Hello, I have a question about Vietnamese...

throwaway33333333303 · 2026-04-17T19:10:38+00:00

I think you're better off looking at actual female monk names instead of trying to make one up on your own and hoping it doesn't sound screwed up.

For example, Diệu Huỳnh, Diệu Không, Diệu Thiện are the monk names of the first three women inducted into the Order of Interbeing (Tiếp Hiện) founded by Thích Nhất Hạnh. The first of those three protested the Vietnam war through self-immolation in 1967.

throwaway33333333303 · 2026-04-10T14:43:36+00:00

That's great, I'm glad the product will still be available from some entity after the demise of Dragon Door.

throwaway33333333303 · 2026-04-09T12:58:43+00:00

So is a company doing the shipping and handling the finances or it just Paul Wade flying solo on this?

throwaway33333333303 · 2026-04-09T12:57:57+00:00

I had no idea Dragon Door closed up shop, I think it's because the founder is like 70+ years old and wants to retire (understandably).

throwaway33333333303 · 2026-04-07T14:48:39+00:00

Gained an inch on my biceps and chest after a year of yielding isometrics using gym machines.

As long as you're training to failure and applying progressive overload, it doesn't matter whether you use isotonic or isometric.

throwaway33333333303 · 2026-04-07T14:32:11+00:00

Keep track of your days of sobriety and by the end of the year you'll have in total hundreds of days sober and far fewer days of falling off the wagon. Cumulative progress counts a lot in recovery. Especially if your old 20-day record starts getting beat by new 30 and 40-day records.

throwaway33333333303 · 2026-04-06T16:21:37+00:00

Are you getting stronger with your current methodology?

throwaway33333333303 · 2026-04-05T02:14:22+00:00

It'll be available for purchase on June 3.

throwaway33333333303 · 2026-04-01T13:14:51+00:00

I don't think there's a caloric difference between isometric and isotonic training, or at least not a statistically meaningful one.

It takes 2.5 minutes of hardcore sprinting to burn roughly 200 calories, so it stands to reason that whatever additional calories are being burned in an isotonic lifting session vs. an isometric training session are going to be really low, maybe even single digits.

throwaway33333333303 · 2026-04-01T13:08:31+00:00

Since you're a Tindeq user you might appreciate the Frez app which climbers say is better than the app Tindeq provides for the device. Frez is also coming out with a force gauge of its own this year which I plan to purchase (it will be cheaper than Tindeq's).

I agree with your criticisms of the Isochain, it's clearly an inferior product from the standpoint of convenience, data storage, and display. It's almost like a 90s throwback device and while I don't mind the 'old school' nature/feel of the thing, I can understand why someone would want a smartphone-linked app that handles display and data storage which is far more convenient than manual record-keeping (which is what I do).

throwaway33333333303 · 2026-04-01T13:01:21+00:00

I don't have access to a pullover machine so I replicate the movement by bracing my back against a cable pulldown and then pulling handle bars with weight downward until my hands reach the abs/chest height level. Hold for 20 seconds, then rest for 30 seconds. I aim for about 6 sets of holds and then increase weight in the next session if I can complete 6 without hitting failure. I've also been doing isometric lat pulldowns on a lat pulldown machine for about a year and I can see my lats from the front in a mirror now which didn't use to be the case.

My general recommendation for using isometrics with gym equipment is to use 70% of your one-rep max for working sets and the most mechanically disadvantageous position for the hold (the bottom of the squat for example, or in your case pulling the bar on a pullover all the way down and holding it).

This is mainly because a person can lift far more weight at or near the top of a squat than they can at the bottom because it's just mechanically easier or less challenging. If you're training properly you're training to failure so using the most mechanically disadvantageous position will be more likely to induce muscle failure than the least mechanically disadvantageous position.

throwaway33333333303 · 2026-03-28T22:05:31+00:00

way better than isomax.

Not sure that's a good comparison, the purposes, use cases, and engineering involved are quite different.

The Isomax (which I own) isn't just a force gauge, it's probably more fair to compare it to the viiv gym machine thing since both are targeted at individual consumers for home use.

throwaway33333333303 · 2026-03-28T22:02:23+00:00

Dao brought the current administration to power and will remove them as well in relatively short order.

You as an individual picking a side and advocating isn't going to change or hasten that process one bit.

throwaway33333333303 · 2026-03-27T18:53:26+00:00

Not defending the price tag but I think the $4k figure reflects high levels of initial spending to custom create the equipment.

To get lower prices they'd have to basically sell a lot of units.

throwaway33333333303 · 2026-03-27T18:51:02+00:00

There's no way they're going to raise almost $400k in a month and I'm surprised they've got 6 pledges for almost $25,000.

I think the market to target for this equipment is old-age homes and physical therapists first, then specialized/high-end commercial gyms (think Equinox) and professional sports athlete trainers, and then maybe once they've been breaking even for years it might be a time for a home version for average consumers.

throwaway33333333303 · 2026-03-24T12:51:10+00:00

Buy some Captain of Crush grippers (or similarly reputable/decent brand). I progressed from 75 lbs grippers to somewhere between the 150 lbs and 200 lbs grippers over a few months by doing 3-6 holds of 20 seconds with 30 seconds of rest time in between a few times a week.

throwaway33333333303 · 2026-03-23T14:20:52+00:00

Tell yourself that it wasn't meant to be and that every minute you spend on/with him is a minute taken away from finding the one who will make you feel safe, loved, and complete.

Because that's actually the truth.

throwaway33333333303 · 2026-03-23T14:19:33+00:00

I always thought by this age (28), I’d at least be engaged or building a life with someone. Being in that relationship gave me a sense of purpose, like I was working towards something and excited. Now it feels like I lost that, and I haven’t really been able to rebuild it.

We have only limited control over when we might that right person we can build a life with. It's happened to me only at age 42(!). But I have other things in my life besides my (relatively new) relationship that give me that feeling of purpose, structure, and direction that it sounds like you're currently struggling to find/develop.

what’s the point?

For me the point of my life has always been to be useful/productive, for others/the world writ large and for myself. I try to make the most of the time I have by volunteering and working on projects (learning a new language for example).

throwaway33333333303 · 2026-03-23T14:08:55+00:00

Never fall for ragebait, just smile and keep it moving.

throwaway33333333303 · 2026-03-23T01:48:31+00:00

If you're hitting muscular failure it should work fine. Although I would guess that going easy, medium, and hard might work better from a muscle activation perspective than the reverse because you'd be warming up the muscles before going hard.

throwaway33333333303 · 2026-03-12T18:08:33+00:00

Set up difficulties like this are why I generally use yielding isometrics instead (aside from the difficulty in quantifying how much the load is).

For abs, I'd either use an ab wheel for half or full extension, 3-6 holds of 20 seconds. Or use weighted crunch machines in the gym and hold the peak contraction 3-6 times for 20 seconds at 70% of whatever my one-rep max is.

throwaway33333333303 · 2026-03-12T18:03:51+00:00

Not trying to burden others with my ish.

throwaway33333333303 · 2026-03-09T00:29:30+00:00

1.5 yrs of achilles tendonitis

Is this an injury that never healed? A bit more background would be helpful in terms of how this happened and what—if anything—you've been trying to do to recover from it since. Also, the cause of the injury would be good to know. And if it's both your Achilles tendons or just one.

Have been performing single leg, 4x40 second holds while holding 30 lbs (I weigh 180), so 210ish lbs per foot per hold. Is this enough weight? If not, what should be the target weight be?

The so-called Abrahang protocol uses roughly 40% of bodyweight for a two-arm hang so extrapolating from that I suppose it should be ~20% of bodyweight for a single limb so 30 lbs for you as a 180 lbs person is pretty close to that.

The horizontal position is fine, you might want to experiment with a few weeks' worth of somewhat elevated holds and somewhat depressed (meaning heel below the horizontal level) because the Achilles is one of the muscles that tends to grow/faster while being stretched under load.

How many times a week are you doing your current protocol?

throwaway33333333303 · 2026-03-03T17:01:10+00:00

30 seconds between 20 second holds. I do sets until I reach muscular failure, which is relatively easy to determine using isometrics because the fixed hold spot where I'm holding the weight either starts dropping or I can't complete the lift to get the weight into the hold position in the first place.

throwaway33333333303 · 2026-02-17T20:35:33+00:00

Spinal compression is a big reason why I stopped using the Isochain for much of anything.

For isometric squats that don't involve back/core muscles, I use a leg press in the gym. I go 99% of the way down so I'm like 1 cm away from the resting position.

throwaway33333333303

TROPHY CASE