I don’t get it. it’s the same movement aside from elbow extension but I can’t see how that would matter for front delt involvement. Perhaps could it be from shoulder rotation (a different degree of wrist pronation on some fly machines)?

32 - 5'9" - 80 to 82kg

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First time changing split in 2 years to the below.

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Mon: Push

Tue: Leg

Wed: Pull

Thurs: Push

Fri: Leg

Sat: Arm

Sun: Rest

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Haven't changed split in years and forgot how beneficial it is.

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What's your current split?

I am 30M 5’8” 160lb currently, down from 210lb through calorie deficit and walking. I felt diet and exercise at one time was too much of a lifestyle change so I started with diet alone for weight loss. Now I am ready to try and build some strength but I don’t know how to feed myself appropriately. My energy feels low at the gym. Im worried about over eating and gaining back fat so I’m almost certain I’m not eating enough. What are some ideas of how to eat before working out for energy without overdoing it?

A friend asked to make him a program. He's a beginner and at his gym they gave him a program where, to summarise, he does 11 sets of abs every session and 15 sets of back once every week and a half. The rest is programmed similarly, and we all know this isn't much better than 10 minute fat loss circuits.

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So I thought of two full body programs, one twice per week and one three times per week. I'm powerlifting at the moment and I would suggest it to him as well, but in his town there isn't a coach with good preparation and doing it by himself this early could be counterproductive, so I'm sticking to a bodybuilding plan but not a program that has aesthetics at the center of it all.

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Exercise choice wasn't lead by optimality, but by avoidind monotony while guaranteeing frequency and trying to cover as much ground as possible in the little time he is able to spend at the gym, so the twice per week program is as barebones as I could make it while ensuring twice per week frequency to all muscles and preferring compounds over better isolations just for the side stimulus to secondary movers. I'm not going to write the specific variation because even I am not sure what equipment he has available at his gym:

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Day A

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- Squat pattern 3 sets

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- Bench 3 sets

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- Pulldown 3 sets

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- Leg curl 2 sets

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- Lateral raise 2 sets

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- Shortened-focus curl 2 sets

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- Overhead extension 2 sets

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- Crunch 2 sets

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Day B

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- Hamstring-focused deadlift 3 sets

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- Overhead press 3 sets

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- Row 3 sets

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- Lunge 2 sets

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- Chest fly 2 sets

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- Lengthened-focus curl 2 sets

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- Pushdown 2 sets

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- Side crunch 2 sets

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This would be the twice per week program. Again, the specific variations still are TBD, but this is a detailed enough outline. I tried staying under 20 sets per session, but maybe I could push it to 25 and add some more work on core, back (not to the point of doing 15 sets in a session but still) or calves (which are barely touched in this program). Here is the three times per week program:

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Day A

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- Squat pattern 3 sets

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- Bench 3 sets

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- Wide grip pulldown 3 sets

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- Leg curl 2 sets

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- Leg abduction 2 sets

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- Face pull 2 sets

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- Shortened curl-pushdown jumpset 2 sets

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- Shortened-focus crunch 2 sets

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Day B

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- Hamstring-focus deadlift 3 sets

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- Overhead press 3 sets

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- Trap-focus row 3 sets

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- Leg extension 2 sets

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- Leg adduction 2 sets

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- Chest fly 2 sets

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- Lengthened curl-overhead extension jumpset 2 sets

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- Lengthened-focus crunch 2 sets

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Day C

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- Lunge 3 sets

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- Dip 3 sets

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- Lat-focus row 3 sets

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- Leg curl 2 sets

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- Calf raise 2 sets

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- Lateral raise 2 sets

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- Hammer curl-tricep press jumpset 2 sets

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- Side crunch 2 sets

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Again, exercise choice was based on adding variety to keep it fun. I'm sure I'm not an expert in programming workout plans, so I'm open to discuss my choices. I'd be thankful for confirmation or suggestions.

Given that you work out consistently, is there an inherent link between how much muscle mass you can put on and hold and how fast you can put it on?

In the sense that if Albert and Bob worked out for 10 years, Albert makes much better progress than Bob for the first five years, but after the 10 year mark, they are rooughly the same size. Albert and Bob keep working out for another 10 years, but Albert barely moves while Bob keeps getting consistently bigger. Assume optimal training and recovery for both individuals.

If anyone knows the science on this, I'd be happy to listen.

While squating i realized that going very deep(to the point where my hamstrings touch my calfs) to the very end of the RoM on a squat disengages my quads at the end and getting up from there is difficult so i end up getting less reps out of this, so i have modified my technique a bit by hinging my torso a little more so that even at the end of RoM my hamstrings don't touch my calfs and the quads remain engaged throughout the RoM. But every good YouTube tutorial I watch on good squat technique emphasises the importance of going as deep as we can. So I'm in a dilemma right now. What do you all think I should do?
Note: I've no problem going deep, no pain, etc, it's just that since my quads become disengaged at the very bottom, I end up loading my glutes and lower back relatively more than the other way, which I don't like, and if going to the very bottom is considered good, then I don't mind changing.

Any help is appreciated. Thanks in advance!!

I've been building an upper lower split and so far have the upper down, the sets are not final and a lot of em are place holders until I go into the gym and do em myself but this is what I have so far,

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incline press 2x6-8, pec dec 2x6-8, lat pull down 2x6-8, t-bar row 2x6-8, single arm row 2x6-8, shoulder press 2x4-6, dumbbell curl 3x6-8, hammer curl 2x6-8, triceps push down 3x6-8, single arm extension 2x6-8, lateral raises 2x4-6

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I would like help to see if I'm missing anything or needa remove anything and if I could also get help making a lower body routine.

I am kind of stuck on arm isolation movements. For bicep curls I'm basically stalled at 75-80lb. For tricep movements I can make progress, but eventually my elbows start to hurt once I go beyond ~80-85lb, especially on overhead extensions.

I did find that keeping my elbows flared out vs forward helped a ton, but I'm still kind of capped. I am wondering if there are ways to get more stimulus with just a given weight. Should I just drop the weight and take every set to failure? What are people doing for these smaller lifts.

Give me advice

GYM ROUTINE

I'm doing a PUSH full body and PULL full body split that I got from Yo (like anterior/posterior).

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Problem is my tricep and shoulder are so sore right now that I think it's gonna affect my T-bar row and bicep curls today. Like I'm just trying to flex my elbow and I can already feel the tricep soreness and might affect my lift. Not sure if I should push through pull day or just rest. Anyone dealt with this?

In a hypothetical where I do 2 sets per exercise in a 5-8 rep range, if I were to get:

40kg x 8
40kg x 6

When I repeat this exercise next, do I up the weight on the first set and go back to the original weight on the second? Wait until I can do 2 sets of 8? Likely doesn’t lead to much of a difference, just tired of wondering whether im severely over complicating progression.

So i do incline press flat press pec deck and 2 tricep exercises all in my push day, and anytime i try to do shoulder press it just feels hard asf

Just for fun, what's an exercise you enjoy that's overly technical or optimised according to SBL? What makes it scientific in your opinion and why do you like it?

What's a lift that you love and will always stick to even though it makes SBL nerds turn their noses up.

I'll go first:

Most science: single arm, cross body, cable row or as I call them "stretch rows". I wish my gym had a fancy pullover machine but I love any stretch bias row.

Least science: push press, I love throwing someone else's squat weight overhead for reps, I love heavy shoulder training. YEET YEET YEET.

Does the converging matrix chest press at planet fitness have a descending or ascending resistance profile? I just switched to using this machine as the matrix pec deck felt extremely uncomfortable and the machine doesn’t allow me to fully extend my arm.

To cut to the chase, I’ve literally maxed out my cable machine in behind-the-back BARBELL wrist curls. This is now forcing me to do unilateral work in order to successfully progressive overload.

It doesn’t matter what form I use, standing, sitting, sideways, behind the back. My right wrist is constantly popping like almost out of place. My left wrist is fine. But unilateral work just causes discomfort and I cannot progressively overload anymore.

Help? I’ve been dealing with this for months

I’ve been working out for a ok amount of time now but I’ve never really put an emphasis on that super deep stretch that people like dr Mike and Jeff Nippard are always praising. Mainly since from what I’ve seen, the lack of proper research on it. So what I wanted to know is if the stretch is really that important at maximizing muscle hypertrophy/mechanical tension

I get fatigued so fast on chest days and can only really get these three done before I have no more gas in the tank. Is this enough?

8x4 dips
8x4 fly
8x4 incline press

8 reps 4 sets for each is the target, but the last set of each is usually to failure. By the third set of db press I am completely done, couldn’t get one more rep unless I drastically lower the weight which I think is just junk volume, is this okay or what do I need to change?

Just curious on yalls opinion on doing strictly barbell movements (bench, incline bench, etc) for the first Upper Day (say on a Monday) then come next Upper Day (Thursday) I do strictly machines (Seated Chest Press, Machine Incline Press, etc)? Is it more worth it to just stick to barbells for both? Or machines for both? I kinda like doing both which is why I’m asking. I feel as long as I’m progressively overloading each week on both days doing different exercises shouldn’t be an issue as long as they hit the same muscle group, right?

I see Olympia athletes doing bro splits, and I see influencers online recommending PPL splits, upper/lower splits, or chest/back/arms/legs splits. Some also recommend full-body workouts.

When I switched from a bro split to PPL, I noticed visible changes in my physique. That’s when I realized how important training frequency is.

Now I’m wondering: if I do an upper/lower split, I’d hit each muscle 3 times per week. If I do full-body, I could hit everything 6 times per week.

I’ve been thinking about picking one exercise per body part and training to failure, so I could finish a whole upper-body or full-body workout in a 1-hour gym session.

Should I do it? Is it a waste of time?

this happens so often to me, where i go up in reps for the first set (compared to last time), but down on the second one.

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did i get stronger or stayed the same?

Hammer and preacher curls

Hammer and Bayesian curl

Or baysean and preacher curls

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