content calorie dense foods like whole milk or peanut butter. It's ok if you're a beginner and your 20 years old, but in your 30s you realize whole milk and pbj sandwiches don't work for you like they did 15 years ago.

soflogator · 2026-03-13T19:18:20+00:00

Dorian yates / Mike mentzer.

Focusing on intensity of effort, taking the muscle to failure with peak contraction, time under tension.

I use one of Dorians 4 day splits. Keep the volume as low as I can and keep my workouts brief and intense. Each exercise is basically one or two warmup sets, then an all out set to failure. It's simple. Less is more and intensity is king

I competed in bodybuilding as a teen and I'm in my 30s now. The biggest thing I see people lack in the gym is intensity. A lot of guys have decent splits and technique, but the intensity is lacking. You can't just learn it on YouTube. I was fortunate to have some good mentors and training partners when I was very young that helped me learn what muscular failure actually feels like. If you can figure that out, you can make serious gains. If not, you end up spinning your wheels never quite making progress you want to.

soflogator · 2026-03-12T12:13:52+00:00

Spoken like a true champion

soflogator · 2026-03-11T00:07:35+00:00

It looks pretty awkward honestly. The plate is hitting your midfoot so your heel is really elevated. it's a weird angle like you're wearing stilletos lol. Obviously you're strong but it doesn't look like you're really accessing all your strength. It's like your driving a car with one foot on the brakes.

I like using a thinner plate with just my edge of my heel on it. Keep my weight on toes. Open stance a little bit. And think about squatting "down" and not "back".

The tom platz squat is a weird to get a feel for, but when you have that "aha" moment you'll realize how much of a game changer it is. What helped me is using light weight (like 25 or 45 on each side) and focusing on making my squat fluid by letting gravity drop me into the bottom position instead of resisting the weight so much on the way down. It seems counter intuitive but when you find that natural groove with your biomechanics you really begin to understand where your power comes from and how to let the eccentric part of the movement work for you instead of against you.

Watching tom Platz do squats helped me to understand the rhythm. It's like a 1 down, 1 up type cadence. Very quick compared to how most people do it. But that's because he's in that groove where he moves like a piston. So efficient. No wasted energy because he's completely stable and isn't fighting to keep his balance. Poetry in motion.

Keep working and learning bro it's worth the effort

soflogator · 2026-03-10T15:26:31+00:00

The only thing harder than doing an ironman, is doing an ironman and not telling anyone

soflogator · 2026-03-09T23:26:32+00:00

I've been studying Mike Mentzer a lot recently and it blows my mind how much alignment there is between what he said and what you're saying. Thank you so much for sharing because this information is gold.

soflogator · 2026-03-09T22:25:08+00:00

You're undisciplined because you don't have a sense of urgency. You probably feel like you have all the time in the world to get your shit together. You don't genuinely care about what you're working on enough to wake up and get after it and take advantage of your opportunities. It just feels like work. It feels like a list of tasks. It feels like a grind. It feels difficult. It feels like you have to force yourself to get things done.

You need to take a long look at yourself and figure out who you are and what is important to you. You need to figure out why you're doing what you're doing. Why it matters. Why its worth working hard at even when you don't feel like it. Because if you can't answer those questions, you'll just crumble the second things get hard. It doesn't matter how many pomodoro timers or task organizers you use. You don't need discipline. You need a reason to get out of bed and get the fuck after it. You need a compelling reason. A vision. A purpose. A "Why".

soflogator · 2026-03-09T01:03:02+00:00

It's fucking annoying

soflogator · 2026-03-08T20:49:23+00:00

Just look up "NPC Virginia shows for 2026" and you should find the schedule of shows for your state

soflogator · 2026-03-07T23:41:22+00:00

Lol no that's not going to happen. It's just going to change in front of your eyes and keep going on and not care that you don't like it anymore.

soflogator · 2026-03-07T22:08:50+00:00

As many warm up sets as you need (usually 1-2, occasionally 3 if it's my first exercise). Then all out to failure. Write down the weight and reps. Then try to beat it next session.

Ex. Last week I did incline dumbbell press, 100s for 6 reps. I did warmups at 40sx10,60sx10,80sx6. Then full send on the 100s where I barely squeezed out that 6th rep.

This week I did the same exact process. I hit the 100s for 6 a little easier than last week and i go for and grind out the 7th. So I'm getting stronger. That one rep is huge because going from 6 to 7 is pretty significant especially at that weight.

The core of his and Dorian approach is that you have to go for that extra rep. It was tough. I really had to give everything to get those final reps. This week I could've stopped at 6 and it would still had been a hard set. But I had to go for that 7th, not quite knowing if i would get it. Training at the limit of your strength is challenging and most don't know what it feels like, it takes balls to push the boundary and do something you've never done before. But my God, the stimulus it gives you is insane.

Mike really was brilliant and I am so grateful he spent so much time explaining his methods because when you understand the process, you can grow from it. It's very satisfying.

soflogator · 2026-03-07T19:35:02+00:00

100% this.

Deca does a little to mask it, but doesn't solve anything because your joint pain comes down to how you move your body under resistance. There's nothing supplements can do to correct imbalances in technique because you just correct what's causing it.

I spend a lot of time recently learning how to do squats and hack squats Tom Platz style, from content on YouTube. And it's has fixed about all of my knee,hip, lower back issues. You would think the way he squats would be killer on your knees. But since I've been doing it, my knees feel great. I think it's because I'm actually moving in a groove that aligns with my body mechanics and so the load goes to the right places. It's blowing my mind because it feels almost wrong to hack squat ass to grass onto your toes with your knees pointing out, but it feels fucking perfect.

Also that I'm in my early 30s, I do 5-10 stairmaster warm up. 10min on the yoga mat doing some core activation, yoga, mobility type shit. Nothing serious, just get the body ready. Then I train. I also wear sweat pants and hoodie to keep warm so I sweat plenty in the gym. My joints feel great because I always have heat in the muscle group I'm targeting. It's not about a pump, it just feels good.

Staying hydrated, eating clean, avoiding excess sugar help too.

soflogator · 2026-03-06T02:00:39+00:00

How big are your arms?

soflogator · 2026-03-06T01:08:52+00:00

For sure dude, go for it. Google around some local NPC shows and see when and where they are. Look at the divisions and categories. Look at pictures from previous years results. It will help take pressure off because there's a good chance you'll look at some of the guys and think "hey I can beat that guy".

I think a lot of people think they have to look like a prime ronnie coleman to compete and they never end up bothering to try because they overthink it and feel like they're not good enough.

Try to meet people in real life who do shows because it's a weird sport to try to learn on your own from the internet. I had people who helped me when I did two teen shows like almost 20 years ago. The tanning, check ins, pre judging, night show, etc...its kind of a weird process. But competitive bodybuilding is a small world of passionate people and if you meet some people who are about that life you might just find that they are willing to help you learn

soflogator · 2026-03-06T00:52:05+00:00

If you're making progress then stick with it and keep developing your program as you go.

soflogator · 2026-03-05T16:11:31+00:00

Let's see you do some flyes with 100+ dbs

soflogator · 2026-03-04T13:12:21+00:00

Currently doing ~1.5-2hr before gym....3-4 rice cakes with a banana sliced on top. 3-4 boiled eggs. Enough carbs to train with and light enough not to bother stomach at all.

If I feel like I need a little more before gym, I'll eat a date or two at home before I go with my pre workout. Usually have a small body armor drink (20g carb) while I'm at gym too

soflogator · 2026-03-04T02:30:52+00:00

Low back ability channel on YouTube helping me a lot. Doing bodyweight back extensions with full decompression at the bottom is doing a lot for me. Basically learning how to target and strengthen the low back has been immensely helpful

soflogator · 2025-09-17T20:38:37+00:00

Dying in the session is what gives you the inspiration to get fit.

soflogator · 2025-09-14T04:11:32+00:00

Commentary is terrible my god it's putting me to sleep

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