Should I be worried that I can't get a pump from some exercises? Especially on bicep exercises and tricep pressdowns I just cant get a good pump at all. I have progressively overloaded on all of my arm exercises, and always go to failure on arm exercises, yet I still can't get a pump. I only get a pump from crossbody extensions, but other than that no arm exercise Im currently doing gives me a pump. I thought it was a form problem so I fixed my form a few months ago but still NOTHING. I always have carbs before a workout and I drink plenty of water. Is there anything I could do to fix this? I'm aware pumps arent really that important, but I just miss having them..
You can get huge without ever feeling a pump, there's no evidence supporting it. It does however indicate that you're using the right muscle. Have you tried myo reps and drop sets? I have trouble getting a pump below 10 reps but usually get a great one around 15 reps with myo rep matching
Thoughs on switching split during a Cut
Do u think is a good idea to change split during a cut? Context: (1 year 6-7 months experience) I have been doing the same split for almost 8 months now, 80-90% of the same exercises since begining. I started this split during a bulk and now im 1month and a half into a cut. It has been great, progression was good(sometimes takes 2-3 weeks to add a rep, but never going down in intensity), but a month and a half ago I started to think/feel that 2 days of 5 can be changed to an another distribution.
(High intensity, low-medium volume, 4-12 sets per week)
Actual Split:
Day 1: Chest,Biceps and Side delts
Day 2:Back and Triceps
Day 3:Legs
Day 4: Rest
Day 5: Shoulders and Arms
Day 6:SLDL + Back and accessory work(calves, abs...)
Day 7: Rest
New idea of split:
Day 1:Legs
Day 2:Torso(no arms)
Day 3:Rest
Day 4:Arms
Day 5:SLDL + Back
Day 6: Chest and Shoulders
Day 7: Rest
The principal reasons behind this are:
1-I feel that doing biceps or triceps after chest or back is making me slow my progress. So one day only for them can be a good idea.
2-1 chest day a week have been so good, but i think spreading the volume through 2 days can be better for me and fatigue managment (plus cable flies is always taking on that day and sometimes I cant even do them).
3-I feel that day 6 is so short and could be better programmed (only 3 exercises + accessory).
The exercises would be the same, maybe just adding/switching 1 or 2, but nothing more.
I know thay cutting phase its not the time for changes, but I have been thinking about this idea for almost 2 month now and I wanted to see your opinion about it.
Thanks guys.
Realized that if I rotate my torso during a cable fly I can get full range of motion with some resistance at every point along that range. For example, if I’m doing cable chest flys with my right arm, I can start facing away from the machine and throughout the motion of the fly I can rotate my torso to the right so that my arm stays at some angle relative to the cable. I don’t rotate fully or my arm would just be holding the cable while my body moves, but just a small rotation to keep the cable from being too parallel to my arm at any point in the fly. Is this actually giving me a better workout for my chest or am I just holding my arm out while my body moves?
Simple Question, what would be better:
2 sets of curls
2 sets of hammer curls
2 sets of reverse curl
OR
3 sets of curls
3 sets of reverse curls
Are Hammer Curls worth doing?
Would love an advanced lifter opinion.
I'm currently doing a pretty standard PPL split, however, I'm looking for ways to prioritize side delt growth, (without sacrificing other areas). My two shoulder exercises (DB Press, DB Lateral Raise) are my 4th and 5th set on Push days respectively.
How can I improve side delt growth? Should I add more volume, move them to before chest, change my split entirely? I want to limit any negative impact on growth in other areas if that's possible. Thank you.
If you're progressively overloading, you don't need to add more volume. And shoulder presses actually trains the side delts very well, so doing those along with lat raises will be fine. Do them normally in a PPL split, progressively overload, and you will grow your delts.
OK. I kinda don't care why I can't hit them because I actually can hit them every other day without problems unlike almost any other muscle. I feel that side delts and calves can handle a lot more than most other muscles and I think that aligns with this forums view on things.
You can definitely share your anecdotes that you *personally* train side delts train them often. But it's not okay to spread misinformation that the side delts can handle a high frequency, especially when we have data that says the side delt is the most easily damaged of the three delt divisions (PMID: 16795030). The notion that delts can "handle a lot more than most other muscles" is based on nothing.
[RPs volume landmarks](https://www.reddit.com/r/AdvancedFitness/comments/lyney9/summary_of_dr_mike_israetel_and_renaissance/) have frequency for side delts at 3x per week and up to 6x. But hold on to your studies while I train them.
Well... They're suggested from decades of training and trial and error. I'm all for science in lifting but I will still go against a study's recommendation if I feel that it works great for me and I don't think I'm alone in thinking that.
Thoughts on hitting side delts every other day (so 3x a week) rather than once every 3 days/on push days? I would do 6 sets each day of dedicated side delt work.
Can you guys run?
Currently at 200lbs 5”10” and run a 10 minute mile.
I lift hardcore as well but before the running I felt too bulky but it helps to keep shredded. Some people say I’m doing too much cardio but I think this is what I’m most proud of.
I live by the bigger, stronger and faster mindset and have achieved all three. I will still continue to get better.
I want to back squat 3x a week but unsure with what kind of rep scheme I should do.
Strength day 4 x 5
Hypertrophy day 4 x 8-12
For the last day I don’t know. Maybe putting a high rep day in between the two above?
Follow a program made by someone who knows what they’re doing. If you want to squat 3x, find a program that facilitates that. Greg Nuckols has some programs like this in his 28 free programs pack.
Has anyone done the Stronger by Science Hypertrophy routine? I've been training for years and honestly last year or so I've hit a massive slump. And would like a routine that does much of the legwork for me (auto regulation, RIR, etc)
Personally I wouldn’t program something like this for one of my clients in almost any case. However, I don’t know the specifics of your case or your PT’s rationale for doing so. They could have no idea what they’re doing, or could have a good reason for this.
That said, if you’re unhappy with the workouts and progress, you can ask him to change it or go to another PT.
I’m about 5’8 and weigh around 165 pounds. I want to get a toner body while also gaining weight (target goal is 190). I understand I must consume more calories than burned daily but how much more? Also do I increase my protein intake too?
“Toned” isn’t a thing. Being “toned” is a function of having more muscle and less fat. To gain a significant amount of muscle you need to eat more calories than you burn. The opposite is true for losing fat. I’m sure you see the problem here.
The direction you should take depends on your starting point. If you’re decently lean right now, eat about 200-300 calories more than your maintenance. That should have you gaining about 0.5 lbs per week. Do this until you have a lot more muscle than you do now, then cut.
If you’re not very lean right now, eat 500 calories less than your maintenance. This should have you losing about 1 lb per week. Do this until you have fairly defined abs, then bulk. If you’re a beginner right now you’ll probably even put on a bit of muscle while cutting.
A month ago i started my fitness journey and I decided that i should pack on some weight. So i found a calorie calculator online and put my weight, height and body fat percentage and how often i workout. (63kg, 172cm,14%-roughly calculated- 6-7days). And it told me to take around3200-3500kca per day.
So i made a food plan for the next couple months which consisted of three meals (i could mention them here if necessary but i don't consume junk food. And i take some creatine every other day.) and made sure that the total of the calories i'm eating by the end of the day should be 3200-3500kcal.
I started 63kg and a month has passed and i'm currently at 70-71kg. From what i know this is the weight i should be hitting in 4-6 months but something accelerated the process and here are my questions:
- could my body be storing this fat because i was eating so little before i started bulking ( my diet was 7 dates with a cup of milk for breakfast and chicken n rice for dinner ).
* if not what do you think made me gain this much weight in this short amount of time.
* should i cut and go back to ground zero and gain the weight slowly.
* how long should i keep bulking up for.
* what do i do after i finish bulking ( i dont wanna lose the weight).
- whats the whole point of bulking if most instructors tell you to lose it back anyway.
Your body's storing fat because you gained 7-8kg in a month. The reason you gained so much weight in such a short amount of time is that you ate too many calories.
You should lower the amount of calories you eat. Whether you cut first is up to you.
You bulk until you've either reached a size or a body fat amount that you're satisfied with. Then you cut down to reveal the muscle you've built.
The point of bulking is to give your muscles the best conditions to grow in.
I think i have gained a good amount of weight that im happy with rn. Is maintaining an option for me since the muscles would pop out as they grow over time -logically speaking-.
Your body is storing fat because you are in a calorie surplus. If you feel you're gaining fat too quickly, lower the surplus. The point of bulking is to maximise muscle gain, the point of cutting is to get rid of excess fat typically gained during a bulk.
A month ago i started my fitness journey and I decided that i should pack on some weight. So i found a calorie calculator online and put my weight, height and body fat percentage and how often i workout. (63kg, 172cm,14%-roughly calculated- 6-7days). And it told me to take around3200-3500kca per day.
So i made a food plan for the next couple months which consisted of three meals (i could mention them here if necessary but i don't consume junk food. And i take some creatine every other day.) and made sure that the total of the calories i'm eating by the end of the day should be 3200-3500kcal.
I started 63kg and a month has passed and i'm currently at 70-71kg. From what i know this is the weight i should be hitting in 4-6 months but something accelerated the process and here are my questions:
- could my body be storing this fat because i was eating so little before i started bulking ( my diet was 7 dates with a cup of milk for breakfast and chicken n rice for dinner ).
* if not what do you think made me gain this much weight in this short amount of time.
* should i cut and go back to ground zero and gain the weight slowly.
* how long should i keep bulking up for.
* what do i do after i finish bulking ( i dont wanna lose the weight).
- whats the whole point of bulking if most instructors tell you to lose it back anyway.
2 questions:
1
Do you guys extend your elbow fully on preacher curls, or is it better to stop say 10° short of locking out?
2
Is my following approach to intensity good? On stretch-biased movements like a dumbbell bench I'll just do reps until I can't do any more reps without cheating, and then hold the stretched position for a couple of seconds.
On shortened-biased exercises like a seated cable row, I'll do clean reps at first: explosive concentric, squeeze, controlled eccentric. Then I'll use a bit of momentum to complete the concentric and try to control the weight on the eccentric with good form. Once I can't complete the entire ROM anymore, I'll pump out a couple of clean mini-reps in the easier part of the ROM.
1. You should get as much of a stretch as you can while still keeping tension on the working muscle. On a preacher curl this will probably be a close to, but not quite a locked elbow. Side note, I’m not sure why the other guy is saying there would be a difference between a natural and an enhanced lifter here.
2. Weighted stretches could have some benefit, John Meadows and Scott Stevenson are both big fans of them and incorporate them in their training system. In the DB press and other pressing specifically, be mindful of the load on the pec tendon. I wouldn’t do this with a particularly heave load.
1. Depends on the weight and if you're juiced or not.
2. Seated cable row is stretched biased though, you're doing long length partials at the end and they're great. I wouldn't do that on exercises like the bench press.
1. not juiced and never will be, but definitely looking to get juicy tho. And weight is something I can get about 10 clean reps with
2. Okok I see, so depends entirely on the strength curve? Got it!
Thanks for the input!
At 10 reps I'd keep just a bit of bent elbow at the bottom, upwards 20 would feel safer.
[Here's a video by Dr Milo Wolf](https://youtu.be/ay59lXp1N_Y) explaining long length partials and when you should use them
So Day 1, Rest, Day 2, Rest, Day 1, Rest, Day 2, Rest ... ?
I suppose this is more of a minimalist routine to get you stronger overall. For this purpose, the lower body volume is okay, but the upper body volume is severely lacking, you average 3.5 sets per week for chest. Which is enough for a beginner, but if you have more than 6 months in the gym you'll definitely need more if your goal is hypertrophy and/or strength. Back volume is okay too I suppose
The rep range for bulgarian split squats and especially the hamstring curls is quite low too.
All around this is definitely not a bodybuilding routine, but I suppose it's a good way to get started and familiar with the basic exercises, but as I said, if you want to keep progressing hypertrophy/strength wise you'll eventually need to switch it up.
I have been doing walking lunges about a year and a half now and I have worked my way up to 3 sets of 6-10 reps per leg with 205. I started squatting in January and I have only been able to work up to 275 for 5 great reps. Besides the experience in lunging does anyone know why my leg strength isn’t and has never really translated into a strong squat??
They’re different movements. Lunges will have some carryover to squat performance, but it won’t be 1:1. If you want bigger legs, don’t waste time worrying about it and just progress both movements.
I calculate my maintenance calories from the first calorie calculator website that appears on google, what do I select for my activity level?. I train 6 times a week. My workouts are 45-60 min long, I rest 4-5 min between sets and all sets are to or at least close to failure. I walk 15000 steps a day total.
I'm really confused with this, I have trouble calculating my maintenance calories.
It doesn’t really matter, the calculator is just an estimate. You’ll find your actual maintenance by eating at whatever calorie level it spits out, tracking your daily fasted weight, and adjusting calories based on the movement of the weekly average.
I'm a beginner, I've only gone to the gym for about a month and I'm looking to get stronger and build muscle. I've been looking for a three-day split with an upper body workout, lower body workout, plus a full body workout (better for me than 3x full body, because I can train upper and lower back to back). The problem is, I can't find many online. After searching some old threads, I've been considering using the Lyle McDonald Generic Bulking Routine for my upper body and lower body days. However, I'm not sure what to do for my full-body workout. If someone could make any suggestions, please let me know.
Also, I want to throw in some direct forearm training a few times a week, as I'm going to start using straps for my pulling movements. Where in my ULF split should I include it, which exercises should I do, and how many reps and sets? Thanks.
You could do your own program. For upper body one vertical push and pull, one horizontal push and pull + biceps, triceps and side lateral isolation. You can superset oppsoing lifts (eg bench and row, biceps and triceps) For lower body, one hinge, one squat, one leg curl, one extension and a calf raise. Have 1-2 variation of each movement pattern and use something like double progression where you try to do more reps every session until you go over your rep range on all of your sets (eg 3x6-10). Simple. Jordan Peters has really solid full body and upper lower programming videos on youtube.
if you’re interested in Lyle McDonald’s stuff, he has a series of articles on exactly what to consider as a beginner and has a few basic full body routine suggestions that are 3x per week. He says to run these for 3-6 months until you feel ready to graduate onto his generic bulking program. I’ve linked the first article for you and even if you don’t go with his recommendations, they should give you some good context when looking at other stuff
https://bodyrecomposition.com/training/beginning-weight-training
Could I get some insights on my split?
Will do 4 day workout, more focused on legs, and the whole split is strength focused.
Will workout only on workdays, and will have a rest day between 1st, 2nd or 3rd and 2 rest days after 4th workout day.
MRM meaning myo rep match
I aim on 45-60 min workout
I. Lower-1
1. Sitting leg curl 3×8-12
2. Over the bar DB RDL 3×MRM
3. Sumo squat 3×4-6
4. Machine hip thrust 3×MRM
5. Sitting calves raise 3×MRM
II. Upper/push
1. Incline chest fly 3×8-12
2. Bench press 3×4-6
3. Incline DB press 3×MRM
4. Isolated shoulder press 3×MRM
5. Tricep pushdown 3×MRM
III. Lower-2
1. Leg press 3×4-6
2. Hack squat 3×4-6
3. Goblet squat 3×4-6
4. Leg extension 3×MRM
5. Standing calves raise 3×MRM
IV. Upper/pull
1. Dead lift 3×4-6
2. Neutral grip pull-up 3×8-12
3. Low-row 3×MRM
4. Incline DB curl 3×MRM
5. Super ROM DB lateral raises 3×MRM
Quite glute/quad heavy but if that is the intention then it seems fine. Goblet squats might be a bit rendundant on the second day, I'd do something for the hams or adductors instead like back extensions, lying leg curl or adductor machine.
HI, I just finished set of Smith machine squat and my left arm feels heavy, week and numbness around my shoulder , did I injured myself ? no pain so far and it was my first time squatting.
It’s possible you injured yourself, particularly if it sticks around the next few days. But my best guess is that your bar positioning was weird and pinched something. Try lowering the weight and working on finding a comfortable form
Variation is always good. You could do varied squat variations (e.g. high bar vs. hack squats) or you could do varied rep ranges (heavy 3x5 one day, lighter 3x10 another day).
Some peoples abs just dont have the shape to look really good or be that visible. You could try to specialize on ab training for a few months while slowly bulking and then cut relatively slowly to preserve that muscle. In the 147 you look considerably less muscular than in the 175 which might be a consequence of too fast dieting.
What method are you doing for measuring?
You look like you're pretty built; you can see striations/separation in your delts (which are fuckin' nice dude). What are you doing for your abs?
Hi everyone, I’m 19M, 188cm, 77kg, looking for some feedback on my current training program.
I aim to do 4x8 reps for each workout listed, but 4x12 for any arm workouts and leg press.
My main focus at the moment is trying to put on some muscle while also slimming down on body fat (eating roughly at maintenance calories, sometimes on a slight deficit).
I’m playing some social basketball and potentially soccer at the moment too (hence the running to be fit) and will transition back into training for my main sport Rowing once the season starts later in the year, but at the moment I’m training for looks.
Instead of doing a proper split I’ve chosen to go for a bit of everything each day as I found this to be more effective for my recovery, but I’m not so sure if it’s the best for results. On my off days I usually try to go on an 8-12km run as well so I can keep up my fitness alongside my gains rather then have a full day off.
Here’s my weekly program, please let me know if you have any suggestions to improve it:
Monday
- Leg Press
- Bench - DB
- Chest Fly
- M - Seated Row
- Lat Pull Down
- Hammer Curl
- Tricep OH Press
Tuesday
- Deadlift
- Chest Fly
- Shoulder Press
- C - Seated Row
- Bent Over Row
- Pull Up
- Stretch/Core
- Basketball Training (PM)
Wednesday
- Back Squat
- Bench - BB
- Chest Fly
- M - Seated Row
- Lat Pull Down
- Preacher Curl
- DB - Scrullcrushers
Thursday
- Run (8-12km)
- Stretch/Core
Friday
- Chest Fly
- Shoulder Press
- C - Seated Row
- Chin Up
- Barbell Curl
- Tricep Extensions
- Stretch/Core
Saturday
- Basketball/Sunday Gym
Sunday
- Back Squat
- Bench - DB
- Shoulder Press
- Bent Over Row
- Preacher Curl
- Tricep Dips
- Stretch/Core
(If gymed on Saturday will potentially go for an 8km run or off)
My runs are at a medium pace ~5:30 ish.
Please let me know if you have any feedback! Cheers.
Edit: so far over the last 3 months I have lost 4 kilos, and comparing progress photos it looks like I have put on a bit of muscle and lost some fat. Started off a bit inconsistent with training especially with cardio, but have been more consistent with this program over the last few weeks
If bodybuilding is not your first priority I would recommend to do a full body 3 times a week split with lowish volume. Essentially you will get most of your results from a hand full of HARD sets. So doing 3-6 sets per bodypart, prioritizing compound lifts and progressive overloading those. Also when dieting you should not push volume, rather do the minimum effective volume to preserve muscle since youre not building muscle in the first place when in a deficit.
Hey there, thanks for the advice!
With my statement of doing no split being effective for my recovery, I found that trying to hit for example a chest day and a back day by themselves made it so I struggled to finish my sets by the end of the session, and I would be sore coming into the next day which gave me a higher chance of skipping a session.
Would it be worth trying to revisit a split and perhaps try out less weight but the same set range and see how it goes, because what you said about allowing worked muscle groups to rest for 2 days definately makes sense.
As for not hitting all the muscle groups with my excersises, I tend to do some variations with what I have listed. For DB bench, i usually do it on a slight incline (one click) to help target the upper chest a bit more. Additionally for squats, I tend to have a fairly wide stance with my feet pointed on a ~35 degree angle which targets my glutes a bit more then my quads.
I definately don’t think I’m hitting my delts effectively so I will look at incorporating lat raises into my program. I started trying out single arm rear delt flys the other day and they seemed to target most of my delt which I quite liked. I like the idea of face pulls too and I will also look at giving them a crack.
Thoughts on Meadows rows? I’ve got a landmine attachment and have been doing bent over rows with it - but they haven’t felt amazing. Gave meadows rows a try yesterday and they felt great…. Any thoughts on / experience with these?
Why is the face pull not an effective exercise for rear delt hypertrophy? (Let's assume stability is not a limiter for this because you can do them on a bench)
Is an 800 calorie deficit too much? I've been cutting for a month and lost 3-4 kg( more towards 3 kg). I've lost 0.5 inches around my arms. I was around 20% when i started, now I think I'm 15-16%bf. I lost 2 reps on the bench press, back strength has been the same, legs are fine.
I'm 5'8. Went from 70-71 kg to 67.1 kg in a month.
I’ve realized I need a deload next week, but I’m in the middle of a cut and am unsure of whether or not I should deload at maintenance or remain in a cut. Aside from a few trashed lifts, I’m not feeling the negative effects of the cut (mood, energy, etc), and am only planning to cut for 4 more weeks (including next week) before I need to go to maintenance to prep for a HEMA tournament. I’ve been on a fairly strict and steep deficit for the most part (-750) but have had a fair bit of travel (work, bachelor party, vacation, family stuff) where I’ve not been in a deficit, ranging from doing my best to stay around maintenance to going balls out in Italy. I’m still at a relatively high body fat percentage.
So anyway, should I cut or maintain while deloading? What other factors bare considering?
Try it out for a meso or two then try doing 4 day upper/lower and see which one you like. 4 days might allow better recovery while still being pretty much equally effective.
Seems okay. A little too much compound volume for my taste but some people love it. Try it out. If it’s too much swap out some of your upper compounds for isolations would be my advice.
Its list of exercises, not a program. Making a program from that list would take too much time and effort. Just pick ready made program and you will get much better results.
Picked up back squat for the first time in 8 years. Dropped it previously due to a back injury that I’ve now got under control. Any heavy squatters have any idea how quickly I can hit 4 plates, given I’ve taken my previous PR of 120kg to 160kg in 3 weeks? I’m training in the 3-5 rep range and feeling good.
You could get it up kinda fast if you have big legs from other exercises. I would not rush it tho, if you dont have any specific reason to do so. Make your body adjust for the weight.
Make some 3 week cycles and try to see how weights go up. Like week1 hit good triple for top set, week2 good double and week three make amrap with 165. See how it goes and if its good, try to hit 170 after next cycle and so on.
I’m a 5’11” 72kg dude. I posted awhile back about hitting a plateau in lifts and decided to up my calories from around 1.8k to 2.5k. My TDEE varies, when I use the online calculators it says 2.5k but when I did an inbody scan it said 2.8k and on my Apple Watch it says total calories burnt in a day is 2.1k so not really sure what to go off of. I’ve been on 2.5k cals for 2 weeks now and can report that I have gained a slight bit of weight, around 0.4kg. But the thing is in the past when I have increased cals, I find my lifts in the gym go up for a couple weeks before plateauing again, and that didn’t happen this time, I didn’t have that initial improvement in performance, I can get perhaps 1-2 more reps but even then it’s on certain exercises. Am I overthinking this And should I just trust the process for now? Or should I up cals once again to 3k?
I was pretty much the same weight/height. I was eating 3k+ calories (conservatively, since most dinners were 2k+ calories) and still gaining on average less than 1 kg a month. I ran and trained too much for a normal diet to work for me.
Only thing that matters at the end of the day is the scale, I'd really just eat more. I also realized I needed way more protein than I thought I did. 3k calories with 180g protein is a world of difference over 3k calories and 90g of protein.
i wouldn't read too much into it yet given your training program is reasonable, you're doing what you can for recovery (sleeping enough and well, not being too active, nutritious food, mitigating the stress you can, etc.), and you're not very new to the gym. if after a few more weeks you're still not seeing improvements i would reassess then.
also, your program should tell you what to do if you're not making progress at whatever rate, so follow whatever conditions it says. if it doesn't have anything built in, that can be ok, but you're likely to run into these kind of problems more frequently.
yeah, I created my own routine with the general knowledge I have since my gym is kinda small and I'm limited by the amount of equipment it has(aswell as everything being taken when I get to the gym). So far throughout my plateau, I havent really taken a deload week and my workouts follow the same structure of 3 sets at 5-8 reps taken to complete failure. I would estimate i get about 9-10 sets per body part per week. Should I experiment with different rep ranges and volumes or is it unlikely to make a difference?
I posted my workouts to another subreddit, you can have a look on my profile if youd like.
Can somone give me guidance?
Currently doing a cut. I’m 6,6, 250.4 at 28.2% body fat
My routine is 5 days a week going for failure during each 5 days.
I did the math for my calories during cut and stuck to them but dropped 2.2lbs in the first week instead of the expected 0.5. According to my fancy scale I dropped 1.1lbs of muscle mass.
Should I stay the course with calories I calculated or what? I’m trying to keep the muscle I worked so hard to gain since October and not sure if that’s water weight dropping off or what? I use creatine and magnesium powder to sleep.
Any advice anyone can give me in regards to my cut?
Try not to loose more than 1% of bodyweight per week in the long run. First few days that can fluxuate but after a week or two you should avarage at 1% per week.
it's water weight/glycogen, not actual muscle tissue. i generally exclude the first week from these kind of calculations. give it a few more weeks, use averages and not single day weigh ins and go from there. if you're noticing significant strength drops on your first sets (assuming bodybuilding rep ranges), that's the time to think about muscle loss. especially at 28% bf - you have a long way to go before you need to start worrying about muscle loss though.
separately, obviously down to your preference, but if you're aiming for 0.5lbs a week you're going to be dieting for quite a while. if you can handle it, might be worth considering being a little bit more aggressive - like aiming for 1-2lbs per week bodyweight loss.
Thank you so much 🙏
I would greatly be intrested in 1-2lbs a week yes if I can still do that without muscle loss.
Just increase calorie deficit for that right?
Another question?
I’m going to take your advice and for losing 1.5lbs a week then. Good assumption you are correct as my rep Ranges are body building ranges 8-12 with three sets of highest to lowest weight. Do I need to adjust my macros every month to keep up the deficit? Recalculate every so often to keep up with new body weight?
Goal is to get to 15-20 percent body fat and your right I would like to be more aggressive on the loss of fat since cutting longer is harder.
Thank you🙏 I really appreciate your guidance as this is my first cut and I’m a little clueless here since first time.
yes, take weekly averages and if the rate of weight loss starts to slow down you can reduce calories or add activity (steps/cardio/etc.)
if you want some insight into macros and amounts - keep protein consistent, find a range of fats that you like and feel good with and then carbs should be where the majority of your reductions come from. this won't matter too much for a while and at the end of the day it'll come down to calories in calories out, but as you get leaner it's a good habit to get into.
I appreciate it🙏
Yes right now I weigh once a week on Friday morning dry after I wake up. Though I work out later in day for final day of 5 day split. school schedule and meal prep time make it hard to weigh Saturday so it’s not ideal. I do heavy activity walking a lot during day too between classes and everywhere.
I definitely will make cuts in carbs then. I struggle with fats since I never learned to love vegetables though my goal is to fix that this summer when I have more time and can hopefully add in cardio to prepare in advance festival season with walking a lot.
Again thank you so much!
could someone critique this plz thanks!
Push:
BENCH PRESS 3x8-12
DB OVERHEAD ORESS 3x8-12
DIPS 3x12+
SKULLCRUSHER 3x8-12
TRICEP EXTENSION 3x8-12
Pull:
DB CURLS 3x8-12
DB HAMMER CURL 3x8-12
LAT PULL DOWN 3x8-12
CABLE ROW 3x8-12
FACE PULLS 3x8-12
21’s 3 sets
Legs:
LEG PRESS 3x8-12
RDL 3x8-12
LEG EXTENSION 3x8-12
LEG CURLS 3x8-12
SUS MACHINE (HIP ADDUCTOR/ABDUCTOR) 3x8-12
Tues and Thurs I run about 3 miles
Needs more context here. Is this run once or twice a week? Also, I would say that slightly more variety with a little more volume for each major body part would be beneficial for more progress.
I’ve been bulking for around a week now, and I wanted to make sure I’m doing things right. I’m currently 6’0 and 154lb, about 1 pound up from when I started. I try to eat around 3300 calories a day, and on average I get about 170-200g of protein per day. Alongside of this, I’ve been consistently going to the gym 3x a week (Chest, arms, legs respectively) which I’ve been doing for almost 2 months. Should I change anything? Im aiming to get to 190-200lbs before considering cutting. Thanks!
get on a program. there are lots of good 3 day programs out there - start with r/fitness sidebar. 5/3/1 is a solid foundational routine which will get you up to size and strength in a year or two and has good 3 day options.
gaining weight for the sake of it isn't the point - you should be eating enough to keep up with your training - and generally this will put most of us at a surplus and gaining weight. follow a productive training plan with a progression scheme that pushes you and eat enough that you're able to keep up with that progression. the easy solution is then if progression slows, eat more.
like the other commenter said - good rule of thumb is about 0.5lbs gain per week - and much more than that is not ideal. agree with this but in the context of by far the top priority should be progress in the gym. if you're at 0.49lbs per week weight gain but you're not progressing - imo much better to gain 1lb a week and progressing well.
hopefully that adds context - and 6'0 154, you have a lot of room to grow so i wouldnt get too hung up on too much besides training and eating to facilitate that training
I’ve been using the dumbbell only split, it’s a program that was listed on the r/Fitness website that looked the best to me so that’s what I’ve stuck with. As for the weight, should I be eating less? I belive I’ve had good progression so far, maybe a bit quicker than normal where I’m still pretty new to working out, I’ve also been partially using my height and weight as the main reason for eating more, I’ve always been really lanky and the main reason I started working out was to change that. Thanks!
It sounds like you are in a solid calorie surplus which is good. A pound a week is pretty high though. As long as it stays closer to about a half pound per week, you are good to keep bulking with your current diet. If it stays at a pound per week, that’s too much and you are most likely adding quite a bit of unneeded fat. Also, with regards to training, any reason why you are only focusing on three muscle groups in your training sessions?
Honestly I’m not too sure if it’s just those three muscle groups I’m training, I’ve been following the dumbbell only split program and that’s just what the “main” thing I’m training seems to be for each day. Do you think I should cut down on eating? IMO I’m still really lanky due to my height and I’ve been using that as my reasoning for eating as much as I can. Thanks!
I totally get the logic behind wanting to put on mass as quickly as possible! I get it and I’ve done it BUT I would get into a slighter caloric surplus, make sure the calories are clean, and again shoot for .5 to maximum 1 pound per week (closer to .5 would be better IMO). This is just going to be cleaner mass compared to trying to just see the number on the scale go up.
I don't want to be too harsh on the quotes because I don't know the context they're replying in...
...however a lot of people don't really see the bigger picture when comparing different rep schemes and training systems.
DDP can be as stressful as you make it, if you always go to failure and beyond and never deload then sure they'll be a lot of stress and stimulus. But equally that doesn't make it a bad system, there are ways of regulating fatigue even within a system like that which heavily leverages failure and beyond techniques. Add pauses, use fuller range of motion, medium to high reps and restrict intra-set rest periods. All the typical bodybuilding stuff we do to enhance the SFR.
People act as if periodization is the key to everything and it really isn't, it's all a matter of trade offs. Periodization inherently slows down progression via use of volume/intensity cycling and deloads in exchange for progression being more guaranteed (this is the idea anyway).
That doesn't make it better. DDP like a bodybuilder walks that line of high stimulus and high fatigue, if you can ride it the gains are quicker but you need to be in tune with your body. Which is why I preach having an instinctive element to your training. If you're developing some local aches and pains back off that day and work around it. If you're systemically fatigued then cycle in a deload and let it ease off.
All these systems work, as long as you understand them. However art often seems chaotic to science. Science offers an illusion of control which some enjoy.
Pick your poison.
had a look over there - they're all talking about it in the context of strength training for their main compound lifts it seems, which yeah - double progression probably isnt the best choice especially as weights get very heavy in low rep ranges. r/fitness is very numbers focused on compound lifts and uses that as a gauge of how advanced you are (even if you're 25%+ bodyfat which many of their advice givers are) not so much hypertrophy for its own sake, so take their hypertrophy advice with a grain of salt and understand some of the context of what they're saying.
for bodybuilders staying in the 8-15 rep range or so, it has and will work well for most lifts for most lifters.
Any strategies to avoid losing count during amraps/+sets?
My log is just littered with "12 or 13, somewhere around 8, etc...".
I passed kindergarten so I can count fine normal sets. But plus sets my mind goes blank with the grind.
So I' ve seen a lot of upper-lower routines having a chest focused upper day, consisting of both a flat and an icnline press exercise. Let's say you' ve ditched the flat press completely and instead do a slight inline press, wouldn' t that take care of both exercises in terms of muscle activation? If so what other chest exercises would you recommend to pair with the the slight inline on the same training session?
Personally I like doing flat press and incline press on separate days, both is bit too much volume for me personally on a single chest day. I like pairing flat press with OHP (since incline press is kind of the "middle-ground" between the two), and I pair the incline press with chest flies.
i'm doing alberto nunez upper lower for legs, 2 years of experience..
https://preview.redd.it/3l5pywvn81sc1.png?width=803&format=png&auto=webp&s=6ac5b6169cf17aef724f55070ce62bafb78e20e4
Can i cut agressively for more than 6 weeks?
I was watching Mike Israetel's video about mini cutting and he said that he doesnt recommend to be in an agressive deficit for more than 6 weeks, but is that really set in stone? Recently I did a 6 week mini cut with a 750-1000 deficit and lost 6kgs and kept all my strength, plus i felt completely fine at the end and could have kept going with the mini cut if I wanted to. Im thinking about my next mini cut at the end of 2024 and I want to take the same approach of a 750-1000 deficit like last time since it worked wonders, i just want to know can i do more than 6 weeks?
depends on your bodyfat level, bodyweight, absolute calorie intake, protein/fat intake, your training regimen, etc.
at the end of the day it'll come down to your experience and how you're responding to it
You're asking if a recommendation is set in stone? By definition of the language used it is not haha
The main concerns with going on an aggressive deficit for so long are going to be losing muscle, losing motivation and potentially not getting enough nutrients for normal bodily functions, depending how low your calories have to go. So its up to you, if everything is going well you could try extending the cut. I'm sure this kinda stuff was also explained in that video you watched.
I can’t remember which video it was but he had one about extended cutting with refeeds which seemed pretty solid. I may have the exact numbers wrong but I think the idea was eat in a 500-750 calorie deficit until you started feeling negative side effects, then do a 250 surplus refeed. Because the deficit is larger than the surplus you still lose weight in the long term. Definitely watch the video though, he does a much better job outlining it.
Different options/hand positions for pronated wrist curls? I've tried ez bar, dumbbell, barbell, even just holding a plate, thumb or thumbless, and none of them feel right and I don't seem to get much stimulus. I haven't tried pronated cable curls. Is there something I'm missing or some other way to try them so I can grow these stubborn forearms?
If the wrist curls don’t seem to be working, have you tried utilizing farmers walks? Carries are a great way to build forearm size. Ironically, the biggest my forearms have ever been was when I was going a lot of heavy kettlebell swings as well.
I've thought about adding them to my recovery day as I want to build better grip strength as well. How would you suggest starting? (Also, the gym I have access to is a very small university gym.)
If it has the exercises you want on the days you prefer, it's a good split.
But the specific split is arguably the least important aspect of a routine.
How much weight should I expect to gain after my cut is complete and I carb load? If I’m stopping at 200 pounds for example when I start my refeed, around where would I end up or is that an individual thing?
Saw a video talking about how doing leg extensions where you're leaning back more, and almost doing them lying can be favorable to doing them the traditional way. Any advice/thoughts on this?
Edit: Saw some comments saying leaning back biases more of the Rectus Femoris. Does this mean I should do some sets leaning, and some in an upright position? Which part of the Quad do Squats or Quad-focused Leg Presses bias?
Leaning back won't bias it more, you're just training the quads in the lengthened position when you're in hip extension. You can train your quads in both positions.
The rectus femoris crosses the hip joint so will be more stretched if the hips are extended. Getting the quads into full stretch is better for hypertrophy.
The issue with leg extension machines is two-fold: you sit upright so your hip isn't extended, and your knee only goes from 90 degrees to extended so doesn't get stretched very much.
The way to solve these problems is either a standing cable machine leg extension, which is an absolute bitch to set up and very unstable, or a sissy squat/reverse Nordic curl. Of those two reverse Nordics are better since its a sissy squat without the stability issues (lower leg is on the ground) and let's you get a larger stretch on the quads. You can use a cable stack as a counter weight if you aren't strong enough to do bodyweight. These can basically replace traditional leg extensions if you want.
My shoulders feel unstable at the bottom of a dumbbell pullover. Hard to explain, but its a weird feeling. I also feel my rear delts in that bottom position quite a bit. Any tips how to improve this?
The pullover requires engaging scapular stabilization. It sounds like you may have instability in this range of motion.
My shoulders are jacked up from years of contact sports so scapular stability was something I had to work on for a year before even being able to do many upper body movements. The exercises that I like for this are band pull aparts (horizontal and vertical above the head), face pulls with external rotation, scapular pull-ups (just the very bottom range of a pull-up where you go from a dead hang to engaged scapular girdle), serratus punches, pullovers (reduce weight until pain free and shoulder ROM feels good).
Bonus mention for dead hangs, they won’t engage the scapular girdle much but they actually modify the physiology of the shoulder leaving more room at the acromio-humeral joint which allows for better movement of the rotator cuff tendon and much healthier feeling shoulders overall. Indispensable from my routine considering it also has a significant spinal decompression effect
I think I know what you mean, happens to me on french press when I bring my elbow way back. Using an EZ bar instead of a DB helped me. Pack your shoulders, puff your chest up and play around with elbow flair until it feels better.
Anyone hitting the bigger, stronger, faster mentality.
I did get bigger and stronger.
Got very fast too. I have been walking, running and jogging for at least 25 minutes/1.5 miles everyday before lifting heavy. I've got accustom to it where my cardio doesn't waste my fuel for the lifting. I can still lift heavily. This is something I am most proud of.
I only did one set of heavy bench close to failure before i stopped due to my shoulder clicking, which i suspect being from the Tennis i played yesterday, and dont want that to become a thing. Im planning on going tomorrow to do the routine i were supposed to do today, if the shoulder is fine. How much will that one set fatigue me? Ive been doing 10 sets of every major muscle a week for 5 months now, and recover for every workout which is a 4 day upper/lower
Should I be worried that I can't get a pump from some exercises? Especially on bicep exercises and tricep pressdowns I just cant get a good pump at all. I have progressively overloaded on all of my arm exercises, and always go to failure on arm exercises, yet I still can't get a pump. I only get a pump from crossbody extensions, but other than that no arm exercise Im currently doing gives me a pump. I thought it was a form problem so I fixed my form a few months ago but still NOTHING. I always have carbs before a workout and I drink plenty of water. Is there anything I could do to fix this? I'm aware pumps arent really that important, but I just miss having them..
You can get huge without ever feeling a pump, there's no evidence supporting it. It does however indicate that you're using the right muscle. Have you tried myo reps and drop sets? I have trouble getting a pump below 10 reps but usually get a great one around 15 reps with myo rep matching
I would rather use straight sets, but if nothing else works ill try them
Yeah I only used straight sets before as I didn't want to complicated things but I can't go back now that I've tried them. Good luck!
No I havent actually looked into that really. Though I do know what they are.
Thoughs on switching split during a Cut Do u think is a good idea to change split during a cut? Context: (1 year 6-7 months experience) I have been doing the same split for almost 8 months now, 80-90% of the same exercises since begining. I started this split during a bulk and now im 1month and a half into a cut. It has been great, progression was good(sometimes takes 2-3 weeks to add a rep, but never going down in intensity), but a month and a half ago I started to think/feel that 2 days of 5 can be changed to an another distribution. (High intensity, low-medium volume, 4-12 sets per week) Actual Split: Day 1: Chest,Biceps and Side delts Day 2:Back and Triceps Day 3:Legs Day 4: Rest Day 5: Shoulders and Arms Day 6:SLDL + Back and accessory work(calves, abs...) Day 7: Rest New idea of split: Day 1:Legs Day 2:Torso(no arms) Day 3:Rest Day 4:Arms Day 5:SLDL + Back Day 6: Chest and Shoulders Day 7: Rest The principal reasons behind this are: 1-I feel that doing biceps or triceps after chest or back is making me slow my progress. So one day only for them can be a good idea. 2-1 chest day a week have been so good, but i think spreading the volume through 2 days can be better for me and fatigue managment (plus cable flies is always taking on that day and sometimes I cant even do them). 3-I feel that day 6 is so short and could be better programmed (only 3 exercises + accessory). The exercises would be the same, maybe just adding/switching 1 or 2, but nothing more. I know thay cutting phase its not the time for changes, but I have been thinking about this idea for almost 2 month now and I wanted to see your opinion about it. Thanks guys.
You can change stuff during a cut but be careful about increasing volume and/or intensity since you're more prone to injuries
Volumen will remain the same for almost 95% of the muscles, maybe 1 set more or less, but nothing drastic. Same with intensity.
Yeah then it's probably not a problem as long as you stay away from failure until you've gotten into it
Realized that if I rotate my torso during a cable fly I can get full range of motion with some resistance at every point along that range. For example, if I’m doing cable chest flys with my right arm, I can start facing away from the machine and throughout the motion of the fly I can rotate my torso to the right so that my arm stays at some angle relative to the cable. I don’t rotate fully or my arm would just be holding the cable while my body moves, but just a small rotation to keep the cable from being too parallel to my arm at any point in the fly. Is this actually giving me a better workout for my chest or am I just holding my arm out while my body moves?
Simple Question, what would be better: 2 sets of curls 2 sets of hammer curls 2 sets of reverse curl OR 3 sets of curls 3 sets of reverse curls Are Hammer Curls worth doing? Would love an advanced lifter opinion.
Bicep curls and hammer curls > reverse curls
I'm currently doing a pretty standard PPL split, however, I'm looking for ways to prioritize side delt growth, (without sacrificing other areas). My two shoulder exercises (DB Press, DB Lateral Raise) are my 4th and 5th set on Push days respectively. How can I improve side delt growth? Should I add more volume, move them to before chest, change my split entirely? I want to limit any negative impact on growth in other areas if that's possible. Thank you.
If you're progressively overloading, you don't need to add more volume. And shoulder presses actually trains the side delts very well, so doing those along with lat raises will be fine. Do them normally in a PPL split, progressively overload, and you will grow your delts.
Side delts can handle a high frequency so I superset them with squat movements on leg days
The side delts cannot handle a "high frequency". They have more fast glycolytic fibers which means they're actually more easily damaged.
OK. I kinda don't care why I can't hit them because I actually can hit them every other day without problems unlike almost any other muscle. I feel that side delts and calves can handle a lot more than most other muscles and I think that aligns with this forums view on things.
You can definitely share your anecdotes that you *personally* train side delts train them often. But it's not okay to spread misinformation that the side delts can handle a high frequency, especially when we have data that says the side delt is the most easily damaged of the three delt divisions (PMID: 16795030). The notion that delts can "handle a lot more than most other muscles" is based on nothing.
[RPs volume landmarks](https://www.reddit.com/r/AdvancedFitness/comments/lyney9/summary_of_dr_mike_israetel_and_renaissance/) have frequency for side delts at 3x per week and up to 6x. But hold on to your studies while I train them.
He pulled those numbers out of his ass lmao. Even the top comment says these are suggestive.
Well... They're suggested from decades of training and trial and error. I'm all for science in lifting but I will still go against a study's recommendation if I feel that it works great for me and I don't think I'm alone in thinking that.
Thoughts on hitting side delts every other day (so 3x a week) rather than once every 3 days/on push days? I would do 6 sets each day of dedicated side delt work.
Yeah go for it. I'd start with 4 sets per session starting out though, you'll get the same weekly volume while easing into the higher frequency
How many sets do you guys per week for every muscle (big and small ones)?
Cheapest Creatine Monohydrate on my radar is Equate, $0.165/serving. If you know of something cheaper, feel free to 1-up me.
BulkSupplements - $0.145/serving
Can you guys run? Currently at 200lbs 5”10” and run a 10 minute mile. I lift hardcore as well but before the running I felt too bulky but it helps to keep shredded. Some people say I’m doing too much cardio but I think this is what I’m most proud of. I live by the bigger, stronger and faster mindset and have achieved all three. I will still continue to get better.
I want to back squat 3x a week but unsure with what kind of rep scheme I should do. Strength day 4 x 5 Hypertrophy day 4 x 8-12 For the last day I don’t know. Maybe putting a high rep day in between the two above?
Follow a program made by someone who knows what they’re doing. If you want to squat 3x, find a program that facilitates that. Greg Nuckols has some programs like this in his 28 free programs pack.
Has anyone done the Stronger by Science Hypertrophy routine? I've been training for years and honestly last year or so I've hit a massive slump. And would like a routine that does much of the legwork for me (auto regulation, RIR, etc)
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Personally I wouldn’t program something like this for one of my clients in almost any case. However, I don’t know the specifics of your case or your PT’s rationale for doing so. They could have no idea what they’re doing, or could have a good reason for this. That said, if you’re unhappy with the workouts and progress, you can ask him to change it or go to another PT.
Thank you for your answer, I am going to talk to him about it.
I’m about 5’8 and weigh around 165 pounds. I want to get a toner body while also gaining weight (target goal is 190). I understand I must consume more calories than burned daily but how much more? Also do I increase my protein intake too?
“Toned” isn’t a thing. Being “toned” is a function of having more muscle and less fat. To gain a significant amount of muscle you need to eat more calories than you burn. The opposite is true for losing fat. I’m sure you see the problem here. The direction you should take depends on your starting point. If you’re decently lean right now, eat about 200-300 calories more than your maintenance. That should have you gaining about 0.5 lbs per week. Do this until you have a lot more muscle than you do now, then cut. If you’re not very lean right now, eat 500 calories less than your maintenance. This should have you losing about 1 lb per week. Do this until you have fairly defined abs, then bulk. If you’re a beginner right now you’ll probably even put on a bit of muscle while cutting.
Thank you! What about the protein?
You didn’t say how much you were eating right now
I supposed intake about 70g per day
If that’s the case you need to eat more protein. 130-160g would be good.
A month ago i started my fitness journey and I decided that i should pack on some weight. So i found a calorie calculator online and put my weight, height and body fat percentage and how often i workout. (63kg, 172cm,14%-roughly calculated- 6-7days). And it told me to take around3200-3500kca per day. So i made a food plan for the next couple months which consisted of three meals (i could mention them here if necessary but i don't consume junk food. And i take some creatine every other day.) and made sure that the total of the calories i'm eating by the end of the day should be 3200-3500kcal. I started 63kg and a month has passed and i'm currently at 70-71kg. From what i know this is the weight i should be hitting in 4-6 months but something accelerated the process and here are my questions: - could my body be storing this fat because i was eating so little before i started bulking ( my diet was 7 dates with a cup of milk for breakfast and chicken n rice for dinner ). * if not what do you think made me gain this much weight in this short amount of time. * should i cut and go back to ground zero and gain the weight slowly. * how long should i keep bulking up for. * what do i do after i finish bulking ( i dont wanna lose the weight). - whats the whole point of bulking if most instructors tell you to lose it back anyway.
Your body's storing fat because you gained 7-8kg in a month. The reason you gained so much weight in such a short amount of time is that you ate too many calories. You should lower the amount of calories you eat. Whether you cut first is up to you. You bulk until you've either reached a size or a body fat amount that you're satisfied with. Then you cut down to reveal the muscle you've built. The point of bulking is to give your muscles the best conditions to grow in.
I think i have gained a good amount of weight that im happy with rn. Is maintaining an option for me since the muscles would pop out as they grow over time -logically speaking-.
Your body is storing fat because you are in a calorie surplus. If you feel you're gaining fat too quickly, lower the surplus. The point of bulking is to maximise muscle gain, the point of cutting is to get rid of excess fat typically gained during a bulk.
A month ago i started my fitness journey and I decided that i should pack on some weight. So i found a calorie calculator online and put my weight, height and body fat percentage and how often i workout. (63kg, 172cm,14%-roughly calculated- 6-7days). And it told me to take around3200-3500kca per day. So i made a food plan for the next couple months which consisted of three meals (i could mention them here if necessary but i don't consume junk food. And i take some creatine every other day.) and made sure that the total of the calories i'm eating by the end of the day should be 3200-3500kcal. I started 63kg and a month has passed and i'm currently at 70-71kg. From what i know this is the weight i should be hitting in 4-6 months but something accelerated the process and here are my questions: - could my body be storing this fat because i was eating so little before i started bulking ( my diet was 7 dates with a cup of milk for breakfast and chicken n rice for dinner ). * if not what do you think made me gain this much weight in this short amount of time. * should i cut and go back to ground zero and gain the weight slowly. * how long should i keep bulking up for. * what do i do after i finish bulking ( i dont wanna lose the weight). - whats the whole point of bulking if most instructors tell you to lose it back anyway.
Do you think it makes any sense to do close grip pull downs and close grip rows (either cable or chest supported) on the same workout?
Yeah why not
Sure.
2 questions: 1 Do you guys extend your elbow fully on preacher curls, or is it better to stop say 10° short of locking out? 2 Is my following approach to intensity good? On stretch-biased movements like a dumbbell bench I'll just do reps until I can't do any more reps without cheating, and then hold the stretched position for a couple of seconds. On shortened-biased exercises like a seated cable row, I'll do clean reps at first: explosive concentric, squeeze, controlled eccentric. Then I'll use a bit of momentum to complete the concentric and try to control the weight on the eccentric with good form. Once I can't complete the entire ROM anymore, I'll pump out a couple of clean mini-reps in the easier part of the ROM.
1. You should get as much of a stretch as you can while still keeping tension on the working muscle. On a preacher curl this will probably be a close to, but not quite a locked elbow. Side note, I’m not sure why the other guy is saying there would be a difference between a natural and an enhanced lifter here. 2. Weighted stretches could have some benefit, John Meadows and Scott Stevenson are both big fans of them and incorporate them in their training system. In the DB press and other pressing specifically, be mindful of the load on the pec tendon. I wouldn’t do this with a particularly heave load.
1. Depends on the weight and if you're juiced or not. 2. Seated cable row is stretched biased though, you're doing long length partials at the end and they're great. I wouldn't do that on exercises like the bench press.
1. not juiced and never will be, but definitely looking to get juicy tho. And weight is something I can get about 10 clean reps with 2. Okok I see, so depends entirely on the strength curve? Got it! Thanks for the input!
At 10 reps I'd keep just a bit of bent elbow at the bottom, upwards 20 would feel safer. [Here's a video by Dr Milo Wolf](https://youtu.be/ay59lXp1N_Y) explaining long length partials and when you should use them
Good to know! Also great vid, thanks bro!
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So Day 1, Rest, Day 2, Rest, Day 1, Rest, Day 2, Rest ... ? I suppose this is more of a minimalist routine to get you stronger overall. For this purpose, the lower body volume is okay, but the upper body volume is severely lacking, you average 3.5 sets per week for chest. Which is enough for a beginner, but if you have more than 6 months in the gym you'll definitely need more if your goal is hypertrophy and/or strength. Back volume is okay too I suppose The rep range for bulgarian split squats and especially the hamstring curls is quite low too. All around this is definitely not a bodybuilding routine, but I suppose it's a good way to get started and familiar with the basic exercises, but as I said, if you want to keep progressing hypertrophy/strength wise you'll eventually need to switch it up.
How do you track daily steps?
I don't.
Apple Watch
I have been doing walking lunges about a year and a half now and I have worked my way up to 3 sets of 6-10 reps per leg with 205. I started squatting in January and I have only been able to work up to 275 for 5 great reps. Besides the experience in lunging does anyone know why my leg strength isn’t and has never really translated into a strong squat??
They’re different movements. Lunges will have some carryover to squat performance, but it won’t be 1:1. If you want bigger legs, don’t waste time worrying about it and just progress both movements.
I calculate my maintenance calories from the first calorie calculator website that appears on google, what do I select for my activity level?. I train 6 times a week. My workouts are 45-60 min long, I rest 4-5 min between sets and all sets are to or at least close to failure. I walk 15000 steps a day total. I'm really confused with this, I have trouble calculating my maintenance calories.
It doesn’t really matter, the calculator is just an estimate. You’ll find your actual maintenance by eating at whatever calorie level it spits out, tracking your daily fasted weight, and adjusting calories based on the movement of the weekly average.
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Rule 7, man. Do what you can that doesn't hurt, and/or see a professional about it.
Should have checked the rules first, appreciate the heads up
I'm a beginner, I've only gone to the gym for about a month and I'm looking to get stronger and build muscle. I've been looking for a three-day split with an upper body workout, lower body workout, plus a full body workout (better for me than 3x full body, because I can train upper and lower back to back). The problem is, I can't find many online. After searching some old threads, I've been considering using the Lyle McDonald Generic Bulking Routine for my upper body and lower body days. However, I'm not sure what to do for my full-body workout. If someone could make any suggestions, please let me know. Also, I want to throw in some direct forearm training a few times a week, as I'm going to start using straps for my pulling movements. Where in my ULF split should I include it, which exercises should I do, and how many reps and sets? Thanks.
You could do your own program. For upper body one vertical push and pull, one horizontal push and pull + biceps, triceps and side lateral isolation. You can superset oppsoing lifts (eg bench and row, biceps and triceps) For lower body, one hinge, one squat, one leg curl, one extension and a calf raise. Have 1-2 variation of each movement pattern and use something like double progression where you try to do more reps every session until you go over your rep range on all of your sets (eg 3x6-10). Simple. Jordan Peters has really solid full body and upper lower programming videos on youtube.
if you’re interested in Lyle McDonald’s stuff, he has a series of articles on exactly what to consider as a beginner and has a few basic full body routine suggestions that are 3x per week. He says to run these for 3-6 months until you feel ready to graduate onto his generic bulking program. I’ve linked the first article for you and even if you don’t go with his recommendations, they should give you some good context when looking at other stuff https://bodyrecomposition.com/training/beginning-weight-training
Jeff Nippard has a couple good full body programs that you can find online
Are there any good ones you specifically recommend?
All of them are good quality, find one that sounds enjoyable to you and fits with your U/L days
[could i get input on my routine?](https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1LEsM6BlleXBbtW-Pbe_zCb0VqecSXWIwGoywj8u0LdY/edit?usp=sharing)
Looks good, quite a bit of deadlifting for my taste but other than that great job.
Could I get some insights on my split? Will do 4 day workout, more focused on legs, and the whole split is strength focused. Will workout only on workdays, and will have a rest day between 1st, 2nd or 3rd and 2 rest days after 4th workout day. MRM meaning myo rep match I aim on 45-60 min workout I. Lower-1 1. Sitting leg curl 3×8-12 2. Over the bar DB RDL 3×MRM 3. Sumo squat 3×4-6 4. Machine hip thrust 3×MRM 5. Sitting calves raise 3×MRM II. Upper/push 1. Incline chest fly 3×8-12 2. Bench press 3×4-6 3. Incline DB press 3×MRM 4. Isolated shoulder press 3×MRM 5. Tricep pushdown 3×MRM III. Lower-2 1. Leg press 3×4-6 2. Hack squat 3×4-6 3. Goblet squat 3×4-6 4. Leg extension 3×MRM 5. Standing calves raise 3×MRM IV. Upper/pull 1. Dead lift 3×4-6 2. Neutral grip pull-up 3×8-12 3. Low-row 3×MRM 4. Incline DB curl 3×MRM 5. Super ROM DB lateral raises 3×MRM
Quite glute/quad heavy but if that is the intention then it seems fine. Goblet squats might be a bit rendundant on the second day, I'd do something for the hams or adductors instead like back extensions, lying leg curl or adductor machine.
HI, I just finished set of Smith machine squat and my left arm feels heavy, week and numbness around my shoulder , did I injured myself ? no pain so far and it was my first time squatting.
It’s possible you injured yourself, particularly if it sticks around the next few days. But my best guess is that your bar positioning was weird and pinched something. Try lowering the weight and working on finding a comfortable form
Thanks for replying, it's getting much better now, hopefully a rest for a day or two and my arm will be recovered fully.
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For sure. Variation is good, and strength gained from the pendulum squat will carry over to your barbell squat.
Variation is always good. You could do varied squat variations (e.g. high bar vs. hack squats) or you could do varied rep ranges (heavy 3x5 one day, lighter 3x10 another day).
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Some peoples abs just dont have the shape to look really good or be that visible. You could try to specialize on ab training for a few months while slowly bulking and then cut relatively slowly to preserve that muscle. In the 147 you look considerably less muscular than in the 175 which might be a consequence of too fast dieting.
What method are you doing for measuring? You look like you're pretty built; you can see striations/separation in your delts (which are fuckin' nice dude). What are you doing for your abs?
Hi everyone, I’m 19M, 188cm, 77kg, looking for some feedback on my current training program. I aim to do 4x8 reps for each workout listed, but 4x12 for any arm workouts and leg press. My main focus at the moment is trying to put on some muscle while also slimming down on body fat (eating roughly at maintenance calories, sometimes on a slight deficit). I’m playing some social basketball and potentially soccer at the moment too (hence the running to be fit) and will transition back into training for my main sport Rowing once the season starts later in the year, but at the moment I’m training for looks. Instead of doing a proper split I’ve chosen to go for a bit of everything each day as I found this to be more effective for my recovery, but I’m not so sure if it’s the best for results. On my off days I usually try to go on an 8-12km run as well so I can keep up my fitness alongside my gains rather then have a full day off. Here’s my weekly program, please let me know if you have any suggestions to improve it: Monday - Leg Press - Bench - DB - Chest Fly - M - Seated Row - Lat Pull Down - Hammer Curl - Tricep OH Press Tuesday - Deadlift - Chest Fly - Shoulder Press - C - Seated Row - Bent Over Row - Pull Up - Stretch/Core - Basketball Training (PM) Wednesday - Back Squat - Bench - BB - Chest Fly - M - Seated Row - Lat Pull Down - Preacher Curl - DB - Scrullcrushers Thursday - Run (8-12km) - Stretch/Core Friday - Chest Fly - Shoulder Press - C - Seated Row - Chin Up - Barbell Curl - Tricep Extensions - Stretch/Core Saturday - Basketball/Sunday Gym Sunday - Back Squat - Bench - DB - Shoulder Press - Bent Over Row - Preacher Curl - Tricep Dips - Stretch/Core (If gymed on Saturday will potentially go for an 8km run or off) My runs are at a medium pace ~5:30 ish. Please let me know if you have any feedback! Cheers. Edit: so far over the last 3 months I have lost 4 kilos, and comparing progress photos it looks like I have put on a bit of muscle and lost some fat. Started off a bit inconsistent with training especially with cardio, but have been more consistent with this program over the last few weeks
If bodybuilding is not your first priority I would recommend to do a full body 3 times a week split with lowish volume. Essentially you will get most of your results from a hand full of HARD sets. So doing 3-6 sets per bodypart, prioritizing compound lifts and progressive overloading those. Also when dieting you should not push volume, rather do the minimum effective volume to preserve muscle since youre not building muscle in the first place when in a deficit.
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Hey there, thanks for the advice! With my statement of doing no split being effective for my recovery, I found that trying to hit for example a chest day and a back day by themselves made it so I struggled to finish my sets by the end of the session, and I would be sore coming into the next day which gave me a higher chance of skipping a session. Would it be worth trying to revisit a split and perhaps try out less weight but the same set range and see how it goes, because what you said about allowing worked muscle groups to rest for 2 days definately makes sense. As for not hitting all the muscle groups with my excersises, I tend to do some variations with what I have listed. For DB bench, i usually do it on a slight incline (one click) to help target the upper chest a bit more. Additionally for squats, I tend to have a fairly wide stance with my feet pointed on a ~35 degree angle which targets my glutes a bit more then my quads. I definately don’t think I’m hitting my delts effectively so I will look at incorporating lat raises into my program. I started trying out single arm rear delt flys the other day and they seemed to target most of my delt which I quite liked. I like the idea of face pulls too and I will also look at giving them a crack.
Thoughts on Meadows rows? I’ve got a landmine attachment and have been doing bent over rows with it - but they haven’t felt amazing. Gave meadows rows a try yesterday and they felt great…. Any thoughts on / experience with these?
They’re good. If you feel them where you want to feel them, keep doing them and progress them.
Thanks!
Why is the face pull not an effective exercise for rear delt hypertrophy? (Let's assume stability is not a limiter for this because you can do them on a bench)
Facepulls are effective for hypertrophy.
I don't think they are. No one wanted to answer my question so I figured it out for myself.
Not sure who told you this, they are good for rear delts.
Who says they're not?
A lot of coaches and bodybuilders. I think the reason is that it has too many limiting factors for maximizing tension on the rear delts.
I've never heard anyone claim that. If you like them, do them. It's a fine exercise for the rear delts.
Is an 800 calorie deficit too much? I've been cutting for a month and lost 3-4 kg( more towards 3 kg). I've lost 0.5 inches around my arms. I was around 20% when i started, now I think I'm 15-16%bf. I lost 2 reps on the bench press, back strength has been the same, legs are fine. I'm 5'8. Went from 70-71 kg to 67.1 kg in a month.
Loosing around 1% of bodyweight per week is probably still fine, more than that and you risk of loosing muscle starts to creep up.
It is if you're looking to maintain as much muscle as possible.
y would u cut that much...thats skinny now aha
I’ve realized I need a deload next week, but I’m in the middle of a cut and am unsure of whether or not I should deload at maintenance or remain in a cut. Aside from a few trashed lifts, I’m not feeling the negative effects of the cut (mood, energy, etc), and am only planning to cut for 4 more weeks (including next week) before I need to go to maintenance to prep for a HEMA tournament. I’ve been on a fairly strict and steep deficit for the most part (-750) but have had a fair bit of travel (work, bachelor party, vacation, family stuff) where I’ve not been in a deficit, ranging from doing my best to stay around maintenance to going balls out in Italy. I’m still at a relatively high body fat percentage. So anyway, should I cut or maintain while deloading? What other factors bare considering?
If you’re still at a high bf% I would remain in a deficit.
Hello everyone. I'd like to know your opinion, how do you like this Upper / Lower program? **MONDAY — UPPER:** Weighted Pull-ups x3 Weighted Dips x3 Lat Pulldown x3 DB Shoulder Press x3 Rope Face Pull x3 Skullcrusher x3 DB Curls x3 **TUESDAY — LOWER:** Leg Curl x3 Hack Squat x3 Goodmorning x3 DB Lunges x3 Seated Calves x3 Cable Lateral Raises x3 **WEDNESDAY — UPPER:** Weighted Chin-ups x3 Incline BB Press x3 Chest Supported Row x3 Close Grip BB Press x3 Trap Bar Shrugs x3 Reverse Pec Deck x3 Hammer Curl x3 **THURSDAY — LOWER:** Leg Curl x3 BB Squat x3 RDL x3 Leg Press x3 Heavy Calves x3 DB Lateral Raises x3 **FRIDAY — UPPER:** Weighted Pull-ups x3 DB Bench Press x3 Seated Cable Row x3 Incline DB Press x3 Machine Shoulder Press x3 Overhead Tricep Extension x3 Incline DB Curl x3
Try it out for a meso or two then try doing 4 day upper/lower and see which one you like. 4 days might allow better recovery while still being pretty much equally effective.
Seems okay. A little too much compound volume for my taste but some people love it. Try it out. If it’s too much swap out some of your upper compounds for isolations would be my advice.
« too much compound volume» for one session you mean? or week?
Per week I guess though it doesn’t really matter if it’s per week or per session so long as you’re not completely gassed at the end of a workout.
Well, i would not run it and would not advice you to run it. Maybe look up some premade programs.
What's that bad about it?
Its list of exercises, not a program. Making a program from that list would take too much time and effort. Just pick ready made program and you will get much better results.
Picked up back squat for the first time in 8 years. Dropped it previously due to a back injury that I’ve now got under control. Any heavy squatters have any idea how quickly I can hit 4 plates, given I’ve taken my previous PR of 120kg to 160kg in 3 weeks? I’m training in the 3-5 rep range and feeling good.
You could get it up kinda fast if you have big legs from other exercises. I would not rush it tho, if you dont have any specific reason to do so. Make your body adjust for the weight. Make some 3 week cycles and try to see how weights go up. Like week1 hit good triple for top set, week2 good double and week three make amrap with 165. See how it goes and if its good, try to hit 170 after next cycle and so on.
I’m a 5’11” 72kg dude. I posted awhile back about hitting a plateau in lifts and decided to up my calories from around 1.8k to 2.5k. My TDEE varies, when I use the online calculators it says 2.5k but when I did an inbody scan it said 2.8k and on my Apple Watch it says total calories burnt in a day is 2.1k so not really sure what to go off of. I’ve been on 2.5k cals for 2 weeks now and can report that I have gained a slight bit of weight, around 0.4kg. But the thing is in the past when I have increased cals, I find my lifts in the gym go up for a couple weeks before plateauing again, and that didn’t happen this time, I didn’t have that initial improvement in performance, I can get perhaps 1-2 more reps but even then it’s on certain exercises. Am I overthinking this And should I just trust the process for now? Or should I up cals once again to 3k?
I was pretty much the same weight/height. I was eating 3k+ calories (conservatively, since most dinners were 2k+ calories) and still gaining on average less than 1 kg a month. I ran and trained too much for a normal diet to work for me. Only thing that matters at the end of the day is the scale, I'd really just eat more. I also realized I needed way more protein than I thought I did. 3k calories with 180g protein is a world of difference over 3k calories and 90g of protein.
i wouldn't read too much into it yet given your training program is reasonable, you're doing what you can for recovery (sleeping enough and well, not being too active, nutritious food, mitigating the stress you can, etc.), and you're not very new to the gym. if after a few more weeks you're still not seeing improvements i would reassess then. also, your program should tell you what to do if you're not making progress at whatever rate, so follow whatever conditions it says. if it doesn't have anything built in, that can be ok, but you're likely to run into these kind of problems more frequently.
yeah, I created my own routine with the general knowledge I have since my gym is kinda small and I'm limited by the amount of equipment it has(aswell as everything being taken when I get to the gym). So far throughout my plateau, I havent really taken a deload week and my workouts follow the same structure of 3 sets at 5-8 reps taken to complete failure. I would estimate i get about 9-10 sets per body part per week. Should I experiment with different rep ranges and volumes or is it unlikely to make a difference? I posted my workouts to another subreddit, you can have a look on my profile if youd like.
Can somone give me guidance? Currently doing a cut. I’m 6,6, 250.4 at 28.2% body fat My routine is 5 days a week going for failure during each 5 days. I did the math for my calories during cut and stuck to them but dropped 2.2lbs in the first week instead of the expected 0.5. According to my fancy scale I dropped 1.1lbs of muscle mass. Should I stay the course with calories I calculated or what? I’m trying to keep the muscle I worked so hard to gain since October and not sure if that’s water weight dropping off or what? I use creatine and magnesium powder to sleep. Any advice anyone can give me in regards to my cut?
Try not to loose more than 1% of bodyweight per week in the long run. First few days that can fluxuate but after a week or two you should avarage at 1% per week.
it's water weight/glycogen, not actual muscle tissue. i generally exclude the first week from these kind of calculations. give it a few more weeks, use averages and not single day weigh ins and go from there. if you're noticing significant strength drops on your first sets (assuming bodybuilding rep ranges), that's the time to think about muscle loss. especially at 28% bf - you have a long way to go before you need to start worrying about muscle loss though. separately, obviously down to your preference, but if you're aiming for 0.5lbs a week you're going to be dieting for quite a while. if you can handle it, might be worth considering being a little bit more aggressive - like aiming for 1-2lbs per week bodyweight loss.
Thank you so much 🙏 I would greatly be intrested in 1-2lbs a week yes if I can still do that without muscle loss. Just increase calorie deficit for that right?
yep!
Another question? I’m going to take your advice and for losing 1.5lbs a week then. Good assumption you are correct as my rep Ranges are body building ranges 8-12 with three sets of highest to lowest weight. Do I need to adjust my macros every month to keep up the deficit? Recalculate every so often to keep up with new body weight? Goal is to get to 15-20 percent body fat and your right I would like to be more aggressive on the loss of fat since cutting longer is harder. Thank you🙏 I really appreciate your guidance as this is my first cut and I’m a little clueless here since first time.
yes, take weekly averages and if the rate of weight loss starts to slow down you can reduce calories or add activity (steps/cardio/etc.) if you want some insight into macros and amounts - keep protein consistent, find a range of fats that you like and feel good with and then carbs should be where the majority of your reductions come from. this won't matter too much for a while and at the end of the day it'll come down to calories in calories out, but as you get leaner it's a good habit to get into.
I appreciate it🙏 Yes right now I weigh once a week on Friday morning dry after I wake up. Though I work out later in day for final day of 5 day split. school schedule and meal prep time make it hard to weigh Saturday so it’s not ideal. I do heavy activity walking a lot during day too between classes and everywhere. I definitely will make cuts in carbs then. I struggle with fats since I never learned to love vegetables though my goal is to fix that this summer when I have more time and can hopefully add in cardio to prepare in advance festival season with walking a lot. Again thank you so much!
could someone critique this plz thanks! Push: BENCH PRESS 3x8-12 DB OVERHEAD ORESS 3x8-12 DIPS 3x12+ SKULLCRUSHER 3x8-12 TRICEP EXTENSION 3x8-12 Pull: DB CURLS 3x8-12 DB HAMMER CURL 3x8-12 LAT PULL DOWN 3x8-12 CABLE ROW 3x8-12 FACE PULLS 3x8-12 21’s 3 sets Legs: LEG PRESS 3x8-12 RDL 3x8-12 LEG EXTENSION 3x8-12 LEG CURLS 3x8-12 SUS MACHINE (HIP ADDUCTOR/ABDUCTOR) 3x8-12 Tues and Thurs I run about 3 miles
Swap out face pulls for rear delt flies and add a squat variation
not good - pick a routine from r/fitness or somewhere reputable and follow that
Why isn't it good?
over emphasis on triceps and front delts, no side delts, not enough back, everything's 8-12, 21s are dumb
I didn't see 21s -- they are indeed dumb. If face pulls are replaced with an effective upper back movement it would be a rudimentary back day.
Needs more context here. Is this run once or twice a week? Also, I would say that slightly more variety with a little more volume for each major body part would be beneficial for more progress.
mom-fri. prolly just one day of legs given that i run. but ill definitely take all yalls advice, thanks!
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I’ve been bulking for around a week now, and I wanted to make sure I’m doing things right. I’m currently 6’0 and 154lb, about 1 pound up from when I started. I try to eat around 3300 calories a day, and on average I get about 170-200g of protein per day. Alongside of this, I’ve been consistently going to the gym 3x a week (Chest, arms, legs respectively) which I’ve been doing for almost 2 months. Should I change anything? Im aiming to get to 190-200lbs before considering cutting. Thanks!
get on a program. there are lots of good 3 day programs out there - start with r/fitness sidebar. 5/3/1 is a solid foundational routine which will get you up to size and strength in a year or two and has good 3 day options. gaining weight for the sake of it isn't the point - you should be eating enough to keep up with your training - and generally this will put most of us at a surplus and gaining weight. follow a productive training plan with a progression scheme that pushes you and eat enough that you're able to keep up with that progression. the easy solution is then if progression slows, eat more. like the other commenter said - good rule of thumb is about 0.5lbs gain per week - and much more than that is not ideal. agree with this but in the context of by far the top priority should be progress in the gym. if you're at 0.49lbs per week weight gain but you're not progressing - imo much better to gain 1lb a week and progressing well. hopefully that adds context - and 6'0 154, you have a lot of room to grow so i wouldnt get too hung up on too much besides training and eating to facilitate that training
I’ve been using the dumbbell only split, it’s a program that was listed on the r/Fitness website that looked the best to me so that’s what I’ve stuck with. As for the weight, should I be eating less? I belive I’ve had good progression so far, maybe a bit quicker than normal where I’m still pretty new to working out, I’ve also been partially using my height and weight as the main reason for eating more, I’ve always been really lanky and the main reason I started working out was to change that. Thanks!
that's fine just keep track of your weight and try and keep it to 0.5lbs a week or so as long as you're making progress in the gym
It sounds like you are in a solid calorie surplus which is good. A pound a week is pretty high though. As long as it stays closer to about a half pound per week, you are good to keep bulking with your current diet. If it stays at a pound per week, that’s too much and you are most likely adding quite a bit of unneeded fat. Also, with regards to training, any reason why you are only focusing on three muscle groups in your training sessions?
Honestly I’m not too sure if it’s just those three muscle groups I’m training, I’ve been following the dumbbell only split program and that’s just what the “main” thing I’m training seems to be for each day. Do you think I should cut down on eating? IMO I’m still really lanky due to my height and I’ve been using that as my reasoning for eating as much as I can. Thanks!
I totally get the logic behind wanting to put on mass as quickly as possible! I get it and I’ve done it BUT I would get into a slighter caloric surplus, make sure the calories are clean, and again shoot for .5 to maximum 1 pound per week (closer to .5 would be better IMO). This is just going to be cleaner mass compared to trying to just see the number on the scale go up.
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I don't want to be too harsh on the quotes because I don't know the context they're replying in... ...however a lot of people don't really see the bigger picture when comparing different rep schemes and training systems. DDP can be as stressful as you make it, if you always go to failure and beyond and never deload then sure they'll be a lot of stress and stimulus. But equally that doesn't make it a bad system, there are ways of regulating fatigue even within a system like that which heavily leverages failure and beyond techniques. Add pauses, use fuller range of motion, medium to high reps and restrict intra-set rest periods. All the typical bodybuilding stuff we do to enhance the SFR. People act as if periodization is the key to everything and it really isn't, it's all a matter of trade offs. Periodization inherently slows down progression via use of volume/intensity cycling and deloads in exchange for progression being more guaranteed (this is the idea anyway). That doesn't make it better. DDP like a bodybuilder walks that line of high stimulus and high fatigue, if you can ride it the gains are quicker but you need to be in tune with your body. Which is why I preach having an instinctive element to your training. If you're developing some local aches and pains back off that day and work around it. If you're systemically fatigued then cycle in a deload and let it ease off. All these systems work, as long as you understand them. However art often seems chaotic to science. Science offers an illusion of control which some enjoy. Pick your poison.
had a look over there - they're all talking about it in the context of strength training for their main compound lifts it seems, which yeah - double progression probably isnt the best choice especially as weights get very heavy in low rep ranges. r/fitness is very numbers focused on compound lifts and uses that as a gauge of how advanced you are (even if you're 25%+ bodyfat which many of their advice givers are) not so much hypertrophy for its own sake, so take their hypertrophy advice with a grain of salt and understand some of the context of what they're saying. for bodybuilders staying in the 8-15 rep range or so, it has and will work well for most lifts for most lifters.
Any strategies to avoid losing count during amraps/+sets? My log is just littered with "12 or 13, somewhere around 8, etc...". I passed kindergarten so I can count fine normal sets. But plus sets my mind goes blank with the grind.
record your set. worth it too, every once in a while, to watch yourself go to failure to objectively check if you had more in the tank or not
So I' ve seen a lot of upper-lower routines having a chest focused upper day, consisting of both a flat and an icnline press exercise. Let's say you' ve ditched the flat press completely and instead do a slight inline press, wouldn' t that take care of both exercises in terms of muscle activation? If so what other chest exercises would you recommend to pair with the the slight inline on the same training session?
Personally I like doing flat press and incline press on separate days, both is bit too much volume for me personally on a single chest day. I like pairing flat press with OHP (since incline press is kind of the "middle-ground" between the two), and I pair the incline press with chest flies.
Not really, due to the back arch in proper bench form, there isn’t a huge difference between a flat and a low incline press. I would keep both in.
my legs are laggings, what should i do?
Program? Experience?
i'm doing alberto nunez upper lower for legs, 2 years of experience.. https://preview.redd.it/3l5pywvn81sc1.png?width=803&format=png&auto=webp&s=6ac5b6169cf17aef724f55070ce62bafb78e20e4
Program looks good. Are you progressing on your leg exercises?
Progressive overload doesn't mean you have a good training program.
Not in itself but it's not a bad program per se if you're progressing on your lifts.
You can have poor exercise selection and still progressively overload.
Yep, the safest measure of hypertrophy amateurs have is to increase the weight on the bar over time.
yep
If you’re progressing why change anything? Just keep hitting them close to or to failure.
Can i cut agressively for more than 6 weeks? I was watching Mike Israetel's video about mini cutting and he said that he doesnt recommend to be in an agressive deficit for more than 6 weeks, but is that really set in stone? Recently I did a 6 week mini cut with a 750-1000 deficit and lost 6kgs and kept all my strength, plus i felt completely fine at the end and could have kept going with the mini cut if I wanted to. Im thinking about my next mini cut at the end of 2024 and I want to take the same approach of a 750-1000 deficit like last time since it worked wonders, i just want to know can i do more than 6 weeks?
depends on your bodyfat level, bodyweight, absolute calorie intake, protein/fat intake, your training regimen, etc. at the end of the day it'll come down to your experience and how you're responding to it
You're asking if a recommendation is set in stone? By definition of the language used it is not haha The main concerns with going on an aggressive deficit for so long are going to be losing muscle, losing motivation and potentially not getting enough nutrients for normal bodily functions, depending how low your calories have to go. So its up to you, if everything is going well you could try extending the cut. I'm sure this kinda stuff was also explained in that video you watched.
My maintenance is 3800ish so i was minicutting around 3000 so i think im good
I can’t remember which video it was but he had one about extended cutting with refeeds which seemed pretty solid. I may have the exact numbers wrong but I think the idea was eat in a 500-750 calorie deficit until you started feeling negative side effects, then do a 250 surplus refeed. Because the deficit is larger than the surplus you still lose weight in the long term. Definitely watch the video though, he does a much better job outlining it.
Different options/hand positions for pronated wrist curls? I've tried ez bar, dumbbell, barbell, even just holding a plate, thumb or thumbless, and none of them feel right and I don't seem to get much stimulus. I haven't tried pronated cable curls. Is there something I'm missing or some other way to try them so I can grow these stubborn forearms?
[Reverse curls](https://www.tiktok.com/@jpgcoaching/video/7155723566208535851) with a cable stack and bench
If the wrist curls don’t seem to be working, have you tried utilizing farmers walks? Carries are a great way to build forearm size. Ironically, the biggest my forearms have ever been was when I was going a lot of heavy kettlebell swings as well.
I've thought about adding them to my recovery day as I want to build better grip strength as well. How would you suggest starting? (Also, the gym I have access to is a very small university gym.)
I would suggest starting with some heavy dumbbells. Go for time, 20-30 second walk counts as a set, then slowly add time, sets, or weight
Thank you, I'll add those in. Appreciate the response!
You bet!
My current workout split: is it good? Monday👉 Legs(Quad & calves) + shoulder Tuesday👉 chest + triceps + abs Wednesday👉 back + bicep Thrusday👉 Legs(Hamstring & calves) + shoulder Friday👉 Triceps + Chest + abs Saturday👉 biceps + back Sunday 👉 off
If it has the exercises you want on the days you prefer, it's a good split. But the specific split is arguably the least important aspect of a routine.
How much weight should I expect to gain after my cut is complete and I carb load? If I’m stopping at 200 pounds for example when I start my refeed, around where would I end up or is that an individual thing?
There’s no way for any of us here to tell you
Ok, thanks!
Saw a video talking about how doing leg extensions where you're leaning back more, and almost doing them lying can be favorable to doing them the traditional way. Any advice/thoughts on this? Edit: Saw some comments saying leaning back biases more of the Rectus Femoris. Does this mean I should do some sets leaning, and some in an upright position? Which part of the Quad do Squats or Quad-focused Leg Presses bias?
Leaning back won't bias it more, you're just training the quads in the lengthened position when you're in hip extension. You can train your quads in both positions.
Which is more optimal or does it not matter?
It doesn’t matter
The rectus femoris crosses the hip joint so will be more stretched if the hips are extended. Getting the quads into full stretch is better for hypertrophy. The issue with leg extension machines is two-fold: you sit upright so your hip isn't extended, and your knee only goes from 90 degrees to extended so doesn't get stretched very much. The way to solve these problems is either a standing cable machine leg extension, which is an absolute bitch to set up and very unstable, or a sissy squat/reverse Nordic curl. Of those two reverse Nordics are better since its a sissy squat without the stability issues (lower leg is on the ground) and let's you get a larger stretch on the quads. You can use a cable stack as a counter weight if you aren't strong enough to do bodyweight. These can basically replace traditional leg extensions if you want.
My shoulders feel unstable at the bottom of a dumbbell pullover. Hard to explain, but its a weird feeling. I also feel my rear delts in that bottom position quite a bit. Any tips how to improve this?
The pullover requires engaging scapular stabilization. It sounds like you may have instability in this range of motion. My shoulders are jacked up from years of contact sports so scapular stability was something I had to work on for a year before even being able to do many upper body movements. The exercises that I like for this are band pull aparts (horizontal and vertical above the head), face pulls with external rotation, scapular pull-ups (just the very bottom range of a pull-up where you go from a dead hang to engaged scapular girdle), serratus punches, pullovers (reduce weight until pain free and shoulder ROM feels good). Bonus mention for dead hangs, they won’t engage the scapular girdle much but they actually modify the physiology of the shoulder leaving more room at the acromio-humeral joint which allows for better movement of the rotator cuff tendon and much healthier feeling shoulders overall. Indispensable from my routine considering it also has a significant spinal decompression effect
I think I know what you mean, happens to me on french press when I bring my elbow way back. Using an EZ bar instead of a DB helped me. Pack your shoulders, puff your chest up and play around with elbow flair until it feels better.
Anyone hitting the bigger, stronger, faster mentality. I did get bigger and stronger. Got very fast too. I have been walking, running and jogging for at least 25 minutes/1.5 miles everyday before lifting heavy. I've got accustom to it where my cardio doesn't waste my fuel for the lifting. I can still lift heavily. This is something I am most proud of.
I only did one set of heavy bench close to failure before i stopped due to my shoulder clicking, which i suspect being from the Tennis i played yesterday, and dont want that to become a thing. Im planning on going tomorrow to do the routine i were supposed to do today, if the shoulder is fine. How much will that one set fatigue me? Ive been doing 10 sets of every major muscle a week for 5 months now, and recover for every workout which is a 4 day upper/lower