Hey everyone,

As our community continues to grow, the mod team has been working behind the scenes to make r/gymadvice a safer, more focused, and higher-quality space for fitness discussion.

To keep things running smoothly, we are rolling out a major update to our community guidelines, changing how posts are approved, and opening the floor to get your feedback on where we go from here.

1. Updated Community Rules

We have completely overhauled our rules to protect our members, clear out the clutter, and ensure advice remains safe and evidence-based. Please take a moment to review the main highlights:

• Strict Safety & Safeguarding: We have implemented a strict SFW media policy and a Zero Tolerance policy for Under-18s being unclothed for safeguarding reasons.
• Zero Tolerance for Adult Account Spam: Accounts attempting to use this fitness space to drive traffic to OnlyFans or adult platforms will face an immediate, permanent ban.
• Protecting Younger Lifters: We have banned the recommendation of TRT or hormone manipulation to anyone under 26 to protect developing endocrine systems.
• Zero Tolerance for Unhealthy Behaviour: Promoting starvation diets, extreme water cuts, or eating disorder behaviours will result in an immediate suspension.
• No Defeatism (Genetics/Bone Structure): Posts hyper-focusing on unchangeable skeletal genetics (like clavicle width) are off-topic. We are here to maximise individual potential.
• Quality Control & Authenticity: Low-effort or vague queries will be removed, and accounts flagged for suspicious or potentially fraudulent media will be required to go through a profile-based identity verification process.

You can read the full, detailed breakdown of all 11 rules in our sidebar/About section.

2. Moving Away from Manual Approvals

In the past, many posts sat in a queue waiting for a moderator to manually review and approve them. To speed things up and keep the front page active, we are removing manual approvals.

Posts will now go live immediately, provided they don't trigger our automated spam or safety filters. This means you will get eyes on your queries much faster. However, it also means we rely heavily on you to help us keep the sub clean. If you see a post or comment that breaks our new rules, please hit the report button so it hits our mod queue instantly.

3. We Want Your Feedback!

This community belongs to all of us, and we want to know how we can make r/gymadvice the best fitness subreddit on the platform.

We want to hear your thoughts on:

1. The New Rules: Do you feel these rules strike the right balance for the community?
2. Subreddit Features: Would you like to see weekly recurring threads (e.g., Form-Check Fridays, Weekly Simple Questions, Victory Sundays)?
3. Moderation: What can the mod team do to better support your fitness journey?
4. General Ideas: Is there anything else you want to see added, changed, or improved?

Drop your thoughts, critiques, and suggestions in the comments below. The mod team will be hanging around to answer questions and chat with you all.

Train hard and stay safe!

Hi everyone,

Over the past few months, we’ve been looking closely at how r/gymadvice operates, focusing on our traffic and community engagement.

Up until now, the subreddit has operated on a manual approval system, meaning every single post had to be checked and cleared by a moderator before it appeared live in the feed. While this was originally implemented to maintain quality control, the reality is that it has created a major bottleneck. Users are often left waiting hours for their training or nutrition questions to appear, which completely suppresses engagement and halts our community growth.

To fix this and get the subreddit moving, we are officially moving away from manual approvals for a 30-day trial period.

What is changing?

• Instant Posting: Valid posts from established accounts will now go live immediately, allowing you to get real-time feedback on your programming and fitness queries.
• Upgraded Automation: To ensure the quality and safety of the sub doesn’t drop, we have deployed a robust, custom AutoModerator infrastructure. This system will actively filter out spam, low-effort content, and rule-breaking posts instantly.

Protecting Our Younger Members (Under 18s)

Minors are incredibly welcome to ask training or diet questions, but they are prohibited from posting body progress, transformation, or revealing photos. **If you are a minor**, for your own safety and others please refrain from posting those types of photos anywhere on Reddit. It just encourages predators to lurk these types of communities to find you and your peers.

How you can help

Because posts are now live, your eyes on the feed are more important than ever. If you see spam, unsafe fitness advice, creepy behaviour, or rule-breaking content, please use the report button. Our system is set up to instantly pull any item that receives multiple user reports for immediate moderator review.

We sit at around 90k views a month right now, and by removing these manual barriers, we are confident we can unlock the sub's full potential and make this a much more active, helpful space for everyone.

Let us know your thoughts below!

Two different users have mailed me today to say they are still banned even though their ban has expired/lifted. I checked them both and neither are on the ban or muted list. I tried to ban then unban one but they say whenever they try to post is still says banned. Anyone else experiencing this bug? Haven't see it before.

Hey everyone,

As our community continues to grow as the top destination on Reddit for men’s grooming, hair, and skincare advice, the mod team has been looking closely at how our rules affect genuine users.

Today, we are announcing a major pivot to Rule 4 (Shirtless Photos), alongside a quick refresh of our community standards.

What is Changing?

Previously, we were strict on no shirtless photos. While this kept the sub clean, the reality is that we’ve had to remove a lot of fantastic, high-engagement threads from genuine guys who simply didn’t notice the rule. We don't want to punish real people looking for honest advice.

Moving forward, shirtless photos are now permitted, but ONLY if the absolute, clear focus of the post is a grooming query (e.g., your hair, beard, skincare, or body hair management).

The Boundaries (Where We Draw the Line)

Because we are opening this up, we are tightening our enforcement on intent. This is a grooming advice sub, not a fitness tracker, a dating app, or a promotional feed. To keep the space authentic, we will strictly enforce the following:

• No Physique Validation: If your post is clearly framed to showcase your muscles, gym progress, or physique rather than a genuine grooming question, it will be removed.
• State Your Question Clearly: Vague "Thoughts?" posts with a shirtless selfie will be binned. Your title or post body must explicitly state what grooming advice you are looking for.
• Zero Tolerance for Promotion or Fishing: Using shirtless photos to drive traffic to your social media, personal brands, or adult profiles will result in an immediate, permanent ban. Moderator discretion will apply here.

Keeping the Community Authentic

We’ve also updated our community description to reflect what this space is truly about: an inclusive community built on authenticity, offering a safe, genuine space without toxicity.

We want this to remain a place where everyday guys can get real advice from real people without the toxic lookmaxxing often found elsewhere online. Thank you for helping us keep the quality of discussion high!

This is a test, if it doesn't work out we will move back to our previous standards.

Drop any questions or feedback in the comments below.

— The Mod Team

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