How Builders.cam works
No sign-up needed. Your browser holds an anonymous token, so the site knows which posts are yours (that's what lets you ref them) but nobody else does. Clear your cookies and you're a new anon. An optional account keeps your posts together across devices; your username is never shown on posts.
New here? Start here
- Read. Pick a board: /prog/ physique progress, /form/ form check, /lift/ lifts, prs & breakthroughs, /fit/ general fitness. Each thread is one conversation, oldest post first.
- Reply. Hit Reply in any open thread, type, post. Leave the name empty to stay Anonymous.
- Answer a specific post. Click its number (No.123). That adds
>>123to your reply, and the other anon sees it linked under their post. - Start your own thread. On a board, hit Start a New Thread. /prog/ and /form/ need a picture or video.
- Find your replies. Your posts and answers to them are marked (You), on this browser. Want them on every device? Make an account, it's optional.
Lingo
- Anon
- Anyone posting without a name. That's most people here.
- OP
- The first post of a thread, or the person who made it.
- (You)
- Marks your own posts and quotes of them. Only you see it.
- ID
- A random tag per poster per thread, so you can tell who is who without names.
- Bump / sage
- A reply moves the thread to the top of the board. Tick sage to reply without moving it.
- Greentext
- Lines starting with
>. Used for stories and quoting. - Natty / juice
- Natural, or on steroids. Some threads let anons vote.
- PR
- Personal record. Threads tagged PR get a flame.
- Ref
- Embedding one of your own older posts, for before/after comparisons.
- Pruned / archived
- Old threads go read-only. Nothing is deleted.
Formatting
| You type | You get |
|---|---|
>be me >skip leg day for 3 years | >be me >skip leg day for 3 years |
>>1 | >>1 |
+ 100kg Bench x 5 |   Bench100kg×5 |
+ 140kg Squat x 5 x 3 felt fast |  Squat140kg×5×3sets felt fast |
!bench 100kg x 5 | Bench100kg×5 |
!sq 225lbs x 3 | Squat225lbs×3 |
!dl 200kg x 1 |  Deadlift200kg×1 |
Hips shoot up @0:04 and again @0:07.5 | Hips shoot up and again |
Quotes use the post number, the one after No., not the poster's name. Click a post's number to drop the quote into the reply box. Quotes to another thread get an arrow; numbers that don't exist are struck out.
Lift shortcuts: !bench (!bp, !benchpress), !squat (!sq, !bs), !deadlift (!dl, !dead), !ohp (!press, !op), !row (!bor, !pendlay), !curl (!curls), !pullup (!pu, !chinup, !chin), !dip (!dips). Hover a chip to see the estimated 1RM.
Features
Ref your own posts- In the post form, hit Ref one of your past posts and pick an earlier post of yours. It's embedded as a card in your new post. Only your own posts show up, and the server checks it.
Before/After slider & Compare- If both posts have a picture, your image becomes a drag slider: then on the left, now on the right. Hover or click the ref icon on the card for a side-by-side overlay.
Ref Tree- Refs chain together. The Ref Tree button opens the whole lineage, from the first pic to the latest, with bodyweight changes along the way.
Cam Snap- Tick Cam Snap and the server stamps the Builders.cam mark and the exact UTC upload time into the corner of your photo. The time comes from our clock, not your device's. GIFs and videos are not stamped.
Privacy Blur / Mask- After choosing a photo, open the editor and drag boxes over your face, tattoos or anything identifying. Pixelate, blur, black bar or our mask stamp. It all happens in your browser before upload. Every image is also re-encoded on our side, which strips EXIF and GPS data.
Quick Stats badge- Height, bodyweight and phase (cut, bulk, maintain, recomp) show next to your name. Metric or imperial. Tick remember to keep them on this device.
Form Check frames- On any video, pause where it goes wrong and hit Snap frame → reply. The frame is attached as your reply image with its timestamp. Any
@0:04in a post jumps the video to that moment. Ref an older form video of yours and the two play side by side. 
PR tag- Hit a personal record? Tag the thread as PR / Breakthrough and it gets the flame everywhere it's listed.
Natty or Juice- Turn on the vote when you make a thread. One vote per anon, and you can change your mind.
Ghost Mode- Ghost threads go private 24 hours after posting, replies included.
Bumps, the bump limit and pruning- Replies push a thread to the top. After 300 replies it stops rising. Reply with sage to post without bumping. Each board keeps 100 threads. Anything that slides off the last page, or goes 14 days without a bump, is pruned into the read-only archive.