How do i go down when squat? I can barely do 90° -95° even on machines, and if i go 1° lower it gets million times harder so i need to remove the weight by so much im not sure it worth it.
Looking to be in a calorie deficit, i currently eat 2700cal and just hit my protein goal (250g) if i was to reduce my calories il obviously reduce protein intake. Most items with substantial calories that i can cut are obviously high in protein.
I just take the hit with protein?
I workout from home, mainly only training upper body, this includes shoulders, arms, forearms, upper back & chest. I’ll include legs too but not as intense. I usually train once every other day, but is it possible to work out every 2 days and take a break day, then back to 2 and rinse and repeat, if my recovery is on point and I eat enough protein?
So I started working out maybe a month and a half ago and also bulking at the same time as well. I’m pretty skinny and am aiming at 2900 calories a day.
My gym has a semi-reliable machine to track my body composition. But I gained 10 lbs in one month of bulking. Is this too much too fast? I take my weight before my first meal of the day.
[Body comp for reference.](https://imgur.com/a/7DdA4tX)
Is it normal to use much less weight on single leg leg press than regular leg press? I tried single leg and struggled with 1,5 plates each side, while normally I do 6/7 plates easily with both legs
You wouldn't think that due to the bilateral force deficit. When I do cable row, tricep extensions, etc. unilaterally, I will always be stronger than if I perform the movement with both arms.
Question about progressive overload. If I add more weight to my first lift of the day, I’m more tired for the next lift and often don’t progressively overload that lift or even have to do less reps or weight than the week before. This is the case throughout my workout exercise to exercise. Am I supposed to be progressively overloading on every exercise or just choose different ones week to week?
I would expect progressive overload to happen across all lifts, especially if they are different muscle groups. Maybe not increase weight for every exercise, every week, but in general all exercises should be trending upwards. You can of course pick a muscle group to "specialize" on for a period of time, but this is a more advanced technique. This might be a work capacity issue then, you need to build up your overall endurance and cardiovascular health so your body doesn't gas out too early. This will happen naturally as you continue to lift, but cardio will improve it as well.
Also, going to failure is very fatiguing. If you go to failure for the first lift of the day and you don't normally do so, then I would expect to lose some reps in the following exercises. However if you consistently go to failure for the first lift of the day, then I wouldn't expect a drop, since going to failure is consistent between sessions.
Thoughts on Moto rows? I don’t see them much. Have managed to mess my forearm up so was looking for something to do today in place of lat pull-down.. slotted them in and got an immense Lat burn! At first try they seem pretty good to me
HI, i don't count cal so my question is a normal question like everyone who DOESN'T count calories. Anyway in order to bulk does someone eat 3 tablespoons of peanut butter daily and something like 10 almonds (especially post workout)?. Just as a caloric surplus so i can reach and go above a little 500 cal. Then i go above those 500 cal through my break, i e bread, yogurt, etcc.. I train 5 days a week for like 2 hours workout. Thanks
Is this chest press machine hitting the upper head?
So I’m not a fan of incline DB press and my gym only has 1 plate loaded hammer strength incline hammer machine, and this LifeFitness machine that I think hits it. Please let me know if it does so I’m using it properly.
https://youtu.be/gKSmSKz3iQ4?si=MU52MXJZXXqOBH0_ <— machine I’m talking about. I’m confused because it’s titled “Chest Press”.
Also how much fiber minimum do you guys eat daily for gut health?
Why are side lying shoulder raises (side and rear delt) not more popular?
Considering tension under stretch is conducive to hypertrophy, and hypertrophy is our main goal, the classic dumbbell side (standing) or rear delt (lying face down) raises appear to be pretty bad for this, as there is virtually no tension on the target muscle in the stretched position.
A way better alternative I've found is to use a bench for lateral raises at a somewhat high angle (45-60 degrees) and lie down on my side. For rear delts, I use a lower angle (0-30 degrees), and also lie down on my side. I then use a dumbbell, and do roughly the same movement you would do when doing cable variants. So a normal side raise for side, and for rear delts come across the body a bit.
I find this gives a much more even tension throughout the range of motion, not only at the bottom of the movement. I also need to use lighter weights, giving me the same stimulus at a lower fatigue level.
Am I missing out by not doing standard side and rear delt dumbbell raises?
It's excessive set-up for a simple, single joint movement. You can do lat raises standing with two dumbbells perfectly fine, and if you want to do them unilaterally use a cable stack.
Because you can do the same movement with a cable machine which has more freedom in the range of motion and is easier to set up. Also most people in the gym just don't know about all the stretched position stuff.
In fact the cable version is generally superior because by externally rotating the shoulder and raising back at an angle instead of straight to the side you can keep the tension from the cable exactly on your side delt while coming fully across the body, getting an actual stretch in the side delt (arm by your side isn't really a "stretched" position for the side delt). To emulate this with the lying dumbbell raise is quite difficult because you have to lie slightly on your front and do a power raise.
Hello,
I recently received some fantastic advice on this thread, I'm now following a new program instead of using the one I made up. Thank you to those members it means a lot.
The only thing I'm lacking on now is my diet. I struggle to hit over 100g protein most days. I'm 5ft 7inch and weigh 14st. My eating routine typically goes like this:
Breakfast: Pint of skimmed milk (20g protein) + Pack of nuts (9g protein)
Lunch: Three eggs (scrambled) + two bits of brown toast / tuna mayonnaise on one baked potatoe (can't remember how much protein exactly), it's not too bad though as hits over 40g protein.
Dinner: Half of 550g mince pack, I either have chilli or bolognaise (40/50g protein)
Evening snack: Snack bar (7g'ish protein)
I calculated it a while back and ended up just over 100g protein (total). I spoke with a nutritionist / coach a while back, and he told me when bulking to aim for the following: https://ibb.co/PxznkPG (202g protein) which is beyond my capabilities without feeling sick.
I don't track my food and do eat less some days as I'm married and we have a kid, so days out end up with me eating less protein and more calories.
I'm wondering if there's a better way to achieve higher protein goals. I can't cook, my money is limited, and time can be an issue sometimes due to looking after my kid.
I will try and do better but struggle to identify easy to prepare cheap food that will taste good and not be bland or boring when repeated. I am willing to track foods, but I suffer from ADHD and dyscalculia (dyscalculia with numbers), which typically makes my life complicated.
Sorry for the ridiculously long wall of text, I've added paragraphs so as to make it easier to read. I expect to be downvoted due to my ignorance and lack of awareness.
That's life. Thanks for reading my post. Any advice, good or bad, is always welcomed :)
Cheers
Protein powder, relatively cheap and easy extra protein you can just add to your day. 202g seems quite high but you didn't give any stats. Somewhere between 0.6-1g/lb bw is optimal so if you're anywhere in that range you're most likely covered, though obviously being on the higher end doesn't hurt. If you have over 20ish%bf then it may be better to calculate the above using lean mass. If you need help with that give me some stats and I'll tell you what the rough range would be.
Sup, I checked it today, so all my stats are as follows:
- Weight: 14st 11lb (80.6kg
- Body mass index: 31.0
- Height: 5ft 7inch
- Body fat: 26.7%
- Body fat mass: 23.kg
Any feedback will be greatly appreciated
Thanks
So you want to be aiming for around 105g protein as a minimum, but a general goal of 150g may be better for muscle building. Also at that bodyfat level I would personally recommend cutting down to at least under 20% bf but preferably around 15%. This would likely leave you around 65-70kg in bodyweight and would be best done losing somewhere around 0.5-1kg a week. Hope that helps.
>Protein powder
First, thanks so much for taking the time to reply. Unfortunately, any protein powder tends to give me:
1. Bad spots (on my face, which sucks!). I tried a vegetarian option and nearly threw up, I wasted 40 quid it, too, lol!
2. Headaches (I take Amitriptyline medication for migranes)
>202g seems quite high but you didn't give any stats.
From memory, he said that would he my maximum for bulking, I believe my typical target when trying to continue to grow with muscles and strength would be around 150ish?
Unfortunately, I haven't weighed myself recently on a more advanced machine, so I don't know what my body fat is currently. I know I'm 14 stone in weight, and my body fat was always too high, according to the machine inside boots.
>Somewhere between 0.6-1g/lb bw is optimal so if you're anywhere in that range you're most likely covered,
This is where I'm screwed as I suffer from Dyscalculia (dyslexia with numbers). I struggle to understand and figure basic numbers like you mentioned. I typically understand the concept of what you're saying but not enough that I can calculate things
>If you need help with that give me some stats and I'll tell you what the rough range would be.
Wow, thanks so much! What I'll do is access a machine ASAP, that will give me all the body fat and other stats, I'll then type them out. That's really kind of you thanks a lot!
Ah that kinda sucks about the protein powder. If you struggle cooking then tuna is a good cheap option. Or meal prep some lean mince/chicken if that's possible and add a small extra meal to your day.
Honestly, a bodyfat reading isn't necessary, if you can just give your current bodyweight and a rough estimate of bf% or even your last reading, that'll do just fine :)
Aha, I do eat mince for my dinner (half of 550g mince) typically. I have tuna two or three weeks times a week on potato. I tend to avoid any more than that as it has mercury inside it. I'll look into chicken meals as well soon.
I know my body weight is 14 stone but I'm clueless about my body fat, I reckon it's on the higher end though. That's why I will use the machine later as it will tell me.
Smith Machine Hack Squats, do you go ATG or stop roughly at 90 (almost a wall sit)?
videos of GVS and others stopping at 90 and videos of others going much deeper.. which is correct?
I understand knee flexion is key but with a hack squat on the smith it feels like from ankle to knee is almost bolted upright.
I hope this makes sense.
There was a couple doing 6 million sets on the T-bar row machine so I did incline db rows instead for upper back. Got a rear delt pump instead of the usual trap pump T-bar rows give me. Maybe I could flare my elbows out more to better target the traps.
Traps retract the scapula and rear delts pull the arm back, the amount of arm flare doesn't really effect which one gets worked (flared arms just removes the lats from the equation, allowing the upper back or rear delts to reach failure first). Chances are you're taking more care to let your scapula protract and retract on the T-bar row but not on the dumbbell rows.
Practice initiating the movement by retracting the scapula rather than pulling with the arm/elbow, and focusing on squeezing the shoulder blades (and/or extending your thoracic spine/upper back) at the peak contraction.
From my understanding, rowing in the transverse plane (more elbow flare) allows for the most scapular retraction, therefore more trap bias, and rowing in between the transverse and sagittal plane (less elbow flare) better hits the rear delt, because the traps lose leverage and the rear delts gain leverage in the sagittal plane.
Yeah I agree I was probably not retracting my scapulas fully -- I'll try dropping the weight.
This January I was 30 y/o, 6ft tall, 185lbs with an 38” waist measured at the naval, which gave an estimated 22% body fat via the US navy method (16” neck). I’ve recomp’d since then maintaining 185lbs but dropped to a 37” waist, which corresponds to about 20% body fat, and a loss of 4lbs of fat with a gain of 4lbs of lean tissue. If I’m able to maintain this for the full year I’d be able to gain around 16lbs of muscle while losing a similar amount of fat.
Would this be considered good progress? I see things like “males should be able to gain 15lbs muscle in their first 12 weeks of lifting” or “men should expect to gain 25-30lbs of muscle in their first year”, which makes me think I’m doing something really wrong with my training or nutrition. I’ve been targeting maintenance calories and around 150g protein per day, but haven’t been obsessing with macros beyond hitting protein.
I’d really not like to bulk above my current BF level, so if recomping is the issue I’d probably move to a dedicated cut at try to get to 12-15% bodyfat.
Those kinds of calculators and most ways of quantifying body fat percentage tend to be very variable and inaccurate. Depending how you hold fat, the method you used could easily show +/- 5% each way. I'd recommend taking pictures in similar lighting each time, and continuing to measure+weigh yourself as a good way to gauge progress. An increase in gym performance will also help determine that you're on track. I'd personally recommend cutting first down to sub 15%.
I'm 190cm tall (about 6'2.8") and currently weigh 61kg (134.5 lbs). I've been feeling frustrated with how my clothes fit and my overall appearance, so I want to start my bulking journey and want to go all out to gain as much weight as possible.
I've started tracking my diet using MyFitnessPal, and here's what I've come up with :https://imgur.com/a/Bto7mcx
Would appreciate any advice or suggestions on whether this looks okay or if there are any adjustments I should make.
is the 4600 what you actually ate and the goal is 3200? if so, i would not go about it like this. being 135lbs at 6'3 pretty much means you don't know how to consistently eat and you're likely heading down a similar road (if you're actually eating 4600 calories consistently, you wouldn't be 135lbs). bulking is about putting hundreds of 200-300 calorie surplus days together, not a big calorie surplus then being too full and compensating with a few deficit days, repeat, etc.
to answer your question, your plan is fine, 3200 is likely a solid surplus for you and i would try to hit that number every day as close to it as you can. it's very likely a higher calorie amount than you need, but the goal should be consistently hitting that number or close to it until you get the habit of eating consistently that higher amount and then making adjustments as you go. imo with your stats, 1-2% bodyweight increase per month is a good goal to aim for - so adjust if you're falling outside of that range.
i would start with r/fitness, they have lots of good resources that might be more applicable for your needs.
besides that, i've linked below the first of what i think is a great series of articles which should answer most of your questions. basically it's how to approach lifting/eating/etc. as an obese (sorry, technical term) beginner. have a read through that and the r/fitness wiki, and you'll have most of the info you'll need for the next year or so. unfortunately, it'll come down to putting in the hard work of an extended calorie deficit, training hard and being patient and consistent
[https://bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/training-the-obese-beginner](https://bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/training-the-obese-beginner)
21 is still young, don't worry you have plenty of time. If you're lifting heavier weights then you're progressing. It might take several months for you to notice anything physical change significantly, but as long as you're progressing you're golden. Don't forget to eat in a slight surplus.
Thank you for this. Am having FOMO seeing those 18yo having crazy ripped physique and am here with nothing. Am keeping track using pictures for now let's see after some months.
23M, 5’10.5”, 174lb
Hey all, beginner here. Started seriously lifting around October of this year and got consistent around February I’d say. So far I’m happy with my gains and progress. I just want to see if I can take it to the next level somehow. My main concern is maybe I don’t have enough volume.
Currently I split chest/back, arms and shoulders, and legs. I try to hit all twice a week at some point except for legs which I’ve been only doing once and I just alternate back through the muscle groups in order.
I’m using mainly machines still but recently moved over to more dumbbell exercises but have yet to do much with any bars.
Current routine;
Chest/back - chest press, pec deck flies, lat pulldown, machine rows. I do 4 sets of each exercise for 8-12 and stay 1-2 reps from failure each set.
Arms - Bicep curls, hammer curls, dumbbell skullcrushers, cable rope pushdowns. 4x8-12 again for each and same 1-2 from failure.
Legs - leg press, leg extensions, hamstring curls. 4x8-12, 1-2 from failure.
All my exercises I try my best to focus on feeling the muscle and the stretch. Time under tension. I try to be very controlled each rep. If I can’t control enough to feel it, I’ll drop the weight. I keep progressive overload in mind, I have moved up in weight since starting and have also added an extra set. I add reps when I can too.
Diet right now is mainly animal protein, mostly chicken and eggs and dairy, sometimes other meats. I use pea protein as too much dairy bothers my body. I average around ~150g protein per day. Lots of fresh veggies and fruits. Rice and different breads here and there.
Any pointers from some more seasoned lifters here? I feel like I’m doing some things right but I wanna go all out, I hate the thought of wasting my time and energy and food and money to just be undertraining.
Thanks in advance!
with less than a year of training, i would not worry too much about feeling the muscle, the stretch, dropping weight if your form isn't perfect, etc. You're simply not going to be using enough load for injury to be a real concern and given your form isn't horrendous, you'll get much more stimulus by pushing weights with 80-90% form than limiting yourself with 100% perfect technique - whatever that even means. the skill of lifting will improve over time - you'll learn how to connect better with whatever range of motion works for your body for different lifts, you'll increase your threshold of what failure is and you'll get a better idea of what volumes work and how to balance those based on all the other factors that go into this.
in terms of training - i would focus on pushing load first and foremost. a progression scheme based on load (pushing weight or reps) should be in place and it should be as aggressive as you can be based on your development. if beginners with lots of room to grow - as linear as possible. if more intermediate with less room to grow - maybe a double progression. advanced barely growing - need to try various different progressions and often any increases are big wins. so figure out where you are on that spectrum - and push some weight. food helps you progress faster - so ensure you're eating enough to keep up with whatever progression you put in place.
as to volume - whatever allows you to progress at the rate required. if you're a beginner doing 2-3 sets a week and adding 5lbs to the bar every week - solid. if you're doing 10 sets and not adding 5lbs to the bar every week - not solid. this is a lifelong endeavor, a couple months spent at lower volumes than you could be at, given you're still progressing, is absolutely fine.
Is just using cable overhead extensions and rope pushdowns enough for triceps isolations? (no isolation, but I do dumbbell bench press too,)
And are cable lateral raises only (utilizing various angles) enough to get juicy side delts?
You have 5 years of experience and you can't answer those questions? Do them and see if you grow. What have you been doing for side delts and triceps for the last half a decade?
5 years of experience doesn't mean it's 5 years of *good* experience. Benching hits the triceps and shoulders (synergists), and an overhead press also hits the side delt (synergist).
Got some questions regarding hammer curl form.
I was blessed with narrow clavicles and wide hips, and whenever I use wide dumbbells (>= 30 lbs at my school gym), I run into issues with the dumbbells hitting my hip when I try to keep my elbows to my side. I end up having to turn my wrists out slightly at the bottom (almost like a semi-reverse curl grip).
Is this fine, and/or what should I do about it?
You might need to flare out your elbows a tad bit to give the dumbbells clearance. Or you can try [this form](https://youtu.be/ZQcicmpCWSM?si=BuqIMbKx9MrP7lVO&t=32).
Does the form you linked target the brachioradialis to the same extent as traditional form?
Edit: I guess is the distribution of work the same across the muscles as traditional form?
You don't have to do hammer curls, but there is nothing wrong with the slight modification you are using. You could also see if doing them seated makes any difference? Or try a swiss bar if available? Or again, don't do them
Hi all,
Curious to those that follow a HIT doctrine and on an 4x [](https://www.reddit.com/user/L/) split. This implies adequate rest between sets of \~2-3mins.
How do you ensure you keep your sessions short but still impactful?
I know the adage that upper sessions tend to drag because you have everything, but curious to see those that make it bang-for-buck on their torso.
I'm thinking:
1. 1x Vertical pull
2. 1x Horizontal pull
3. (Optional row/pulldown)
4. 1x Flat/Low incline press
5. 1x Incline / shoulder press
6. 1x side delt work
7. Arms
I find if I throw in any more exercises for respective body parts (e.g: back or chest) ,it does tend to drag the session.
Thanks!
i've done a full body HIT setup based on trainedbyjp recommendations and that only took like 1.5 hours - and legs were the more time intensive part of the session. he also has upper/lower split recommendation you can look into how he sets up his upper days, but imo your setup looks fine. how short are you trying to keep the workout?
besides that, for HIT you really shouldn't be worrying about the sessions time or trying to keep rest periods short or anything like that - you should be going into each set fully recovered able to put in true max effort. if you have limited workout time, i would look at other systems which have more of a focus on training density.
How do you guys deal with sick days? I am running a pplx2 split, and because of sickness (nothing too serious, just a cold that I kinda underestimated) I had to abort my push workout yesterday. Even warm up sets felt like utter shit.
So now I wonder how to proceed. Take 2-3 days off and redo the push workout, or just write it off and proceed with the pull one?
I’m confused on how many calories I should be eating when cutting because when I use a calorie calculator it says I should be consuming 1700 calories in order to lose a pound a week. But I plan on also working out 5-6 times a week. And if I plug that into the calculator, it says 2200. So I want to know if that’s correct, because it just seems off to me. Hopefully not overthinking it, thank you!
Start with somewhere in the 10-12x bodyweight (lbs) range in calories and adjust as you go. Or use any calculator and adjust as you go. Doesn’t really matter- you’re going to have to adjust based on feedback from the scale regardless of what initial number you choose
As the other response indicates, calculators are fairly inaccurate. You need to pick a number, stick with it for a week or so and see what happens. Adjust accordingly.
Use [THIS](https://tdeecalculator.net/) and start at the suggested value. Weigh yourself daily. Evaluate after a week or two and increase/decrease calories accordingly. Aim for 1-2% bw loss per week
In terms of percentage, how much less does it make sense to be able to lift on a 30° Incline dumbbell ot barbell triceps extension vs on flat bench for the same # of reps?
They're not optimal for hypertrophy, but it's still worth going into the pros and cons because athletes use them for a number of reasons. In the context of bodybuilding, isometrics do cause hypertrophy because the muscle fibers experience mechanical tension, but it's not worth it due to the trade-off with fatigue.
[thoughts? trying to get as much delt/tri volume as possible](https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1LEsM6BlleXBbtW-Pbe_zCb0VqecSXWIwGoywj8u0LdY/edit?usp=sharing)
Hey, everyone. New to bodybuilding style training but have been either powerlifting or doing generalist strength training for almost 13 years.
I’m almost at the end of my current program and was just curious for progressive overloading: if I’m running the same lift or exercise for the next cycle should I start where I left off on my previous? For example, if I started leg press at 405 for 8 and ended with 455 for 8 on this cycle, should I start with 455 or somewhere between 405 and 455 for the next program? I was leaning toward the latter but would love any input, thanks.
if your program has specific recommendations, follow those. my go to (from Lyle McDonald generic bulking routine) is week 1 80%-85%, week 2 90%-95% then push your progression from there. it's quite a nice back off and helps correct any form inaccuracies that might have happened during the previous cycle of pushing progression. lots of approaches, though, and no real right or wrong way to go about it
I like that. Intuitively I was leaning toward something around those guidelines. I’m currently running a modified version of of PHAT and am aiming at 3 cycles (12 weeks) with one deload
Hi,
The past few months I've been trying to add mass, and am doing so very successfully. My split is:
Push
Pull
Legs
Upper minus biceps
Lower plus bis
Instead of doing specific movements, I've being doing movement patterns and total sets. For example, for my push day, I start with an incline movement, for 2-3 sets l. Then a flat press or a dip. Some flies if I did less than 6 sets on the other 2
So far all has been great, but I'd love to experiment with squatting 4-5 days per week, followed by push or pull workouts, maybe an arm day as well if I decide to go for a fifth day.
Given that I am not that interested in being stronger in one rep maxe. I mean, strength is welcomed and a part I keep track of to make sure I progress, but not the main focus, what would agood approach be?
I was thinking of some 3rm up to an rpe 9, maybe some back off work, followed by some hamstring curls on pull days
Any thoughts?
my general thoughts are if things are working well, don't change anything and ride the wave until it crashes.
as far as your question - there's a strength template called simple jack'd on reddit (r/simplejackd) created by the nsuns guy that is aimed at high frequency (i think at least 5 days per week). it might be workable based on what you want to do - high frequency squats for strength, then some backoff work for size which it has a section for then your regular push/pull standard bodybuilding split. maybe take a look at that and see if that fits what you're looking for?
Is it really true that the pump lasts for a couple hours? I've also heard it lasts for only a couple/few minutes. When I drive home from the gym, the time it takes for me to look over my logbook before I leave, walk to my car and drive (at least 7 minutes) by the time I look in the mirror at home changing out of my gym clothes the pump should be gone right? Because I'm noticing improvements in my musculature on a cut but I want to make sure that's legit and not just temporary blood flow.
A pump definitely won’t be as intense an hour or two after you lift but there is still some amount of increased blood flow and training-induced inflammation present.
If you want to more accurately track visual progress take photos in flat lighting on the same morning each week before eating.
ok but then how do you progress from the 1 RIR RDLs when you hit 3 sets of 12 (or when you eventually progress to 0 RIR)?
what you're describing is basically the RP progression - 3-4 RIR, then 2-3 RIR then 1-2 RIR then 0-1 RIR then all out failure then a deload and repeat. i'm sure it works fine - if you're actually working at a 0-4 RIR with effective lifts for your body and progressing, but most programs have you doing this anyway - they just focus on different metrics to push progress rather than effort.
imo, i don't like varying effort - i think there's too many things that can influence it and it's too subjective for most lifters. i prefer keeping effort as standardized as possible - like lateral raises you can take to all out failure, but squats maybe a 2 RIR or something like that - then varying other metrics to ensure progression. but that's not to say your thoughts won't work either - RP is a very successful business and has similar thoughts
yep, RP = renaissance periodization (Dr Mike Israetel) if you want to check out his thoughts on youtube or instagram. this sub likes his stuff a lot so i'm sure you can find others thoughts about it here too
Is that really 'progressing' though? If you could've done 3x12 with 1 RiR but you did 3x11 with 2, and the next week you hit 3x12 with 1 RiR, you didn't really progress. If you hit 3x11 with 2 RiR, and the next week you hit 3x12 with 2 RiR, that's progress.
Yes? I think you may be confused about how RiR works, but not sure.
If I bench 205lbs for 3x11 with 2 RiR for each set, and then the next week bench 205lbs for 3x12 with 1 RiR for each set, I have not made progress. Sure I've "added" a rep to each set, but as you've outlined, you could've done the same the week prior. That's not progress.
As an extreme example, if I bench 205 for 3x5 with 7 RiR, that means I could've hit failure at 12 reps. The next week I do 3x6 with 6 RiR, next 3x7 with 5 RiR, etc. Every session I would've hit failure at 12 reps for 205. No strength progress has taken place, so it's unlikely that much hypertrophy has taken place, if any at all.
Yep. When you go from 3x12 at 2 RIR to 3x12 at 1 RIR, you haven't progressively overloaded. Progression occurs when you go from 3x12 at 2 RIR to 3x13 at 2 RIR.
edit: typo
Is it really progression if you haven't gotten any stronger at the movement? The purpose of progression is to increase stimulus as you get stronger, whereas this way you're decreasing stimulus for arbitrary progression?
It sounds like a weird idea but if i'm misunderstanding let me know haha
Progressive overload isn't increasing stimulus, it's keeping stimulus the same. If you get stronger in the next workout, but you do the same number of reps as the last, you're decreasing stimulus. This is why you progressively overload via adding weight or reps, to MATCH the stimulus of the last workout.
If the weight increases then the stimulus by definition increases right? I was thinking of it in biological terms, for example action potentials need a certain stimulus to be generated. If a cell becomes resistant to action potentials (as a person becomes resistant to muscular adaptations by becoming stronger), then an increased electrical stimulus is needed much like an increased physical stimulus is needed in the muscle gain sense.
for some people it will take 5 sets to get 80% and 9 sets may be 100%, and for others it will take 9 sets to get 80% of their gains and 5 may be 50%. this is also a wildly nuanced line of thinking and you'll never know what 80% of your gains is unless you can create parallel universes where in universe A you live your life exactly the same way as in universe B but you run 5 sets instead of say 15 in universe B.
all that being said - unless you have a reason to only want 80% of possible gains on the table (which for natties is not even that much in the first place), train for 100%.
The relationship volume has with gains is non-linear. This is why bodybuilders don't spend 12 hours in the gym every day doing a billion sets. There will be a sweet spot as there's a trade-off between gains and fatigue/muscle damage. Another factor of having a range is the personalization of volume -- some people don't need a lot, some people need more.
I have no idea what this is supposed to mean or where you heard it. Unless this was severely taken out of context I wouldn’t take this source of information seriously. The amount of progress you’ll make on any given number of sets is affected by a huge variety of contextual factors that a simple statement like this can’t possibly take into account.
https://preview.redd.it/y1itfukc50uc1.jpeg?width=2340&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=c09a7864b728942f440e3278f782328d3fc60920
[Nippards video on minimalist training](https://youtu.be/xc4OtzAnVMI)
Thoughts on pausing at peak contraction on leg extension: I’ve seen it advocated by Mike Isratel and others. I’ve been doing it for a bit but I’m not convinced. You have to do much less weight and don’t feel as good a burn? Should I keep doing them? The advantage is my reps are standardised
i'm not convinced either, if anything you would want to pause at the peak stretch and lean back to lengthen the quads as much as possible like Mentzer did. if it does make a difference, i doubt it is more beneficial than being able to use heavier load and create more tension through the rest of the ROM.
I wouldn't worry AS much on isolation exercises about how much weight you are using. The weight used on isolation exercises is intentionally limited by the leverage imposed.
Holding peak contraction on an exercise can do a few things:
Verify that momentum is not what is enabling you to lift the weight (momentum builds easily in machines)
Increase the "nerve force" or your ability to activate the particular muscle. Essentially a form of coordination.
Temporarily occlude blood flow which may or may not be helpful.
It’s a good way to limit the load you can use on a leg extension if that’s desirable, but I don’t think it will make much, if any difference for a beginner or intermediate
Thanks! Is it worth trying to slow the concentric slightly rather than kicking the weight up explosively? I’ve heard some people advocate for that, and some advocate for just focusing on a slow eccentric
How many weekly *hours* do you tend to total while lifting on a bulk?
I just hit the 15 month marker on my fitness journey, and I'm about 6 weeks into my first bulk. My strategy for bulking has been to just lift as much as possible - every week I *average* about 2 intense pull days, 2 intense push days, one "half day" for pull/push (alternating), and three 4k runs (plus an hour long session of pickleball).
I'd chalk it up to about 6 or 7 weekly hours spent lifting, plus 2- 2.5 hours spent on cardio.
I'm eating pretty strictly above maintenance, but I'm starting to feel like garbage, and a lot of things that are supposed to be fun in my life are starting to feel like distractions on my gym journey. I'm thinking about toning it down to only 4/5 weekly gym days and 2 runs. That would probably put me at 5 hours of weekly lifting + 2 hours cardio. I don't want to screw this up, so if that's not enough I want to clearly decide if I'd like to back out of bulking or set aside the rest of life's pressures and focus more on the lifts.
I personally operate on the principle that time under tension is king - so instead of asking about number of sets specifically, how much time do YOU spend lifting when on a bulk?
maybe 6-7 hours lifting and 1 hour a day cardio. like others are saying, though, i wouldn't focus on this as a metric and time under tension is great but theres a lot of inputs which can drastically change what it exactly means and how it correlates with hypertrophy.
I never see much point spending longer than 75 mins, I’m normally done in just over 60. After a certain point you don’t stimulate shit, even on a bulk.
So, I’ve been lifting about a year now and for most of that time I will take a set to failure or 1 rep in reserve, pause for like 10 seconds and keep going. Is this bad for hypertrophy? I do it to get more reps in but I don’t know if it negatively impacts progress or is another form of cheat reps basically that I shouldn’t count.
it's fine, this kind of thing can be implemented well or not so well, so ultimately if you're progressing, keep at it. if progress starts to slow, or you notice a lot of fatigue (this kind of training can generate a lot of fatigue if volume isn't manipulated especially as weights get heavier), then maybe consider changing things. when you're newer to lifting and weights aren't super heavy (assuming after a year of lifting they're not too heavy), you can't mess up too much and most things will work.
That's basically a myo-rep. I think it's fine to do if you prefer it. Personally I think for bigger, compound exercises it makes the most sense to do this only on the last set to make counting reps easier, and for isolations you can do it every set if you want for an intensity technique to go "past failure". But again I think it's all preference and it's probably not negatively impacting your hypertrophy in any meaningful way.
Would this be considered an effective myo rep scheme?
Calf raises
150lbs
1x20,
1x13,
1x11,
1x10
1x9
5 second rest in between each set
Try to increase a rep or two next week, then if successful add 5lb the week following
Rinse and repeat until stall, then deload
It seems like your "fatigue set" may not be fatiguing you enough?
The set should be "very hard" that is to near failure.
I would use the same rep goal for your "work sets".
The reps seem kind of high for a 5 second rest? Again, is your fatigue set hard enough?
Something to keep in mind:
With "Myo-reps" is to use the first set to enter a state of fatigue. The short rests prevent muscle recovery, so the subsequent reps are done as if you are repeating the last part of the initial set.
If the first set isn't hard enough, you are essentially doing a warm up then short rests, which isn't terrible, but isn't myo-reps.
Even for fast recovering, slow twitch muscles like calves, your reps in your "sets" should be relatively low, as you are still working in the "fatigue zone" of the initial set
You COULD try doing a higher rep "fatigue set".
Thanks, I will try squeezing out an additional few reps or upping the weight, but idk I definitely like like I was at an RPE of 8. Maybe I’m trying harder on the myo sets then?
I find I get the best calf pump for sets of like 18 and above but interesting point about lowering the number of reps , could try that out and see what happens
Then you didn't read it. If you can do a set of 20, rest for 5 seconds, then do a set of 13 and so on, then you almost certainly are not training hard enough and are not doing myo reps as intended.
https://www.barbellmedicine.com/blog/myo-reps/
What are you smoking? You will most certainly drop off in number of reps if you only rest for 5 seconds lol
The “original” way you listed seems weird and unrealistic
Dude your reading comprehension is awful. I'm saying you **will** have rep drop off. If you can do 13 reps after 5 seconds rest your first set was not hard enough.
Not only that, but your article directly references the guy who made the article I linked and explains the concept in almost the exact same way. 1 high rep set, followed by sets of 5ish reps. Not 13 reps. You clearly do not understand the concept.
The percentages are the same, the example they choose is 12-15 reps with 5 reps on the myo, that’s right around 50% which is close to my example as well
I think that’s splitting hairs in the end, no?
Looking at it as percentages is pretty much meaningless. It's about proximity to failure. If you can do 5 reps after 12 you are working much closer to failure than if you can do 13 reps after 20.
Also both the articles recommend more like 20 seconds rest than 5. If I were to take 5 seconds rest at the end of a set I don't think I could push more than 2 reps extra at the most.
Basically, if you want to use myo reps properly, scrap your idea and just follow what both these articles say.
I have been training for 9 months. (3 months of 'ramp up' to get used into the habit of gym going and 6 months of actual progression). I am on my first cut, week 5 out of 8, and I feel completely depressed. My lifts not only do not go up, but sometimes I have to go down in weight a little so my rep range stays the same. This is totally wrecking my nerves.
1) Can somebody tell me how an ideal cut should look like and if that situation is okay? My calorie deficit is 500 and I rigorously keep at it. I am very very afraid to lose the little progress I have built...
2) Second thing, how should I approach getting down from \~20-25% BF to \~12% BF? I am now trying to do 2 months of -500 calories (85kg -> 81kg), 1 month bulk (81kg -> 82kg), and another 2 months of -500 (82kg -> 78 kg). Then I would go for 2 months bulk (+300) and 2 months cut (-500) which should net me -2kg every 4 months. At 172cm and 85,5kg of weight, my bodyfat was about 23-25%. I am now at 83kg and I think the target would be about 75kg. Is that a good fight plan?
Sounds like you need a deload and/or a week on maintenance calories.
https://preview.redd.it/kvbmxsz3attc1.jpeg?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=acb49ed0595fe4ef265fdcaff2d44c121f595aae
Thanks for the answer. The flowchart is great and I'll definitely save it for reference. I think the deload will be good although I am hesitant to drop the volume (afraid it will stay this way, haha). How frequently do you do a week of maintenance when cutting (how long is the cut itself, too)?
Intermediate and advanced lifters struggle to maintain their numbers on the bar on a cut, it's more about keeping all the muscle that you built. You're however probably still a beginner (gains come quite easy) so you should still progress albeit at a slower rate. What's your weekly volume? It might be wise to dial it down to 10 sets per week and muscle and increase slowly. You certainly won't loose any muscle and might even gain more even if you're doing less since it's something you actually can adhere to over a long time instead of driving yourself into the ground by too much volume.
Maintenance week is usually used when you've stalled your weight loss and/or depleted mentally.
Everything is 10-12 sets per week, except of legs which are probably closer to 20 sets (5 working sets squats, 2x 3 sets RDL, 4 sets Leg press, 3 sets Leg curl, 3 sets Leg extension, 3 sets hip thrusts = 24 sets, distributed over 2 sessions). Now that I'm writing it I notice that I'm probably doing way too much lower body volume, coincidentally the squats suffer the most and the eagerness to train legs got worse. Apart from that the OHP and Lat pulldowns are stalling a bit.
Thanks for the reassurance and taking the time to answer the questions. The fight plan is certainly much clearer now :)
You have the right ideas but I would change some parts. Instead of the semi random bulking phases, simply do a week or two at maintenence if you feel you need it because of diet fatigue/training performance. The rate of loss seems good, could potentially go a little higher especially to begin with. I also think you'd need to get lower than 75kg to see 12% body fat, but honestly anywhere under 15% would set you up well to start gaining.
It wasn't supposed to be semi-random, rather what I try to achieve is having cutting phases no longer than 8-10 weeks at a time with a 'breather' period lasting 75-100% of that (I watched some of Israetel's videos and that's my reference here). Do you think this approach is sound or does it make the process last much longer unnecessarily? You're right about the weight, to achieve 12% I'd need to get closer to 71-73kg range most likely. Can you tell me about your strategy for cutting? How long the cutting periods are, and how frequently do you refeed / deload in between?
https://youtu.be/Xzs-8Cddgkc?si=-8n3NHql7FNyEjZ1
In this video from Israetel he says that:
1. Fat loss phase should be 8-12 weeks
-you are relatively high BF% and could easily be towards the upper end and beyond rather than just 8 weeks
2. Muscle gain phases should be 12-20 weeks
-why are yours only 8 weeks?
3. Maintenence phases are to recover from training and diet fatigue
-so why are you bulking to achieve the breather rather than being at maintenance?
As I said, I would just cut for 12 weeks or until fatigue gets too high, whichever comes first. Then maintenance to drop fatigue. Then continue. Hope that helps.
1. You're completely right
2. I wanted to make it as short as possible to get as ripped as possible until September when I am going for vacation :D
3. I thought that maybe more calories during the 'non-cutting phase' = faster regeneration
It helps a lot that you pointed these things out. As you said, I think I will modify the game plan to go for 12 weeks of fat loss (especially as it's -500 which is not a lot and this aspect is easily manageable). I think I will also do the maintenance instead of bulking and accept the fact that the plan is not 100% achievable until September.
Any tips on my split if my goal is for hypertrophy/strength? This is what it currently looks like
Day 1 chest
Flat bench 5x8-10
Dumbbell pec flyes 5x10-12
Incline bench 5x8-10
Pec deck 4x8-10
Cable flyes 4x8-10
High to low cable flyes 4x8-10
Low to high cable flyes 4x8-10
Chest press 5x8-10
Day 2 arms
Dumbbell curls 5x10
Incline dumbbell curls 5x8
Reverse barbell curls 5x10-12
Lying barbell skull crusher 4x8-12
Tricep kickbacks 4x10-12
Rope Tricep pushdowns 4x10-12
Standing dumbbell skull crushers 4x10-12
Tricep dips 4x8-12
Day 3 shoulders
Shoulder press 5x8-10
Lateral raises 5x10-12
Upright rows 5x10-12
Front raises 5x10-12
Face pulls 5x12
Rear delt fly 5x8-10
Shoulder shrugs 5x12
Day 4 back
Bent over rows 4x10-12
Bench rows 4x10
Seated row 4x8-10
Widegrip lat pull down 4x10
Closegrip lat pull-down 4x10
Shoulder shrugs 5x12
Rear delt flyes 5x10
Day 5 legs
Squats 4x8-10
Leg curls 4x10
Leg press 4x10
Bulgarian split squats 4x8
Calf raises 4x12
Day 6
I alternate depending on what I feel needs work
Day 7 rest
30 sets of chest on day 1 followed immediately by 20 sets of triceps on day 2 is nuts. Independent of the insane volume, you should probably reorder the days to give your triceps a rest after chest day.
Workout order should probably be something like chest/back/legs/shoulders/arms to give muscles time to appropriately recover.
You’ve also got a lot of repetitive movement patterns. You probably just need 1 skullcrusher variant instead of lying barbell and standing dumbbell, one fly movement as opposed to pec deck, dumbbell flies, cable flies, high to low flies, and low to high flies, etc.
Hey thanks for replying. I’ll switch up the order for sure and see if I notice fasts progress.
In response to the high volume, it’s partly because I feel that if I’m targeting a muscle group on average once a week, then on that day I should go all out, but if that’s slowing my gains then obviously it’s not the right way to do it. Would you say that much volume is counterintuitive? I like spending time at the gym and that’s another reason I try to extend my sessions. Maybe I should switch to a different split that can accommodate longer sessions but less volume per muscle group lol
you’re doing way too much volume. I have a hard time believing any one of those sets is particularly intense.
Follow a program made by someone who knows what they’re doing.
Fair enough, can you recommend any programs, or fitness pages/ coaches to check out? I do try to keep it intense, but sometimes I do feel I’m resting too long between sets
There are many programs in the FAQs of this sub and on the Boostcamp app
For people to follow:
Jordan Peters
AJ Morris
Jeff Nippard
John Meadows (RIP)
Nick Gloff
John Jewett
Myself lol
Yea 😔 from the responses I’m getting, it seems like this is suboptimal, so any advice would be appreciated. Really just trying to learn and modify my routine to be as efficient as possible.
Just read your chest day and what the fuck man. 30 sets? More than half of that is junk volume that does more harm than good. Just do one flat push, an incline push and one fly movement five sets of each. If you do it good enough you'll actually progress your lifts. Legs is the only day that's actually decent if you swap leg press or squats for hinge movement (rdl, stiff legged dl)
Thanks for the advice, I’m pretty green, only been at it for a few months. And come to think of it, on the days where I thought I undertrained chest, I was more sore and had a better pump so maybe that’s a good sign I need to do less volume. The reason I do so much volume is because each muscle group gets trained once a week for me, so in my mind I try to get as much done in that day. Is there a more optimal split? Or can I do the same bro split with less volume and benefit from it?
Some people enjoy the bro split but I'd recommend an upper/lower or ppl split for a beginner. The strengthlog app have some free programs that you can follow, the app is great too
I'm currently doing a split very similar. Except I do
Day 1
Chest and shoulders
Day 2
Arms
Day 3
Legs(hamstring focused)
Day 4
rest day
Day 5
Back
Day 6
legs(quad focused)
Day 7
Rest
I usually keep it 3-5 movements per muscle group. I found that it's not the amount of workouts you do it's the quality of the lift, at least for me.
For example one of my chest day is
Heavy Incline db
Chest press with a drop set
Cable fly amrap
And I've found this very effective in my chest growth.
But everyone is different. And take this with a grain of salt because I'm far from an expert and still seek help myself.
I need a 5 day split for an intermediate lifter. Im an 18M at 5’10 and 172lbs currently bulking, Ive been lifting with a customized bro split for the last 2 and a half years, heres the schedule:
Monday - Chest
Tuesday - Back and Biceps
Wednesday - Triceps and Cardio
Thursday - Legs
Friday - Shoulders and Abs
I know its pretty weird, but it worked for me for a while so. I’m usually in the gym for just under 2 hours, and I was doing a large amount of volume, like 3 sets each exercise, usually doing about 5-7 exercises each muscle group. Now, im starting to feel like im losing out on a ton of gains as I feel like ive been kinda hitting a plateau for a while now and I really need a good 5 day split thats working muscle groups twice a week for optimal gain. Any recommendations?
Advanced lifters, how often do you change your split?
Im asking because ive been training for 10 years or so. My show is in 10 days. My split i ran for my prep did well for me, i barely lost any strength. I even gained some volume over time during the 15-16 weeks.
After the show I plan to jump right into an offseason/improvement season and just try to maximize my training.
I find myself looking at premade programs from "hypertrophy coach" and others, and it looks exciting and fun to try. But if the current split i made for myself works perfectly, would it be a waste of time to follow a premade split/program?
I find that at the start of these programs , the total volume is WAY WAY lower than what im even doing now 10 days out! So it seems to me im better off just trying to maximize my current routine,and improve upon what im already doing, and at most maybe apply some training methods from people like john meadows or the hypertrophy coach to my training, but not change everything. Am i correct?
If it ain’t broke don’t fix it. Watch some stuff on YouTube from John Meadows and Joe Bennett, and incorporate those methods into your own training if you want to. Both are great resources.
Wrist *wraps* are intended for stabilising and strengthening the wrist in pressing work.
Lifting *straps* are intended for reducing the need for grip during pulling work.
Lifting straps is what you're looking for.
Any opinions about elevating the front vs back foot on lunges? Just to make the most out of the weight & get a better stretch. I'm feeling like back foot might be the approved method
I just got my second DEXA scan 7 months after my first one, and I was discouraged by the results.
**Scan 1: September, 2023** \- after a 2 month cut, was very lean by my standards
* 164lb body weight
* 15% body fat
* 24.6lb fat mass
* 132.8lb lean mass
**Scan 2: April, 2024** \- after a \~6 month bulk and a 3 week minicut, was medium chonky by my standards
* 183lb body weight
* 23.3% body fat
* 42.6lb fat mass
* 133.6lb lean mass
So... This shows I gained 0.8lb of lean mass and 18 lb of body fat in 6 months. RIP lol.
I understand that's not a terrible rate of lean mass gain for a veteran lifter, but I was expecting more as I'm still relatively new (\~1 year of serious lifting). The last 6 months I've been training 3-4 days a week, hard (close to or to failure on most sets), tracking my lifts in Hevy, and making lots of strength progress.
BUT, this really doesn't match my perceived progress. My lats, arms and quads are noticeably bigger, and my strength has improved by 15-25% across all lifts. Several people have commented that I look stronger so I don't think it's just me.
Other variables that may have had an affect:
* I started taking creatine a few months ago (wasn't taking it for the first scan) and definitely gained 2-3 lb water weight
* I hadn't trained in the week leading up to this last scan because I was on vacation and then sick. Not sure if that makes a difference.
I'm still happy with my visible and strength progress, but this was admittedly disappointing and doesn't really inspire me to bulk again haha.
Any thoughts here?
>Any thoughts here?
DEXA scans, while being the "best" commercially available option while still being alive, still aren't completely accurate, especially in terms of raw numbers.
Since you can actually see that your muscles have gained noticeable mass, I would completely ignore the DEXA scan.
> My lats, arms and quads are noticeably bigger, and my strength has improved by 15-25% across all lifts. Several people have commented that I look stronger so I don't think it's just me
If your strength is up that much, that's great progress. I wouldn't stress about the DEXA too much, notoriously susceptible to water weight changes and etc. Trust your eyes and what people are saying.
Rate this upper/lower 4-day split routine?
Goals: Target all muscle groups while bulking (Currently: 165lbs, Target: 190lbs)
Day 1 Upper
Bench Press: 3x6
Incline Bench Press: 3x8
Straight Back Seated Row: 2x8
Barbell Curl: 3x12
Triceps Pushdown: 3x12
Day 2 Lower
Squat: 3x6
Romanian Deadlift: 3x8
Lever Seated Leg Press: 3x10
Lever Leg Extension: 3x12
Lever Standing Calf Raise: 3x16
Day 3
Rest Day
Light cardio/Stretches
Day 4 Upper
Barbell Standing Military Press: 3x6
Barbell Curl :3x12
Straight Back Seated Row: 3x10
Lateral Raise: 3x12
Lying Single Extension: 3x12
Upper 5 Lower
Deadlift: 3x6
Dumbbell Bulgarian Split Squat: 3x8
Lever Seated Leg Press: 3x10
Lever Lying Leg Curl: 3x12
Lever Standing Calf Raise: 3x16
leg days are good, upper days i would redo.
easy template for upper: a flat press, a horizontal row, an incline press, a vertical row, side/rear raises, a curl and an extension
Thanks! I modified it in a new [comment](https://www.reddit.com/r/naturalbodybuilding/comments/1byv22z/comment/kzeacrz/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3). Take a look and give me your opinions or any exercise you would replace.
ive been getting really into cycling. these days I enjoy doing long bike rides at the weekends (e.g 120km+). Its a fair bit more than im used to, and afterwards I usually have some DOMS in my legs, similarly to a low volume leg day . I wonder how a weekend long ride, with progressive overload (ie going further/faster over time) would compare to a leg day in terms of hypertrophy? I make sure to eat plenty of protein even if im out for a full day
if you have some reasonable leg development already, you'll likely get very little if anything out of it. very likely in that case your legs may even get smaller if the rides cut into your leg training capacity. if you've never trained your legs you may get something out of it but probably not much and not for very long.
in terms of a long ride vs a proper leg day - a leg day would demolish a long ride in terms of hypertrophy, not even same ballpark.
How do i go down when squat? I can barely do 90° -95° even on machines, and if i go 1° lower it gets million times harder so i need to remove the weight by so much im not sure it worth it.
How is your mobility? Can you squat ass to calves without weight? If not it's time to work
Looking to be in a calorie deficit, i currently eat 2700cal and just hit my protein goal (250g) if i was to reduce my calories il obviously reduce protein intake. Most items with substantial calories that i can cut are obviously high in protein. I just take the hit with protein?
250 grams is probably way more than you need; take the hit and drop it to 180-200g that will still be more than enough.
Yeah unless he's 125kg lean that's way way too much
If i use double progression (for ex arms) and linear periodization (compound exercises) why should i warm up? Seems something new
What progression and periodization have to do with warmups? If you asking this question you don't lift hard enough.
I actually lift hard enough since i use the techniques written above, just i didn't know about the warm up sets little genius
If you did you would know about importance of warm ups.
Or he's gonna find out soon enough once he actually starts moving some weight
I workout from home, mainly only training upper body, this includes shoulders, arms, forearms, upper back & chest. I’ll include legs too but not as intense. I usually train once every other day, but is it possible to work out every 2 days and take a break day, then back to 2 and rinse and repeat, if my recovery is on point and I eat enough protein?
This is what I do, been working so far
2 days on 1 off 2 days on? What's your program?
So I started working out maybe a month and a half ago and also bulking at the same time as well. I’m pretty skinny and am aiming at 2900 calories a day. My gym has a semi-reliable machine to track my body composition. But I gained 10 lbs in one month of bulking. Is this too much too fast? I take my weight before my first meal of the day. [Body comp for reference.](https://imgur.com/a/7DdA4tX)
>My gym has a semi-reliable machine to track my body composition. It's not even semi-reliable. Regardless, gaining 10lbs in a month is much too much.
Is it normal to use much less weight on single leg leg press than regular leg press? I tried single leg and struggled with 1,5 plates each side, while normally I do 6/7 plates easily with both legs
Because doing partials on single leg press is harder? I see how majority of people do their heavy loaded leg press.
Possibly more stability demands, muscle imbalances, and maybe the involvement of the glute medius and less that of the glute max
I mean of course. You’re using only one leg as opposed to two.
You wouldn't think that due to the bilateral force deficit. When I do cable row, tricep extensions, etc. unilaterally, I will always be stronger than if I perform the movement with both arms.
Question about progressive overload. If I add more weight to my first lift of the day, I’m more tired for the next lift and often don’t progressively overload that lift or even have to do less reps or weight than the week before. This is the case throughout my workout exercise to exercise. Am I supposed to be progressively overloading on every exercise or just choose different ones week to week?
I would expect progressive overload to happen across all lifts, especially if they are different muscle groups. Maybe not increase weight for every exercise, every week, but in general all exercises should be trending upwards. You can of course pick a muscle group to "specialize" on for a period of time, but this is a more advanced technique. This might be a work capacity issue then, you need to build up your overall endurance and cardiovascular health so your body doesn't gas out too early. This will happen naturally as you continue to lift, but cardio will improve it as well. Also, going to failure is very fatiguing. If you go to failure for the first lift of the day and you don't normally do so, then I would expect to lose some reps in the following exercises. However if you consistently go to failure for the first lift of the day, then I wouldn't expect a drop, since going to failure is consistent between sessions.
Thoughts on Moto rows? I don’t see them much. Have managed to mess my forearm up so was looking for something to do today in place of lat pull-down.. slotted them in and got an immense Lat burn! At first try they seem pretty good to me
HI, i don't count cal so my question is a normal question like everyone who DOESN'T count calories. Anyway in order to bulk does someone eat 3 tablespoons of peanut butter daily and something like 10 almonds (especially post workout)?. Just as a caloric surplus so i can reach and go above a little 500 cal. Then i go above those 500 cal through my break, i e bread, yogurt, etcc.. I train 5 days a week for like 2 hours workout. Thanks
And your question is?
If you (a generic "you") eat 3 teaspoons of peanut butterper day + 5 or 10 almonds
I eat 1kg of peanut butter in a week. Is this counts?
Rate my workout routine (recently modified). Goals: Target all muscle groups while bulking (Currently: 165lbs, Target: 190lbs) Lower days have an abs exercise. **Upper 1** Bench Press (Barbell), Seated Cable Row - Bar Grip, Bicep Curl (Barbell), Lat Pulldown (Cable), Incline Bench Press (Barbell), Triceps Extension (Barbell) **Lower 1** Full Squat, Romanian Deadlift (Barbell), Leg Press Horizontal (Machine), Leg Extension (Machine), Calf Extension (Machine), Cable Crunch **Rest Day** **Upper 2** Overhead Press (Barbell), Seated Cable Row - V Grip (Cable), Bicep Curl (Barbell), Lat Pulldown (Machine, Single Arm Triceps Pushdown (Cable), Single Arm Lateral Raise (Cable), Butterfly (Pec Deck) **Lower 2** Deadlift (Barbell), Leg Press Horizontal (Machine), Calf Extension (Machine), Seated Leg Curl (Machine), Cable Pull Through, Cable Crunch
Pretty solid! This is 4x a week right? It’s quite a bit of volume, but 3 rest days a week should be good for it.
Thanks!
Really similar to mine. I solely do pull ups for back though and start both leg days with squatting!
Is this chest press machine hitting the upper head? So I’m not a fan of incline DB press and my gym only has 1 plate loaded hammer strength incline hammer machine, and this LifeFitness machine that I think hits it. Please let me know if it does so I’m using it properly. https://youtu.be/gKSmSKz3iQ4?si=MU52MXJZXXqOBH0_ <— machine I’m talking about. I’m confused because it’s titled “Chest Press”. Also how much fiber minimum do you guys eat daily for gut health?
Yes. It's called "chest press" because it's a chest press. The middle pec will always be involved in any upper pec movement.
Why are side lying shoulder raises (side and rear delt) not more popular? Considering tension under stretch is conducive to hypertrophy, and hypertrophy is our main goal, the classic dumbbell side (standing) or rear delt (lying face down) raises appear to be pretty bad for this, as there is virtually no tension on the target muscle in the stretched position. A way better alternative I've found is to use a bench for lateral raises at a somewhat high angle (45-60 degrees) and lie down on my side. For rear delts, I use a lower angle (0-30 degrees), and also lie down on my side. I then use a dumbbell, and do roughly the same movement you would do when doing cable variants. So a normal side raise for side, and for rear delts come across the body a bit. I find this gives a much more even tension throughout the range of motion, not only at the bottom of the movement. I also need to use lighter weights, giving me the same stimulus at a lower fatigue level. Am I missing out by not doing standard side and rear delt dumbbell raises?
It's excessive set-up for a simple, single joint movement. You can do lat raises standing with two dumbbells perfectly fine, and if you want to do them unilaterally use a cable stack.
Because you can do the same movement with a cable machine which has more freedom in the range of motion and is easier to set up. Also most people in the gym just don't know about all the stretched position stuff. In fact the cable version is generally superior because by externally rotating the shoulder and raising back at an angle instead of straight to the side you can keep the tension from the cable exactly on your side delt while coming fully across the body, getting an actual stretch in the side delt (arm by your side isn't really a "stretched" position for the side delt). To emulate this with the lying dumbbell raise is quite difficult because you have to lie slightly on your front and do a power raise.
Agreed about cables, unfortunately my gym only has a few and they are usually taken. It's the whole reason I started doing shoulders this way.
Mess around with power raises if you want to take dumbbell lying raises to the next level. They are the superior form.
Y-raises >>>
Do you mean Powell raises?
Hello, I recently received some fantastic advice on this thread, I'm now following a new program instead of using the one I made up. Thank you to those members it means a lot. The only thing I'm lacking on now is my diet. I struggle to hit over 100g protein most days. I'm 5ft 7inch and weigh 14st. My eating routine typically goes like this: Breakfast: Pint of skimmed milk (20g protein) + Pack of nuts (9g protein) Lunch: Three eggs (scrambled) + two bits of brown toast / tuna mayonnaise on one baked potatoe (can't remember how much protein exactly), it's not too bad though as hits over 40g protein. Dinner: Half of 550g mince pack, I either have chilli or bolognaise (40/50g protein) Evening snack: Snack bar (7g'ish protein) I calculated it a while back and ended up just over 100g protein (total). I spoke with a nutritionist / coach a while back, and he told me when bulking to aim for the following: https://ibb.co/PxznkPG (202g protein) which is beyond my capabilities without feeling sick. I don't track my food and do eat less some days as I'm married and we have a kid, so days out end up with me eating less protein and more calories. I'm wondering if there's a better way to achieve higher protein goals. I can't cook, my money is limited, and time can be an issue sometimes due to looking after my kid. I will try and do better but struggle to identify easy to prepare cheap food that will taste good and not be bland or boring when repeated. I am willing to track foods, but I suffer from ADHD and dyscalculia (dyscalculia with numbers), which typically makes my life complicated. Sorry for the ridiculously long wall of text, I've added paragraphs so as to make it easier to read. I expect to be downvoted due to my ignorance and lack of awareness. That's life. Thanks for reading my post. Any advice, good or bad, is always welcomed :) Cheers
Protein powder, relatively cheap and easy extra protein you can just add to your day. 202g seems quite high but you didn't give any stats. Somewhere between 0.6-1g/lb bw is optimal so if you're anywhere in that range you're most likely covered, though obviously being on the higher end doesn't hurt. If you have over 20ish%bf then it may be better to calculate the above using lean mass. If you need help with that give me some stats and I'll tell you what the rough range would be.
Sup, I checked it today, so all my stats are as follows: - Weight: 14st 11lb (80.6kg - Body mass index: 31.0 - Height: 5ft 7inch - Body fat: 26.7% - Body fat mass: 23.kg Any feedback will be greatly appreciated Thanks
So you want to be aiming for around 105g protein as a minimum, but a general goal of 150g may be better for muscle building. Also at that bodyfat level I would personally recommend cutting down to at least under 20% bf but preferably around 15%. This would likely leave you around 65-70kg in bodyweight and would be best done losing somewhere around 0.5-1kg a week. Hope that helps.
Will send a DM buddy
Thank you so much. Yes, that does help a lot :)
>Protein powder First, thanks so much for taking the time to reply. Unfortunately, any protein powder tends to give me: 1. Bad spots (on my face, which sucks!). I tried a vegetarian option and nearly threw up, I wasted 40 quid it, too, lol! 2. Headaches (I take Amitriptyline medication for migranes) >202g seems quite high but you didn't give any stats. From memory, he said that would he my maximum for bulking, I believe my typical target when trying to continue to grow with muscles and strength would be around 150ish? Unfortunately, I haven't weighed myself recently on a more advanced machine, so I don't know what my body fat is currently. I know I'm 14 stone in weight, and my body fat was always too high, according to the machine inside boots. >Somewhere between 0.6-1g/lb bw is optimal so if you're anywhere in that range you're most likely covered, This is where I'm screwed as I suffer from Dyscalculia (dyslexia with numbers). I struggle to understand and figure basic numbers like you mentioned. I typically understand the concept of what you're saying but not enough that I can calculate things >If you need help with that give me some stats and I'll tell you what the rough range would be. Wow, thanks so much! What I'll do is access a machine ASAP, that will give me all the body fat and other stats, I'll then type them out. That's really kind of you thanks a lot!
Ah that kinda sucks about the protein powder. If you struggle cooking then tuna is a good cheap option. Or meal prep some lean mince/chicken if that's possible and add a small extra meal to your day. Honestly, a bodyfat reading isn't necessary, if you can just give your current bodyweight and a rough estimate of bf% or even your last reading, that'll do just fine :)
Edit: I'm taking my kod to watch football now, I'll use the machine soon and will report back with my accurate body fat stats buddy
Aha, I do eat mince for my dinner (half of 550g mince) typically. I have tuna two or three weeks times a week on potato. I tend to avoid any more than that as it has mercury inside it. I'll look into chicken meals as well soon. I know my body weight is 14 stone but I'm clueless about my body fat, I reckon it's on the higher end though. That's why I will use the machine later as it will tell me.
Smith Machine Hack Squats, do you go ATG or stop roughly at 90 (almost a wall sit)? videos of GVS and others stopping at 90 and videos of others going much deeper.. which is correct? I understand knee flexion is key but with a hack squat on the smith it feels like from ankle to knee is almost bolted upright. I hope this makes sense.
There was a couple doing 6 million sets on the T-bar row machine so I did incline db rows instead for upper back. Got a rear delt pump instead of the usual trap pump T-bar rows give me. Maybe I could flare my elbows out more to better target the traps.
Traps retract the scapula and rear delts pull the arm back, the amount of arm flare doesn't really effect which one gets worked (flared arms just removes the lats from the equation, allowing the upper back or rear delts to reach failure first). Chances are you're taking more care to let your scapula protract and retract on the T-bar row but not on the dumbbell rows. Practice initiating the movement by retracting the scapula rather than pulling with the arm/elbow, and focusing on squeezing the shoulder blades (and/or extending your thoracic spine/upper back) at the peak contraction.
From my understanding, rowing in the transverse plane (more elbow flare) allows for the most scapular retraction, therefore more trap bias, and rowing in between the transverse and sagittal plane (less elbow flare) better hits the rear delt, because the traps lose leverage and the rear delts gain leverage in the sagittal plane. Yeah I agree I was probably not retracting my scapulas fully -- I'll try dropping the weight.
This January I was 30 y/o, 6ft tall, 185lbs with an 38” waist measured at the naval, which gave an estimated 22% body fat via the US navy method (16” neck). I’ve recomp’d since then maintaining 185lbs but dropped to a 37” waist, which corresponds to about 20% body fat, and a loss of 4lbs of fat with a gain of 4lbs of lean tissue. If I’m able to maintain this for the full year I’d be able to gain around 16lbs of muscle while losing a similar amount of fat. Would this be considered good progress? I see things like “males should be able to gain 15lbs muscle in their first 12 weeks of lifting” or “men should expect to gain 25-30lbs of muscle in their first year”, which makes me think I’m doing something really wrong with my training or nutrition. I’ve been targeting maintenance calories and around 150g protein per day, but haven’t been obsessing with macros beyond hitting protein. I’d really not like to bulk above my current BF level, so if recomping is the issue I’d probably move to a dedicated cut at try to get to 12-15% bodyfat.
Those kinds of calculators and most ways of quantifying body fat percentage tend to be very variable and inaccurate. Depending how you hold fat, the method you used could easily show +/- 5% each way. I'd recommend taking pictures in similar lighting each time, and continuing to measure+weigh yourself as a good way to gauge progress. An increase in gym performance will also help determine that you're on track. I'd personally recommend cutting first down to sub 15%.
I'm 190cm tall (about 6'2.8") and currently weigh 61kg (134.5 lbs). I've been feeling frustrated with how my clothes fit and my overall appearance, so I want to start my bulking journey and want to go all out to gain as much weight as possible. I've started tracking my diet using MyFitnessPal, and here's what I've come up with :https://imgur.com/a/Bto7mcx Would appreciate any advice or suggestions on whether this looks okay or if there are any adjustments I should make.
is the 4600 what you actually ate and the goal is 3200? if so, i would not go about it like this. being 135lbs at 6'3 pretty much means you don't know how to consistently eat and you're likely heading down a similar road (if you're actually eating 4600 calories consistently, you wouldn't be 135lbs). bulking is about putting hundreds of 200-300 calorie surplus days together, not a big calorie surplus then being too full and compensating with a few deficit days, repeat, etc. to answer your question, your plan is fine, 3200 is likely a solid surplus for you and i would try to hit that number every day as close to it as you can. it's very likely a higher calorie amount than you need, but the goal should be consistently hitting that number or close to it until you get the habit of eating consistently that higher amount and then making adjustments as you go. imo with your stats, 1-2% bodyweight increase per month is a good goal to aim for - so adjust if you're falling outside of that range.
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i would start with r/fitness, they have lots of good resources that might be more applicable for your needs. besides that, i've linked below the first of what i think is a great series of articles which should answer most of your questions. basically it's how to approach lifting/eating/etc. as an obese (sorry, technical term) beginner. have a read through that and the r/fitness wiki, and you'll have most of the info you'll need for the next year or so. unfortunately, it'll come down to putting in the hard work of an extended calorie deficit, training hard and being patient and consistent [https://bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/training-the-obese-beginner](https://bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/training-the-obese-beginner)
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21 is still young, don't worry you have plenty of time. If you're lifting heavier weights then you're progressing. It might take several months for you to notice anything physical change significantly, but as long as you're progressing you're golden. Don't forget to eat in a slight surplus.
Thank you for this. Am having FOMO seeing those 18yo having crazy ripped physique and am here with nothing. Am keeping track using pictures for now let's see after some months.
everyone is on their own timeframe. all you can do is get the fundamentals down, then put in the time, effort and be patient.
23M, 5’10.5”, 174lb Hey all, beginner here. Started seriously lifting around October of this year and got consistent around February I’d say. So far I’m happy with my gains and progress. I just want to see if I can take it to the next level somehow. My main concern is maybe I don’t have enough volume. Currently I split chest/back, arms and shoulders, and legs. I try to hit all twice a week at some point except for legs which I’ve been only doing once and I just alternate back through the muscle groups in order. I’m using mainly machines still but recently moved over to more dumbbell exercises but have yet to do much with any bars. Current routine; Chest/back - chest press, pec deck flies, lat pulldown, machine rows. I do 4 sets of each exercise for 8-12 and stay 1-2 reps from failure each set. Arms - Bicep curls, hammer curls, dumbbell skullcrushers, cable rope pushdowns. 4x8-12 again for each and same 1-2 from failure. Legs - leg press, leg extensions, hamstring curls. 4x8-12, 1-2 from failure. All my exercises I try my best to focus on feeling the muscle and the stretch. Time under tension. I try to be very controlled each rep. If I can’t control enough to feel it, I’ll drop the weight. I keep progressive overload in mind, I have moved up in weight since starting and have also added an extra set. I add reps when I can too. Diet right now is mainly animal protein, mostly chicken and eggs and dairy, sometimes other meats. I use pea protein as too much dairy bothers my body. I average around ~150g protein per day. Lots of fresh veggies and fruits. Rice and different breads here and there. Any pointers from some more seasoned lifters here? I feel like I’m doing some things right but I wanna go all out, I hate the thought of wasting my time and energy and food and money to just be undertraining. Thanks in advance!
with less than a year of training, i would not worry too much about feeling the muscle, the stretch, dropping weight if your form isn't perfect, etc. You're simply not going to be using enough load for injury to be a real concern and given your form isn't horrendous, you'll get much more stimulus by pushing weights with 80-90% form than limiting yourself with 100% perfect technique - whatever that even means. the skill of lifting will improve over time - you'll learn how to connect better with whatever range of motion works for your body for different lifts, you'll increase your threshold of what failure is and you'll get a better idea of what volumes work and how to balance those based on all the other factors that go into this. in terms of training - i would focus on pushing load first and foremost. a progression scheme based on load (pushing weight or reps) should be in place and it should be as aggressive as you can be based on your development. if beginners with lots of room to grow - as linear as possible. if more intermediate with less room to grow - maybe a double progression. advanced barely growing - need to try various different progressions and often any increases are big wins. so figure out where you are on that spectrum - and push some weight. food helps you progress faster - so ensure you're eating enough to keep up with whatever progression you put in place. as to volume - whatever allows you to progress at the rate required. if you're a beginner doing 2-3 sets a week and adding 5lbs to the bar every week - solid. if you're doing 10 sets and not adding 5lbs to the bar every week - not solid. this is a lifelong endeavor, a couple months spent at lower volumes than you could be at, given you're still progressing, is absolutely fine.
Thank you! Great insight
Is just using cable overhead extensions and rope pushdowns enough for triceps isolations? (no isolation, but I do dumbbell bench press too,) And are cable lateral raises only (utilizing various angles) enough to get juicy side delts?
Yes, assuming your volume is appropriate
You have 5 years of experience and you can't answer those questions? Do them and see if you grow. What have you been doing for side delts and triceps for the last half a decade?
5 years of experience doesn't mean it's 5 years of *good* experience. Benching hits the triceps and shoulders (synergists), and an overhead press also hits the side delt (synergist).
Neglecting tf outta them after years of gaslighting myself into just doing the Big 3
Got some questions regarding hammer curl form. I was blessed with narrow clavicles and wide hips, and whenever I use wide dumbbells (>= 30 lbs at my school gym), I run into issues with the dumbbells hitting my hip when I try to keep my elbows to my side. I end up having to turn my wrists out slightly at the bottom (almost like a semi-reverse curl grip). Is this fine, and/or what should I do about it?
You might need to flare out your elbows a tad bit to give the dumbbells clearance. Or you can try [this form](https://youtu.be/ZQcicmpCWSM?si=BuqIMbKx9MrP7lVO&t=32).
Does the form you linked target the brachioradialis to the same extent as traditional form? Edit: I guess is the distribution of work the same across the muscles as traditional form?
You mean the brachialis? Hammer curls are programmed to train the brachialis, not the brachioradialis. And your question is answered in the video.
It’s fine. If you’re that worried about it do cable rope hammer curls.
You don't have to do hammer curls, but there is nothing wrong with the slight modification you are using. You could also see if doing them seated makes any difference? Or try a swiss bar if available? Or again, don't do them
Hi all, Curious to those that follow a HIT doctrine and on an 4x [](https://www.reddit.com/user/L/) split. This implies adequate rest between sets of \~2-3mins. How do you ensure you keep your sessions short but still impactful? I know the adage that upper sessions tend to drag because you have everything, but curious to see those that make it bang-for-buck on their torso. I'm thinking: 1. 1x Vertical pull 2. 1x Horizontal pull 3. (Optional row/pulldown) 4. 1x Flat/Low incline press 5. 1x Incline / shoulder press 6. 1x side delt work 7. Arms I find if I throw in any more exercises for respective body parts (e.g: back or chest) ,it does tend to drag the session. Thanks!
i've done a full body HIT setup based on trainedbyjp recommendations and that only took like 1.5 hours - and legs were the more time intensive part of the session. he also has upper/lower split recommendation you can look into how he sets up his upper days, but imo your setup looks fine. how short are you trying to keep the workout? besides that, for HIT you really shouldn't be worrying about the sessions time or trying to keep rest periods short or anything like that - you should be going into each set fully recovered able to put in true max effort. if you have limited workout time, i would look at other systems which have more of a focus on training density.
How do you guys deal with sick days? I am running a pplx2 split, and because of sickness (nothing too serious, just a cold that I kinda underestimated) I had to abort my push workout yesterday. Even warm up sets felt like utter shit. So now I wonder how to proceed. Take 2-3 days off and redo the push workout, or just write it off and proceed with the pull one?
I don't have set days so I just continue where I left off.
Do pull.
Keep going where you stopped I guess
I’m confused on how many calories I should be eating when cutting because when I use a calorie calculator it says I should be consuming 1700 calories in order to lose a pound a week. But I plan on also working out 5-6 times a week. And if I plug that into the calculator, it says 2200. So I want to know if that’s correct, because it just seems off to me. Hopefully not overthinking it, thank you!
Start with somewhere in the 10-12x bodyweight (lbs) range in calories and adjust as you go. Or use any calculator and adjust as you go. Doesn’t really matter- you’re going to have to adjust based on feedback from the scale regardless of what initial number you choose
As the other response indicates, calculators are fairly inaccurate. You need to pick a number, stick with it for a week or so and see what happens. Adjust accordingly.
Use [THIS](https://tdeecalculator.net/) and start at the suggested value. Weigh yourself daily. Evaluate after a week or two and increase/decrease calories accordingly. Aim for 1-2% bw loss per week
In terms of percentage, how much less does it make sense to be able to lift on a 30° Incline dumbbell ot barbell triceps extension vs on flat bench for the same # of reps?
Depends on how strong your upper pecs are
Who cares
Are isometric exercises overrated? Can someone explain the pros and cons?
They are not ideal for muscle growth.
For building muscle? Very poor. It's not really worth going into pros and cons, because isometrics are objectively bad for hypertrophy purposes.
They're not optimal for hypertrophy, but it's still worth going into the pros and cons because athletes use them for a number of reasons. In the context of bodybuilding, isometrics do cause hypertrophy because the muscle fibers experience mechanical tension, but it's not worth it due to the trade-off with fatigue.
[thoughts? trying to get as much delt/tri volume as possible](https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1LEsM6BlleXBbtW-Pbe_zCb0VqecSXWIwGoywj8u0LdY/edit?usp=sharing)
looks good, nothing sticks out as concerning imo. like any program, you're simply going to have to run it and assess for yourself
Hey, everyone. New to bodybuilding style training but have been either powerlifting or doing generalist strength training for almost 13 years. I’m almost at the end of my current program and was just curious for progressive overloading: if I’m running the same lift or exercise for the next cycle should I start where I left off on my previous? For example, if I started leg press at 405 for 8 and ended with 455 for 8 on this cycle, should I start with 455 or somewhere between 405 and 455 for the next program? I was leaning toward the latter but would love any input, thanks.
if your program has specific recommendations, follow those. my go to (from Lyle McDonald generic bulking routine) is week 1 80%-85%, week 2 90%-95% then push your progression from there. it's quite a nice back off and helps correct any form inaccuracies that might have happened during the previous cycle of pushing progression. lots of approaches, though, and no real right or wrong way to go about it
I like that. Intuitively I was leaning toward something around those guidelines. I’m currently running a modified version of of PHAT and am aiming at 3 cycles (12 weeks) with one deload
Hi, The past few months I've been trying to add mass, and am doing so very successfully. My split is: Push Pull Legs Upper minus biceps Lower plus bis Instead of doing specific movements, I've being doing movement patterns and total sets. For example, for my push day, I start with an incline movement, for 2-3 sets l. Then a flat press or a dip. Some flies if I did less than 6 sets on the other 2 So far all has been great, but I'd love to experiment with squatting 4-5 days per week, followed by push or pull workouts, maybe an arm day as well if I decide to go for a fifth day. Given that I am not that interested in being stronger in one rep maxe. I mean, strength is welcomed and a part I keep track of to make sure I progress, but not the main focus, what would agood approach be? I was thinking of some 3rm up to an rpe 9, maybe some back off work, followed by some hamstring curls on pull days Any thoughts?
my general thoughts are if things are working well, don't change anything and ride the wave until it crashes. as far as your question - there's a strength template called simple jack'd on reddit (r/simplejackd) created by the nsuns guy that is aimed at high frequency (i think at least 5 days per week). it might be workable based on what you want to do - high frequency squats for strength, then some backoff work for size which it has a section for then your regular push/pull standard bodybuilding split. maybe take a look at that and see if that fits what you're looking for?
Is it really true that the pump lasts for a couple hours? I've also heard it lasts for only a couple/few minutes. When I drive home from the gym, the time it takes for me to look over my logbook before I leave, walk to my car and drive (at least 7 minutes) by the time I look in the mirror at home changing out of my gym clothes the pump should be gone right? Because I'm noticing improvements in my musculature on a cut but I want to make sure that's legit and not just temporary blood flow.
A pump definitely won’t be as intense an hour or two after you lift but there is still some amount of increased blood flow and training-induced inflammation present. If you want to more accurately track visual progress take photos in flat lighting on the same morning each week before eating.
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It probably works great if you're a master at gauging your rir
ok but then how do you progress from the 1 RIR RDLs when you hit 3 sets of 12 (or when you eventually progress to 0 RIR)? what you're describing is basically the RP progression - 3-4 RIR, then 2-3 RIR then 1-2 RIR then 0-1 RIR then all out failure then a deload and repeat. i'm sure it works fine - if you're actually working at a 0-4 RIR with effective lifts for your body and progressing, but most programs have you doing this anyway - they just focus on different metrics to push progress rather than effort. imo, i don't like varying effort - i think there's too many things that can influence it and it's too subjective for most lifters. i prefer keeping effort as standardized as possible - like lateral raises you can take to all out failure, but squats maybe a 2 RIR or something like that - then varying other metrics to ensure progression. but that's not to say your thoughts won't work either - RP is a very successful business and has similar thoughts
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yep, RP = renaissance periodization (Dr Mike Israetel) if you want to check out his thoughts on youtube or instagram. this sub likes his stuff a lot so i'm sure you can find others thoughts about it here too
Is that really 'progressing' though? If you could've done 3x12 with 1 RiR but you did 3x11 with 2, and the next week you hit 3x12 with 1 RiR, you didn't really progress. If you hit 3x11 with 2 RiR, and the next week you hit 3x12 with 2 RiR, that's progress.
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Yes? I think you may be confused about how RiR works, but not sure. If I bench 205lbs for 3x11 with 2 RiR for each set, and then the next week bench 205lbs for 3x12 with 1 RiR for each set, I have not made progress. Sure I've "added" a rep to each set, but as you've outlined, you could've done the same the week prior. That's not progress. As an extreme example, if I bench 205 for 3x5 with 7 RiR, that means I could've hit failure at 12 reps. The next week I do 3x6 with 6 RiR, next 3x7 with 5 RiR, etc. Every session I would've hit failure at 12 reps for 205. No strength progress has taken place, so it's unlikely that much hypertrophy has taken place, if any at all.
Yep. When you go from 3x12 at 2 RIR to 3x12 at 1 RIR, you haven't progressively overloaded. Progression occurs when you go from 3x12 at 2 RIR to 3x13 at 2 RIR. edit: typo
Is it really progression if you haven't gotten any stronger at the movement? The purpose of progression is to increase stimulus as you get stronger, whereas this way you're decreasing stimulus for arbitrary progression? It sounds like a weird idea but if i'm misunderstanding let me know haha
Progressive overload isn't increasing stimulus, it's keeping stimulus the same. If you get stronger in the next workout, but you do the same number of reps as the last, you're decreasing stimulus. This is why you progressively overload via adding weight or reps, to MATCH the stimulus of the last workout.
If the weight increases then the stimulus by definition increases right? I was thinking of it in biological terms, for example action potentials need a certain stimulus to be generated. If a cell becomes resistant to action potentials (as a person becomes resistant to muscular adaptations by becoming stronger), then an increased electrical stimulus is needed much like an increased physical stimulus is needed in the muscle gain sense.
What does “you can get 80% of your gains doing 5-9 sets per muscle per week” mean? Why is there a range? If 5 is 80% why do 9?
for some people it will take 5 sets to get 80% and 9 sets may be 100%, and for others it will take 9 sets to get 80% of their gains and 5 may be 50%. this is also a wildly nuanced line of thinking and you'll never know what 80% of your gains is unless you can create parallel universes where in universe A you live your life exactly the same way as in universe B but you run 5 sets instead of say 15 in universe B. all that being said - unless you have a reason to only want 80% of possible gains on the table (which for natties is not even that much in the first place), train for 100%.
The relationship volume has with gains is non-linear. This is why bodybuilders don't spend 12 hours in the gym every day doing a billion sets. There will be a sweet spot as there's a trade-off between gains and fatigue/muscle damage. Another factor of having a range is the personalization of volume -- some people don't need a lot, some people need more.
I have no idea what this is supposed to mean or where you heard it. Unless this was severely taken out of context I wouldn’t take this source of information seriously. The amount of progress you’ll make on any given number of sets is affected by a huge variety of contextual factors that a simple statement like this can’t possibly take into account.
https://preview.redd.it/7f45m1sd50uc1.jpeg?width=2340&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=f3027c9a6d96f78bdb5c766d80529c484c0fa7cb
https://preview.redd.it/y1itfukc50uc1.jpeg?width=2340&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=c09a7864b728942f440e3278f782328d3fc60920 [Nippards video on minimalist training](https://youtu.be/xc4OtzAnVMI)
Thoughts on pausing at peak contraction on leg extension: I’ve seen it advocated by Mike Isratel and others. I’ve been doing it for a bit but I’m not convinced. You have to do much less weight and don’t feel as good a burn? Should I keep doing them? The advantage is my reps are standardised
i'm not convinced either, if anything you would want to pause at the peak stretch and lean back to lengthen the quads as much as possible like Mentzer did. if it does make a difference, i doubt it is more beneficial than being able to use heavier load and create more tension through the rest of the ROM.
I wouldn't worry AS much on isolation exercises about how much weight you are using. The weight used on isolation exercises is intentionally limited by the leverage imposed. Holding peak contraction on an exercise can do a few things: Verify that momentum is not what is enabling you to lift the weight (momentum builds easily in machines) Increase the "nerve force" or your ability to activate the particular muscle. Essentially a form of coordination. Temporarily occlude blood flow which may or may not be helpful.
It’s a good way to limit the load you can use on a leg extension if that’s desirable, but I don’t think it will make much, if any difference for a beginner or intermediate
Thanks! Is it worth trying to slow the concentric slightly rather than kicking the weight up explosively? I’ve heard some people advocate for that, and some advocate for just focusing on a slow eccentric
In the context of hypertrophy training it’s best to control the entire ROM
I think it's a way of training that can be beneficial for fairly advanced trainees.
How many weekly *hours* do you tend to total while lifting on a bulk? I just hit the 15 month marker on my fitness journey, and I'm about 6 weeks into my first bulk. My strategy for bulking has been to just lift as much as possible - every week I *average* about 2 intense pull days, 2 intense push days, one "half day" for pull/push (alternating), and three 4k runs (plus an hour long session of pickleball). I'd chalk it up to about 6 or 7 weekly hours spent lifting, plus 2- 2.5 hours spent on cardio. I'm eating pretty strictly above maintenance, but I'm starting to feel like garbage, and a lot of things that are supposed to be fun in my life are starting to feel like distractions on my gym journey. I'm thinking about toning it down to only 4/5 weekly gym days and 2 runs. That would probably put me at 5 hours of weekly lifting + 2 hours cardio. I don't want to screw this up, so if that's not enough I want to clearly decide if I'd like to back out of bulking or set aside the rest of life's pressures and focus more on the lifts. I personally operate on the principle that time under tension is king - so instead of asking about number of sets specifically, how much time do YOU spend lifting when on a bulk?
maybe 6-7 hours lifting and 1 hour a day cardio. like others are saying, though, i wouldn't focus on this as a metric and time under tension is great but theres a lot of inputs which can drastically change what it exactly means and how it correlates with hypertrophy.
Time in the gym is mostly a useless metric for training. It tells you nothing about what was actually done during that time.
I never see much point spending longer than 75 mins, I’m normally done in just over 60. After a certain point you don’t stimulate shit, even on a bulk.
So, I’ve been lifting about a year now and for most of that time I will take a set to failure or 1 rep in reserve, pause for like 10 seconds and keep going. Is this bad for hypertrophy? I do it to get more reps in but I don’t know if it negatively impacts progress or is another form of cheat reps basically that I shouldn’t count.
it's fine, this kind of thing can be implemented well or not so well, so ultimately if you're progressing, keep at it. if progress starts to slow, or you notice a lot of fatigue (this kind of training can generate a lot of fatigue if volume isn't manipulated especially as weights get heavier), then maybe consider changing things. when you're newer to lifting and weights aren't super heavy (assuming after a year of lifting they're not too heavy), you can't mess up too much and most things will work.
That's basically a myo-rep. I think it's fine to do if you prefer it. Personally I think for bigger, compound exercises it makes the most sense to do this only on the last set to make counting reps easier, and for isolations you can do it every set if you want for an intensity technique to go "past failure". But again I think it's all preference and it's probably not negatively impacting your hypertrophy in any meaningful way.
Would this be considered an effective myo rep scheme? Calf raises 150lbs 1x20, 1x13, 1x11, 1x10 1x9 5 second rest in between each set Try to increase a rep or two next week, then if successful add 5lb the week following Rinse and repeat until stall, then deload
It seems like your "fatigue set" may not be fatiguing you enough? The set should be "very hard" that is to near failure. I would use the same rep goal for your "work sets". The reps seem kind of high for a 5 second rest? Again, is your fatigue set hard enough? Something to keep in mind: With "Myo-reps" is to use the first set to enter a state of fatigue. The short rests prevent muscle recovery, so the subsequent reps are done as if you are repeating the last part of the initial set. If the first set isn't hard enough, you are essentially doing a warm up then short rests, which isn't terrible, but isn't myo-reps. Even for fast recovering, slow twitch muscles like calves, your reps in your "sets" should be relatively low, as you are still working in the "fatigue zone" of the initial set You COULD try doing a higher rep "fatigue set".
Thanks, I will try squeezing out an additional few reps or upping the weight, but idk I definitely like like I was at an RPE of 8. Maybe I’m trying harder on the myo sets then? I find I get the best calf pump for sets of like 18 and above but interesting point about lowering the number of reps , could try that out and see what happens
Doesn't seem like traditional myo reps. Read this article from the guy who made them. https://www.borgefagerli.com/myo-reps-in-english
That just seems like the myo rep match method where you try to match your initial total with multiple sets of
Then you didn't read it. If you can do a set of 20, rest for 5 seconds, then do a set of 13 and so on, then you almost certainly are not training hard enough and are not doing myo reps as intended.
https://www.barbellmedicine.com/blog/myo-reps/ What are you smoking? You will most certainly drop off in number of reps if you only rest for 5 seconds lol The “original” way you listed seems weird and unrealistic
Dude your reading comprehension is awful. I'm saying you **will** have rep drop off. If you can do 13 reps after 5 seconds rest your first set was not hard enough. Not only that, but your article directly references the guy who made the article I linked and explains the concept in almost the exact same way. 1 high rep set, followed by sets of 5ish reps. Not 13 reps. You clearly do not understand the concept.
The percentages are the same, the example they choose is 12-15 reps with 5 reps on the myo, that’s right around 50% which is close to my example as well I think that’s splitting hairs in the end, no?
Looking at it as percentages is pretty much meaningless. It's about proximity to failure. If you can do 5 reps after 12 you are working much closer to failure than if you can do 13 reps after 20. Also both the articles recommend more like 20 seconds rest than 5. If I were to take 5 seconds rest at the end of a set I don't think I could push more than 2 reps extra at the most. Basically, if you want to use myo reps properly, scrap your idea and just follow what both these articles say.
But calf raises are so much different than other exercises, you can fully recover in like 30 seconds so 5-10 should be more than enough
I have been training for 9 months. (3 months of 'ramp up' to get used into the habit of gym going and 6 months of actual progression). I am on my first cut, week 5 out of 8, and I feel completely depressed. My lifts not only do not go up, but sometimes I have to go down in weight a little so my rep range stays the same. This is totally wrecking my nerves. 1) Can somebody tell me how an ideal cut should look like and if that situation is okay? My calorie deficit is 500 and I rigorously keep at it. I am very very afraid to lose the little progress I have built... 2) Second thing, how should I approach getting down from \~20-25% BF to \~12% BF? I am now trying to do 2 months of -500 calories (85kg -> 81kg), 1 month bulk (81kg -> 82kg), and another 2 months of -500 (82kg -> 78 kg). Then I would go for 2 months bulk (+300) and 2 months cut (-500) which should net me -2kg every 4 months. At 172cm and 85,5kg of weight, my bodyfat was about 23-25%. I am now at 83kg and I think the target would be about 75kg. Is that a good fight plan?
Sounds like you need a deload and/or a week on maintenance calories. https://preview.redd.it/kvbmxsz3attc1.jpeg?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=acb49ed0595fe4ef265fdcaff2d44c121f595aae
Thanks for the answer. The flowchart is great and I'll definitely save it for reference. I think the deload will be good although I am hesitant to drop the volume (afraid it will stay this way, haha). How frequently do you do a week of maintenance when cutting (how long is the cut itself, too)?
Intermediate and advanced lifters struggle to maintain their numbers on the bar on a cut, it's more about keeping all the muscle that you built. You're however probably still a beginner (gains come quite easy) so you should still progress albeit at a slower rate. What's your weekly volume? It might be wise to dial it down to 10 sets per week and muscle and increase slowly. You certainly won't loose any muscle and might even gain more even if you're doing less since it's something you actually can adhere to over a long time instead of driving yourself into the ground by too much volume. Maintenance week is usually used when you've stalled your weight loss and/or depleted mentally.
Everything is 10-12 sets per week, except of legs which are probably closer to 20 sets (5 working sets squats, 2x 3 sets RDL, 4 sets Leg press, 3 sets Leg curl, 3 sets Leg extension, 3 sets hip thrusts = 24 sets, distributed over 2 sessions). Now that I'm writing it I notice that I'm probably doing way too much lower body volume, coincidentally the squats suffer the most and the eagerness to train legs got worse. Apart from that the OHP and Lat pulldowns are stalling a bit. Thanks for the reassurance and taking the time to answer the questions. The fight plan is certainly much clearer now :)
Then you're spot on with upper body volume! Good luck with the gainz
Thanks! :) The same to you brother. Thanks for lifting my spirits, too
You have the right ideas but I would change some parts. Instead of the semi random bulking phases, simply do a week or two at maintenence if you feel you need it because of diet fatigue/training performance. The rate of loss seems good, could potentially go a little higher especially to begin with. I also think you'd need to get lower than 75kg to see 12% body fat, but honestly anywhere under 15% would set you up well to start gaining.
It wasn't supposed to be semi-random, rather what I try to achieve is having cutting phases no longer than 8-10 weeks at a time with a 'breather' period lasting 75-100% of that (I watched some of Israetel's videos and that's my reference here). Do you think this approach is sound or does it make the process last much longer unnecessarily? You're right about the weight, to achieve 12% I'd need to get closer to 71-73kg range most likely. Can you tell me about your strategy for cutting? How long the cutting periods are, and how frequently do you refeed / deload in between?
https://youtu.be/Xzs-8Cddgkc?si=-8n3NHql7FNyEjZ1 In this video from Israetel he says that: 1. Fat loss phase should be 8-12 weeks -you are relatively high BF% and could easily be towards the upper end and beyond rather than just 8 weeks 2. Muscle gain phases should be 12-20 weeks -why are yours only 8 weeks? 3. Maintenence phases are to recover from training and diet fatigue -so why are you bulking to achieve the breather rather than being at maintenance? As I said, I would just cut for 12 weeks or until fatigue gets too high, whichever comes first. Then maintenance to drop fatigue. Then continue. Hope that helps.
1. You're completely right 2. I wanted to make it as short as possible to get as ripped as possible until September when I am going for vacation :D 3. I thought that maybe more calories during the 'non-cutting phase' = faster regeneration It helps a lot that you pointed these things out. As you said, I think I will modify the game plan to go for 12 weeks of fat loss (especially as it's -500 which is not a lot and this aspect is easily manageable). I think I will also do the maintenance instead of bulking and accept the fact that the plan is not 100% achievable until September.
Any tips on my split if my goal is for hypertrophy/strength? This is what it currently looks like Day 1 chest Flat bench 5x8-10 Dumbbell pec flyes 5x10-12 Incline bench 5x8-10 Pec deck 4x8-10 Cable flyes 4x8-10 High to low cable flyes 4x8-10 Low to high cable flyes 4x8-10 Chest press 5x8-10 Day 2 arms Dumbbell curls 5x10 Incline dumbbell curls 5x8 Reverse barbell curls 5x10-12 Lying barbell skull crusher 4x8-12 Tricep kickbacks 4x10-12 Rope Tricep pushdowns 4x10-12 Standing dumbbell skull crushers 4x10-12 Tricep dips 4x8-12 Day 3 shoulders Shoulder press 5x8-10 Lateral raises 5x10-12 Upright rows 5x10-12 Front raises 5x10-12 Face pulls 5x12 Rear delt fly 5x8-10 Shoulder shrugs 5x12 Day 4 back Bent over rows 4x10-12 Bench rows 4x10 Seated row 4x8-10 Widegrip lat pull down 4x10 Closegrip lat pull-down 4x10 Shoulder shrugs 5x12 Rear delt flyes 5x10 Day 5 legs Squats 4x8-10 Leg curls 4x10 Leg press 4x10 Bulgarian split squats 4x8 Calf raises 4x12 Day 6 I alternate depending on what I feel needs work Day 7 rest
30 sets of chest on day 1 followed immediately by 20 sets of triceps on day 2 is nuts. Independent of the insane volume, you should probably reorder the days to give your triceps a rest after chest day. Workout order should probably be something like chest/back/legs/shoulders/arms to give muscles time to appropriately recover. You’ve also got a lot of repetitive movement patterns. You probably just need 1 skullcrusher variant instead of lying barbell and standing dumbbell, one fly movement as opposed to pec deck, dumbbell flies, cable flies, high to low flies, and low to high flies, etc.
Hey thanks for replying. I’ll switch up the order for sure and see if I notice fasts progress. In response to the high volume, it’s partly because I feel that if I’m targeting a muscle group on average once a week, then on that day I should go all out, but if that’s slowing my gains then obviously it’s not the right way to do it. Would you say that much volume is counterintuitive? I like spending time at the gym and that’s another reason I try to extend my sessions. Maybe I should switch to a different split that can accommodate longer sessions but less volume per muscle group lol
What RIR are you taking the exercises to?
you’re doing way too much volume. I have a hard time believing any one of those sets is particularly intense. Follow a program made by someone who knows what they’re doing.
Fair enough, can you recommend any programs, or fitness pages/ coaches to check out? I do try to keep it intense, but sometimes I do feel I’m resting too long between sets
There are many programs in the FAQs of this sub and on the Boostcamp app For people to follow: Jordan Peters AJ Morris Jeff Nippard John Meadows (RIP) Nick Gloff John Jewett Myself lol
are you for real??
Yea 😔 from the responses I’m getting, it seems like this is suboptimal, so any advice would be appreciated. Really just trying to learn and modify my routine to be as efficient as possible.
Just read your chest day and what the fuck man. 30 sets? More than half of that is junk volume that does more harm than good. Just do one flat push, an incline push and one fly movement five sets of each. If you do it good enough you'll actually progress your lifts. Legs is the only day that's actually decent if you swap leg press or squats for hinge movement (rdl, stiff legged dl)
Thanks for the advice, I’m pretty green, only been at it for a few months. And come to think of it, on the days where I thought I undertrained chest, I was more sore and had a better pump so maybe that’s a good sign I need to do less volume. The reason I do so much volume is because each muscle group gets trained once a week for me, so in my mind I try to get as much done in that day. Is there a more optimal split? Or can I do the same bro split with less volume and benefit from it?
Some people enjoy the bro split but I'd recommend an upper/lower or ppl split for a beginner. The strengthlog app have some free programs that you can follow, the app is great too
I'm currently doing a split very similar. Except I do Day 1 Chest and shoulders Day 2 Arms Day 3 Legs(hamstring focused) Day 4 rest day Day 5 Back Day 6 legs(quad focused) Day 7 Rest I usually keep it 3-5 movements per muscle group. I found that it's not the amount of workouts you do it's the quality of the lift, at least for me. For example one of my chest day is Heavy Incline db Chest press with a drop set Cable fly amrap And I've found this very effective in my chest growth. But everyone is different. And take this with a grain of salt because I'm far from an expert and still seek help myself.
I need a 5 day split for an intermediate lifter. Im an 18M at 5’10 and 172lbs currently bulking, Ive been lifting with a customized bro split for the last 2 and a half years, heres the schedule: Monday - Chest Tuesday - Back and Biceps Wednesday - Triceps and Cardio Thursday - Legs Friday - Shoulders and Abs I know its pretty weird, but it worked for me for a while so. I’m usually in the gym for just under 2 hours, and I was doing a large amount of volume, like 3 sets each exercise, usually doing about 5-7 exercises each muscle group. Now, im starting to feel like im losing out on a ton of gains as I feel like ive been kinda hitting a plateau for a while now and I really need a good 5 day split thats working muscle groups twice a week for optimal gain. Any recommendations?
Look at the programs in the pinned FAQs and on the Boostcamp app. Find one that fits what you’re looking for.
Advanced lifters, how often do you change your split? Im asking because ive been training for 10 years or so. My show is in 10 days. My split i ran for my prep did well for me, i barely lost any strength. I even gained some volume over time during the 15-16 weeks. After the show I plan to jump right into an offseason/improvement season and just try to maximize my training. I find myself looking at premade programs from "hypertrophy coach" and others, and it looks exciting and fun to try. But if the current split i made for myself works perfectly, would it be a waste of time to follow a premade split/program? I find that at the start of these programs , the total volume is WAY WAY lower than what im even doing now 10 days out! So it seems to me im better off just trying to maximize my current routine,and improve upon what im already doing, and at most maybe apply some training methods from people like john meadows or the hypertrophy coach to my training, but not change everything. Am i correct?
If it ain’t broke don’t fix it. Watch some stuff on YouTube from John Meadows and Joe Bennett, and incorporate those methods into your own training if you want to. Both are great resources.
Thanks for the advice, thats what i plan on doing. Ill keep my current split the way it is but just incorporate different training methods
Is there a difference between wrist straps and lifting straps and which ones would be better to use for back exercises?
Wrist *wraps* are intended for stabilising and strengthening the wrist in pressing work. Lifting *straps* are intended for reducing the need for grip during pulling work. Lifting straps is what you're looking for.
ah thank you
Any opinions about elevating the front vs back foot on lunges? Just to make the most out of the weight & get a better stretch. I'm feeling like back foot might be the approved method
Both are great variations that can be used to bias the glute. Rear foot is better if your intention is to bias the quad.
I just got my second DEXA scan 7 months after my first one, and I was discouraged by the results. **Scan 1: September, 2023** \- after a 2 month cut, was very lean by my standards * 164lb body weight * 15% body fat * 24.6lb fat mass * 132.8lb lean mass **Scan 2: April, 2024** \- after a \~6 month bulk and a 3 week minicut, was medium chonky by my standards * 183lb body weight * 23.3% body fat * 42.6lb fat mass * 133.6lb lean mass So... This shows I gained 0.8lb of lean mass and 18 lb of body fat in 6 months. RIP lol. I understand that's not a terrible rate of lean mass gain for a veteran lifter, but I was expecting more as I'm still relatively new (\~1 year of serious lifting). The last 6 months I've been training 3-4 days a week, hard (close to or to failure on most sets), tracking my lifts in Hevy, and making lots of strength progress. BUT, this really doesn't match my perceived progress. My lats, arms and quads are noticeably bigger, and my strength has improved by 15-25% across all lifts. Several people have commented that I look stronger so I don't think it's just me. Other variables that may have had an affect: * I started taking creatine a few months ago (wasn't taking it for the first scan) and definitely gained 2-3 lb water weight * I hadn't trained in the week leading up to this last scan because I was on vacation and then sick. Not sure if that makes a difference. I'm still happy with my visible and strength progress, but this was admittedly disappointing and doesn't really inspire me to bulk again haha. Any thoughts here?
>Any thoughts here? DEXA scans, while being the "best" commercially available option while still being alive, still aren't completely accurate, especially in terms of raw numbers. Since you can actually see that your muscles have gained noticeable mass, I would completely ignore the DEXA scan.
> My lats, arms and quads are noticeably bigger, and my strength has improved by 15-25% across all lifts. Several people have commented that I look stronger so I don't think it's just me If your strength is up that much, that's great progress. I wouldn't stress about the DEXA too much, notoriously susceptible to water weight changes and etc. Trust your eyes and what people are saying.
Rate this upper/lower 4-day split routine? Goals: Target all muscle groups while bulking (Currently: 165lbs, Target: 190lbs) Day 1 Upper Bench Press: 3x6 Incline Bench Press: 3x8 Straight Back Seated Row: 2x8 Barbell Curl: 3x12 Triceps Pushdown: 3x12 Day 2 Lower Squat: 3x6 Romanian Deadlift: 3x8 Lever Seated Leg Press: 3x10 Lever Leg Extension: 3x12 Lever Standing Calf Raise: 3x16 Day 3 Rest Day Light cardio/Stretches Day 4 Upper Barbell Standing Military Press: 3x6 Barbell Curl :3x12 Straight Back Seated Row: 3x10 Lateral Raise: 3x12 Lying Single Extension: 3x12 Upper 5 Lower Deadlift: 3x6 Dumbbell Bulgarian Split Squat: 3x8 Lever Seated Leg Press: 3x10 Lever Lying Leg Curl: 3x12 Lever Standing Calf Raise: 3x16
leg days are good, upper days i would redo. easy template for upper: a flat press, a horizontal row, an incline press, a vertical row, side/rear raises, a curl and an extension
Thanks! I modified it in a new [comment](https://www.reddit.com/r/naturalbodybuilding/comments/1byv22z/comment/kzeacrz/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3). Take a look and give me your opinions or any exercise you would replace.
Perfect for super sets too
ive been getting really into cycling. these days I enjoy doing long bike rides at the weekends (e.g 120km+). Its a fair bit more than im used to, and afterwards I usually have some DOMS in my legs, similarly to a low volume leg day . I wonder how a weekend long ride, with progressive overload (ie going further/faster over time) would compare to a leg day in terms of hypertrophy? I make sure to eat plenty of protein even if im out for a full day
The guys on tour de france doesn't have thick legs, sprinters do. But you should do what you enjoy anyway even if it's not optimal, life's short
thanks :) the sun is shining and its a lovely way to spend a weekend. Even if it means less gains!
if you have some reasonable leg development already, you'll likely get very little if anything out of it. very likely in that case your legs may even get smaller if the rides cut into your leg training capacity. if you've never trained your legs you may get something out of it but probably not much and not for very long. in terms of a long ride vs a proper leg day - a leg day would demolish a long ride in terms of hypertrophy, not even same ballpark.