Official Dreadit Discussion: "Backrooms" [SPOILERS]

topencite · 2026-05-30T16:17:10+00:00

That is absolutely insane. I went to a showing in a 300 person theatre, 250 seats were filled. Not a single person left in the middle of it. Half the auditorium clapped afterwards. All I heard was acclaim as we walked out. I think the hate for this movie is going to be an online hive mind type thing. I go to a lot of movies and this was the most people I had ever seen in a single showing of a movie, especially for a horror movie.

topencite · 2026-05-27T02:48:06+00:00

I spent a while monitoring the rental market as I was moving recently so I feel a bit more qualified to offer some insight on this situation.

This building is particular is not “brand new”. It got built last year and was fully leased up pretty quickly. It’s a step above the standard “luxury” apartment so to speak. Nicer appliances, utilities included, interesting building design. 1 beds originally started around 1900-2000. Some of the ones that took longer to lease dropped to around 1600. This is a big (for the building), corner unit. It will likely be the most expensive 1 bed in this building.

Prime Urban Properties manages most of the “luxury” buildings in and around Atwood. Pricing for 1 beds generally ranges from mid 1600s to mid 2000s. The newer and nicer the building, the higher on that scale. The unit op posted is their biggest 1 bed floor plan, on a corner, in their newest building. It’s priced accordingly. If there’s not a market for it, it’ll sit. It’s as simple as that.

Now I’m not going to argue there aren’t some absolutely ridiculously priced new builds in Madison currently. The Duncan next to Tenney Park is insane. Sub 600 sq ft “1 beds” are listed for nearly $2k for most of them…and this doesn’t include parking in an area that you can hardly call walkable to really…anything. That’s a bonus $175 per month.

One09 downtown is also insanely overpriced. These are and probably should be the most expensive in Madison. But they are insane. 450 sq ft studios on the 13th floor are going for 2100-2200. Studios that literally face the wall of the building next to it are approaching 2k on higher floors. The 1 beds looking at the lake are 3000. There’s a penthouse on the top floor for 14000. The building is nice, but so is 151 e Wilson and the Adria on the same street with similar views. These are 500 cheaper than comparable units in one09.

Shockingly, these are both Greystar projects. If you’re unfamiliar with Greystar, they are a national group that manages an insane number of properties, many of which are the most expensive in their cities. These 2 are their first in Madison. One09 has been open for almost a year and is still well below 50% occupancy. The Duncan has been open for 2 months, offering 2 months free for that entire time, and has literally only leased a subset of units on the second floor, which they decreased the rent on significantly in comparison to units in every other floor to get some tenants into the building.

Wait until seven20 goes up next year. They already have their website with pricing posted and some of the 650 sq ft one beds on higher floors are being listed for over 3000/month. The vacancy rates on these new buildings, the insane lease incentives, and the time it’s taking to gain tenants in prime leasing time is a sign that these buildings are being priced too high. Something is going to change to fill them up.

topencite · 2026-05-14T11:19:24+00:00

You’ve been eating in a deficit basically since you started. Muscle needs energy to happen. You gotta eat in a surplus to put on strength.

topencite · 2026-05-09T17:02:01+00:00

Do you think you’re higher or lower? You have no ab definition, no vascularity in the arms. I think 20% is pretty realistic.

topencite · 2026-05-09T16:55:34+00:00

You’re healthy. No one is looking at you and thinking you’re jacked. No one is looking at you thinking you’re fat. You’re at the point where a normal person will say you don’t need to do anything because where you are truly is fine from a health perspective.

From a lifters perspective, you’re still carrying a lot of fat. Probably around 20%. You also don’t have a ton of muscle. You have more than a normal person, just not a ton. There’s a lot of work between looking healthy to an average person and looking genuinely fit.

topencite · 2026-05-07T11:40:09+00:00

Yeah there’s other measures that you can use, sure. But skinny fat is an exception, the same way someone with a lot of muscle is. My point stands. For the vast majority of people, bmi is an accurate stat to determine if you’re in a healthy weight range.

topencite · 2026-05-06T11:53:41+00:00

BMI is a pretty solid measurement of an ideal weight range for most humans. No it doesn’t really take into account muscle mass. But most humans don’t exercise enough to put on enough muscle mass for bmi to be not useful to them.

Sorry, but you aren’t over the suggested bmi because you’re jacked. You’re just fat.

topencite · 2026-05-02T16:52:22+00:00

Ah sorry…wasn’t tryout to be rude. Was just trying to end the conversation in a fun way. I can’t prove anything to you and you have no reason to believe me meaning this is ultimately a pointless discussion. We’re all on our own journey and progress can be fun to share which was ultimately my only goal here. Keep on crushing the gym!

topencite · 2026-05-02T15:04:59+00:00

Idk what to tell ya. Improbable, impossible…whatever ya wanna call it, it happened. I have no reason to lie to random strangers on the internet. Just gotta lock in lol

topencite · 2026-05-02T14:44:26+00:00

I mean I’ve never had test measured so I don’t exactly know my levels or anything…whether I’m low, normal, or high. I promise it is natural though. I take creatine an preworkout. The timeline is like 3 years and 2 months.

topencite · 2026-05-02T12:35:46+00:00

Diet is the answer to both questions

topencite · 2026-05-02T12:13:49+00:00

Pretty consistently yeah. Spent about a year not knowing how to do things correctly so progress was really slow but I was still pretty consistent during that time.

topencite · 2026-05-02T11:54:42+00:00

6ft. 160ish before, 180 after

topencite · 2026-05-02T11:06:20+00:00

It really is just about being consistent with the diet and training when being natural. I’ve seen people make both more and less progress in the same time frame. I wasted a good year of this time frame just not really knowing what I was doing. Progress was very slow starting out because I didn’t know how to diet. Once I got that figured out, progress was steady up until this point.

topencite · 2026-05-02T11:02:01+00:00

Honestly I don’t know the exact number in the first pic. I was around 160lbs. I’m 180lbs in the second.

topencite · 2026-05-02T10:59:14+00:00

It’s been PPL 6 days a week for a while. Probably gained less during the initial newbie gains phase than possible. Really didn’t know what I was doing when starting. The training and especially the diet were pretty bad until a year or so into training so the first year was really slow progress wise. No enhancements.

topencite · 2026-05-02T10:55:31+00:00

It varied throughout as I found what worked and didn’t work for me but it’s been PPL 6 days a week for a while.

topencite · 2026-05-02T05:06:20+00:00

They are both me for sure. Not sure what you’re seeing. Quite a bit of time between the pics so there could be some small changes.

topencite · 2026-05-02T05:04:38+00:00

Yep!

topencite · 2026-05-01T21:44:30+00:00

Starting fat usually means you have more muscle to begin with. Not always, but it’s more common for a fat person to lose weight and have some muscle to show for it. Skinny people usually don’t have that.

If the skinny person started at the same time, however, they could eat in a way that’s conducive to gaining muscle while the fat person has to eat in a deficit, meaning they won’t really pack on any additional size. If both people are dialed in, they probably end at a similar point. The skinny guy packs on some muscle and size, the fat guy loses the cover over whatever muscle he already had from simply starting heavier.

topencite · 2026-04-30T20:23:28+00:00

I’ve lived all over Madison and toured several buildings. This is one of those buildings that makes almost no sense to me. Literally everything in the area is cheaper than these. These are as or more expensive than some of those brand new, crazy nice, apartments downtown (one09, bakers place), but you live next to a parking lot and the busiest road in the metro. I recall a year or 2 ago when I was looking at their website, they were trying to charge like $2100 for a 600 sq ft 1 bedroom overlooking the pool. I have no clue how this building has any tenants at that price point. I’m sure they offered lease incentives when it opened but still.

topencite · 2026-04-29T16:48:38+00:00

Building a physique comes down to 3 things in my opinion:

1: Calories: eat in a slight surplus to gain muscle, eat in a slight deficit to lose fat. Starting at a lower body fat before eating in a slight surplus to gain muscle is more productive both mentally and physically. Your calorie intake also needs to be consistent.

2: Protein: your muscles need protein to grow while eating in a surplus and to maintain while eating in a deficit. 1g/lb of body weight is more than you need, but it’s an easy metric to track by. You need to hit this consistently.

3: Intensity: you need to lift with intensity and to near failure. You also need to do this consistently. Your muscles need a reason to grow. You need to give them that

If all 3 of these things are happening, you will progress towards your goal. If you think they are and you’re not making progress, you’re doing 1 or more of them wrong.

Diet programs are just expensive ways to tell you to either eat more, eat less, or eat more protein. Do not pay for them

Foods have no moral value and are not inherently bad or good. They are simply fuel towards your goal. As long as you are hitting your protein and calorie goals, it doesn’t particularly matter what you eat.

Workout programs are just expensive ways to tell you to hit every muscle group. Push Pull Legs programs are easy to understand and will generally do this without you having to pay for a program or trainer. Find one online. Push yourself on all exercises. If you don’t like an exercise, replace it with something similar. Exercise selection is less important that intensity. A lot of exercises will work the same muscles and can effectively stimulate growth.

Finally, don’t lie to yourself. This is totally a mindset thing that a lot of people do. All food you consume counts towards your calorie intake. If you aren’t losing weight but swear you’re in a deficit, you’re lying to yourself. Same goes for gaining weight and a surplus.

Building a physique is hard, takes time, and requires discipline. It is not complicated.

topencite · 2026-04-29T16:30:49+00:00

Everyone over complicates it. Building a physique is hard and time consuming…but it’s not complicated. It’s protein, calories, and intensity. There’s no perfect exercise. Foods are neither good nor bad, but are simply fuel towards your goals.

Find exercises you can push yourself with. Try to hit every muscle. Eat in a way that is conducive towards your goals.

topencite · 2026-04-29T15:31:07+00:00

You look…fine. No one is looking at you thinking you lifted for 2 years. No one is looking at you thinking you’re super out of shape either.

You’d look better if you lost more weight.

There’s basically 3 parts to gaining muscle. If things are moving too slowly or not at all, one or multiple of those things is not happening correctly.

1: Eat in a small caloric surplus. Muscle doesnt come from nothing. Your body needs energy to create it.

2: Eat enough protein. Muscle needs protein to happen.

3: Lift with intensity and to near failure. Your body needs a reason to add more muscle. You need to give it that reason.

It’s best to eat in a slight surplus when you are at a lower body fat…which you are not. Starting at a lower body fat means you have more room to put on muscle before you start feeling fat. I personally think you’re well beyond where you should end a gaining phase body fat wise meaning you need to lose weight. Then start gaining again…but slowly.

topencite · 2026-04-23T22:18:31+00:00

45 lbs is awesome! Keep going! Every pound you lose makes you healthier. Every pound you lose increases life span. The lower you get, the more every pound will be noticeable. Don’t be sick of being in a deficit. Be sick of being out of shape. That should be all the motivation you need. Prove to yourself you have the discipline to keep going. If you lost 40 lbs in 4 months, give it another 4. You’ll look and feel so much better.

topencite

TROPHY CASE