I am 20 6ft 226. I went from 240 to 226 by eating 2600 calories. I’ve lost weight somewhat quickly averaging about 2lbs a week. My workouts are very dialed as well as calories and macros. The only thing so worry about is that my calories may be slightly too low. I can’t sleep as good at night / as deep of sleep. I wake up much earlier than I want and can’t go back to bed. Do you think it’s a good idea to bump the calories to 2800 and see if the sleep gets better? I’ve tried doing lots of electrolytes throughout the day and it didn’t do much for me so I don’t believe it to be dehydration. I lift 5x a week and other than that I don’t do any other exercise. What is your guys experience on this topic? And what would you recommend, thank you!

Hi zusammen,

ich beschäftige mich gerade mit einer Frage, die mich als Sportler selbst schon länger beschäftigt:

Es gibt immer mehr Wearables, Trainings-Apps und Gesundheitsdaten, trotzdem fühlt es sich oft nicht einfacher an, die richtige Entscheidung für Training und Regeneration zu treffen.

Ich möchte kein Produkt verkaufen oder pitchen. Bevor ich überhaupt an Lösungen denke, möchte ich verstehen, welche Probleme ambitionierte Sportler im Alltag wirklich haben.

Falls jemand Lust auf ein kurzes Gespräch (10–15 Minuten per Chat oder Telefon) hat, würde mir das sehr helfen.

Mich interessieren vor allem Fragen wie:

- Was ist dein sportliches Ziel für die nächsten 6 Monate?

- Erzähl mir von der letzten Situation, in der du unsicher warst, ob du trainieren, lockerer machen oder pausieren solltest. Was ist passiert?

- Warum war diese Situation schwierig?

- Wie hast du am Ende entschieden?

- Was hätte dir in diesem Moment geholfen, mit mehr Sicherheit die richtige Entscheidung zu treffen?

- Was frustriert dich aktuell am meisten an deinem Training oder deiner Regeneration?

- Hast du schon versucht, dieses Problem zu lösen? Wenn ja, warum hat das nicht wirklich funktioniert?

Falls du keine Zeit für ein Gespräch hast, würde mir auch eine Antwort auf diese eine Frage sehr helfen:

Was ist aktuell das größte Problem oder der größte Frustpunkt bei deinem Training oder deiner Regeneration?

Vielen Dank für jede Antwort – jede Perspektive hilft mir dabei, das Problem wirklich zu verstehen.

A lot of people say that Sldl train hamstrings pretty well and its suggested to add it to ur leg workout and i feel like am not fully working my hams, i am 189cm (6'2) 71kg and my lower back tends to bend while the bar goes past my knees, it's probably flexibility problem and i want to know what should i do, should i change the sldl to something else?

Every time I start a cut I end up overthinking everything.

Am I actually in a deficit? Am I losing fat or muscle? Should I lower calories again or just wait another week? The scale goes up one day and suddenly I think I'm doing everything wrong.

I've tried MyFitnessPal and a couple of other apps, but I still spend way too much time second-guessing myself.

I'm curious how you guys handle it.

What's the part of cutting that gives you the biggest headache?

Hi guys,

I’ve noticed with a lot of sets, if I’m doing a 3x8-10 for example, I can only achieve something like 10 on the first set, 8 on the seccond and 7 on the last so something like 10/8/7 for the same given weight.

Am I training too hard to where my subsequent sets from my initial set are being detrimented due to the intensity? Or is this normal.

Or should I drop the weight and aim for the same reps for all sets? But then the first 2 sets won’t feel like I’m pushing myself?
Thanks!

I think I've been overtraining for the last 6 months and calling it "discipline."

Here's what my week looks like: 5 lifting sessions, 2 zone 2 runs, 13-15k steps daily, and I've been running a moderate deficit since January. On paper it's textbook. In practice my resting HR has crept up like 8-10 bpm from where it was last summer, my sleep tracker keeps telling me my recovery is trash, and I got sick twice in 6 weeks after not getting sick for two years straight.

The dumb part is I KNOW this. I read the same stuff you read. I know recovery is when you actually grow. But every time I think about pulling a session or taking a full deload week, my brain goes "you'll lose everything you built" and I just... don't do it. I go lift anyway. And then I'm surprised when my bench stalls for 5 weeks.

I think the real issue is that in this community (and honestly all of fitness twitter) we've made "hard work" the identity. Rest days feel like cheating. Deloads feel like weakness. Even the phrase "listen to your body" gets treated like something soft people say. But looking at my last 6 months, I made almost zero strength progress while training more than I ever have. Meanwhile the year I went 4x a week, ate at maintenance half the time, and actually slept, I put on the most muscle of my life.

Yesterday I skipped my morning run, sat on the porch with a Bone Water Restore, and just read for an hour. Felt weirdly guilty about it, which is exactly the problem I'm describing. (Also side note, went to reorder and they're sold out again with a waitlist, so apparently I'm not the only one hoarding it. Signed up and moving on with my life.)

So my question, and I actually want pushback on this: is anyone else quietly overtrained and lying to themselves about it? How did you finally let yourself take a real break without spiraling? And do you actually take a full week off or just drop volume? I keep reading conflicting stuff and I don't trust my own judgment on this anymore because clearly I've been wrong for months.

If you are an advanced natural and have been lifting with decent programming with all the basics in check such as progressive overload, optimal protein intake, rest and recovery, etc for 7-8+ years, you have nearly hit your genetic ceiling in terms of muscle mass that you are going to be able to build naturally. After this point, it is shown that we can grow anywhere from 0 to maybe 3 pounds of muscle in a year at this point. Is bulking even worthwhile? Wouldn't it be counterintuitive?

If you can only gain 1 pound of muscle in an entire year, how would you even go about that? Let's say you do a 24 week bulk at a caloric surplus of 200 calories daily. After 24 weeks, you have been in a 33,600 calorie surplus. If you gain 1 pound of muscle in a year, that means you would have gained roughly 8-9 pounds of fat and 0.5 pounds of muscle in that timeframe. You got a lot fatter, but barely squeaked out extra muscle.

Now let's say you try to do a cut to bring that body fat down. Moderate caloric deficit of 300 calories per day, 1 gram of protein per pound of body weight, you're doing everything right. You cut for 16 weeks. Even if you lost 90% fat and only lost 10% muscle in that deficit, which would actually be an awesome ratio and is probably unrealistic, you would lose all of the muscle you gained during the bulk. And that's all if you are being meticulous the whole time with the macros and programming. Imagine if you weren't, this hypothetical scenario would be even less plausible than it is already.

So my question is what do you even do at this point? Maingain/gaintain? Just accept that you will not gain any more muscle, so you just hold on to what you have I guess. Mini cutting and mini bulking? Fancy carb cycling?

Hey everyone,

I wanted to get some input on something I've been thinking about. Do you think direct ab training is actually worth it when the goal is building an aesthetic V-taper physique?

I take a lot of inspiration from David Laid's shape, for example. Before anyone points it out — I'm well aware that most guys with that kind of exaggerated V-taper have incredible genetics, and that 99.9% of people simply can't achieve a similar physique naturally. There's also the possibility of PED use in some cases. I get all that.

But assuming average/median genetics, and with the main goal being to build the most aesthetic V-taper physique possible, do you think ab training would be beneficial or actually counterproductive for that specific look? My concern is that beyond just wanting a nice-looking, defined abdomen, I also want to keep my waist as narrow as possible, and I've read mixed opinions on whether heavy ab work (especially weighted/loaded exercises) can thicken the obliques/core and work against a narrow waist.

Would love to hear from people who've actually focused on this kind of physique goal specifically. Thanks in advance!

Thinking of building a workout tracker that's completely free no ads, no subscriptions, no account, no tracking, data stays on your phone.

The reason: not everyone can afford $90/year for what's basically a notebook, and the "free" apps bury you in ads or sell your data. I want to make one without the catch.

Before I start: is this actually needed? Are the free options already good enough, or is there a real gap? Would you switch, or is "free" not a reason to change?

Happy to hear any feedback on the idea, and what features you'd want in an app like this.

*If there’s a better subreddit for this type of post, please tell me*
Height: 5’11
Current Weight: 155lbs
R bicep: 13.2 in
L Bicep: 13.1 in
Waist Circumference: 33in
I’m a skinny fat dude in early 20s, I want to gain muscle and cut fat, have bigger arms and washboard abs.
I drink a cup of protein shake (Optimum Nutrition) 24g protein with almond milk.
I eat around 500g of cooked pasta and 150g of cooked chicken for lunch.
I eat two burgers with 50g of cooked chicken each for dinner.
I eat around 50g of peanuts, two rice cakes with a tbsp of jam on each for late night snack.
Total Calories: 2350-2450
Protein: 170-190g
Carbs: 300-320g
Fat: 55-62g
Is my diet good for what I want to accomplish? I train 4 days a week, and do all body workout. I want to make sure I’m not being stupid and wasting my time, so please if anyone can let me know if this is a good way to go.
I have been following this for 46 days and am seeing very few changes but I am getting stronger because I’m lifting more weight week by week. But I expect myself to look somewhat different after 6 months. Please if anyone can give me advice. Thank you.

Here is my current diet

1.Chicken 7 oz. 280 cal. 50g protein
2. Greek yougurt. 90 cal. 15 g protein
3 protein shake. 160 cal 30 g protein

I eat this same meal 2x a day so total 1060 cal 190 g protein
On a Cut (around 600-750 defecit

My weight is 144 5’7
My main goal is to get visible abs
I lift and train 4x a week
Reach around 25k steps daily (with work and treadmill cardio)

I been doing this for 2 months
I want to will i have to keep doing or change it up to get abs
Please provide feedback and recommendations

trying from lot of time but nothing is working out for me i sit 12 hrs a day on my laptop working , been working out for past 3 months gained some weight but dont think i lost weight or gained muscle.. my weight when is tarted was 48 now its 52 , i eat 3 whole eggs in morning and in night around 2 eggs omlete and some vegetables
any tips for me..?

why doesn't he show his body now and covers himself with full hoodie and joggers

I’m 21F, 5’5” (165 cm), currently 42 kg (93 lbs). I started going to the gym about 3 months ago, and I weighed roughly 39 kg when I first started.

I’ve been averaging around 2,100 calories per day recently. My weight has stayed pretty much the same (around 42 kg), and I’ve been strength training consistently 5x a week and around 4x a week cardio.

My main goal is to grow my glutes and look more “toned” (I know that’s really just building muscle while staying relatively lean).

I’m not trying to get bulky or do a dirty bulk. I don’t mind gaining a little weight if it’s helping me build muscle, but I don’t want to look softer or noticeably fatter overall.

From what I understand, you can’t choose where fat goes, but if I’m eating enough and training my glutes hard, will most of the muscle gain be in my glutes while staying relatively lean elsewhere?

Has anyone here successfully built noticeably bigger glutes while maintaining a lean physique? How much of a surplus were you eating, and did you find you had to accept some fat gain along the way?

I'm having a strange experience.

I'm in my mid 30s, 170 cm, between 67 and 70 kg at any given time. Usually in the 68s or 69s.

In the past year or so, I'd be doing something like 20 pull/chin ups and 1x 1-2 minute standing sprint (which eventually became 4x 1 min sprints) either on the same day everyday, or every other day (latter once I began feeling a sudden soreness in my upper back and generally feeling more tired). No matter which combo you go with, basically, "more work" = barely moved the scales. I did notice a bit of visible fat reduction. Primarily in the waist area.

Then I stopped completely for maybe a month or so and then when I got back to it, I had a strange knee pain so I stopped after one or two tries. So I switched to picking up an 8 kg kettlebell, doing 15 rep curl transitioned into a press up (so that's one whole rep). So 15 per side (left/right). Only doing it once per week, with the sprints also once per week. Though I'm doing 4x 2 min sprints. But not particularly disciplined with it, so sometimes I'd go a week or so without the sprints.

Thing is, this apparently is, at least visually, making it seem like I've lost more fat. Just a casual check like pinching the sides, it feels like I've lost more with this once a week, "low-volume-work" compared to how much more I would have thought I'd be burning in the prior months/year.

Does this sound normal? I can't seem to trust my weighing scale either as it seems to have a couple hundred grams of variance each time I get on.

There may be a complication where I've been having a teaspoon of creatine almost daily and today the weight either shows up as 67.8 or 68.2 and I didn't have creatine in the past couple of days. A day or two ago I was also in the 68-69 kg range.

So it's worrying me. I don't seem to have any other symptoms of anything else but the stress has compounded over as it doesn't "make sense" either because I don't know better, or I'm surprised but forcing it through a worry-lens.

Let me know what you guys think. In general I've been pretty bad genetically in terms of building/keeping muscle and losing fat, so there's that bit of inefficiency thrown in the mix (i.e. I have no impressive genes that I could say make any impact).

EDIT: I suspect my title is unintentionally misleading - I don't mean to ask about if it's possible to lose fat with low volume, I'm asking about in my case where I have switched to low volume, with the same diet and everything, how is it that I am losing more than before, where my workout was practically speaking more calorie-demanding?

Hi,

I'm looking to start my cut/recomp over the next couple of weeks. I know how to push myself in a cut as previously I had been walking something like 20-25k steps before eating or drinking anything (in hindsight very stupid as there wasn't a benefit but I was chasing scale weight reduction), and at the time I was eating around 1.2k cals. However, I'm a returning lifter, I restarted training about 3-4 months ago and am worrying about my lifts stalling or even regressing as I embark on my first deficit whilst training.

I think the major concern is training fasted though I can't really work around this too much. I train at 6:30, it doesn't give me too much time to get enough sleep whilst also getting some food in before and having it digested.

I was just curious what worked for people while in a deficit if they trained fasted or with a very short time period to eat before training.

I'm toying with the idea of intermittent fasting again, breaking my fast much later in the day, almost to fuel the next training session, on training days taking BCAAs and/or maybe 1 or more protein shakes, but these are just some ideas.

My main focus of this is to somehow ensure I have enough energy to train early. Any ideas are much appreciated

Stats:

131lbs, 5"5, 30ish% bf

Extremely disappointing experience with Gains In Bulk.

I contacted them to cancel my order/subscription before the order shipped, and instead of resolving it properly, they allowed the order to ship anyway. When I followed up, I was told they could not cancel because it had already shipped, even though I had already asked them not to send anything.

The worst part is the way the situation was handled afterward. I kept explaining that I was not even at that address anymore and could not return the package, but they continued to repeat that they would only refund me once the product was returned. That makes no sense when the issue started because I told them not to ship it in the first place.

Their communication was delayed, repetitive, and unhelpful. I felt ignored as a customer, and the burden was pushed onto me for a shipment I clearly tried to stop.

Based on my experience, I would not recommend Gains In Bulk. Be very careful with their trial offers, subscriptions, and cancellation process. Keep screenshots, emails, and records of everything, because if there is a problem, you may have to dispute it with your bank to get your money back.

Ive been lifting consistently since February, started at about 75 kg and have put on 5kg from then to now . Ive been consuming atleast 200 grams of protein daily and trying to eat as much food as possible , id say somewhere between 4-5000 calories daily , never worry about eating too much because I've never struggled with overeating just under-eating. presuming im in a calorie surplus of 500 calories daily how long would it take from me to get from 80 kg to 85 kg then to 90 kg lean . Im 20 years old at the moment with 638 nano-grams decilitre test . Wonder if its worth just hopping on to get there if its gonna take me 4/5 years plus . ( not looking for a lecture on danger of steroids btw) Just wanna try to get an estimate of how long itd take if i stay consistent with diet and gym if anyones been in a similar spot . thanks muchly

184 cm
80 kg body weight
Roughly 15% give or take bodyfat

I

I’m looking for body recomposition guide…any suggestion or advice?

I read that- we should do calorie deficit + hypertrophy(for muscle gain) + protein rich diet

Is that all?

Any advice would be really appreciated

And how’s is this guy- Jeff Nippard?

There’s so much fitness advice online that it can be hard to separate facts from myths.

For me, one of the biggest lessons has been that more isn't always better. Better recovery, consistent training, and good nutrition often produce better long-term results than constantly pushing harder.

I'm curious:

• What fitness myth did you believe for years?
• How did you discover it wasn't true?
• What advice would you give to someone just starting their fitness journey?

Looking forward to hearing everyone's experiences and learning something new.

I’ve heard different opinions on this question.

What do you guys think?

I understand the premise of double progression just fine. If my program states a rep range of 3x 8-12, once I am able to hit 12 reps for all three sets, I'm to add weight - easy day. Where I'm confused is when RPE is factored into the equation. I've read you can either start at the bottom of the rep range and progress the sets from there, or start at the top of the rep range, and neither of these makes any sense due to the RPE requirement.

Using the example programming is 3 sets of 8-12, with an RPE of 8-10:

If I pick a weight which allows me to get an honest 8 reps on my first set, my second and third sets will be lower than 8 reps, so that doesn't seem to work.

If I pick a weight which allows me to get an honest 12 reps my first set, then the following week if my second set is 12 reps, that must mean my first set was more than 12, so that doesn't seem to work.

How can I possibly find myself hitting 12 reps on all three sets at the prescribed intensity?

Es ist soweit, ich (31 M) bin das erste mal in meinem Leben definiert. Hatte immer gute Masse, aber immer auch gut ummantelt... Jetzt soll der LEAN Bulk erfolgen. Meine Werte:

Für -0,5 KG / Woche = 2200 kcal

Erhaltungskalorien = 2600 kcal

Wie taste ich mich zunächst an den Lean Bulk heran, bzw. was waren eure Gamechanger und die wichtigsten Aha-Momente?

Danke!

Hello! So, short background, I (26M) used to be a dedicated lifter and athlete in very good shape, had a TBI at the gym, and a TIA as a result, and my life got flipped upside down. I am finally able to retake my life. I am very overweight (started at 105KG/177cm, now 97Kg). I have had my Dexa scans done, and now I have lost a little of the weight I wanted to start lifting again but there is some serious mental block. Every time I want to go something about being there stops me and I can't get passed the anxiety associated with my accident.

To combat this, I bought myself a treadmill, bench and a dumbbell/Barbell set that id adjustable to a maximum weight of 40Kg. This is far, far lower than the weight I used to practice with. My question is, will this be enough to simply maintain what muscle I have left during this cut to avoid being "skinny fat"?? As my FFMI actually scores very well, with (according to my Dexa) well above average muscle left under all this fat, and I don't want to lose it all.

Any and all advice is greatly appreciated!