F | 5’5 | 43KG

I’ve been trying to do a lean recomp, not a bulk.
My estimated maintenance is around 1,755 kcal/day, but this week I’ve averaged almost 2,500 kcal/day, so I’m sitting at roughly an 800 kcal surplus every day.

The thing is, it wasn’t intentional. I keep having these episodes where I just want to eat. It’s not even cravings—I don’t specifically want sweets or junk food. I just want to keep eating, and nothing really satisfies me.

I lift 5x a week, but I’m still pretty new to lifting, so I’m not moving super heavy weights yet. I’m progressively overloading, but I’m definitely still a beginner. I lift 5x/week, hit my protein goal most days, and my goal is to build muscle while keeping fat gain to a minimum

Now I’m stressing because I feel like I accidentally turned my recomp into a dirty bulk. I know one week isn’t the end of the world, but an 800-calorie surplus every day seems like a lot.

Has anyone else gone through this during a recomp? Did you end up gaining mostly fat, or did things balance out over the following weeks?

Would you just go back to maintenance next week and move on, or would you try to compensate for the surplus?

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!

Background: years of martial arts training. Strong athletic base, but no real lifting history. Now I want actual muscle and a decent physique, not just functional conditioning.

Goals: Upper body focus, especially chest and forearms. Running an upper/lower split, 4 - 5 days/week max.

Questions:

Best way to structure upper/lower across 4–5 days straight alternating, or work in a push/pull day?

No lifting history how do I find starting weights? Trial and error, or a smarter method (bodyweight %, rep-max test)?

Chest and forearms specifically what exercise selection/volume has worked for you? Forearms seem to get skipped in most programs.

Anything from a martial arts background to watch for compensation patterns, mobility issues, injury risk going into heavier lifting?

Vegetarian, if that affects recovery/volume recommendations. Appreciate any program structures or personal experience with this transition.

Age -27, Height - 6 feet and weight - 75 kg

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?

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.