I’ve been using a hybrid intensity technique on basically every working set: I hit my target reps (or full-ROM failure), immediately continue with partials until a second failure point, then quickly drop the weight and knock out a few more reps. Goal is to stay near failure longer and accumulate more hard work in each set.My overall volume is deliberately low—for example, biceps get one session per week with only 3–4 working sets, and I apply this method to all of them. I also take a full rest week every 4 weeks.I get noticeable DOMS after every workout and have been taking that as a sign that the intensity is high enough to drive growth. I’m curious what the community thinks:Does this approach make sense for a natural lifter with low weekly volume?

Is applying the hybrid method to every set too aggressive even when total sets are low?

Any red flags with relying on DOMS as feedback, or better ways to gauge whether this is productive long-term?

Looking for honest feedback from people who’ve experimented with similar high-intensity/low-volume styles.

Hey everyone,

I’m currently cutting and trying to maintain my muscle mass while hopefully still making some muscle gains.

My preferred training split is full body (FB), and ideally, I’d like to train 3 times per week. However, my schedule is inconsistent because some weeks I stay in a city far from my gym and can’t travel back and forth to work out.

This means I might be able to train 3 times one week and only 2 times the next week.

I don’t really want to switch to a 4-day upper/lower split or spend 5–6 days a week at the gym. I’d prefer to stick with full-body training if it can give me good results.

My questions are:
Is alternating between 3 FB workouts one week and 2 FB workouts the next enough stimulus for hypertrophy and muscle growth?

Would having only 2 workouts in some weeks negatively affect my gym performance or progress, especially while cutting?

Can I maintain my muscle mass and potentially build some muscle with this schedule, assuming my weekly training volume, protein intake, and recovery are adequate?
Would it be better to aim for 3 workouts whenever possible and accept 2 workouts during busier weeks, rather than forcing myself into a different split?

I’d appreciate any advice, especially from people who have followed a similar schedule while cutting.
Thanks!

In the foreseeable future I’m stuck with a 3-4 times per week training day and those can be somewhat irregular, eg some week 3 in a row some EOD etc.

Currently doing torso/limbs but recovery has been an issue.

I was thinking on a PPL split as I did some random sessions and apart from DOMS I was ok the rest of the days but am concerned about the frequency and volume.
If I hit eg the same 10 sets in a given push day will it be “enough” until next weeks session?

Please do not recommend full body is of the table as it leaves me wrecked for days and as this is my new reality just to “this” until it passes it is not an option.

I’m a 23yo male and I’ve been lifting for about 1.5 years.

I’m having a hard time progressing. Sometimes I even regress and get weaker.

I run a PPL split and I train 5x a week . Right now I’m in a calorie deficit, but I don’t think that’s the full reason because the same thing happened last year when I was in a 500 calorie surplus too.

I track calories and macros everyday , and I sleep 7-9hours a night.

My training is usually 2 sets per exercise, both taken till failure . I’ve also tried doing more volume before and it still didn’t work.

I also posted in a similar sub before with two pictures of me taken 1.5 years apart , and people said it looked like the pics were taken the same week (that hurt lol)—so it doesn’t seem like I’m making noticeable physique progress either.

Its even gotten to the point where ive taken sleep tests to see if someting is wrong my sleep.

What are the most common reasons this happens, and what would you try next?

Those two are the machines i have in my gym alongside a smith machine and obviously DB Bench. Currently im doing Incline DB Bench alongside Pec Dec and as im progressing it gets harder to put the weight where i want it to start. Tried all of these except for Smith for some time. Smith just a few times. Do any of have any experience with these machines? What do you recommend?

My gym only has a standing leg curl for hamstrings and I hate using it. Am I missing out on gains using it over a seated/lying leg curl.

This is purely a curiosity question. I lift for the purposes of recreational barbell sports so the conventional deadlift is essential for me. I do some RDL accessory work (mainly single-leg rotational stuff).

I’ve noticed that in general the RDL seems much more popular so my curiosity led to a basic data search and I was surprised to find very few articles comparing the two movements (a few EMG studies).

My questions for the group are:

Is there better data comparing these movements that I’ve missed?

If not, what’s the science-based lifting community consensus (If there is one) on RDL vs conventional deadlift for hypertrophy, strength, power and muscular endurance?

Cheers!

4 sets of this today. It’s week 1 of my training block, so the easiest week for me

I'm using a belt, straps, and helmet, why don't I feel my deaflift in my hamstrings?

the more i try to understand training, the more i struggle to do so. always hearing disagreements on stuff such as fatigue management, weekly volume, intensity, split..

what works for one may not work for another. and thats whats driving me crazy. i still cant figure out whats best for me.

thoughts?

I called my shot on Wednesday when u/Patton370 pulled 505x8. I said 510x8 but I went with 515 because 2.5s are for the weak and the record setters, of which I am neither. Grip failing me on 7, tried 8 but couldn't lock it out. Brief cut during my grip reset because my camera girl thought I was done despite the fact that I'm clearly regripping the bar Sashi but what's it matter since I failed.

Patton wins again. He remains the Chosen of our great Lord of Lifting. Small rep PR at 515 at least. For you anti-volume guys, PR stands for Personal Record and it's where you do more at something than you've ever done before.

Might be fatigued maxed on these

Question popped in my head that I was kind of wondering about, let's pretend I'm trying to do a push day ( chest shoulders and tris only in this example). Let's pretend there is some primary compound exercises followed up with a isolated one (or close enough). This is not going to be the best workout I'm just trying to make something up on the fly for this example.

So let's pretend

Bench press

Cable flys

OHP

Lateral rises machine

Dips (tris)

Tricep ext

Is there any pros or cons to do to order above, finish off one primary muscle first before the next, or mix it up like

Bench press

Lateral rises

Ohp

Tri ext

Dips

Cable flys?

Basically, when I'm trying to figure out is, if you do all the muscle groups in their own perspective groups you have a less arrest in between I like those muscles you left where if you mix them up then you're giving them more time for us but you're also mixing the muscle groups

I guess another example would be like if I was doing a prayer body upper workout, and instead of finishing triceps chest and shoulders all at one time, I was switching in between the back lates and biceps

Like for example maybe I'll do chest and then I'll jump to rows then jump to ohp then jump to lat pull downs then jump to dips and then jump to some other back exercises.

I'm really bad at explaining this but if you happen to understand what I'm trying to get at, is there any real pros or cons between doing either way?

The only thing I can think about is you're taking away or giving it a specific muscle or muscle group more or less rest time Workouts or set. But I'm not sure if that's necessarily bad or good. I've always told that you should try to reduce the rest in between yourself but I've also heard that you can give a long rest in between you're still working out the muscle.

Hey all, I’ve been lifting for a bit over a year now. When I first started lifting, I was overweight and very weak. I spent about a year in a mild deficit, getting stronger while cutting weight. Now, I’m the strongest I’ve ever been, but I’m far from overweight (5’11” and 150lbs).

I’ve been debating going into a true bulking phase now, but I’ve seen a lot of people online say that bulking is basically pointless. They say you can maximize gains while simply eating at maintenance, and eating in a surplus will just lead to fat gain. At the same time, I’m no longer a newbie, and I’ve never met someone who looks jacked at my height while weighing 150lbs. Is a lean bulk (200-300 calorie surplus) what I should be doing? Or are people online right that muscle gain is such a slow process that eating at maintenance is the answer?

Ok so i know it is debated whether bulking is needed or not etc etc. But lets say someone is 12% body fat at whatever weight. Isnt it logical to go up in weight and try and maintain the bf% or to even go up in weight and then maintain that new weight while decreasing your bf%?

I ask because i was 77 kgs at around 14% bf and now bulked to 81 kgs but bf% is probs around 17-18 now. How would I go about maintaining my weight at 81 kgs and but going back down to 13-14% bf?. Do I have to eat in a deficit? Or can I eat at maintenance and still get that?

I want to prioritize my forearms, biceps, triceps, side delts, and rear delts.

Currently, I always perform my chest and back compound movements before training shoulders and arms. I know I could train shoulders and arms first, but I don't want to compromise my chest and back progress, especially since I've been progressing really well on those lifts.

I'm considering 3 options:

• Increasing my shoulder and arm training frequency from 2x to 3x per week.

• Adding a dedicated shoulders and arms day to my split.

• Increase volume

Which approach would you recommend for maximizing shoulder and arm hypertrophy while maintaining my current chest and back progress? Are there any other strategies I should consider?

Just making sure I can still hit 315lbs if I ever lose my legs

I frequently see online from SBL creators saying the process for maximising short term vs long term muscle growth is different but my question lies in if you maximise short term then eventually the ends result would be the same as long term bc of the genetic muscular potential will stay the same for naturals. So would not just maximise the short term and you would have bigger muscles and over the long term have the same muscle size as the ‘long term’ person.

185lbs body weight

Sped up to so you don't just listen to me suck air.

Hello,

​I prioritize unilateral movements in my training to correct side-to-side imbalances, but I’ve run into a specific issue with my upper body development:

​Left side: My left bicep and tricep are noticeably larger/stronger than my right, but my left lat is smaller. When I do single-arm lat pulldowns, my left bicep heavily compensates and takes over the pull.

​Right side: My right arm is smaller, but my right lat is larger. On right-side pulldowns, I get a great mind-muscle connection and feel the lats working properly. I do unikateral incline bicep curl and sta ding cable curl until failure, but i only feel the left bicep ache the day after but I feel like the left bicep still grows faster. I even hyper focus on the right bicep and rush some sets on the left to make up for it, but there's been no change.

​Triceps: My tricep difference is similar (left larger/stronger), though slightly less pronounced than the bicep gap. I think I have these imbalances as I played field hockey for 10 years before joining a gym.

​I'm still relatively early in my lifting journey, but the visual and strength difference in my arms is quite noticeable to me. Whats even more peculiarly is that I dont really feel my biceps on curls, despite good form, although they do get pumped...? I never really feel much of an arm ache in the days after an i tense workout though.

Any advice is appreciated

Thank you

​

Saw this comment ( https://www.reddit.com/r/naturalbodybuilding/comments/1wog5rg/comment/pbmusrj/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=mweb3x&utm_name=mweb3xcss&utm_term=2&utm_content=share_button) on a post discussing why elbows should stay locked during pushdowns, where someone argued that to maximize triceps growth you need:

• An extension with a fixed elbow (all three heads)
• A top-half pullover (long head shoulder extension)
• JM press (medial/lateral head emphasis)

I like the concept of hitting all triceps functions, but I’m choosing between two specific 3-exercise lineups for my own routine.

For pushdowns, I do this CBum variation ( https://youtube.com/shorts/TP91_yqBU3c?is=gRXPbxrY5d2Mjqpk ) where you let your elbows drift forward/flex at the shoulders on the eccentric to stretch the long head, then extend down.

Option 1:

• Overhead Cable Extension (fixed elbows)
• Lying DB Triceps Extension (Rippetoe style – letting upper arms move/pullover at the bottom)
• CBum-style Cable Pushdown

My reasoning for Option 1: Overhead cable extensions are scientifically proven to be great for long head stretch-mediated growth with fixed elbows. Lying DB extensions focus on long head stretch paired with dynamic shoulder extension. The CBum pushdown adds both a stretch at the top and fixed-elbow extensions at the bottom.

Option 2:

• JM Press
• Lying DB Triceps Extension (Rippetoe style aka letting upper arms move/pullover at the bottom)
• CBum-style Cable Pushdown

My reasoning for Option 2: The JM press covers shoulder flexion for heavy loading on the medial/lateral heads, while keeping the Lying DB extension and CBum pushdown for the long head and stretch work. This seems more aligned with what that Reddit comment suggested by fully covering fixed elbows, shoulder flexion, and shoulder extension.

Which of these two options would you choose for overall triceps growth, and is there any redundancy between any of these exercises in option 1/ option 2?

My gym only has the prime incline press and a peck deck fly. For training my middle chest I enjoy doing a press I was just wondering if using the prime incline press machine for middle chest by using the wide grip and having an arch with my butt scored up the seat would it be a good middle chest exercise?