u/EngineeringKind3960

I haven't worked out in about 6 years and also had a surgery 3.5 months ago so I was very weak and lost any progress I did in the past when I used to train. I started on a variation of GZCLP and I am in week 6th, I am making great strength progress, and actually my T1 lifts became easier rather than more difficult as I progress, for example my last bench T1 AMRAP set was 11reps. But I think this is expected because of the muscle memory kicking in. But this will come to an end soon probably when I get closer to my strength levels from 6 years ago.

I was thinking to run GZCLP for 2 cycles (a cycle being when all my T1 lifts have gone through all three stages of progression) since everywhere I am reading this is considered more of a beginner program.

I was also wondering what program would be good to follow after this, my primary goal is hypertrophy. Looking for experiences from people who moved from GZCL to a next stage program.

As a note, even though I trained before, when I was younger, I never trained following a program, but following a bro-split because that is what everybody at the gym I started at was doing and before I lifted more for recreational purposes, though I pushed myself and made some progress but was never super strong.

I am senior software engineer and I've been in the field for 18 years (started working during 2nd year of university). My current company announced that due to the AI adoption they think they can be just as productive with 32% less engineers so they will target senior and staff engineers for redundancy. I have already signed a voluntary agreement to take a redundancy package so now I am unemployed basically.

I started interviewing immediately and since I am without a job I started the process with multiple companies at the same time and most companies in my field (fintech) do 5-6 or even 7 stage interviews so it takes a long time. One company that is also fintech but a slightly niche domain (FX and liquidity tracking) had a speedier process where they wrapped everything in two stages, where they had 3-4 engineering managers and seniors testing me from technical to cultural fit in just two meetings. They offered me a job yesterday, but the thing is I was hoping for a role in the fintech domain I spent 9 years in which is payment processing. I have three other companies I am in the process with but they are taking their time with scheduling the stages of the interview process.

The offering company is also a startup and is very small and I am reluctant as I have worked for big established companies for the last 8-10 years and I think I would be more comfortable in that kind of environment.

I was thinking to accept the offer but then continue the interview process with the companies I already started with and if I find a role that I think is better for me to go with that one. But I am thinking I would feel bad about pulling out of a promise with the company who offered the job first. Also it would mean that I might take a job from another engineer only to then give it up.

Would that be a shitty move on my part?

On the other hand over the years I've been made redundant twice (including this one) and companies had no stress in telling hundreds of their engineers one morning that they are letting us go just because they want to be more profitable (so basically for money) or they think that a junior + £2000 worth of Claude Code tokens will replace a senior or a staff engineer so goodbye.

I am in the UK and the law allows me to do this even if I signed a contract.

I have just received the bill for my private removal at a big private hospital in London. I do not pay myself as I have private insurance from my employer but I still get the bills from Vitality (my provider). Just in case anyone is interested in this figure, maybe if you are suffering and you are on the NHS year long list and you decide to take the hit to know what to expect.

I had robotic surgery, which is more expensive and the surgeon told me if my private insurer would not cover robotic he can do classic laparoscopic and would be cheaper. But for robotic the bill was:

Hospital bill, 1 day outpatient, private room - £5135

Anesthesiologist fee: £571

Surgeon fee: £645

Full blood panel before op: £476 (this is optional)

Pre-op tests: £471

Initial consultation with the surgeon: £275

So total bill was around £7500 but one of the tests was optional and I will need a post op consultation in 3 weeks so that must be another £275 I think.

Also, my surgeon was able to get all the MRI, CT scans and extra blood tests that were done at the NHS Hospital when I went to the A&E as he is actually one of the two chiefs of abdominal surgery at the hospital where I went to the A&E and he had access with no complications. If you have a diagnostic from NHS they don't need to do those, if you just suspect you probably need to pay for an MRI as well (which was around £600 about 3 years ago)

This is a top hospital with great reviews, everybody was great and I had a private room that looked more like a hotel room than a hospital room.

Last summer my wife forgot my youngest son's milk bottle in the car under a seat. I usually check but I didn't see it and it stayed there the whole day and overnight. That day there were 35C outside and the car parked in the sun on my driveway so probably it was 50C inside the car and the milk went super bad and the next day when I opened the car door it smelled like the slinkiest cheese inside. I cleaned the interior as best I could and left the doors open and it seemed like the smell went away 90%. But even today, after a year, on hot days, I can still smell it. There was no leak that I could see and I did wash the carpets anyway, though the bottle was under the driver's seat where I cannot really wash myself. But I checked at the time and I couldn't see any leakage from the bottle.

Before I pay hundreds to a professional, is there some DIY products I can try to get rid of the smell? I tried leaving water mixed with vinegar inside the car (I read somewhere that that might kill bad odours) but did f**k all.

Did anyone had any luck witch certain products that worked and eliminated bad odours from inside the car?

Our oldest son is 4y10m and he is still wetting the bed. Until now I've been waking him up at least one time during the night to go to the bathroom but sometimes he is wet already and I have to change him and his whole bedding (he sleeps in a full size bed) in the middle of the night.

Now I read that our approach is bad because we do not allow his brain to learn to wake up when he needs the bathroom but we do it for him.

Apparently by age 5 children should stop wetting the bed and it is recommended to have a check to rule out other causes. But I am afraid we might have delayed his progress here by waking him up to pee rather than let him learn by himself.

I read about bedwetting alarms but I am wondering if they work or are there other techiques people have tried to help their children to stop wetting the bed? Also he is quite a deep sleeper so I am not sure an alarm would wake him up anyway at 1AM when he woul wet himself.

Any advice is appreciated.

Thank you!

A bit of context as I think it might be relevant. I started lifting weights when I was 15 as an adjacent to another sport. After college I gave up my main sport which I did semi-professionally and retained only the weight lifting. I always went to the gym recreationally but I tried to push myself relatively hard while exercising. Since I didn't actually researched bodybuilding too deeply I mostly followed what a gym enthusiast from my youth showed me: the bro split, training each muscle for about 10-12 sets per session, only once a week. I've always been natural. I made some progress, I always looked like I lift but I now realize I could have made more progress.

For 6 years I haven't been to the gym anymore due to lifestyle changes (kids taking all my time and I moved in the suburbs where I have no gym nearby) and I gained a considerable amount of weight. This year I had enough of being fat and I built a gym at home, I only have barbells and dumbbells and a bench. I lost 17kg (40lbs) and everything was going well but I had to have surgery and while I am recovering (cannot touch weights for 6-8 weeks) I've been looking into training and I came (again) on the Starting Strength 5x5 program. I've researched a little and seen some videos and it seems interesting but pretty much everywhere you see anything about it it has to mention that this is a great place to start, words like "beginners" and "novice lifter" are mentioned in most articles about this program.

My question is for people who are using or used this style of training, would someone who is not necessary a beginner benefit from this program or is it just to get beginner lifters started and build a foundation for strength but someone who is intermediate would benefit more from another program?

My main goal is to increase my muscle mass as much as I can at nearly 40. Before my surgery, in the 7 months of being back at training I made great progress but that was basically just muscle memory from the 15 years of training before I quit and I was already starting to plateau using the bro split.

Thank you!

I will have my surgery tomorrow morning to remove my gallbladder. At my pre-op consultation they told me I need to have ibuprofen and paracetamol at home as they do not give those. I know they give some strong pain medication for taking the first day or two after the surgery to deal with the pain. The thing is I know these are very strong opioids and I usually avoid strong medication and I heard opioids might cause digestive issues and I am afraid they can affect other things in my body like my liver? I already had elevated enzymes from a stone blocking my CBD and had jaundice.

Does anyone know what they prescribe so I can read about them and any potential side effects on the NHS website?

Also, did people find they needed the strong medication after the surgery? I heard most people are in considerable pain the first 2 days so I guess these are required.

I kept seeing experiences with gallbladder removal on youtube and here, most of them in the US where the people were saying that you cannot leave in a taxi or Uber, the hospital won't allow it, some friend or family must drive you home in their(or your) car. Maybe they misunderstood and the hospital was referring to not go in a taxi by yourself?

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My wife never drove on the left side even though we've been in the UK for 12 years now so she cannot drive me home in our car. I was thinking she can order an Uber, the hospital is a 7min drive from our home. They didn't mention anything regarding this at my pre op and I forgot to ask at the time.

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I will have my gallbladder removed a week from today. We usually go on a summer holiday with the kids (5 and 2) at the end of August. That would be about 9 weeks after the removal. We normally book in advance, I can probably wait to see how I feel 2-3 weeks after the surgery but just wondering if people who had theirs removed were able to eat, travel and be pain free after 2 months. I know every person is different, but I am afraid we would book a holiday and then waste the money because I will not be recovered. I am fine with having dietary restrictions or being close to a toilet (I hear that is a thing, you can have urgent need to go for some time after if the body takes longer to adjust to not having a gallbladder).

For context, we go to an all inclusive resort, I won't need to drive, do hikes or crazy stuff, but I will need to be able to look after my boys, go in the water with them and swim with them, run around and doing children stuff, kids waterpark and the likes.

Flight should be about 4 hours (UK to Turkey). If I would still need to be on a low fat diet it would kinda suck but that is the least of my concerns as they usually provide food for all types of diets there so not a big deal.

I am 39 years old and have been playing guitar (mostly electric) for more than 20 years. Nothing serious, just by myself at home. I cannot read music, I relied on guitar tabs and my ear (and several websites and software) to learn and play songs.

When I was young I would have liked to play saxophone but my mother couldn't afford to buy me a sax and pay for lessons so guitar was my second choice. Now I was thinking I could give it a try as an adult absolute beginner.

I don't know if it will take so I am wondering what saxophone I should purchase, something that is good enough to not discourage me from playing but not to make a huge investment that I will lose in case I turn out to be completely hopeless at it. I know with guitars, especially electrics, from experience, if you buy a very cheap guitar and amp it can sound like shit and that can discourage a new player.

I can try buying second hand but since I am completely new at this, I don't know if an instrument was properly maintained and cannot test it to check if it sounds ok or is any good so I am afraid I might buy something broken or that was not maintained well.

From what I've seen online an alto would be cheaper though I prefer the sound of a tenor from what I heard in online comparisons though I am not set on one or the other.

Some options I found on ebay UK:

Trevor James The Horn Alto - £230

Elkhart Alto - £140

Jupiter Alto SAS 565 - £360

Found some Yamahas which I know are better but in the 550-800£ range and to be fair I would like to spend somewhere around 300-350 if possible. I expect with a second hand I would have to invest in some servicing and professional checks.

Any other brands I should consider? Is there any saxophone that is around £400 new that can be ok for me to purchase?

Thank you!

I am due for surgery in 2 weeks. I am a long time weight lifter (recreationally but I usually try to push myself hard) and I've been going to the gym regularly for more than 20 years.

I am wondering how many weeks/months did it take people who went through the surgery to get back to working out even if it was a lighter version of your routine. I know every person is different and healing might look different from person to person but just trying to make an idea. I read here recently about someone who was cleared to return to working out after two weeks. I am not expecting to go back for 8-10 weeks but I am afraid it will be longer.

I recently had to start using Moroccan argan oil on my hair because it became dry. In any case I like the smell of argan oil and my wife asked me what new aftershave is this (she knows of my passion for wet shaving) and assumed it is a new aftershave and said she really likes it.

I was wondering if anyone has any suggestions of soaps and aftershaves that have argan oil and have notes of argan in the fragrance. The only one I know is Saponificio Varesino Argania (because it's in the name 😃 ) but anything else that is worth trying? Even SV Argania I understand doesn't actually smell like argan but has some notes. I will get that anyway since I've always wanted to try one of their soaps though they are quite expensive.

I just saw a video on youtube where a spine surgeon reacts to a documentary on Ronnie Coleman and his health issues following the back injury he had and the 13 surgeries. At one point he says point blank that he tells everybody NOT to squat because it will damage their spine. I trained for some years and when I went to the gym I mostly used machines and leg press variations but now I need to train at home and squats and deadlifts are pretty much a must for me as I do not have the space in my man cave for machines. What are your opinions? Are doctors just extra careful? I know there are some old school lifters that are still ok but not sure how much they squat, Tom Platz said that before him no one was training their legs doing squats and many of the other bodybuilders I've seen were not actually using that exercise, most were leg pressing and doing other forms of exercises using machines. Dorian is famous for saying that he injured his legs early and always used leg press as his main exercise for legs and never deadlifted either.

A bit of context: I've been lifting since I was a teen but only recreationally. I didn't workout for the last 6 years due to life style changes (kids and stuff). When I worked out regularly I always followed a "bro split" hitting each body part once a week, 10-12 sets per muscle, 8-12 reps. Made some OK gains but I could probably have done much better if I ate properly and trained harder.

For a period of time I also followed a more strength oriented approach with only the big lifts, basically full body 3 times a week.

This year I returned to training and did some research and turns out it is better to hit a muscle twice or even 3 times a week so I made a workout routine for myself to train each muscle twice a week.

Constraints: I can only work out during week days, I train at home where I only have free weights, barbell and dumbbells, I have a squat rack and an adjustable bench.

My main goal is to maximize hypertrophy. I am natural.

My routine:

Mon: Pull + Legs

Barbell back squat: 3 sets, 5-8 reps

Bulgarian split squats: 2 sets, for now I can only do body weight, to failure (usually 12-15 reps)

Rear delt flies: 3 sets, 8-12 reps

Barbell bent over rows: 3 sets, 6-10 reps

Deadlift (conventional): 2-3 sets, 5-8 reps

Barbell curls: 2 sets, 6-10 reps

Standing dumbbell curls: 2 sets, 6-10 reps

Tuesday: Push

Incline barbell press: 3 sets, 5-10 reps

Flat dumbbell press: 2-3 sets 8-10 reps

Seated dumbbell shoulder press - 3 sets, 6-8 reps

Dumbbell side lateral raises: 3 sets, 8-10 reps

Skull crushers (dumbbells or barbell depending on how I feel): 3 sets, 8-12 reps

behind the neck triceps extensions with a dumbbell: 2 sets: 8-10 reps.

Wednesday: day off

Thursday: Pull + Legs - same as Monday but for back I might add two sets of one arm dumbbell rows and an extra set of squats since I will have 3 days of recovery.

Friday: same as Tuesday, but add 2 sets of flat bench dumbbell flies of 10-15 reps.

It feels ok so far and seems like I can recover fine. I am not sure if it is enough volume. I am trying to go to one rep shy of technical failure for all sets except the last set of each exercise where I go to failure (where possible since for squats or barbell bench press I feel it is risky since I am alone when training)

Curious to hear some opinions on this split.

A month ago I had my first gallbladder attack ever, lasted for 6 days and eventually I went to ER twice with incredible pain and jaundice, elevated liver enzymes. CT and MRI revealed a stone was passing through my gallbladder duct and eventually was eliminated on its own and an ERCP was no longer needed.

Now I am scheduled to have my gallbladder removed in 4 weeks at a private hospital and have been watching the fat intake.

Every time a pain episode started the pain started in my stomach center area, right bellow my sternum, beginning like a gnarly feeling, like when you get hit in the solar plexus. Then in the next 10-15 minutes the pain would escalate to absolutely unbearable and move towards the right and back, and at that time I would be either on the floor (when I had to call the ambulance) or taking painkillers and just writhe for 2-3 hours and it would eventually pass.

Last evening I started with the pain in the middle of the stomach and felt in the back as well and I started panicking a little but it never got past that level. Today I felt fine but after lunch again that stomach pain came and again did not progress into the unbearable level I had when I was passing the stone and it then subsides to just a dull ache and after 1-2 hours goes away completely.

I am wondering if these could be considered gallbladder attacks, maybe the stones are not moving into the duct and other reason why gallbladder is hurting? I know I have sludge as well as confirmed by the scans I had at the hospital, can that traveling through the duct cause this type of pain?

My wife and I live in a different country than our mothers. Before we had children our mothers would visit us once a year or once every two years and stay with us for a few weeks. We also visit our home country every year.

When we had our first son we agreed that he was too young to go to the nursery at 9 months when my wife went back to work so since her mother was retiring she would come live with us for a year to sit with him while we worked. My MIL is not very pushy and does not interfere in our couple life but she has some quirks that makes her hard to live with, which I will mention later.

When my son went to nursery she went back home (she did not do this for free, we paid her mortgage off as a sign of appreciation for her help). That time she stayed with us for about 16 months non-stop.

We managed fine with our son, we did not need any help, but since our second son was born 2 years ago my wife keeps bringing her mom over "to help" but we actually do not need any help. He goes to nursery full time, we have a cleaning lady who cleans our house and all my MIL is doing is cooking and ironing. That's it. I work from home so I stay with the kids most of the time, I take them to nursery, I pick them up, I cook when I can or if my wife cannot do it. Over the past 4 years I think my MIL lived with us for about 2-2.5 years, 2-3 months at a time, sometimes for longer intervals. Over time the little things she has started getting on my nerves (constantly debates with me on things she has no knowledge about and brings stupid arguments to win, constantly interrupts my work by coming into my office unannounced and without knocking to ask about menial things even though I am in meetings, has rude comments, treats me like a child mentioning that how would we cope if she wasn't here to help us, gives clearly bad advice that is not even asked, etc) , I never complained until a few months ago when I told my wife I would like to rely on her mother's help as little as possible from now on. She said yeah, no problem. Then proceeded to bring her back for 2.5 months. I again told her that I am not comfortable living with her mom and I would really appreciate if we could be by ourselves as much as possible since we do not actually need any help and we manage fine on our own (trying to be diplomatic about it).

Recently I had some medical issues and I need to have surgery next month so we agreed that her mom will come to help with the kids while I recover which should be 2-3 weeks. We bought plane tickets for her last night but when I asked how long she wanted her to stay she said it would be good for her mother to cover the summer holidays too...so about 3 months. Even though our youngest has full time paid nursery and our older has the option of holiday club and I can manage with him at home while I work if need be. I then said I would prefer it if she didn't stay with us for so long. Then my wife got really upset, we had the worst fight, said that we owe her mother and that I am not grateful for all she did for us, all the help she gave us. I lost my temper as well, which I now regret and brought up stuff I suppressed for so long, how she brought her mother with us on all our vacations without asking me if I am ok with it, how she always takes her side, I can never say anything to her mother (even though many times does dangerous stuff like forgets to unplug the iron she used for ironing or forgets a pot she put on the stove to boil and then watches TV and the water boils to nothing and the pot just gets hot red, risking a fire. And when I said something to her, to be more careful in the nicest way possible my wife told me off).

It is also inconvenient for her to live with us. We had to convert one of our smallest bedrooms into a home office for my work and we only have 3 bedrooms left. So the youngest son has to co-sleep with us so we can keep what should be his bedroom for my MIL. This is very disruptive and I think we would benefit from moving him into his own room.

I really think we can manage just fine on our own and we do not need MIL to help with anything and frankly I want to not live in the same house as her, maybe that is one of my faults, that I feel more comfortable with only my family. I am grateful for the help she gave us but I do not feel we owe her anything (since she mentions how much she loves staying with us and she admits she doesn't do much when she is here anyway) but now that I had this argument with my wife I feel guilty and wondering if I should be more tolerant or should sacrifice some of my comfort to allow her mom to come and "help" more often. I guess I am feeling pretty shit that I made my wife feel bad and I know she must feel awful being caught between the desire to have her mom closer and me being unhappy while her mother is here.

My next door neighbour had her gallbladder removed last week and I will have my surgery 5 weeks from now. When I saw her a few days ago I asked how it went and how she feels and she mentioned she was put on a liver shrinking diet or something like that because ahe is overweight.

Is there a threshold at which that is required? I have a BMI of 28 so I am overweight but that is deceiving I think, while I am carrying some fat I also have some muscle mass since I've been lifting weights recreationally for 20 years.

The diet sounds brutal, basically starving for 2 weeks.

The NHS website doean't mention what are the criteria for going on the diet other than BMI: under 50 for 2 weeks, over 50 for 4 weeks.

I will have my gallbladder removal surgery in 5 weeks. I suffer with quite intense hay fever which I keep in check with medication but even with antihistamines I sneeze about 10-15 times a day, even more, many are unavoidable. June will be the highest season for grass pollen in the UK so I am wondering if I can get a rupture or a hernia from sneezing immediately after surgery. I will try to stay indoors as much as possible for the first week or two but even so I still think I will cough and sneeze a lot. I also have hay fever induced asthma which can cause me to cough more than normal.

I have been living in the UK for a long time and will have my surgery here, but I am originally from Romania. While researching about the procedure and recovery I checked some sources from Romania, doctors who spoke about the colecystectomy procedure in interviews but also patients who described their experience and recovery and they all mentioned that the recommendation over there is to strictly avoid fats for the first month after gallbladder removal and have bland diet of boiled lean meat, rice etc..

On the other hand when I met with my surgeon in the UK he told me that there will be no dietary restrictions and I can eat normally almost straight away. I read about people here and in the US having takeaway or "regular" food the first day after surgery. I am wondering why this is, why is there such a discrepancy in recovery advice regarding the diet between medical systems?

For muself I will definitelly take it easy and will gradually reintroduce fats into my diet just to ve extra careful.