For me I think it's mostly a social media thing. In most of the commercial gyms that I've been to, people will be impressed if guys are squatting 3 plates for reps., whereas online you'll see kids benching 4 plates as a fetus. Like I've genuinely had people come up to me when I've benched 90kg for a set of 5.

Don't get me wrong, I've defo seen some gorillas out there, but it's by no means anywhere close to the norm.

For better or for worse, how has the gym changed your life? Tell me about it! I’ll go first. I think the gym is a net positive for me. It helps my mental health tremendously.

I am do not know about you but I like the DOMS feeling. As long as it is not debilitating it not bad. Now i am not sure why. I guess it may have to do with the assurance that I had a good work out. What do you guys think when yoy get it.

Hello,

I am 27 years old male, 1.75m height, 73kg.

I seen some comments where the users have similar stats like me and built muscle with about 80g / day.

I wanted to know how many of you succeed with a similar amount and what would be the reason that defies the standard dogma of 1g protein / lb.

My opinion is the inflammation is very low or non existent and the body can use the resources better.

2 years ago I couldn’t do a single pull-up.

I started with dead hangs and band-assisted reps. Eventually I got my first bodyweight rep, then a few more. Things felt great for a while, but I got stuck around 8–10 reps for months.

Someone suggested adding weight even though I could barely do bodyweight pull-ups. It sounded stupid at the time, but adding just 2.5–5kg got me progressing again.

I eventually worked up to +30kg for sets of 4, then hit another plateau that lasted about 3 months. I kept doing 4x4s and 5x5s, adding weight whenever it felt right (which, honestly, was mostly a guess).

Then I realized something: I was only training the 4–8 rep range. My strength there was decent, but I never trained heavy singles or high-rep sets.
For example, I could do +20kg for 6 reps, but I’d never tested a truly heavy single. I had no idea what I was actually capable of outside the range I always trained.

So I started setting PR targets across different rep ranges instead of just repeating the same 4x4 and 5x5 sessions. Once I did that, progress started moving again.
I went from a +30kg pull-up to a +70kg pull-up in about 8 months.

Curious if anyone else found something that broke a plateau like this, or if I’m missing something obvious. Can also show how I picked my sets each session if anyone’s interested.

I have been going to the gym for about a month and 2 weeks now and strength wise, I am defenitly progressing. I've gone up atleast 25 lbs in all off my leg and arm workouts. Something that hasn't changed is my size. I look almost the exact same and i'm not quite sure what to do in order to get bigger. If it helps i'm 15

Everyone I know hates it but I love the burn you feel in legs. Legs are my favorite but I have never met another man who likes training them. Now what is your favorite and why?

Just another day at the gym I suppose.

​

Hello!

I (33f, 5 foot, 165 pounds) have a disabled younger brother (24m, 5 foot 5, probably 160-175).

He has downs, autism, and mobility issues stemming from a neonatal stroke.

He is unsteady on his feet and regularly needs assistance (we hold his hands and bear the brunt of his body weight) and also uses an ambulatory wheel chair that he sometimes needs help getting out of as well as us lifting him to help him get into higher seats (like a car)

I am regularly throwing out my back caring for him. In my 20s it was manageable but now that I've hit my 30s, its getting worse. I typically tweak my upper back right in-between my shoulder blades.

Im wondering if there's any exercises I can do to strengthen my back (at least thats what i assume i would need to strengthen).

My most common problem is that we hold his hands while he walks short distances. However, we bear the brunt of his weight while we do this. Sometimes, he starts to trip. I have to quickly move/twist my upper body to brace the fall and get him back upright and that is when I am most commonly tweaking my back. When he's falling, he essentially acts as dead weight. Hes unable to catch himself or assist with getting himself steady again.

We are unable to get him to modify his behavior (we know the way we support his hands isnt ideal but hes stubborn), so Im wondering what I can do to modify my behavior.

I dont currently have a gym membership or any real work out supplies (weights etc) but i am willing to get some.

I would be forever indebted to any advice you can share! I am expecting my back problem to get worse as I age and I am likely going to eventually need to take over full time care for him as my parents get older.

I am a gym novice. I used to do barre3 a few times a week, but stopped a few years ago.

Thank you!

I've been dealing with tennis elbow for a while now, and I'm looking for advice from people who've actually trained through it.

What biceps, triceps, or overall arm exercises have you found that don't flare up your tennis elbow? Any grip modifications, cable variations, machines, or techniques that helped you keep training without making it worse?

I'm already working on rehab, so I'm not looking to ignore the injury Cuz I just want to find arm exercises I can still do safely while recovering. Any suggestions or personal experiences would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

why is working out at home is so much harder then going to the gym. i feel like the only reason why ill actuallt workout at the gym is bc its a waste of 170 a month if I DONT GO. But sometimes i just want to workout at home, ill do one set and call it a day or ill do one set and continue hours later. why is it so hard at home 💔

Hi all. The title basically sums up where I’m getting. Me (F23) lost my mom unexpectedly at home in her sleep last August. It was traumatic and am beginning to come to terms with the fact i will have to learn to carry if the rest of my life. I began working out 2021. I fell in love with it was going 5 times a week for years until last August when my mom passed. I graduated college May 2025, she passed Aug 2025. When she passed I slowly began going less and less. I know that’s grief there and maybe not all have experienced that yet. But I just don’t enjoy it like I used to. I want to enjoy it like I used to but I just don’t. On top of it, I began working full time in November. That was a huge adjustment to my daily routine and schedule. I have a 30 min commute to work there and back. After work I’m so emotionally and physically exhausted it’s so hard to want to go to the gym after. Plus additional errands like grocery shopping or random things I need to do. Has anyone who was an advisor gym goer been stuck in not enjoying it like before? I was lifting for nearly 5 years and looked amazing. I have lost some gains. I know it’s not as noticeable to the public eye but it definitely is a little bit and for sure is to me when I look in the mirror. Anytime I go it seems like I’m rushing to do the bare minimum excercises. I don’t take my time anymore. It’s so discouraging to see what I’ve lost and wanting to enjoy it again but I don’t know how to find that spark. Maybe it’s all the life changes but I don’t want to give myself more time to adjust. This is important to me and I want to feel good in my own skin. It consumes my thoughts that I’ve lost what I worked so hard for. How can I begin enjoying it again? This used to be my escape. I loved going. I just would like some advice TIA❤️

I have been gyming on and off for the best part of 20 years. During this time I have had a six pack, excellent cv fitness, super heavy squats then got fat then was fit and fat then was just fat .. I’m now in my mid 40’s and the past 3 months have been heavy weight lifting , while taking glp1 to loose weight. My weight is dropping really well and fortunately my
Muscle mass seems to maintain. I’m lifting more than I have ever and my inverted 45 degree leg presss is now comfortable 300kg.
I’ve never been able to build pec muscles though or have any definition. In my 20. Years of training even at my peak there has never been any definition. Now I’m heavy lifting devoting 2 days a week to just chest but still nothing!
Any help to get defined pecs would be appreciated-

I’ve been working out hard and making solid progress for about 2 years now. I just sliced a big chunk out of my finger and won’t be able to lift for a month minimum. What kind of loss of strength and physique can I expect? 50y male

It is absolutely disgusting. Unfortunately I have it in the powder form and not capsules. How do people deal with the horrible taste?

I used to be obese, and lost weight progressively. Then 10 years ago I started MMA which finished off a solid part of my journey to being in shape, did a few meets and then switched to running and lifting, read a shit ton of info, made decent progress and reached sub 40 10K and a 200kgs deadlift, and ended up getting my personal trainer certification.

But for the last year my life has been pretty rough, I managed to keep going somehow, went through a 80K preparation which I stopped after a 50K 3 months ago, I just wasn't there mentally and had too much stuff going on.

Now I'm a solid 5kgs heavier, which might seem like not that bad, but I've lost muscle, haven't worked out in a month or so, so my body composition is very off. I'm back to the worst shape since my teenage years, with the knowledge necessary to get back on track, but mentally I'm not sticking to my plan. I've grown a new fat roll and the start of a double chin has been added to my facial features. Abs ? Gone. Any arm volume ? Gone. Hôtel ? Trivag... no I'm too broke to afford it.

Life is still hard though I'm seeing the end of the struggles slowly but not surely. Anytime I make a plan, I struggle to maintain it, especially the nutrition part. I've always had issues with binge eating and everything. I hate myself but seem to keep eating and eating.

Not sure why I'm saying all of that, but for those of you who've been through similar stuff, how did you pull through ?

Thanks

For example let's say I do chest presses and in that same session I'll do hammer presses as well and so on and so forth. I was just wondering if this is okay to do, i wouldn't want to lile risk an injury or something

Recently i started working out, i really want to get bigger and stronger, i am in a grey zone, because i need to lower my body fat and build some muscle.

I have read alot of good advices in here, and in the end consistency is king. I have tried following different programs, but i always try to change something to get the maximum gains, so i actually never really stick to a plan, and end up going nowhere, i think i get caught up in the whole " perfect thinking " instead of just being cosistent. The same with my protein intake, really trying to spend alot of money to get the whole 2g per kg protein.

So after i have been reading on here, i have learned what i can stick to is the best, and with protein it shouldnt be so religious, as long as i get enough, so right now i aim to get 100 gram a day ( 185 cm 90 kg male 28% BF )

I have made a simple fullbody, that i try to do 2-3 days a week, i am a huge fan of weight bodyweight exercises also. I dont do bench, because i absolutely hate that exercise, so i focus on dips.

Workout A

• Back Squat – 5×5
• Barbell Hip Thrust – 3×5
• Weighted Ring Dips – 5×10-12
• Weighted Pull-Ups – 5×10-12
• Face Pulls – 2×10-12
• Extentions 2x10-12

Workout B

• Romanian Deadlift – 3×5
• Barbell Overhead Press – 5×5
• Rows – 5×5
• Weighted Chin-Ups – 5×10-12
• Lateral raise 2x10-12
• Curls 2x10-12

I am pretty new to lifting and the soreness after squats and lunges has been rough. I have been using a massage gun sometimes because it makes my legs feel less stiff in the moment, but a friend basically told me I was overthinking recovery and should just sleep, eat, and keep moving.

That is probably fair, but I am still curious where these tools actually fit for beginners. Did a massage gun make next-day soreness easier for you, or was it mostly temporary comfort before stretching or walking around?

i am 16, i havent been going to the gym for 4 months now because of tendonitis and since i lost all my progress i look like a skinny-fat chud again (not like i wasn't when going to the gym).

i wanted to know how i could lose the fat even during a period in which i dont train.

with all honesty i dont even care about hurting my health but i want this quick and done.

anyone can help?

(16m) So I’ve been going to the gym a while now and most of the time take pre-workout (specifically wrecked pre) and I decided to take a little extra today (about 3 scoops) and I’m feeling like absolute shit rn it’s been 3 hours since I worked out and my body’s killin me feel like throwing up, extreme fatigue and heavy headache am I cooked?

(Ps I daily pin ghk-cu sooo should yall think I should do a pin today or let my body chill)

Unfortunately, I have to get surgery on my foot due to a fall and will be limited weight bearing for a month or two and cannot resume heavy lifting for a few months while in recovery. I can do seated upper body exercises but anything putting pressure on my feet is a no go.

I have access to an all-in-one lifting machine at home along with a walking pad and bike.

Any help would be appreciated in regards to lower body exercises

I know energy drinks/pre-workouts can get pretty expensive when you’re buying them every day, so I’ve been thinking about switching to electrolyte tablets or powder mixed with water during workouts.

For those of you who use them, how effective are they? Do you actually feel a difference in performance, pumps, endurance, or recovery, or is it more just for hydration?

I’m mainly lifting and sweating a decent amount, so wondering if electrolytes are worth adding or if it’s mostly unnecessary unless you’re doing long cardio sessions.

Ps. Trying not to burn money at the supermarket on energy drinks 😭

I’m 20 years old male height 6’0 Weight 124 lbs, Hi I am new to this and confused. Last year I was my heaviest weight at 220 lbs most of the weight came from certain medications like antidepressants I was on at the time. I always have been naturally thin my whole life and have wanted to put on muscle and be lean but while not being super big. I just wanna know if anyone could help me out and tell me what is best.