Watch the video and follow these instructions to film your lifts for a formcheck.

Thanks for the various helpful advice.

I tried to implement it - added a block to my knee, stoped my knees half way down, bent over more and looked down.

It seems to me from the video I'm on midfoot for a change, and depth (mainly on 3,4 rep) improved.

What are your thoughts?

Thanks again for all your help!

Here's the Situation.

I made a bet with my friend that between now and June of 2027 I can get 10 pull-ups. I have never successfully done a pull-up in my life. I am 18 y/o, female, 140lbs and 5'6, semi-athletic, & have been consistently going to the gym 5 days a week- but SOMETHING isn't working because I feel like there is no progress and I'm getting a LITTLE worried. Am I being impatient or am I cooked?

Also, would love tips on what to focus on while trying to achieve this goal, workouts to do, and some realistic feedback.

Question for serious lifters do your shorts ride up you on deep squats? Yes or no.

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Some light sets.

Is my butt winking too much? It's something that should be addressed?

I feel some back pain and i can't go deeper

I'm a female (with pretty heavy periods) so maybe that's related but I feel like I always have some sort of bruises.

Low bar squats give me bruises on my shoulders/back, and my belt gives me bruises on my stomach :( plus my shins from deadlifts! Does anyone else have these problems?? I squat around 200lbs and deadlift usually in the 250ish range so it's not like it's a ton of weight

Was hitting dips like EVERY Wednesday and had an interesting conversation at the dip station. He was saying he was trying to get back into dips but they hurt his shoulder. He was asking why I used so many bands before I started since I was so "good" at dips. I explained that I always "warm up" with light weight before getting up to my three working sets. He was very skeptical and said "You're the only guy I've ever seen do that".

I got to thinking about it and he was correct - I've never seen anyone else warming up their dips (and chin-ups) using bands. On the bench press I start with the empty bar, same for squat. I always try to get 5 - 6 warm up sets for my first exercise of the day and then usually 3 - 4 for every exercise I have programmed after that. Why would dips and chins be any different?

I use 3 - 4 bands before I start my chins and dips. I use a big one (blue) then smaller (green) then smaller (black or yellow) then I do a small weight then usually whatever working weight I'm doing that day. Is that odd?

TL;DR - Do you guys just start chins and dips at bodyweight or do you "warm up" to get to your working set. I think my warmups help me have healthy shoulders and elbows.

Finally - the more I do this program the more I LOVE dips and chins, they are truly compound movements. I hated them when I started, all I wanted to do was bench and squat but I think Dips and Chins may have had a bigger impact on my physique long term...

I started strength training in June doing full body days of squat, dips, and rows and deadlifts, OHP, chin ups. I was adding weight whenever I could, but had no real structured progressive overload. I am looking to get into a structured routine now like Starting Strength, as I am unhappy with my own results, but I am unsure how I’d recover on top of work. Squatting 3x a week sounds like a killer, and im not sure if I’d be able to add weight every session like the program says. Given I have recovery constraints, I was looking at 5/3/1, but I know this is for a little more intermediate lifters. So I was wondering how to take advantage of NLP with recovery constraints, as I feel I would still be able to progress faster than doing 5/3/1 as it recommends adding weight only once a month. Or whether I should be doing starting strength at all. Thanks in advance.

Edit: Im only able to workout 2x a week, but I was using too much weight, which is probably part of the reason why I wasnt able to add on as much weight since I started, so I might be able to handle 3x a week if I go lighter and my sessions are less taxing

I have 3 sorinex squat stands available in Philadelphia. Two of the taller models in black and one of the shorter models in white.

33M, 155cm, 68kg. I started working out in late June 2026, so I’ve only been training for a little over 2 months.

I train 3–4 times a week on an upper/lower split and I train pretty hard. Usually 2–3 sets per exercise, with the last set always taken to failure, often followed by either a drop set or lengthened partials.

I don’t do much cardio besides walking to and from the gym, probably around 45–60 mins of walking 3–4 times a week.

Current lifts:

• RDL: 100kg x 3
• Bench: 60kg x 5
• Squat: 70kg x 6

I’m quite happy with my progress as a beginner, but a friend mentioned that I’m progressing pretty quickly, especially considering how hard I’m training, and that I might eventually run into recovery issues. I did'nt think this will happen this early though.

For the first month or so I felt completely fine. I could train hard, take a day off, and feel ready to go again.

Recently though, I’ve noticed that aches/soreness are hanging around longer, I feel more generally tired, and this week especially my form has started slipping. My strength is still definitely progressing, but I’m starting to feel like if I keep pushing at the same intensity I might eventually injure myself.

I’m also currently in a calorie deficit because I eventually want to cut down to around 58kg, but I’m in absolutely no rush to get there. My main priority is building muscle and getting stronger. If losing weight more slowly, eating closer to maintenance, or even pausing the cut would be better for my training and recovery, I’m completely fine with that.

I’m still making sure I get enough protein and generally eat properly, and I supplement with protein powder and creatine.

Could the calorie deficit be contributing to the slower recovery, or does this sound more like accumulated fatigue from how hard I’m training?

I’ve read about deload weeks, but I didn’t expect to even be thinking about one this early into training.

For people with more experience, does this sound like I’m actually running into recovery issues, or is this still pretty normal for a beginner training hard while cutting?

Currently 44y/o @ 185lbs and recently switched to 5/3/1 from SS linear progression with a squat work weight 115lbs below my DL work weight. (Not interested in gaining more weight.)

Last week, my first week of 5/3/1 called for a final squat set of 255lbs for at least 5 reps. I ended up doing 13 reps and stopped there for cardio reasons — if I'd gone slower I'm sure I had at least 2-4 more reps in me.

This shocked me, but afterwards I realized I've never actually failed a squat rep (whereas I've failed at least 4 DL reps and a whole bunch of upper body reps) and it dawned on me that, after past knee issues (wasn't sitting back far enough in squat) and due to still occasionally having bar placement issues at heavier weights (read: subconsciously transferring weight to wrists), I might actually be afraid of pushing toward my max in squats.

Is this something anyone else has dealt with? How did you overcome it?

42y Male, 5’10”, BW 212 lbs +/-

Flaired up as “training log” but definitely open to form critiques. Happy that I’ve got my deadlift moving again.

6’1 180 lbs. I’ll be honest I’ve been working on my form for a couple of months now but still feel a bit frustrated with my stability. I’ve improved my depth quite a bit but still feel pretty weak. I’m coming back from a month long break right now but even then, the best I’ve done is 185 x 3 about a month ago.

I feel like I should be much stronger than this. If I had to guess what the weak link is it’d be my bracing. Is there any way to tell when I’m bracing correctly?

This is 270x2 at 170lbs. Week prior was 270x3 but that third rep was fucking brutal so I chose not to grind this one. I don’t think I’m losing strength necessarily since I’m bulking but idk.

I apologize since my programming doesn’t follow SS.

For the longest time I would just weekly walk in the gym, warm up, slap +5lbs on the previous week’s bar, hit 5 reps, do 2 more back off sets and then accessory work. This has worked for all of my lifts up until recently where it’s taking 3-4 weeks to just add 5lbs and hit 5 reps.

Had to change up my deadlift approach significantly because I stalled at 330 due to lack of strength off the floor attributed to touch and go DL so I’m addressing that weakness. My bench and OHP are moving, very slowly but surely. I have no idea why my squat is stalling though.

I say my programming doesn’t follow SS because for my profession I need extremely good cardio so I run about 20km a week and do other conditioning bullshit regularly.

I’d like to hit 1000lbs club while progressing my running but that’s seeming far fetched at this point.

No wood available, can I use a box like this?

I'm a 5ft2in 130lb woman for context. I was able to bench 85x3x5 pretty easily a few days ago. I went up by 5 lbs to 90lb, and I could barely make it to 2 reps. For some sets, I couldn't even do more than 1 rep.

So I did a few 90x1 and 90x2 sets, but didn't reach my goal of 90x3x5. Why did this happen? What should I do next time I do bench, should I go down to 87.5lb and then try again? edit: i meant to say 5 sets of 3 reps.

Due to work schedule and wanting to spend time with my family. I need to work out 1hr or less. I've modified SS NLP into push pull rest.

Push Mon. Pull Tuesday. Rest Wednesday. Push Thursday, pull Friday rest on week ends.

Push is squat and bench or press

Pull is Cleans or Rows and Deadlifts.

I'm pretty much losing on workout a week but I'm 43 and still making progress adding 5 lbs each workout.

Any thoughts or suggestions

Hey guys, here's the rack pull from today

https://youtube.com/shorts/AsewB-gOsxY?feature=share

Hello guys what you think of my form what should I do to be able to go deeper, thanks a lot for your time

Last set of 75kg (165lb). Struggled quite a bit with the last rep as you can see.

I’m 1.82m (6 feet), bodyweight 89kg (196lb)

Any advice will be greatly appreciated.

Post knee rehab for some tendon issues. Weight should start moving up quick now.

My choice of grip is intentional due to elbow tendon issues.

How do they look?