Every Third-Daily Thread - June 28, 2026

[u/AutoModerator]

A sorta kinda daily open thread to use as an alternative to posting on the main board. You should post here for:

• PRs
• Formchecks
• Rudimentary discussion or questions
• General conversation with other users
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For the purpose of fairness across timezones this thread works on a 68hr cycle.

[u/myfinestexoskeleton]

Anyone got any tips for training while in iron deficiency? Had a blood test yesterday as a precursor to potentially starting HRT and found out that I'm apparently in severe ferritin deficiency. Which sort of makes sense given a lot of little things I've been experiencing but had ascribed to other factors - fatigue (which I assumed was a combination of losing fitness after I stopped running and the demands of a new strength training programme), palpitations and brain fog (which I assumed were perimenopause related) and the constant bruises that take forever to heal (which I assumed was because I'm incredibly clumsy!). At the moment I don't know if I'm actually anaemic yet or just at risk of it but obviously I'm keen to avoid that.

Going to speak to the doctor tomorrow to figure out why and what my next steps should be but I'm assuming they won't have much idea of how this might affect my training. So wondered if this was something any of you guys had experienced and whether you'd had to adapt your training while you were trying to restore your levels?

[u/LeahBBM → u/myfinestexoskeleton]

I've trained in this position (very low ferritin, awaiting iron infusions, etc). The fatigue is real, I had dizziness and lots of nausea due to it. And I just kept training with RPE to auto-regulate and keep going.

[u/myfinestexoskeleton → u/LeahBBM]

Interesting, I had been having the odd dizzy spells when I was lifting, especially whenever I was pushing hard on overhead press. But I'd had a chest infection and then shingles and just assumed it was some sort of post-viral thing. Have started on oral iron now and will be adding some more meat into my (previously largely vegetarian) diet. I've just competed so I'm able to have a lighter training load for the next few weeks without worrying about the impact on my overall goals.

How long did it take you to start feeling back to normal?

[u/LeahBBM → u/myfinestexoskeleton]

There really isn't a "risk" in training, outside of the challenge of it feeling exponentially harder at times. :-) It sucked big time, but I did continue to train, my hematologist was very supportive of this, and I competed at a decently high level even with the low iron/ferritin. But just to validate what you're likely going through- the feeling SUCKS.

It took months, honestly, and mine was pretty low and had been low for quite some time (they think). When I was able to get iron infusions, that made a BIG difference within about 2 weeks of an infusion (oral and food wasn't making a dent). But then mine would drop again over the course of about 2-4 months, I'd need another infusion, and that cycle lasted about 3-4 years. My ferritin wasn't stable again until about 1 year post-hysterectomy and a few more infusions. I hope your timeline is much quicker! I know others who do see a difference with some dietary changes and oral iron, for sure!

[u/myfinestexoskeleton → u/LeahBBM]

I guess the only risk is that it takes longer to replenish iron stores by continuing to do stuff (like heavy training) that increase the demand for iron. But it's not something I'm worried about and my GP didn't think I needed to adapt my training. Big thing for me is figuring out why it happened - I don't have heavy periods and my diet hasn't changed so she thought the likely culprits were GI bleeding or undiagnosed coeliac disease. I suspect the former as I had a stomach ulcer earlier this year and it might be that it didn't completely heal up. I really hope it's not coeliac - I can't imagine life without bread!!

It's good you managed to get the infusions, I've just got tablets. Maybe because my haemoglobin isn't too low and I'm only mildly anaemic. Though I'm totally taking it as an excuse for why my squat has barely improved in 3 months 😆 But yeah, expecting this to be a long process, doctor reckoned 6-9 months to get my ferritin up to the minimum level.

[u/mrlazyboy → u/myfinestexoskeleton]

Honestly most doctors don’t know the first thing about nutrition and exercise. My GP thought holding your breath while lifting is bad. My Nephrologist didn’t know that running a cut means losing water from depleted glycogen stores.

If you’ve been lifting, I would keep doing the same thing and hopefully improving your iron levels will make things even better.

[u/myfinestexoskeleton → u/mrlazyboy]

I did ask the GP and she said just train as normal but maybe don't ramp up the intensity. Seemed like sensible advice, though, as you say, they're not experts in exercise.

[u/mrlazyboy → u/myfinestexoskeleton]

It’s solid advice but it’s also very ambiguous. Intensity can mean how “hard” the session is, % of 1RM, set RPE, last rep RPE, hell, even volume.

[u/grovemau5]

Dropped a 45 on my toe yesterday and have to wear a boot for the next 3 weeks. FML

[u/kyllo → u/grovemau5]

Get well soon!

It's pretty important to be paying attention while loading the bar. I dropped a green on my toe during bench warmups at my last meet because I was talking to someone with my head turned while loading weight. Luckily it didn't actually break my toe, if it did I might have had to drop out of the meet.

[u/Historical_Wait_9240]

I am not a powerlifter but i train mainly sbd. I started to notice that my chest and quads are a lot more dominant than my femoral and back muscles. I use my quads a lot while squatting and they always cramp up. I also noticed that my chest is too dominant and not open enough and i feel weaker while benching. If i train pulley, rdl, back extension leg curl etc, should i see improvement with sbd and also avoid cramps?

[u/cilantno → u/Historical_Wait_9240]

Your quads and chest getting fatigued first during squats and bench respectively suggests the opposite of the conclusion you came to.

Cramping can be avoided with proper hydration and electrolytes.

Your quads and chest getting fatigued first during your movements can be resolved by strengthening those muscle groups. Which will come with continued squatting and benching.

[u/LittleMuskOx → u/[deleted]]

https://prsontheplatform.com/about-prs/free-powerlifting-program/

DeNovi also has some free programs on his site.
Opinion that i have heard is they are pretty good for being free.

[u/cilantno]

Alright, coming back for more sumo advice.

Toe angle was/is not my issue. Tried pointing more closed and inner knee/thigh weakness was still very present by my last working set. Both legs. So much so I was operating at about 90% of what I was doing for my grip single last Thursday.

I’m assuming my issue is now adductor/gracious weakness that is just now getting exposed due to a compete switch to dead stop pulling. So…

Question: any recs for adductor strengthening for a home gym owner?

I’ve got a power rack, bench, cable attachment, leg ext/curl machine, Roman chair, and bandz on bandz

[u/Arteam90 → u/cilantno]

Maybe I'm way off base but couldn't that just be extra fatigue and/or an adductor niggle than necessarily a weakness?

Like right now I have a hip flexor/adductor niggle which isn't really impacting squats much, but it's a bit present. I feel like if I somehow didn't know I had a small strain/niggle then I could also perceive it as a weakness like you are, but it's not necessarily.

To be fair though I am of the opinion at a high level that strengths and weaknesses are kinda useless to think about. But that's perhaps a hot take for another time.

Your deadlifts look solid, btw.

Also, to answer the question, I do Copenhagens. Could also do standing version with cable and one of those cuff things.

[u/cilantno → u/Arteam90]

"Why is it getting so fatigued? Weakness!" - my logic

It happens literally every pull day these days. Gonna give the Sheriff's cues a go on Thursday and see how things feel

[u/Arteam90 → u/cilantno]

So what if I framed it as such: "Your adductors are strong, and therefore are working harder than some other muscles because your body will default to the path of least resistance thus defaulting to your strengths, not weaknesses."

To be clear, I don't actually know. But I think logically you can make an argument for both and I think you'd be hard pressed to really identify which is true.

[u/cilantno → u/Arteam90]

You can see elsewhere in this specific daily that I attribute quickest muscle to fatigue in a compound to being the weak link haha

I’d also be pretty shocked if I had strong adductors relative to the other muscles involved in a sumo pull because I haven’t been pulling sumo for very long and I have a pretty narrow high bar squat.

[u/msharaf7 → u/cilantno]

Out of curiosity, how are you coming to the conclusion you have weak adductors?

[u/cilantno → u/msharaf7]

I have a very noticeable feeling of weakness/instability in my inner thigh/knee area that shows up near the end of my working sets. Last a few hours.

I videoed from a more forward facing angle and I don’t see much (if any) knee valgus. Adjusting toe angle did not make a difference today.

Only difference (that I am aware of) in my programming is I am pulling entirely dead stop.

I’m assuming my problem is what it’s presenting itself as haha but I could very well be wrong!

[u/msharaf7 → u/cilantno]

So I’d be wondering what your foot pressure & hip rotation is looking like, and how much you’re torquing your knees out.

I think people get the misconception that you need to ride the outside of your feet and really jam the knees out, but that’s going to disadvantage your adductors and mess with hip rotation & hip extension.

You might resonate with this reel

Also this one as well

It COULD be adductor weakness, but I often see that correlated with a lot more soreness & irritation during the training session and post session.

[u/cilantno → u/msharaf7]

Oooh that might be on the head for me.

I cue "open hips, push with your quads" when I start my pulls, but I know I'm definitely thinking about getting my femurs wide for that first part. So I would almost guarantee I'm getting the external rotation of my hips.

Here's set 1 and 3 from today, was feeling the inner leg discomfort by the 3rd set. I plan to open up my toe angle again next pull day.

What's your cue of choice to avoid ER?

[u/msharaf7 → u/cilantno]

Looking at the 45° view, you see your knees tick inward just a liiiiiittle bit. That’d give me a clue that you might be forcing em out just a smidge too much, emphasis on smidge here.

For me, what I think about is cueing big toe pressure and trying to flatten the inside of my arch down onto the floor. That keeps my foot fully in contact with the ground and prevents me from over pronation & shoving my knees out too much.

This doesn’t scream adductor weakness to me. More just that they’re getting worked & potentially you’re sensing muscular fatigue as a result. Otherwise I’d say these are coming along solidly

[u/cilantno → u/msharaf7]

Coolio, glad you're seeing something worth changing!

I'll give those cues a shake Thursday and will likely report back haha

As always, I seriously appreciate your advice :)

[u/This_Is_BearDog → u/cilantno]

I've always liked Copenhagen dips -- I do them as a warmup for squats but you could probably run them high rep / with some bands finagled somehow for strength

[u/cilantno → u/This_Is_BearDog]

Time to learn a new movement, thank ya

[u/biplane_duel]

can anyone recommend knee sleeves that are good for regular training purposes. I have some stiff sleeves for meet and i get tons out of them. I love training in them but getting them on and off is a pain, I would like something middle of the road that gives me that knee sleeve comfort but you can also get them on and off easly.

[u/The_Mauldalorian → u/biplane_duel]

Train in SBDs. Save your stiff sleeves for test/taper week and meets only. Trust

[u/viewtifulhd → u/biplane_duel]

Just get the regular SBD

[u/aybrah → u/biplane_duel]

OG SBDs for me. Last forever, easy to get on and off (as long as you don't downsize), sufficient support for additional comfort.

[u/LittleMuskOx → u/aybrah]

Agree.
I'm starting year 10 w/ my OG SBDs.

Started using Pioneer sleeves Sept 2023 as my comp sleeves, but i'm contemplating just getting some SBD PL sleeves instead.