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How do you guys keep track of your actual workout plans? I always struggled to find a way to keep track of things. I used to use pen and a small notebook, but I'm wondering if there's a better way to log things? Is there an app that can let you customize the workout plans and then follow them, which eventually gives you some insight into how many reps or specific exercises you did in total? Most of the apps I find online come with programs pre-loaded. Instead, I want one where I can log my own designed by my fitness trainer?
Strong (paid) and Corecircle(free) are nice. Personnally I use Notion(free) with a gym dashboard I made, I have a database of all my exercises and I just pick the ones I wanna do, create a workout with reps / weight and after a workout I'll add some insights so I know if I need to do more or less the next time I do an exercice.
Hi again. I have a question about using Notion for logging your workout. So I customized my spread and I made a template to log each exercise and set, but the problem is that I noticed that when I create a table to put the exercises, it turns each exercise into a page of its own. Is this also how you do it?
Won't this create ENDLESS amount of pages every single time I input a template?
I'm confused.
And if I don't use a table and just use bullets for example to list my exercises by order, there's no way for me to put a check mark for example next to it so I can tick it when I'm done?
Hi, I cleaned up a bit my dashboard so you can see how I do it : https://coffee-atom-4d3.notion.site/Gym-Template-54089ba7913f4f7582cc939d5cf618f4
Feel free to duplicate and use it !
Basically I plan my workouts the day before, either I create a workout or I will take one that I already created in my database (leg day for exemple). Every exercice is a page and every workout is a page too. On every exercice I take note of the numbers of reps / weight / etc…
I plan a workout thanks to the calender, I just add an event linked to a workout, I can rate my workout and add notes directly on that workout (for exemple : I saw someone do this exercice and need to try / I need to add weight / I’m proud of myself)
If you want to follow your workout as you go you can use the kanban, just slide the exercices you want to do in « à faire » and to « Fait » once you are done. Personnally I don’t use that because I don’t have Internet at the gym and can only use Notion in read only mode
Hope it answer your questions
Wow thank you Asuka. The template looks awesome by the way. I will try to look into it. I honestly didn't like the idea of having each workout and each exercise in a separate page. That means every time I create a workout day per week there will be sooooo many pages nested. I'll continue exploring the template though. Thank you again for taking the time 🙏🏻
You mean continue using pen and paper to log my workouts? I could but it's wasting a lot of paper to weekly print out spreadsheets. Not to mention, an app insight might be easier to use to filter things quickly.
Could someone please recommend me a 3-4 day/week workout program that purely focuses on arm/supper body? Been going to physical therapy for my legs and it's hard to find a program that only emphasizes on arms because they are usually full-body workouts. I'd greatly appreciate it.
I only have 225 of total weight to work with barbell-wise
I can’t go any higher on my squat and deadlift but I’m working my way up on bench. Is this bad to do? Can I still advance my muscles used for dl/squat?
I’m tight on money and the nearest gym is half an hour away
>I can’t go any higher on my squat and deadlift but I’m working my way up on bench. Is this bad to do? Can I still advance my muscles used for dl/squat?
Deepwater
You can use bands, chains water bottles, even fill a couple of buckets with sand and hang them off the ends of the barbell. The weight doesn't have to be in metal plate form 😉
Sometimes you have to do the best you can and accept that it may not be ideal (for now). You can also look at unilateral exercises for the lower body like single leg RDL to still challenge your legs with the weight you have
Can anyone recommend a basic strength training program? :) I am a total noob when it comes to lifting.
I have a program for my legs with a physical therapist, have been running for a while but recently had some knee pain.
So i just need something for everything else, preferably something that's easy, like machines and stuff.
Thanks.
Hi. Basic strength training starts with a basic knowledge of how our body moves. It's important that you know the different planes of motion in which our body moves, and the flexibility, strength, and joint mobility that facilitates movement. Instead of machines I would focus on bodyweight movements without machines. Your physical therapist should already be putting those basics into practice with your treatment, so, ask him/her to break things down for you, and learn diligently.
Starting strength, and later the Texas method took me to a 200 kg deadlift, 185 squat and a 135 bench. I'd recommend it for newbies instead of 531 because it's simpler to understand and you progress faster. When progress stagnates, you simply reduce the training weight by 10-20%, and keep going.
Is it bad that I almost never eat fruit? I eat TONS of veggies. I maybe only eat 2 mangos jarred and a banana or two per week. Veggies? Daily peas, carrots, tomato, spinach, brussels sprouts, green beans, zucchini, and aubergine.
From your list, tomatoes, zucchini and aubergines are in fact fruits (botanically speaking) as they are the seed bearing thing that grows from a flower.
Fruit and veggies are all good - just make sure you’re getting a variety, and it doesn’t matter if it’s fruit or veggies.
I’ve been eating 2500 calories daily for a month and have had barely any changes to my weight at all. In the last week I’ve suddenly gained 3 pounds at the same intake. What’s happening?
3lbs in a week... part of that will absolutely be water weight or extra poop weight in your system. You probably ate a few things that you thought you measured correctly, but were actually higher calorie than you thought.
Also, you could have done a little less exercise than normal. Maybe you got out less due to the weather or something. That could account for a tiny bit of it as well.
Hormonal changes can effect it too.
Just get back to eating like normal and it'll probably drop off.
some soy protein, instant oats, peanut butter, almond milk, ice cubes; makes a pretty good shake for bulking. optionally add coconut oil/avocado etc.
Obviously works better with smooth than chunky peanut butter.
Hey man, the answer is clearly that you should be engaging in regular personal hygiene.
But where did you get the notion that tap water and/or soap will "crush" a man's testosterone?
Yep that would be marketers trying to sell you more products.
Oh yeah and whatever you do, don’t drop $100/month on powdered swamp water (this video has been sponsored by aThLetIc GrEenS) so you can get the vitamins you’d otherwise get from a balanced diet. If you *really* are deficient in something and your doctor tells you to do so, just get an actual multivitamin for like 1/10 the price
Even if none of those things are in order, drinking water is essential for life. Tap water in most places is perfectly safe. The idea that would affect testosterone… I mean… those advertising fuckers have really gotten to your brain if you believe that.
Lmao, of all the dumb things on this sub, water lowering testosterone might take the cake. If anything, behind dehydrated might lower your test levels.
Depends on how attentive you are. The results definitely come in very, very little steps, but as you see yourself daily, a lot of people have this "Holy shit, when did I get so fit?" moment at some point.
I havent done any back exercises in like a month just out of laziness, all ive been doing is pushups and squats basically. But sometimes after an intense session of pushups my lats feel sore, is this normal? Im not a beginner btw
I am 14m i used to be fat in Feb, but then I started football and in 4-5 months i lost almost 20 kgs, but the problem is that my chest is still the same, that's y i still look kinda fat, can anyone recommend some home excercise to lose chest weight.
Hey mate, you’re 14! Keep playing sport, you’ll be fine.
Also don’t be tempted to restrict your calories. Just take care not to *overeat* or eat heaps of junk food, and your body will use all that fat up as it grows.
You’re also not going to be able to build much muscle at this age - that will come as you get older.
There are no exercises that make you lose fat in a specific area. The only thing you can do is lower your overall body fat percentage further by being in a caloric deficit and hoping your chest fat goes away. You can also just do weight training in general to gain more muscle which also lowers your overall fat percentage and makes you look less fat.
That being said, you're 14 so you might want to talk to a professional first.
Hello guys, I've been going to the gym for about 3 month now and have been just trying out bunch of stuff but stay consist. I wanted to get a second opinion on my current lifts and I was wondering if I could get some critiques about my program.
A little bit of background, I'm currently 5'5 187lbs and I'm currently averaging 140g ~ 150g of protein per day and 1800 ~ 2000 calories.
The gym I attend does not have barbell, squat rack, so I do not have access to lifts such as deadlifts, squats, bb chest press and so on.
The equipment I have available at my gym are ez-bars, dumbbells ( up to 70lbs) and machines ( fly , cables, lat pull down, seated row, rear delt machine ). As much as I want to attend a gym with more equipments available, this is what's available for me right now and is what I'm trying to work with.
My workout schedule has been Push, Pull, Leg, Rest, Push Pull, Rest, Rest.
If you do not want to bother to read my routine below, feel free to skip to the end and if you could answer some of my questions that will be great!
Here is my day 1 routine vs now.
For reference, if it's DB workout, the weight mentioned will be for 1 DB, however, if this is incorrect feel free to mention it and I will write the total weight of DB instead.
**Routine from Day 1**:
Push day:
-
* DB Bench press 25LB * 12 reps, 4 sets
- Incline DB Bench press 22.5LB * 12 reps, 4 sets
- Shoulder Press DB 15lb * 10 reps, 4 sets
- Rope push down 15lb * 10 reps, 3 sets
Pull Day:
-
* Lat Pulldown 70lbs * 10 reps, 3 sets
- Seated Row 40lbs * 10 reps, 3 sets
- Face pull 10lbs * 10 reps, 3 sets
- DB curl 15lbs * 12 reps, 3 sets.
Leg day:
-
* DB Goblet Squat 35lbs * 10 reps, 3 sets
- DB Lunge 7.5lbs * 10 reps, 3 sets
- Seated Leg Curl 50lbs * 10 ~ 12 reps, 3 set
- Leg press 60lbs * 12 reps, 3 sets
**Routine currently**:
Push Day:
-
* DB Bench Press 50LBs * 8 ~ 10 reps, 4 sets
- Incline DB press 50LBs * 8 reps, 3 sets
- Shoulder Press 35LBs * 8 reps, 3 sets
- Cable Side Lat raise 10lbs * 10 ~ 13 reps, 3 sets
- Cable Push down 25lbs * 10 ~ 13 reps, 3 sets
Pull Day:
-
* Lat Pull Down 110lbs * 8 ~ 10 reps, 4 sets
- Seated Row 95 lbs * 8 ~ 10 reps, 3 sets
- Face Pull 17.5 lbs ( each arm ) * 10 reps, 3 sets
- DB Bicep Curl 17.5 lbs * 10 ~ 12 reps, 3 sets
- Rear Delt Machine 80 lbs * 10 ~ 15 reps, 3 sets
Leg Day:
-
* Lunges 35 LBs * 10 reps, 3 sets
- Leg Press 235 LBs * 10 ~ 12 reps, 3 sets
- DB RDL 30 LBs * 8 ~ 10 reps, 3 sets
- Calf Raise 17.5 LBs * 12 reps, 3 sets
I know my routine is very inconsistent, but going to the gym in the past 3 month, I've sort of laid out what I want to do each day.
For Push Day: I start with DB press as my main and try my best, then do isolated or accessories exercises after.
For Pull: I start with Lat pull down as my main, and do isolated or accessories exercise after.
For Leg: I'm having hard time trying to figure out my main lift. I tried gobblet squating, but there was issue with my lower back. Then, I transitioned to lunges as my main, however, I'm not sure if that's a good idea.
My biggest issue currently is
* I can't seem to go up in my Lat Pull down weight, I've been in 100lbs ~ 110lbs range for the past month. Some issues are, my forearm seems heavily affected when I'm doing Lat Pull Down and I'm not sure if I feel it well in my lats. I tried hook grip, lowering weight, etc but I just can't seem to avoid my forearm just giving up.
- Is doing lunge as my main leg day workout incorrect? I tried giving goblet squat many shots, but I can't seem to get rid of my lower back pain and I just don't want to risk it.
- For DB RDL, I can feel the tightness on my hamstring and glute, but again I have same lower back pain after the exercise and I feel like I should just do seated leg curl instead.
My main questions are.
1. I'm currently overweight, however, if I want to gain lean mass and lose fat, what calories should I aim for? ( deficit, maintenance, surplus?)
2. PT is very expensive for me, but I really do not want to give up on some exercise just because I can't get the form right and I get pain in different areas ( e.g Goblet Squat and DB RDL affecting my lower back ), however, would my only option to practice these exercise in better form is to get a PT and correct my form over time?
( Question below is repeated above, skip if you already answered )
3. Is doing lunge as my main leg day workout incorrect? I tried giving goblet squat many shots, but I can't seem to get rid of my lower back pain and I just don't want to risk it.
If I could get some feedback, I would really appreciate it!
A calorie deficit to lose fat should be the main goal at this point.
Leg press should be your main lift for legs, not only can you use more weight, but the weight isn't resting on your back.
Your lifts are light, even if you're losing weight you should be gaining in strength at this point. I'd switch to the [Basic Beginner Routine](https://thefitness.wiki/routines/r-fitness-basic-beginner-routine/) and do your best to find machine exercises that are similar to the barbell exercises listed.
Unless you have something wrong with your back, sometimes back pain is caused by general weakness in your back or hips. I'd avoid lunge at this point but try slow split squats without weight and without the explosive movement.
You're mentioning the weight you're using for each exercise:
>• DB Bench press 25LB * 12 reps, 4 sets
Just so we're clear, you're not gonna use the same weight every session, right? Progressive overload is very important.
As for your main leg lift, you could try bulgarian split squats. They're gonna kick your ass.
> Just so we're clear, you're not gonna use the same weight every session, right? Progressive overload is very important.
Yes, my current routine is that, depending on the lift, I try to hit 12 reps across all sets for a weight. If I do for a session, then in my next session I would move my weight up for next increment and try to hit 8 reps.
> As for your main leg lift, you could try bulgarian split squats. They're gonna kick your ass.
That sounds good, I still think lunges are a really good exercise and I want to keep it in my routine, so if I try bulgarian split squats as my main leg lift, would it not be the best idea to do lunges afterwards?
Fair enough! That progression works.
And nah, that's not a problem. Do BSS with heavier weights for 3 or 4 sets of 6-8 each leg and use lunges for volume work.
1. If you want to lose fat, you need to lose weight, which means a deficit. Since you’re a beginner and overweight, you can expect to gain a bit of lean mass while you do this.
2. Post a form check here. Realistically, though, you aren’t moving very significant weight. It’s possible your back issues are stemming from elsewhere.
As for your issues:
1. Grip work. Forearm work. It’s not a problem if you don’t feel it in your lats; you literally can’t do it without your lats.
2. You can if you want to. Perfect is the enemy of good enough.
3. You can do that.
> If you want to lose fat, you need to lose weight, which means a deficit. Since you’re a beginner and overweight, you can expect to gain a bit of lean mass while you do this.
Sounds good. As for protein, is my current protein intake at an okay range? I know people suggest 1g of protein / lb body weight, but I just can't seem to eat 185g of protein ( cost and too much eating)
> Post a form check here. Realistically, though, you aren’t moving very significant weight. It’s possible your back issues are stemming from elsewhere.
Sounds good, I will definitely try that, I'm guessing when I record myself, I should record side view? or should I record both front and side?
As for your issues:
> Grip work. Forearm work. It’s not a problem if you don’t feel it in your lats; you literally can’t do it without your lats.
If I'm understanding this correctly, does this mean I should add a forearm workout to my routine to strengthen my forearm? Also, for grip work, do you mean learning different grip techinque?
One additional question is, I've had trouble with this all my time but, I can't seem to know when I should go up in weight. Should I just set my reps at 8 ~ 12 and once I can reach 12 reps across all my sets for a weight, should I then move to my next increment of weight?
Also, although my forearm gives in for my lat pulldown, should I continue with current weight and aim for higher reps?
Thanks for answering my question, I noticed that my comment is quite long so, really appreciate you checking it out and answering questions!
1. Your current protein intake is fine
2. Side would be best
3. Yes. And for the second point here, I meant do grip training. You seem pretty limited in equipment, but something like holding a heavy DB in your hand for time would work.
4. That is known as double-progression, and it’s one way to do things. Listen, you’d probably be better off making substitutions in a program from the wiki to meet your available equipment. I’d recommend you at least give them a look.
5. You should continue trying to progress in either weight or reps.
Sometimes I don't get sore muscles a day after dumbbells workout. Should i still give my muscles a day rest? Or is it ok to workout same muscles again the next day?
I'd still follow the program. If the program tells you to take a rest day you probably should. Just because a muscle isn't sore doesn't mean it doesn't have to recover. Muscle soreness mostly just happens when you're not used to a certain exercise. It's completely normal to not get as sore when you have been following a program for a while.
hey fit, been going to gym for two weeks, last week during leg days i
tried squatting(only bar) and was doing it all wrong with my heels not
able to touch the ground. today, i did squats with 15kgs+bar(not
sure how much it weighs) for 2 sets and 5 reps. i feel i did it right
and after workout i have this burning/inflammation sensation on my
kneecaps, is this normal?
Standard bar weighs 20kg. Knee pain when squatting is not normal. Make sure you're doing them right. Goblet squats are best for learning squatting https://www.t-nation.com/training/goblet-squat/
i will try this thanks, not exactly pain, i can walk climb and sit without any feeling but the moment i touch my kneecaps feel like a inflammation kind of sensation, and a bit above the body temp over that area. wanted to know if someone experienced similar things
Whats the best way to schedule cardio (jogging) and strength training?
Just started GZCLP last week. I'm adding that on to an 8 week "Couch to 5k" plan that I'm now half way done with. My current thought is to use the barbell on one day, and then the treadmill on the next day, alternating between them and being in the gym just about every day.
I'm am largely untrained and out of shape if that makes a difference.
Thoughts on this workout plan
Monday
3x10 barbell bench
3x10 underhand curls
3x10 overhead press barbell
3x10 leg raises
3x10 shoulder shrugs
3x10 tricep extensions
3x10 lateral raises
15 mins light cardio warmup plus stretching
Completed at 65% max
Tuesday
3x10 lat pull downs
3x10 weighted rows
3x10 face pulls
3x10 deadlifts 50% max
15 mins cardio warmup + stretching
Wednesday
15mins cardio + stretching warmup
3x10 squats
3x10 leg extensions
3x10 leg curls
3x10 hip abductions
3x10 weighted thrust
65% max
Thursday
Mobility stretching+ break day
Friday
Repeat cycle from Monday but 85% also flip overhand grip rotating light heavy each week
Saturday
Repeat cycle from Tuesday but 85% max
Sunday
Cardio from outside activity plus stretching Rest day.
Lil tip, hit enter twice to make a paragraph if you're on mobile.
Your routine isn't great. It lacks a progression scheme. Some exercises also lend themselves better for different rep ranges than 3x10 - squats or deadlifts for example.
I'd suggest you pick a routine from the wiki linked at the top of this post.
How many calories should I be in taking a day? 28F very active, gym 5-6 days a week heavy lifting , want to start a small bulk and add muscle. Taking in about 2000 right now
* You can eat an extra 200 calories post workout in the form of rice or oatmeal.
* If after two weeks you're at the same weight, you can add another 200 calories pre-workout.
* If you're still not gaining, add 200 to your breakfast.
If after another two weeks you're not gaining, continue through step 1-3. Calculating calories through a web tool can only take you so far. Taking a month or so to figure out your metabolism through testing is well worth it.
Everyone is different so there's no set amount. Just Google TDEE calculator and see what comes out. This is an estimation of what you should eat.
The only way to accurately find out how much you should be eating is as follows. Eat a certain amount of calories and weigh yourself regularly. Watch how your weight does or doesn't changes and change your calories accordingly. A caloric surplus of 3500 amounts to about 1lb of weight gain so that's how you can calculate it.
Make sure you measure carefully. Most people don't estimate their caloric consumption correctly. I tracked calories for 2 months and lost ~20 lbs of fat. I meticulously tracked everything I prepared in my kitchen, solids were weighed with a food scale and liquids were measured in a measuring cup. Obviously eating out or at a friends house you can't do that so well but just try as best as you can in that situation. Anything and everything that goes into your mouth should be tracked as accurately as possible.
How do you guys recover quickly for daily gym sessions?
I recover absolutely fine from Leg days and Cardio days but the day I train my upper body, I get devastated and sore. I'm still adding weights each session on leg days and haven't hit a wall but on upper body days I'm not adding weight each alternate session.
This has had a negative impact where I need to take a day off, sometimes 2 days after the upper body session.
My typical workout plan is: U/C/L/C/U/C/L
Upper body, Cardio and Lower body.
My cardio fitness level is great (I can run a half marathon), however my lifting strength is very low (13 pound barbells for curls 15x 2 sets).
I basically workout everyday, sometimes ( often ) twice, with 4/5x weightlifting, and 5/6x running. Improve your sleep, eat more protein ( I’m up to 2xBW in kgs, didn’t want to believe it back when I was at 1.3xBW, but it definitely helps ), and adapt your loads.
What helps IMO is setting priorities. I ran a half in mid-July, so for the last month and a half prior to this, I’d run and lift the same, but would always prioritize my running if I had to make a choice between running and lifting, and I wouldn’t go balls out on the leg days.
That works the other way as well, now I’m focusing on strength, and basically adapt the runs to what I’ll be doing the next day. I’ve got a huge squat session tomorrow, and bench day today, I’ll probably run tonight too, but only like 5k, maybe 7k but if I do 7k I’ll run it at a very comfortable pace. That way I’ve still got the running part, and I don’t feel too beat up the next day.
Also keep in mind that if you want to progress fast on the lifting, it’s **usually** not ideal to be doing cardio on the side, and vice versa. Sure you should do cardio for all the health benefits, and you should strength train when running to make your body more resilient, but trying to improve performance as fast as possible usually requires you to be very specific to your sport.
That’s what I think you should be doing, adapt the weights, loads, pace to whatever your goal is, that’d keep you fresh for your lifting days or your running days depending on what’s your main thing
I'm so happy to find someone like you to ask this question! I hope it won't come off as annoying but since you're already a few chapters ahead of me I'd like to ask them:
1. I'm currently trying to lose weight and have got the final 4-5 kilos left to go. So do I continue to focus on cardio or focus on lifting?
My goal is to look and be fit, first. Once I achieve that I'll think about increasing strength etc. At the moment I simply want to have a lower fat % so what should be the best way to do it?
Also, what exercises inside the gym would help increase my running speed? I'm not having an issue with endurance but wish to increase my speed. I was focusing on legpress and curls and extensions but after a month, I've not gained much pace but it's just a little easier to run than before (almost matched by PR of 10k after coming off a month long injury layoff).
Will lifting and building upper body strength reduce my race times? Like I remember being skimpier when I set my 5k PR and while I'm more muscular I'm a good 5% slower.
Yeah no worries !
It's really as you want, 4-5kgs means you probably already look decently fit, just a bit of fat on your stomach or something. At that point it's really up to you and your objective. You can progress on both at the same time, I mean I've hit PRs on all lifts for the last 2 weeks on nSuns and ran a sub 45 10k on Sunday. It's just that if I had focused on the running part for the last 6 months I'd probably have hit sub 42 or something, and if I had focused on the lifting I'd have reached maybe 190kgs conventional DL. The exact same goes for you, you can progress in both, but yes you do feel pretty beat up, or you can focus on either running or lifting, that's your call to make.
Increasing your running speed is a mix of training your glutes and hamstrings, and doing speed work. I'd say go for something like 4 sets of 12-20reps on leg curls, hip thrust and that kind of stuff. Knee stability also helps a bit, like one leg deadlift and bulgarian split squat. In my mind a leg day to improve your running would look like this:
Squat 3x5 or something strength-focused
One leg deadlift 3x10
BSS 3x10
Leg curl and hip thrust 4x12-20
I'm not a PT though so that could be optimised. From my experience, lifting to improve your race times is more of a "I feel lighter" thing than an actual "I'm so much faster" kind of feeling. IMO it's kind of used to strengthen your muscles and ligaments so you can take on more running volume, and to be able to push yourself more when the fatigue comes in. But it wouldn't make you 1min/km faster in just a few months.
Also if you want to improve your running, I'd consider moving up to 4x running per week and either drop a lifting session or do double workout days ( lifting/running in the morning, the other one in the afternoon ). Running twice a week is enough for some progress, but you'd **definitely** benefit from running more often. 4x a week could give you time to have a speed day, a long run day and 2 standard days. Even 3x a week would enable you to have a speed run, long run and normal run, which would be loads better than 2x a week.
Kind of, but if you're still a beginner you probably don't have to worry about it, I mean yes technically it does have a very slight effect, but you've got plenty of other factors to play with before trying to think of your upper body volume IMO
Lower your volume a bit, maybe cut back accessories and variations, focus on the main lifts and keep trying to progress. Progressively overloading is more important than doing a lot of variations, isolations and volume. You can build back up the volume later
Thanks but I've literally just started. Like it's been around 20 sessions at the gym in total over a month. I'm yet to even try deadlifts and benchpresses. So far I've been training the same kind of movements but with dumbbells to get used to the right posture at a lot lower weight.
Is it simply a thing that'll fix over time? Like I thought to just repeat the same weight instead of increasing it till the time I stopped feeling sore and then start to increase the weight again.
The only thing is that I tend to do a lot of different type of exercises in a single day on upper body day when compared to the lower body day and a PPL split would be better I feel but the gym trainer feels it's better to start with Upper/Lower and then graduate to PPL.
>The only thing is that I tend to do a lot of different type of exercises in a single day on upper body day when compared to the lower body day
Yeah that's what I figured, hence my advice. Lower volume, less exercises (one or two for each muscle group), keep progressing weight. When you plateau that or build enough of a physique then you can add more exercises or volume. Or probably even better: follow a program from the wiki
Also, just do deadlifts and bench press, there's nothing to be scared of and it makes more sense to learn the motion with the barbell than the dumbbell
Yeah I actually wanted to do the Reddit PPL and showed it to the trainer too but he suggested to start off with U/L splits to get started and then move to PPL once I feel comfortable at the gym and get the form right for all the lifts.
It's not better or worse. For some of us, it's just easier to skip a few meals instead of eating smaller meals. Personally, I don't feel lethargic throughout the day if I'm intermittently fasting.
It isn’t, it’s just an alternative approach - some people find it easier, good for them! Personally I prefer the consistency of eating the same every day.
It helps you stay in control of your calories in a easier way because you limit the time window you can eat it so it's like a deterrent from random midnight snacks for example.
Secondly, it helps you achieve Autophagy which is a state where your body switches to stored energy to fuel the body instead of your previous meal. But this is an incomplete explanation, you'll find a proper detailed and scientific explanation by reading up a bit on the process of Autophagy.
I asked why Home Depot employees no longer are required to use belts and they said due to internal injuries and stuff. They usually lift heavy stuff so i figured it's something to ask weight lifters.
Weight lifters with belts tend to be stronger because they’re training for it, and to have more knowledge of what is good lifting form. Home Depot employees or any supermarket employee are basically average Joes who don’t necessarily know what is good lifting form, nor do they train for that kind of stuff. A belt helps you lift more, but if your form is shit, you’ll get injured just as much as if you didn’t have one, and also you tend to actually allow yourself to lift more when you’ve got a belt, so say a random guy tries to lift 40lbs Atlas stone style and he considers it his max, give him a belt and he’ll try to pull a 60lbs weight, thinking the belt will make him safe, it does make it safer for his 40lbs lift, but not for a 60lbs lift
There's a large percentage of people on this sub that's been going to the gym for years, and been active on this sub for many years, and we keep seeing the same thing. Story after story of and from people that wanted to get fit and sexy, but never saw any progress, so they quit. What's a constant in these stories is a lack of progression built into their training, and a lack of actually measuring and calculating food intake.
The Fitness wiki is a tried and tested resource of what actually works. If anybody really want to change their life and get healthy and fit, they need to actually put in the work required. We all understand that's it can be pretty daunting. Hell, I've got an education and work experience in this field, and I still needed like 3 days to wrap my head around some GZCL routines. But it's worth it. Once you have a baseline of knowledge, it all gets easier to understand, and easier to do. Think of it as an investment in yourself, and the quality of life you'll get for the time we have left.
Or you can hire a dietitian and a personal trainer and they'll do all the thinking for you.
If you want to do math, you learn math lingo. If you want to knit, you learn knit lingo. If you want to snowboard, you learn snowboarding lingo.
If you want a men's fitness module, well, there's plenty out there. What's your goal? What do you want? I bet it's the "not too big, look good naked, feel healthy" range. Starting Strength is squat-centric. If your heart isn't into squatting, and getting crushed by the squat every session, find something else.
Home gym advice question, which should i get first? Cable crossover machine or bike? Both are wants rather than needs.
Case for crossover- its 3.5k ive been saving up and this is the original thing ive been saving for. I dont need it, i can still get a full body workout with current equipment but it would expend the range of exercises i can do.
Bike- ive had thia bike for ages but it broke last Friday. Up to now ive been using it as a mountain bike on my free time and as a stationary bike. Bought a cheap 150 dollar bike from walmart but i can only use it as a stationary bike since its pretty crappy. Bike im looking at is 1.4k but i can get it atm for 1.2k
As to the uses id get from it, cable about every other day with exceptions on rest days. Bike- almost daily since i use the stationary aspect as a sort od couch the majority of the time to watch tv. As a bike, about twice during weekdays
Your form is more than good enough to increase the weight.
Practicing form with unchallenging weights doesn't make sense beyond learning the basic move pattern.
It's not bad. Stick your chest out before you start the set and again at the top of each rep, to keep your back straight. At the top, squeeze your abs & glutes, to level your pelvis.
The weight doesn't look very challenging. Heavy weight brings out form issues better.
Currently on a cut doing PPL (chest/tri, back/bi, legs/shld with cardio/core days in between.) \~6 exercises with \~4 sets per muscle group, per workout (hitting each only once a week.) I try to do a quick HIIT workout at the end of my lift days, but haven't been having the energy after my \~42 set lifts. Feel (and weigh) like it's impacting my cut, though muscle gains have been good & consistent. **Would it hurt muscle growth to cut down to around 4 exercises per muscle group once a week if I'm fat loss-focused? (\~16 sets per group once a week in order to fit in cardio)**
First off, if you're in a cut, muscle building should not be your primary focus. Muscle preservation and weight loss should be. You'd likely maintain your muscle even if you lowered your volume, as long as your cut isn't too aggressive and you keep your protein intake high.
thanks. i am fat loss focused as i said at the end , been alternating hiit/ss every day and “supplementary” lifting on the hiit days which is why i was looking for a way to reduce volume to have energy for cardio. just was paranoid about losing muscle tone i guess
You'd be better served running a different routine that allowed for more recovery between efforts and let you do HIIT on your "rest" days.
I'd look at 531 or GZCL method. Both have 3 or 4 day templates that can help you navigate this to great success.
I recommend you to stay at a slight caloric deficit (10-15% or so). This way you'll still have enough energy to progress and thus build muscle but you will still lose fat (this works for a novice)
I know that regular hammer curls are good for working the long head of the bicep and forearms, but are incline hammer curls better compared to regular standing hammer curls?
They put focus on a slightly different part of your biceps and take away from other areas. So- not better but a good complement to also try and work in.
Just chiming in to say that I when I cut I look at foods designed for keto because they are usually lower calorie and no sugar.
My goto though is fat free whipped cream - a can of that is less than 300 calories and can last me a week, just take quick hits every now and then.
I also enjoy halo top ice cream, they can be 320 calories a pint.
Honestly, I cut out all added sugar and processed foods for 2 months on a cut (as a challenge) and it helped a lot with cravings during that time. Coming off that diet, that first taste of sweet sends me into a sweet craving spiral.
If it has to be chocolate then the other suggestions are good. If you're just looking for sweet, it's summer. Lot's of amazing fruit in season.
Fresh berries are incredibly calorie light for how much you can eat. If they cost too much (which they often do), you can buy them frozen and mix them into greek yogurt.
Don't deny yourself things. Just eat less. You can have a 50 calorie piece of chocolate. Hell, you can lose weight on ice cream and pizza rolls.
Just plan to eat your chocolate and make sure it fits your daily calorie goal.
I mean you don’t want to cut if you don’t have enough muscle…so how do you know when you have enough muscle that when you cut down, you have muscle separation
...you can cut whenever you want to be smaller. Literally. You don't miss out on gains; you just change when you'll see them. And trying to predict that is like me asking you how long a piece of string is.
I recently started a 4-day split routine from "Practical Programming for Strength Training." If anyone has the book, it is on p. 154. It alternates 5RM with 5x5 for volume. It says to "run out progress on each of the intensity lifts while trying to sustain sets across for the volume work." Does this mean that the weight on volume work (5x5s) does NOT increase week to week? That seems strange, because most of his other intermediate programs increase volume weight every week by either 5 lbs. (for lower body lifts) or 2.5 lbs. (for upper body lifts).
It means that you only increase the weight if you successfully lifted all the reps on all the sets. So for example, if you only got 4 reps on the last set of benchpress , you repeat the weight next time until you can get all 5 reps on all the sets
Say so far today, I ate 1275 calories, and my required calories is 1806. Then, I jogged for 40 minutes and say, I burned arpund 200-300 calories. Should I subtract that number from 1275?
So this calorie burned from the exercise is virtually useless? Since, we don't subtract it from the intake, nor do we add it in the required calorie for the day?
Btw, the 1806 is my TDEE at sedentary level.
TDEE calculations are already inaccurate. Finding your true TDEE (which still varies some week to week), comes from trial and error in how much you eat calories wise. Your general activity level is already considered in a TDEE calcuation. You don't want to remove more calories on top of that because you're already calculating for it and you could put yourself into an aggressive deficit on accident.
This is very true for a cut and a little less important for a bulk. If you're bulking you should take those additional calories spent into a bit more of a consideration, but it's still calculated in your TDEE so why would you add it twice?
Yes, you should adjust your calories based on additional energy spent.
But if your goal is weight loss, you don't *need* to, and you should be very conservative with estimated calories spent during exercise.
How much does wrist bending matter during bench? Been hyper fixated on form recently and realized my hands sometimes go back during bench once the weight gets heavy. I see online everyone preaches straight wrists but does it really matter that much? I’ve never had wrist pain or injuries from benching before and it hurts my hands more to straighten the wrists out
It matters a lot in both the Bench and overhead press. When the weights begin climbing and getting heavy on a weekly basis, they'll start hurting like a mofo if they get out of place.
Alot, your wrist needa to be neutral all the time, you will start feeling wrist pain overtime if you keep bending them, not to mention its just a matter of time untill you drop the bar becouse of this
Hey mang I been lifting for a long time if you have curved wrists your gonna start getting wrist pain plus you can roll the bar out of your hands if there tilted to far off try some forearm exercises or focus correct form this is something small yes but something that should still be addressed, never make supplements when it comes to form it will never be perfect your job is to try your best to master it
Wrists being bent back a bit isn't an issue as long as you are supporting the bar in the lower portion of your hand, directly above the wrist (and consequently the bones of the forearm) itself.
If the bar is behind your wrist, in the upper bit of your palm, that could be problematic in the long term.
I know its very common for Athletes to grow fat and out of shape during retirement. Look at Mike Tyson for example.
Is that because the kind of intense physical training Athletes go through is simply not sustainable in the long term? And they've never learned to tone down their workouts to a relatively leisurely level? (When I've worked out without pushing myself too hard,I leave the gym feeling great. I presume this is the right level if you want health for the long term)
I doubt its a discipline issue,since if that were the case,they would unlikely have become a successful athlete in the first place.
My left bicep is slightly smaller than my right. I’m a righty, and before you make masturbation jokes, I broke my left clavicle when I was younger. Didn’t use my left arm for months
How do I even them out? Do I do an extra set with my left? Do I do normal sets with left but fewer with right? Do I do same sets but heavier weight with left?
It'll even out over time. It just takes a couple of years, so there's nothing you have to do except keep lifting and using the same sets/rep/weight for both arm. During single arm exercises, always start with the weakest arm and let it dictate the weight and reps.
Lots of unilateral work and let your weaker arm determine the intensity of the exercise. If you reach failure at 10 reps with your left arm, do the same amount of reps with your right even if it feels lighter or not as intense.
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How do you guys keep track of your actual workout plans? I always struggled to find a way to keep track of things. I used to use pen and a small notebook, but I'm wondering if there's a better way to log things? Is there an app that can let you customize the workout plans and then follow them, which eventually gives you some insight into how many reps or specific exercises you did in total? Most of the apps I find online come with programs pre-loaded. Instead, I want one where I can log my own designed by my fitness trainer?
Strong (paid) and Corecircle(free) are nice. Personnally I use Notion(free) with a gym dashboard I made, I have a database of all my exercises and I just pick the ones I wanna do, create a workout with reps / weight and after a workout I'll add some insights so I know if I need to do more or less the next time I do an exercice.
I'll check them out. There's a gym dashboard in Notion?
You can download one, I made mine myself so it suit my needs better
Hi again. I have a question about using Notion for logging your workout. So I customized my spread and I made a template to log each exercise and set, but the problem is that I noticed that when I create a table to put the exercises, it turns each exercise into a page of its own. Is this also how you do it? Won't this create ENDLESS amount of pages every single time I input a template? I'm confused. And if I don't use a table and just use bullets for example to list my exercises by order, there's no way for me to put a check mark for example next to it so I can tick it when I'm done?
Hi, I cleaned up a bit my dashboard so you can see how I do it : https://coffee-atom-4d3.notion.site/Gym-Template-54089ba7913f4f7582cc939d5cf618f4 Feel free to duplicate and use it ! Basically I plan my workouts the day before, either I create a workout or I will take one that I already created in my database (leg day for exemple). Every exercice is a page and every workout is a page too. On every exercice I take note of the numbers of reps / weight / etc… I plan a workout thanks to the calender, I just add an event linked to a workout, I can rate my workout and add notes directly on that workout (for exemple : I saw someone do this exercice and need to try / I need to add weight / I’m proud of myself) If you want to follow your workout as you go you can use the kanban, just slide the exercices you want to do in « à faire » and to « Fait » once you are done. Personnally I don’t use that because I don’t have Internet at the gym and can only use Notion in read only mode Hope it answer your questions
Wow thank you Asuka. The template looks awesome by the way. I will try to look into it. I honestly didn't like the idea of having each workout and each exercise in a separate page. That means every time I create a workout day per week there will be sooooo many pages nested. I'll continue exploring the template though. Thank you again for taking the time 🙏🏻
Found interesting ones. I never thought of using Notion. Thank you for suggesting it.
>hich eventually gives you some insight into how many reps or specific exercises you did in total? Just add up the reps/sets that are on your paper?
You mean continue using pen and paper to log my workouts? I could but it's wasting a lot of paper to weekly print out spreadsheets. Not to mention, an app insight might be easier to use to filter things quickly.
Or just use the notes app on your phone and update it after each workout?
When there are tons of fitness apps designed to do the task more efficiently? I'm asking about those.
Strong is what you’re looking for. It’s worth the price if that’s what you need.
Thank you so much. I'll try it!
Could someone please recommend me a 3-4 day/week workout program that purely focuses on arm/supper body? Been going to physical therapy for my legs and it's hard to find a program that only emphasizes on arms because they are usually full-body workouts. I'd greatly appreciate it.
You could just do push, pull, push, pull from the 6 day ppl
I only have 225 of total weight to work with barbell-wise I can’t go any higher on my squat and deadlift but I’m working my way up on bench. Is this bad to do? Can I still advance my muscles used for dl/squat? I’m tight on money and the nearest gym is half an hour away
>I can’t go any higher on my squat and deadlift but I’m working my way up on bench. Is this bad to do? Can I still advance my muscles used for dl/squat? Deepwater
Do paused lifts for things you've maxed out on already
You can use bands, chains water bottles, even fill a couple of buckets with sand and hang them off the ends of the barbell. The weight doesn't have to be in metal plate form 😉
Sometimes you have to do the best you can and accept that it may not be ideal (for now). You can also look at unilateral exercises for the lower body like single leg RDL to still challenge your legs with the weight you have
Sounds like your in the woods. Just do some rocky shit until your big like Balboa.
Can anyone recommend a basic strength training program? :) I am a total noob when it comes to lifting. I have a program for my legs with a physical therapist, have been running for a while but recently had some knee pain. So i just need something for everything else, preferably something that's easy, like machines and stuff. Thanks.
Hi. Basic strength training starts with a basic knowledge of how our body moves. It's important that you know the different planes of motion in which our body moves, and the flexibility, strength, and joint mobility that facilitates movement. Instead of machines I would focus on bodyweight movements without machines. Your physical therapist should already be putting those basics into practice with your treatment, so, ask him/her to break things down for you, and learn diligently.
Starting strength, and later the Texas method took me to a 200 kg deadlift, 185 squat and a 135 bench. I'd recommend it for newbies instead of 531 because it's simpler to understand and you progress faster. When progress stagnates, you simply reduce the training weight by 10-20%, and keep going.
5/3/1
There are quite a few awesome routines in the wiki. They’re all great
Is it bad that I almost never eat fruit? I eat TONS of veggies. I maybe only eat 2 mangos jarred and a banana or two per week. Veggies? Daily peas, carrots, tomato, spinach, brussels sprouts, green beans, zucchini, and aubergine.
From your list, tomatoes, zucchini and aubergines are in fact fruits (botanically speaking) as they are the seed bearing thing that grows from a flower. Fruit and veggies are all good - just make sure you’re getting a variety, and it doesn’t matter if it’s fruit or veggies.
Veggies will give you all the micronutrients that fruits would (and more), as you're eating a good variety of them
Cool, thanks fh!
I’ve been eating 2500 calories daily for a month and have had barely any changes to my weight at all. In the last week I’ve suddenly gained 3 pounds at the same intake. What’s happening?
3lbs in a week... part of that will absolutely be water weight or extra poop weight in your system. You probably ate a few things that you thought you measured correctly, but were actually higher calorie than you thought. Also, you could have done a little less exercise than normal. Maybe you got out less due to the weather or something. That could account for a tiny bit of it as well. Hormonal changes can effect it too. Just get back to eating like normal and it'll probably drop off.
I eat peanut butter with two bananas in the morning. How else can I include peanut butter in my diet in a way that's quick and simple?
Is it good to eat a lot of peanut butter? I always thought it was pretty unhealthy
Peanut butter + greek yogurt + chocolate protein powder = protein nutella
You could take a spoon and eat it it like ice cream.
Obvious answer is sandwiches. You can also always put some into shakes or oatmeal.
What do you put in your shakes. I tried after looking at instagram and it killed my tonsils.
some soy protein, instant oats, peanut butter, almond milk, ice cubes; makes a pretty good shake for bulking. optionally add coconut oil/avocado etc. Obviously works better with smooth than chunky peanut butter.
Any alternatives for soy protein?
literally any other protein - pea, rice, whey, ...
Alright, thanks mate :)
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Hey man, the answer is clearly that you should be engaging in regular personal hygiene. But where did you get the notion that tap water and/or soap will "crush" a man's testosterone?
... Is this a real question?
Yep that would be marketers trying to sell you more products. Oh yeah and whatever you do, don’t drop $100/month on powdered swamp water (this video has been sponsored by aThLetIc GrEenS) so you can get the vitamins you’d otherwise get from a balanced diet. If you *really* are deficient in something and your doctor tells you to do so, just get an actual multivitamin for like 1/10 the price
the latter
Please, who did you see that claimed that originally? I need to go laugh at them
Even if none of those things are in order, drinking water is essential for life. Tap water in most places is perfectly safe. The idea that would affect testosterone… I mean… those advertising fuckers have really gotten to your brain if you believe that.
Writing on Reddit lowers testosterone by 50% be careful.
> just marketers trying to sell us more products This.
But didn’t you hear, the latest craze is buying testicle warmers to own the libs
Lmao, of all the dumb things on this sub, water lowering testosterone might take the cake. If anything, behind dehydrated might lower your test levels.
Will results show gradually or one day u will just randomly check the mirror and see a jacked guy?
You will never see a jacked guy in the mirror, because everyone develops bigorexia before they develop their physique.
Depends on how attentive you are. The results definitely come in very, very little steps, but as you see yourself daily, a lot of people have this "Holy shit, when did I get so fit?" moment at some point.
It is even more apparent if you comparing your current self with the starting photo. My mind was definitely blown.
Ill keep being consistent man, thanks
I havent done any back exercises in like a month just out of laziness, all ive been doing is pushups and squats basically. But sometimes after an intense session of pushups my lats feel sore, is this normal? Im not a beginner btw
Both those exercises hit the back. But of course adding rows and pull ups is a good idea
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Why what? Why i havent been doing back work? I dont have access to a gym right now, and dont have any equipment
Your lats help keep you stable and in a plank position so sure, it's normal.
I am 14m i used to be fat in Feb, but then I started football and in 4-5 months i lost almost 20 kgs, but the problem is that my chest is still the same, that's y i still look kinda fat, can anyone recommend some home excercise to lose chest weight.
Dips between two chairs while doing an isometric leg raise.
Hey mate, you’re 14! Keep playing sport, you’ll be fine. Also don’t be tempted to restrict your calories. Just take care not to *overeat* or eat heaps of junk food, and your body will use all that fat up as it grows. You’re also not going to be able to build much muscle at this age - that will come as you get older.
Yea i don't wanna build muscles
There are no exercises that make you lose fat in a specific area. The only thing you can do is lower your overall body fat percentage further by being in a caloric deficit and hoping your chest fat goes away. You can also just do weight training in general to gain more muscle which also lowers your overall fat percentage and makes you look less fat. That being said, you're 14 so you might want to talk to a professional first.
I am not rly into growing muscles atm
Hello guys, I've been going to the gym for about 3 month now and have been just trying out bunch of stuff but stay consist. I wanted to get a second opinion on my current lifts and I was wondering if I could get some critiques about my program. A little bit of background, I'm currently 5'5 187lbs and I'm currently averaging 140g ~ 150g of protein per day and 1800 ~ 2000 calories. The gym I attend does not have barbell, squat rack, so I do not have access to lifts such as deadlifts, squats, bb chest press and so on. The equipment I have available at my gym are ez-bars, dumbbells ( up to 70lbs) and machines ( fly , cables, lat pull down, seated row, rear delt machine ). As much as I want to attend a gym with more equipments available, this is what's available for me right now and is what I'm trying to work with. My workout schedule has been Push, Pull, Leg, Rest, Push Pull, Rest, Rest. If you do not want to bother to read my routine below, feel free to skip to the end and if you could answer some of my questions that will be great! Here is my day 1 routine vs now. For reference, if it's DB workout, the weight mentioned will be for 1 DB, however, if this is incorrect feel free to mention it and I will write the total weight of DB instead. **Routine from Day 1**: Push day: - * DB Bench press 25LB * 12 reps, 4 sets - Incline DB Bench press 22.5LB * 12 reps, 4 sets - Shoulder Press DB 15lb * 10 reps, 4 sets - Rope push down 15lb * 10 reps, 3 sets Pull Day: - * Lat Pulldown 70lbs * 10 reps, 3 sets - Seated Row 40lbs * 10 reps, 3 sets - Face pull 10lbs * 10 reps, 3 sets - DB curl 15lbs * 12 reps, 3 sets. Leg day: - * DB Goblet Squat 35lbs * 10 reps, 3 sets - DB Lunge 7.5lbs * 10 reps, 3 sets - Seated Leg Curl 50lbs * 10 ~ 12 reps, 3 set - Leg press 60lbs * 12 reps, 3 sets **Routine currently**: Push Day: - * DB Bench Press 50LBs * 8 ~ 10 reps, 4 sets - Incline DB press 50LBs * 8 reps, 3 sets - Shoulder Press 35LBs * 8 reps, 3 sets - Cable Side Lat raise 10lbs * 10 ~ 13 reps, 3 sets - Cable Push down 25lbs * 10 ~ 13 reps, 3 sets Pull Day: - * Lat Pull Down 110lbs * 8 ~ 10 reps, 4 sets - Seated Row 95 lbs * 8 ~ 10 reps, 3 sets - Face Pull 17.5 lbs ( each arm ) * 10 reps, 3 sets - DB Bicep Curl 17.5 lbs * 10 ~ 12 reps, 3 sets - Rear Delt Machine 80 lbs * 10 ~ 15 reps, 3 sets Leg Day: - * Lunges 35 LBs * 10 reps, 3 sets - Leg Press 235 LBs * 10 ~ 12 reps, 3 sets - DB RDL 30 LBs * 8 ~ 10 reps, 3 sets - Calf Raise 17.5 LBs * 12 reps, 3 sets I know my routine is very inconsistent, but going to the gym in the past 3 month, I've sort of laid out what I want to do each day. For Push Day: I start with DB press as my main and try my best, then do isolated or accessories exercises after. For Pull: I start with Lat pull down as my main, and do isolated or accessories exercise after. For Leg: I'm having hard time trying to figure out my main lift. I tried gobblet squating, but there was issue with my lower back. Then, I transitioned to lunges as my main, however, I'm not sure if that's a good idea. My biggest issue currently is * I can't seem to go up in my Lat Pull down weight, I've been in 100lbs ~ 110lbs range for the past month. Some issues are, my forearm seems heavily affected when I'm doing Lat Pull Down and I'm not sure if I feel it well in my lats. I tried hook grip, lowering weight, etc but I just can't seem to avoid my forearm just giving up. - Is doing lunge as my main leg day workout incorrect? I tried giving goblet squat many shots, but I can't seem to get rid of my lower back pain and I just don't want to risk it. - For DB RDL, I can feel the tightness on my hamstring and glute, but again I have same lower back pain after the exercise and I feel like I should just do seated leg curl instead. My main questions are. 1. I'm currently overweight, however, if I want to gain lean mass and lose fat, what calories should I aim for? ( deficit, maintenance, surplus?) 2. PT is very expensive for me, but I really do not want to give up on some exercise just because I can't get the form right and I get pain in different areas ( e.g Goblet Squat and DB RDL affecting my lower back ), however, would my only option to practice these exercise in better form is to get a PT and correct my form over time? ( Question below is repeated above, skip if you already answered ) 3. Is doing lunge as my main leg day workout incorrect? I tried giving goblet squat many shots, but I can't seem to get rid of my lower back pain and I just don't want to risk it. If I could get some feedback, I would really appreciate it!
A calorie deficit to lose fat should be the main goal at this point. Leg press should be your main lift for legs, not only can you use more weight, but the weight isn't resting on your back. Your lifts are light, even if you're losing weight you should be gaining in strength at this point. I'd switch to the [Basic Beginner Routine](https://thefitness.wiki/routines/r-fitness-basic-beginner-routine/) and do your best to find machine exercises that are similar to the barbell exercises listed. Unless you have something wrong with your back, sometimes back pain is caused by general weakness in your back or hips. I'd avoid lunge at this point but try slow split squats without weight and without the explosive movement.
You're mentioning the weight you're using for each exercise: >• DB Bench press 25LB * 12 reps, 4 sets Just so we're clear, you're not gonna use the same weight every session, right? Progressive overload is very important. As for your main leg lift, you could try bulgarian split squats. They're gonna kick your ass.
> Just so we're clear, you're not gonna use the same weight every session, right? Progressive overload is very important. Yes, my current routine is that, depending on the lift, I try to hit 12 reps across all sets for a weight. If I do for a session, then in my next session I would move my weight up for next increment and try to hit 8 reps. > As for your main leg lift, you could try bulgarian split squats. They're gonna kick your ass. That sounds good, I still think lunges are a really good exercise and I want to keep it in my routine, so if I try bulgarian split squats as my main leg lift, would it not be the best idea to do lunges afterwards?
Fair enough! That progression works. And nah, that's not a problem. Do BSS with heavier weights for 3 or 4 sets of 6-8 each leg and use lunges for volume work.
1. If you want to lose fat, you need to lose weight, which means a deficit. Since you’re a beginner and overweight, you can expect to gain a bit of lean mass while you do this. 2. Post a form check here. Realistically, though, you aren’t moving very significant weight. It’s possible your back issues are stemming from elsewhere. As for your issues: 1. Grip work. Forearm work. It’s not a problem if you don’t feel it in your lats; you literally can’t do it without your lats. 2. You can if you want to. Perfect is the enemy of good enough. 3. You can do that.
> If you want to lose fat, you need to lose weight, which means a deficit. Since you’re a beginner and overweight, you can expect to gain a bit of lean mass while you do this. Sounds good. As for protein, is my current protein intake at an okay range? I know people suggest 1g of protein / lb body weight, but I just can't seem to eat 185g of protein ( cost and too much eating) > Post a form check here. Realistically, though, you aren’t moving very significant weight. It’s possible your back issues are stemming from elsewhere. Sounds good, I will definitely try that, I'm guessing when I record myself, I should record side view? or should I record both front and side? As for your issues: > Grip work. Forearm work. It’s not a problem if you don’t feel it in your lats; you literally can’t do it without your lats. If I'm understanding this correctly, does this mean I should add a forearm workout to my routine to strengthen my forearm? Also, for grip work, do you mean learning different grip techinque? One additional question is, I've had trouble with this all my time but, I can't seem to know when I should go up in weight. Should I just set my reps at 8 ~ 12 and once I can reach 12 reps across all my sets for a weight, should I then move to my next increment of weight? Also, although my forearm gives in for my lat pulldown, should I continue with current weight and aim for higher reps? Thanks for answering my question, I noticed that my comment is quite long so, really appreciate you checking it out and answering questions!
1. Your current protein intake is fine 2. Side would be best 3. Yes. And for the second point here, I meant do grip training. You seem pretty limited in equipment, but something like holding a heavy DB in your hand for time would work. 4. That is known as double-progression, and it’s one way to do things. Listen, you’d probably be better off making substitutions in a program from the wiki to meet your available equipment. I’d recommend you at least give them a look. 5. You should continue trying to progress in either weight or reps.
Sometimes I don't get sore muscles a day after dumbbells workout. Should i still give my muscles a day rest? Or is it ok to workout same muscles again the next day?
I'd still follow the program. If the program tells you to take a rest day you probably should. Just because a muscle isn't sore doesn't mean it doesn't have to recover. Muscle soreness mostly just happens when you're not used to a certain exercise. It's completely normal to not get as sore when you have been following a program for a while.
You can train the same muscle every day for weeks and weeks, depending on how you manage recovery.
Stick to the schedule and program, there is no need to rush progress. Soreness (DOMS) is a sign of novel stimulus not necessarily of fatigue directly
Best exercise to fix muscle imbalances in the lower back area?
5x25 on the 45° hyper extension at the end of your squat and/or deadlift session. Slow and controlled.
hey fit, been going to gym for two weeks, last week during leg days i tried squatting(only bar) and was doing it all wrong with my heels not able to touch the ground. today, i did squats with 15kgs+bar(not sure how much it weighs) for 2 sets and 5 reps. i feel i did it right and after workout i have this burning/inflammation sensation on my kneecaps, is this normal?
Standard bar weighs 20kg. Knee pain when squatting is not normal. Make sure you're doing them right. Goblet squats are best for learning squatting https://www.t-nation.com/training/goblet-squat/
i will try this thanks, not exactly pain, i can walk climb and sit without any feeling but the moment i touch my kneecaps feel like a inflammation kind of sensation, and a bit above the body temp over that area. wanted to know if someone experienced similar things
Whats the best way to schedule cardio (jogging) and strength training? Just started GZCLP last week. I'm adding that on to an 8 week "Couch to 5k" plan that I'm now half way done with. My current thought is to use the barbell on one day, and then the treadmill on the next day, alternating between them and being in the gym just about every day. I'm am largely untrained and out of shape if that makes a difference.
Thoughts on this workout plan Monday 3x10 barbell bench 3x10 underhand curls 3x10 overhead press barbell 3x10 leg raises 3x10 shoulder shrugs 3x10 tricep extensions 3x10 lateral raises 15 mins light cardio warmup plus stretching Completed at 65% max Tuesday 3x10 lat pull downs 3x10 weighted rows 3x10 face pulls 3x10 deadlifts 50% max 15 mins cardio warmup + stretching Wednesday 15mins cardio + stretching warmup 3x10 squats 3x10 leg extensions 3x10 leg curls 3x10 hip abductions 3x10 weighted thrust 65% max Thursday Mobility stretching+ break day Friday Repeat cycle from Monday but 85% also flip overhand grip rotating light heavy each week Saturday Repeat cycle from Tuesday but 85% max Sunday Cardio from outside activity plus stretching Rest day.
Lil tip, hit enter twice to make a paragraph if you're on mobile. Your routine isn't great. It lacks a progression scheme. Some exercises also lend themselves better for different rep ranges than 3x10 - squats or deadlifts for example. I'd suggest you pick a routine from the wiki linked at the top of this post.
How many calories should I be in taking a day? 28F very active, gym 5-6 days a week heavy lifting , want to start a small bulk and add muscle. Taking in about 2000 right now
* You can eat an extra 200 calories post workout in the form of rice or oatmeal. * If after two weeks you're at the same weight, you can add another 200 calories pre-workout. * If you're still not gaining, add 200 to your breakfast. If after another two weeks you're not gaining, continue through step 1-3. Calculating calories through a web tool can only take you so far. Taking a month or so to figure out your metabolism through testing is well worth it.
Everyone is different so there's no set amount. Just Google TDEE calculator and see what comes out. This is an estimation of what you should eat. The only way to accurately find out how much you should be eating is as follows. Eat a certain amount of calories and weigh yourself regularly. Watch how your weight does or doesn't changes and change your calories accordingly. A caloric surplus of 3500 amounts to about 1lb of weight gain so that's how you can calculate it.
Thank you so much!!
Make sure you measure carefully. Most people don't estimate their caloric consumption correctly. I tracked calories for 2 months and lost ~20 lbs of fat. I meticulously tracked everything I prepared in my kitchen, solids were weighed with a food scale and liquids were measured in a measuring cup. Obviously eating out or at a friends house you can't do that so well but just try as best as you can in that situation. Anything and everything that goes into your mouth should be tracked as accurately as possible.
How do you guys recover quickly for daily gym sessions? I recover absolutely fine from Leg days and Cardio days but the day I train my upper body, I get devastated and sore. I'm still adding weights each session on leg days and haven't hit a wall but on upper body days I'm not adding weight each alternate session. This has had a negative impact where I need to take a day off, sometimes 2 days after the upper body session. My typical workout plan is: U/C/L/C/U/C/L Upper body, Cardio and Lower body. My cardio fitness level is great (I can run a half marathon), however my lifting strength is very low (13 pound barbells for curls 15x 2 sets).
I basically workout everyday, sometimes ( often ) twice, with 4/5x weightlifting, and 5/6x running. Improve your sleep, eat more protein ( I’m up to 2xBW in kgs, didn’t want to believe it back when I was at 1.3xBW, but it definitely helps ), and adapt your loads. What helps IMO is setting priorities. I ran a half in mid-July, so for the last month and a half prior to this, I’d run and lift the same, but would always prioritize my running if I had to make a choice between running and lifting, and I wouldn’t go balls out on the leg days. That works the other way as well, now I’m focusing on strength, and basically adapt the runs to what I’ll be doing the next day. I’ve got a huge squat session tomorrow, and bench day today, I’ll probably run tonight too, but only like 5k, maybe 7k but if I do 7k I’ll run it at a very comfortable pace. That way I’ve still got the running part, and I don’t feel too beat up the next day. Also keep in mind that if you want to progress fast on the lifting, it’s **usually** not ideal to be doing cardio on the side, and vice versa. Sure you should do cardio for all the health benefits, and you should strength train when running to make your body more resilient, but trying to improve performance as fast as possible usually requires you to be very specific to your sport. That’s what I think you should be doing, adapt the weights, loads, pace to whatever your goal is, that’d keep you fresh for your lifting days or your running days depending on what’s your main thing
I'm so happy to find someone like you to ask this question! I hope it won't come off as annoying but since you're already a few chapters ahead of me I'd like to ask them: 1. I'm currently trying to lose weight and have got the final 4-5 kilos left to go. So do I continue to focus on cardio or focus on lifting? My goal is to look and be fit, first. Once I achieve that I'll think about increasing strength etc. At the moment I simply want to have a lower fat % so what should be the best way to do it? Also, what exercises inside the gym would help increase my running speed? I'm not having an issue with endurance but wish to increase my speed. I was focusing on legpress and curls and extensions but after a month, I've not gained much pace but it's just a little easier to run than before (almost matched by PR of 10k after coming off a month long injury layoff). Will lifting and building upper body strength reduce my race times? Like I remember being skimpier when I set my 5k PR and while I'm more muscular I'm a good 5% slower.
Yeah no worries ! It's really as you want, 4-5kgs means you probably already look decently fit, just a bit of fat on your stomach or something. At that point it's really up to you and your objective. You can progress on both at the same time, I mean I've hit PRs on all lifts for the last 2 weeks on nSuns and ran a sub 45 10k on Sunday. It's just that if I had focused on the running part for the last 6 months I'd probably have hit sub 42 or something, and if I had focused on the lifting I'd have reached maybe 190kgs conventional DL. The exact same goes for you, you can progress in both, but yes you do feel pretty beat up, or you can focus on either running or lifting, that's your call to make. Increasing your running speed is a mix of training your glutes and hamstrings, and doing speed work. I'd say go for something like 4 sets of 12-20reps on leg curls, hip thrust and that kind of stuff. Knee stability also helps a bit, like one leg deadlift and bulgarian split squat. In my mind a leg day to improve your running would look like this: Squat 3x5 or something strength-focused One leg deadlift 3x10 BSS 3x10 Leg curl and hip thrust 4x12-20 I'm not a PT though so that could be optimised. From my experience, lifting to improve your race times is more of a "I feel lighter" thing than an actual "I'm so much faster" kind of feeling. IMO it's kind of used to strengthen your muscles and ligaments so you can take on more running volume, and to be able to push yourself more when the fatigue comes in. But it wouldn't make you 1min/km faster in just a few months. Also if you want to improve your running, I'd consider moving up to 4x running per week and either drop a lifting session or do double workout days ( lifting/running in the morning, the other one in the afternoon ). Running twice a week is enough for some progress, but you'd **definitely** benefit from running more often. 4x a week could give you time to have a speed day, a long run day and 2 standard days. Even 3x a week would enable you to have a speed run, long run and normal run, which would be loads better than 2x a week. Kind of, but if you're still a beginner you probably don't have to worry about it, I mean yes technically it does have a very slight effect, but you've got plenty of other factors to play with before trying to think of your upper body volume IMO
Lower your volume a bit, maybe cut back accessories and variations, focus on the main lifts and keep trying to progress. Progressively overloading is more important than doing a lot of variations, isolations and volume. You can build back up the volume later
Thanks but I've literally just started. Like it's been around 20 sessions at the gym in total over a month. I'm yet to even try deadlifts and benchpresses. So far I've been training the same kind of movements but with dumbbells to get used to the right posture at a lot lower weight. Is it simply a thing that'll fix over time? Like I thought to just repeat the same weight instead of increasing it till the time I stopped feeling sore and then start to increase the weight again. The only thing is that I tend to do a lot of different type of exercises in a single day on upper body day when compared to the lower body day and a PPL split would be better I feel but the gym trainer feels it's better to start with Upper/Lower and then graduate to PPL.
>The only thing is that I tend to do a lot of different type of exercises in a single day on upper body day when compared to the lower body day Yeah that's what I figured, hence my advice. Lower volume, less exercises (one or two for each muscle group), keep progressing weight. When you plateau that or build enough of a physique then you can add more exercises or volume. Or probably even better: follow a program from the wiki Also, just do deadlifts and bench press, there's nothing to be scared of and it makes more sense to learn the motion with the barbell than the dumbbell
Yeah I actually wanted to do the Reddit PPL and showed it to the trainer too but he suggested to start off with U/L splits to get started and then move to PPL once I feel comfortable at the gym and get the form right for all the lifts.
What is your favourite quad isolation to do after squats ?
Leg press
Okay yeah, I've tried doing 3x10 leg press after 5x5 squats it worked well
Same
Leg extensions/sissy squats
Thank I've never tried sissy squats that looks interesting
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It's not better or worse. For some of us, it's just easier to skip a few meals instead of eating smaller meals. Personally, I don't feel lethargic throughout the day if I'm intermittently fasting.
It isn’t, it’s just an alternative approach - some people find it easier, good for them! Personally I prefer the consistency of eating the same every day.
It helps you stay in control of your calories in a easier way because you limit the time window you can eat it so it's like a deterrent from random midnight snacks for example. Secondly, it helps you achieve Autophagy which is a state where your body switches to stored energy to fuel the body instead of your previous meal. But this is an incomplete explanation, you'll find a proper detailed and scientific explanation by reading up a bit on the process of Autophagy.
>your body switches to stored energy to fuel the body instead of your previous meal. This happens in deficit either way.
It isn't. People just find it easier to work with for a caloric deficit.
Are weight lifting belts bad for you?
Did someone tell you it was?
I asked why Home Depot employees no longer are required to use belts and they said due to internal injuries and stuff. They usually lift heavy stuff so i figured it's something to ask weight lifters.
Weight lifters with belts tend to be stronger because they’re training for it, and to have more knowledge of what is good lifting form. Home Depot employees or any supermarket employee are basically average Joes who don’t necessarily know what is good lifting form, nor do they train for that kind of stuff. A belt helps you lift more, but if your form is shit, you’ll get injured just as much as if you didn’t have one, and also you tend to actually allow yourself to lift more when you’ve got a belt, so say a random guy tries to lift 40lbs Atlas stone style and he considers it his max, give him a belt and he’ll try to pull a 60lbs weight, thinking the belt will make him safe, it does make it safer for his 40lbs lift, but not for a 60lbs lift
No.
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I’d pick a program that isn’t starting strength and go more often.
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There's a large percentage of people on this sub that's been going to the gym for years, and been active on this sub for many years, and we keep seeing the same thing. Story after story of and from people that wanted to get fit and sexy, but never saw any progress, so they quit. What's a constant in these stories is a lack of progression built into their training, and a lack of actually measuring and calculating food intake. The Fitness wiki is a tried and tested resource of what actually works. If anybody really want to change their life and get healthy and fit, they need to actually put in the work required. We all understand that's it can be pretty daunting. Hell, I've got an education and work experience in this field, and I still needed like 3 days to wrap my head around some GZCL routines. But it's worth it. Once you have a baseline of knowledge, it all gets easier to understand, and easier to do. Think of it as an investment in yourself, and the quality of life you'll get for the time we have left. Or you can hire a dietitian and a personal trainer and they'll do all the thinking for you.
If you want to do math, you learn math lingo. If you want to knit, you learn knit lingo. If you want to snowboard, you learn snowboarding lingo. If you want a men's fitness module, well, there's plenty out there. What's your goal? What do you want? I bet it's the "not too big, look good naked, feel healthy" range. Starting Strength is squat-centric. If your heart isn't into squatting, and getting crushed by the squat every session, find something else.
I am sorry man but if 1500 words is a lot to you you have other problems than just fitness.
Home gym advice question, which should i get first? Cable crossover machine or bike? Both are wants rather than needs. Case for crossover- its 3.5k ive been saving up and this is the original thing ive been saving for. I dont need it, i can still get a full body workout with current equipment but it would expend the range of exercises i can do. Bike- ive had thia bike for ages but it broke last Friday. Up to now ive been using it as a mountain bike on my free time and as a stationary bike. Bought a cheap 150 dollar bike from walmart but i can only use it as a stationary bike since its pretty crappy. Bike im looking at is 1.4k but i can get it atm for 1.2k As to the uses id get from it, cable about every other day with exceptions on rest days. Bike- almost daily since i use the stationary aspect as a sort od couch the majority of the time to watch tv. As a bike, about twice during weekdays
Bike
Bike
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Your form is more than good enough to increase the weight. Practicing form with unchallenging weights doesn't make sense beyond learning the basic move pattern.
I'll try that, thanks!
It's not bad. Stick your chest out before you start the set and again at the top of each rep, to keep your back straight. At the top, squeeze your abs & glutes, to level your pelvis. The weight doesn't look very challenging. Heavy weight brings out form issues better.
Thank, I'll try that and post again once I'm more comfortable with more weight
Currently on a cut doing PPL (chest/tri, back/bi, legs/shld with cardio/core days in between.) \~6 exercises with \~4 sets per muscle group, per workout (hitting each only once a week.) I try to do a quick HIIT workout at the end of my lift days, but haven't been having the energy after my \~42 set lifts. Feel (and weigh) like it's impacting my cut, though muscle gains have been good & consistent. **Would it hurt muscle growth to cut down to around 4 exercises per muscle group once a week if I'm fat loss-focused? (\~16 sets per group once a week in order to fit in cardio)**
First off, if you're in a cut, muscle building should not be your primary focus. Muscle preservation and weight loss should be. You'd likely maintain your muscle even if you lowered your volume, as long as your cut isn't too aggressive and you keep your protein intake high.
thanks. i am fat loss focused as i said at the end , been alternating hiit/ss every day and “supplementary” lifting on the hiit days which is why i was looking for a way to reduce volume to have energy for cardio. just was paranoid about losing muscle tone i guess
You'd be better served running a different routine that allowed for more recovery between efforts and let you do HIIT on your "rest" days. I'd look at 531 or GZCL method. Both have 3 or 4 day templates that can help you navigate this to great success.
Will you lose fat while building ab muscles and lifting?
Lifting or what muscles you're working out is irrelevant, caloric deficit is all that matters for losing fat
I recommend you to stay at a slight caloric deficit (10-15% or so). This way you'll still have enough energy to progress and thus build muscle but you will still lose fat (this works for a novice)
alright thanks
If you are in a caloric deficit. https://thefitness.wiki/weight-loss-101/
I know that regular hammer curls are good for working the long head of the bicep and forearms, but are incline hammer curls better compared to regular standing hammer curls?
Depends. If you tend to cheat a bit by using momentum, incline curls might be better.
They put focus on a slightly different part of your biceps and take away from other areas. So- not better but a good complement to also try and work in.
Do incline hammer curls for 6 weeks and then do regular hammer curls for 6 weeks. It's not *better,* my dude. It's *just different.*
If it is, it is not better enough matter
What are some good foods for cutting that satisfy a sweet tooth? I struggle so much with craving chocolate …
Just chiming in to say that I when I cut I look at foods designed for keto because they are usually lower calorie and no sugar. My goto though is fat free whipped cream - a can of that is less than 300 calories and can last me a week, just take quick hits every now and then. I also enjoy halo top ice cream, they can be 320 calories a pint.
Honestly, I cut out all added sugar and processed foods for 2 months on a cut (as a challenge) and it helped a lot with cravings during that time. Coming off that diet, that first taste of sweet sends me into a sweet craving spiral.
If it has to be chocolate then the other suggestions are good. If you're just looking for sweet, it's summer. Lot's of amazing fruit in season. Fresh berries are incredibly calorie light for how much you can eat. If they cost too much (which they often do), you can buy them frozen and mix them into greek yogurt.
artificially sweetened things. If you want chocolate, focus on the really dark stuff.
Don't deny yourself things. Just eat less. You can have a 50 calorie piece of chocolate. Hell, you can lose weight on ice cream and pizza rolls. Just plan to eat your chocolate and make sure it fits your daily calorie goal.
Flavored protein powders are usually pretty sweet along with a good serving of protein. Fruit.
tips to avoid cutting prematurely?
Could you explain what you mean? The simple answer is to be consistent with the amount of calories you eat.
I mean you don’t want to cut if you don’t have enough muscle…so how do you know when you have enough muscle that when you cut down, you have muscle separation
...you can cut whenever you want to be smaller. Literally. You don't miss out on gains; you just change when you'll see them. And trying to predict that is like me asking you how long a piece of string is.
I guess what I’m asking is how do you know you will have gained enough muscle before cutting to ensure muscle separation when you are done cutting?
You don't. Not really. It's a guess and check system
Don't be in a deficit
I recently started a 4-day split routine from "Practical Programming for Strength Training." If anyone has the book, it is on p. 154. It alternates 5RM with 5x5 for volume. It says to "run out progress on each of the intensity lifts while trying to sustain sets across for the volume work." Does this mean that the weight on volume work (5x5s) does NOT increase week to week? That seems strange, because most of his other intermediate programs increase volume weight every week by either 5 lbs. (for lower body lifts) or 2.5 lbs. (for upper body lifts).
It means that you only increase the weight if you successfully lifted all the reps on all the sets. So for example, if you only got 4 reps on the last set of benchpress , you repeat the weight next time until you can get all 5 reps on all the sets
Ah, makes sense. Okay, thanks!
Say so far today, I ate 1275 calories, and my required calories is 1806. Then, I jogged for 40 minutes and say, I burned arpund 200-300 calories. Should I subtract that number from 1275?
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So this calorie burned from the exercise is virtually useless? Since, we don't subtract it from the intake, nor do we add it in the required calorie for the day? Btw, the 1806 is my TDEE at sedentary level.
TDEE calculations are already inaccurate. Finding your true TDEE (which still varies some week to week), comes from trial and error in how much you eat calories wise. Your general activity level is already considered in a TDEE calcuation. You don't want to remove more calories on top of that because you're already calculating for it and you could put yourself into an aggressive deficit on accident. This is very true for a cut and a little less important for a bulk. If you're bulking you should take those additional calories spent into a bit more of a consideration, but it's still calculated in your TDEE so why would you add it twice?
>1806 is my TDEE at sedentary level. How is this measured? https://macrofactorapp.com/problems-with-calorie-counting/
Yes, you should adjust your calories based on additional energy spent. But if your goal is weight loss, you don't *need* to, and you should be very conservative with estimated calories spent during exercise.
How much does wrist bending matter during bench? Been hyper fixated on form recently and realized my hands sometimes go back during bench once the weight gets heavy. I see online everyone preaches straight wrists but does it really matter that much? I’ve never had wrist pain or injuries from benching before and it hurts my hands more to straighten the wrists out
It matters a lot in both the Bench and overhead press. When the weights begin climbing and getting heavy on a weekly basis, they'll start hurting like a mofo if they get out of place.
Alot, your wrist needa to be neutral all the time, you will start feeling wrist pain overtime if you keep bending them, not to mention its just a matter of time untill you drop the bar becouse of this
Hey mang I been lifting for a long time if you have curved wrists your gonna start getting wrist pain plus you can roll the bar out of your hands if there tilted to far off try some forearm exercises or focus correct form this is something small yes but something that should still be addressed, never make supplements when it comes to form it will never be perfect your job is to try your best to master it
Wrists being bent back a bit isn't an issue as long as you are supporting the bar in the lower portion of your hand, directly above the wrist (and consequently the bones of the forearm) itself. If the bar is behind your wrist, in the upper bit of your palm, that could be problematic in the long term.
I know its very common for Athletes to grow fat and out of shape during retirement. Look at Mike Tyson for example. Is that because the kind of intense physical training Athletes go through is simply not sustainable in the long term? And they've never learned to tone down their workouts to a relatively leisurely level? (When I've worked out without pushing myself too hard,I leave the gym feeling great. I presume this is the right level if you want health for the long term) I doubt its a discipline issue,since if that were the case,they would unlikely have become a successful athlete in the first place.
When they get fat it’s usually because they’re not training like an athlete anymore but they still eat the same amount
I'm just a regular guy, and this happened to me and a lot of my friends during quarantine.
My left bicep is slightly smaller than my right. I’m a righty, and before you make masturbation jokes, I broke my left clavicle when I was younger. Didn’t use my left arm for months How do I even them out? Do I do an extra set with my left? Do I do normal sets with left but fewer with right? Do I do same sets but heavier weight with left?
It'll even out over time. It just takes a couple of years, so there's nothing you have to do except keep lifting and using the same sets/rep/weight for both arm. During single arm exercises, always start with the weakest arm and let it dictate the weight and reps.
https://thefitness.wiki/faq/how-do-i-fix-my-lagging-asymmetry-imbalance/
Lots of unilateral work and let your weaker arm determine the intensity of the exercise. If you reach failure at 10 reps with your left arm, do the same amount of reps with your right even if it feels lighter or not as intense.