this post was submitted on 10 Jun 2025
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Really great info, thanks for posting! Mainly want to second all this for others and say most of it was true for me as well. I'm only a year in, though, so my results aren't as dramatic yet. Your story is pretty motivating, so thanks for that too!
Also want to add that I found the fitness wiki to be a great resource for no-nonsense advice like the above. It's a wiki based on Reddit, but it's a separate website at this point. It does a good job focusing on keeping lifting simple and eating right.
In the spirit of casual conversation, two questions mostly out of pure curiosity: what routine did you start with, and what routine has been your favorite so far?
The fitness wiki is a fantastic resource +1 for that suggestion!
I started with GZCLP and followed with 5/3/1 for Beginners and then a few other 5/3/1 templates. The most eye-opening/fun would have to be super squats for sure. 20 rep squats and a gallon of whole milk per day really pushes a person.
Eventually I settled on tactical barbell which seems to work well for me. I'm in my 40s and prefer staying away from heavy 1 reps. TB is higher frequency compound lifts with squat, bench and weighted pullups 3x per week and deadlift 1x per week. It's marketed towards first responders and military people who need to have gas in the tank for their day job but I feel that also applies to normal folks who care about strength and longevity not wanting to be completely wiped out from workouts. They have a book focused on mass with lower intensities (8/6/3 rep weeks) so that's probably where I'll stay for a while.
How about yourself? What did you start with and where did you end up?
Oh and for a fediverse oriented resource check out !weightroom@sh.itjust.works :D
20 rep squats sounds insane. I just started doing 10-rep with BBB, and that's plenty brutal for me already.
I've done 5/3/1 since I started. Used Beginners for the first year or so, and over the last month or two I've switched to Boring But Big, and I'm planning to mix that with First Set Last. I mostly hate switching things up and prefer just to go and do my lifts without spending too much mental energy on planning, so I'll probably stick with 5/3/1 indefinitely.
Longevity and trying to feel actually healthy/mobile/etc. is really important to me, and one of the main reasons I picked 5/3/1 was the emphasis on slow growth and always maintaining clean form. So, TB sounds like it could be right up my alley as well. I made a note of it in case I ever do need to switch things up for some reason.
Also, just subscribed to the Weightroom community!
Full Body 1000% Awesome from 5/3/1 Forever is basically the same thing as Tactical Barbell, so if for whatever reason you needed a break from BBB you could try a cycle of that and see how you feel about the full body split without leaving the 5/3/1 ecosystem. And Jim has a few templates with widowmaker squats if you're ever up for a challenge. Always happy to bump into other fediverse lifters, there are literally dozens of us!