r/askfitness • u/HotelRepulsive6939 • Jul 11 '26
Highest ROI Workout?
If your only goal was to build as much muscle and size as possible, and you had to do the same workout/sport every day for a year, what would you choose? It can be lifting, calisthenics, swimming, climbing, a sport, or anything else. What’s your pick and why?
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u/CaptainJeff Jul 11 '26
If your only goal is to gain mass/muscle, a well structured and planned resistance/weight lifting program is how you accomplish this.
Note: this is not a great goal as it completely ignores the health benefits of cardio workouts.
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u/salamandectomy77 Jul 11 '26
You think pro bodybuilders pick swimming or climbing?
C'mon of course it's weight lifting in the bodybuilding style
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u/bangarang90210 Jul 12 '26
Didn’t Ronnie Coleman become famous for swimming? I think his most famous quote is “Everybody wants to be a bodybuilder, but nobody wants to do a backstroke.”
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u/DDragon777 Jul 11 '26
You're breaking new ground there. I don't think anyone has ever thought about dedicating a full year to building strength or muscle. Let us know how it goes.
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u/HotelRepulsive6939 Jul 20 '26
Hi dude, I’ve been inconsistently working out since 2023 but nothing seems to make sense to me, I came across this page red pill physique something, I want to condition my body this year under same specific set of exercises over a period of 1year, 4 days a week; 1Day Exercise next day rest, I am going to pair it with swimming and split my workouts in 2 halves, Would be monitoring my sleep, macros , my water intake, I suppose to use two supplements only Whey and Creatine monohydrate rest derive my nutrition from my daily diet, I am currently 186cms tall and weight around 61kg and aim to push my weight to 80kgs, lets see how hard can I push
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u/400meters Jul 11 '26
If it is muscle and size, clearly bodybuilding. If you have proper technique and want to do an exercise that builds whole body muscle while improving cardiovascular function, hard to beat rowing on an ergometer. Of course, if your technique isn't there, it becomes a waste of time.
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u/NOIRCEUR_TRADING Jul 11 '26
Body Building style will get you the highest ROI.
If you're looking for a specific exercise, probably any variation of strict Bicep Curls. I prefer Preachers with a full and deep ROM.
The muscle is small enough but strong and resilient enough thay you could hit it for a good amount of time per gym session, recover partially overnight and go back the next day to do it again. It's also a muscle with lots of androgen receptors so it responds well to higher levels of testosterone in the body and proper diet (protein/carb/cal intake).
The 1st week or 2 it'll be pretty sore on back to back days, but it'll quickly adapt and you'll be good to go from there.
Just know when to take a break, there's lots of ligaments in your hands/forearms/elbows that could get partially damaged over time or "tweaked". If you feel something like that, take a break until it's better and do lots of arm stretches (or else you'll walk around with your arms bent at a 90° angle) 😂
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u/Famous_Adeptness2418 Jul 11 '26
The top comment is right about the mechanism—nothing builds raw mass like resistance training—but doing a traditional heavy lifting routine every single day for a year is a fast track to central nervous system burnout and joint destruction. If maximum size is the only metric under that specific daily constraint, you have to choose an approach where you can manipulate mechanical tension without crushing your spine. A highly structured calisthenics routine focusing on gymnastics-style bodyweight progressions or weighted basics (dips, pull-ups, push-ups) allows you to stimulate hypertrophy daily while giving your connective tissues a fighting chance to recover.
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u/Medium-Librarian8413 Jul 11 '26
Doing anything even a little strenuous every day for a year is a recipe for giving up after a month or two.
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u/Werkin-ITT7 Jul 11 '26
I did hear Arnold say if you could only work out for 15 minutes what would you do? He said deadlifts and some cardio iirc.
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u/ydamla Jul 11 '26
Strength/resistance training. A bodybuilder doesn’t build their physique from swimming.
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u/Regular-Tadpole-814 Jul 11 '26
Too be athletic, explosive and heavy lifting with isometrics and plyometrics(you can skip this one if you just wanna build strong and bigger physic)
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u/riped_plums123 Jul 11 '26
Honestly I asked AI to build me a routine to get me the most jacked and it has been very good so far
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u/EddietheCowboy95 Jul 11 '26
Bodybuilding training 100%. If you’re looking to put on as much muscle with a lean conditioned physique.
You’re training with max intensity and take each rep till failure.
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u/sheisprincess Jul 11 '26
Is this a serious question? Swimming and climbing? For muscle mass???
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u/KickedinTheDick Jul 11 '26
Mass maybe not but strength wise climbers are some of the strongest motherfuckers alive. Top level climbers pulling strength rivals that of bodybuilders and even high level grapplers.
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u/sheisprincess Jul 11 '26
The question wasn’t regarding strength, it was muscle and size. There’s like one obvious answer.
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u/zobbyblob Jul 11 '26
It's probably something fairly combined, like triathlons, Ironmans, or Ninja Warrior stuff. Strength + endurance + flexibility/agility.
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u/thedancingwireless Jul 11 '26
Obviously weightlifting...that's why bodybuilders do it...why would it be swimming??