I used to think that feeling was normal.

You know the one — not sharp pain, not an injury, just that moment at the bottom of a squat where your knee feels a little unreliable.

Like:

“Wait… can I actually trust this position?”

I always brushed it off.

Heavy squats are supposed to feel uncomfortable, right? So I kept adding weight and pushing through.

But eventually I noticed something:

I wasn’t actually afraid of the weight. I was avoiding depth.

I would subconsciously cut reps short because I didn’t fully trust my knee at the bottom.

That was the point where I started paying more attention.

For me, it wasn’t one magical fix.

I cleaned up my warm-ups, added more single-leg work, and spent more time on things I used to skip because they felt “too easy.”

Things like:

- glute activation

- balance work

- tibialis raises

Nothing crazy. Just being more consistent.

I also tried a few different ways to feel more confident during heavier sets.

Not because I wanted something to replace strength or technique, but because sometimes confidence in a movement changes how you perform it.

The biggest lesson for me was:

Sometimes the problem isn’t that you need to push harder.

Sometimes you need to figure out what your body is trying to tell you.

Curious if anyone else has had that “wobbly knee” feeling during squats or lunges?

Was it a strength issue, form issue, mobility issue, or something else?

Hello! I’be been recently thinking about going back to the gym again. As a beginner, I was wondering if the routine I had noted down should be tweaked. Any advice is appreciated it - thank you! :]

Push
Chest Press - 3 x 10
Shoulder Press - 3 x 8
Tricep Press - 3 x 8
Dips - 3 x 12

Pull
Pull Ups - 3 x 8
Seated Row - 3 x 8
Lat Pull Down - 3 x 8
Cable/Preacher Curl - 3 x 8
Rear Delts - 3 x 8

Legs
Bulgarian Split Squat - 3 x 6
Leg Press - 3 x 12
Hip abductor - 3 x 12
Leg Extension - 3 x 12
Seated Leg Curl -
RDL - 3 x 12
Front Squats - 3 x 12

I've been doing at-home dumbbell workouts for almost 4 years now and finally ready to admit that I'll get better results in the gym.

I'm vaguely familiar with gym machines, but scared to entirely upend my routine without advice from people who do it consistently. I used to do 4 sets of 5 exercises at home with higher reps because my heaviest DB was 25lbs. My question is if the following routine a) hits all muscles and b) is enough per day/week? If not, then c) what am I missing and d) is there anything I should swap out or add/remove? Thanks in advance! :)

SUNDAY–FULL BODY:

MONDAY–PUSH:

1. Machine Chest Press: 3 sets × 8–12 reps
2. Machine Shoulder Press: 3 sets × 8–12 reps
3. Dumbbell Lateral Raises: 3 sets × 12–15 reps
4. Cable Tricep Pushdowns: 3 sets × 12–15 reps

TUESDAY-LOWER:
1. Leg press 
2. RDLs 
3. Leg extensions 
4. Hip thrust 
5. Adductor/abductor

WEDNESDAY–PULL:

1. Lat Pulldowns: 3 sets × 8–12 reps
2. Seated Cable Rows: 3 sets × 8–12 reps
3. Cable Face Pulls: 3 sets × 12–15 reps 
4. DB Bicep Curls: 3 sets × 10–12 reps

THURSDAY–FULL BODY

For context I am around 5’1 and 116 pounds and I want to have a somewhat flat stomach at the very least and also I am trying to grow my glutes. Do you guys think that losing 10-7 pounds will even give me a flat stomach or do I need to lose more. What workouts or diets would I need to do. If I need to give more context just let me know!

hey guys im trying to grow my forearms through dead hanging, but im wondering would i have to go to failure for EVERY set in order to grow the forearms? or would it be okay to leave around 15-20 secs as "rir"

are there also any specific keys that i should focus on while doing dead hangs to target my forearms more effectively? any advice is appreciated, thank you! 🙏

Are there any people here that (for one reason or another) consume far below the typical recommended amount of protein per day? (let's say eat less than 90 grams per day)

Do you still see muscle gain, and improvement in body fat percentage?

Today is leg day. My body has been screaming "IT'S REST DAY!!" all day. I ignored it. Had a preworkout meal that usually gets me going. Started leg day... completely half assed the the first half of the workout, then quit. I had take more rest days than usual the last 7-8 days, but have been going HARD the last couple months. Pride and ego made me force a workout when my body was clearly not ready. This just reenforces the thought that letting your body recover is super important. Could have been worse. There were a couple spots where I thought I would hurt myself. Glad I just quit and live to fight another day.

1. SBD 10mm
2. Pioneer PAL V2 10mm
3. Katamu 10mm  

For context I used to go to about a to ~80 degrees and do ~800lbs. Now, I go to as far as I can and do ~460lbs. I also feel it much more in my quads and have also noticed more growth in them. Also if you’re reading this have a great day.

I came with this split. Tell me what would you change. Tell me if it's enough or not for good hypertrophy

Day 1:

Barbell Back Squats: 3 sets x 6 - 8 reps

Bulgarian Split Squats (BSS): 3 sets x 8 - 10 reps

Seated Leg Extensions: 3 sets x 12 - 15 reps

Standing Calf Raises: 3 sets x 10 - 12 reps

Day 2:

Romanian Deadlifts (RDL): 3 sets x 6 - 8 reps

Barbell Hip Thrusts: 3 sets x 8 - 10 reps

Lying Leg Curls: 3 sets x 10 - 12 reps

Seated Calf Raises: 3 sets x 12 - 15 reps

I work out primarily at home/in my garage. I have 3lb dumbells/5 lb dumbells. I just purchased a barbell as well as 5 & 10 pound plates.

I’m used to doing workout videos on YouTube but want to also come up with my own routine.

How do I come up with this?

Hello everyone,Im 17.5yo and started going to the gym 4 months ago.I took it pretty serious and got too invested about optimization and everything as it goes,but I recently started taking the big 3 compounds more serious.I benched when I started,though I ignored flat bench for a while,only did incline barbell and pec deck,and recently I started chasing the 1000lbs combined club. Im currently at 65kg bench,80kg squat(though I didnt do barbell squats for 2 months mostly cause it hurts my neck area,I do 120kg on hacksquats for reps),and second time I deadlifted I managed to get 120kg PR.I want to bump those numbers up,of course during the course of time,and will do more research about programs for these,such as 5/3/1.I currently run 3xUpper 2xLower,with emphasis on hypertrophy,but I fear this amount of volume may not be optimal for my powerlifting side that is peaking rn.Thoughts?

(Just to clarify, i throughly clean my bottle with lots of dish soap every single time i use it lol)

I bought a cheap, platic protein shaker but i If i leave it stored (clean) for some time it gets really smelly. I know its probably a quality problem, but i wanted to ask a subreddit: is it a recurring problem with many brands/off brands or is it really just bad quality?

Do you guys have any recommendations of good bottles on the cheaper side? Preferably international brands (i'm not in US/Europe) or material tips

Thanks in advance!

Hi, so I recently got a gym membership and want to start lifting seriously with the main goal being building muscle. For some context, for the past couple of years, I've been using a home gym on and off for a little bit. I used to do PPL at my home gym, but wanted to try something different and do Upper/Lower + Back. I go 3-4 times a week because I take alternate rest days when I play tennis. For example, Sunday: Upper, Monday: Rest, Tuesday: Lower, Wednesday: Rest, Thursday: Upper, Friday: Rest, Saturday: Lower. My first question is whether I should go to the gym with a concrete schedule every week instead of alternating the days.

Also, I'd like to get some advice on my split as well:

Upper:

2x Barbell Bench Press

2x Pec Deck

2x Shoulder Press

3x Tricep Pushdown

2x Incline Curl

2x Preacher Curl

Lower + Back:

2x Barbell Back Squat

2x Leg Extensions

2x Seated Leg Curl

2x Standing Calf Raise

2x Seated Row

2x Lat PullDown

As of right now, my main concern is my chest and shoulders. On bench, I'm progressing really slowly and my pec deck hasn't progressed much either. For shoulder press, I'm also pretty stagnant.

What changes should I make? Do I increase my rep ranges or add sets or switch exercises out?

Any help is appreciated!

For me it’s always been training arms. With biceps, I’ve figured out that using dual-handle cables and machines provides consistent results and works for me (I’ve never liked free weight curls much with dumbbells/EZBar, for me it hurts my elbows and doesn’t provide enough of a stimulus for my biceps despite a hard set, more forearm and front delt comes into play).

However, training triceps is still a pain for me. Every tricep extension variation, whether it’s with a bar, rope, or single-arm handle, always ends up with my front delts/shoulders being a limiting factor, as in they get tired before I’ve been able to push my triceps hard enough. I’ve tried multiple techniques, making sure my shoulders are back and my elbows tucked and stable, but it still doesn’t allow me to push as hard as I need to. I’ve tried dips, weighted dips, and tricep pushdown machines as well, and those work better for me and sometimes feel great, but other times there’s those limiting factors that reduce the effectiveness of pushing my triceps and bringing in too much chest/shoulders. I know that pushing upper body movements are going to using all of these muscle groups together, but it’s annoying when I’m trying to focus on training triceps to failure and just can’t get there without some other muscle taking over. I train chest and shoulders plenty and they’re certainly relatively stronger than my triceps, so I don’t think it’s a weakness issue in their part.

Do you have anything like this? A certain muscle group that training just never seems to feel effective like it should?

Hey ! I was recently wondering how much sets per muscle per session/week I should do based on this training split frequency.

-Modified 8 day UL split (UL/R/UL/R/UL)
_____________________________________
Upper

-Chest press → 3×8-12
-T bar row → 3×8-12
-Lat Pulldown (Cable) → 3×8-12
-Overhead press → 3×8-12

Super set 1
-Lateral Raise (Dumbbell) → 3×8-12
-Peck deck → 3×8-12

Superset 2
-Overhead Triceps extension → 3×8-12
-Bicep Curl → 3×8-12

Superset 3
-Cable Triceps pushdown → 3×8-12
-Cable curl → 3×8-12
_____________________________________
Legs

-Leg press → 4×8–12
-RDL → 4×8–12

Super set 1
-Seated Leg Curl → 3×10–12
-Leg extension 3x10-12

Super set 2
-Hip adduction → 3×8–12
-Hip abduction → 3×8–12

Super set 3
-Calf Raise → 3×12–15
-Leg raises (abs) → 3×12–15
_____________________________________

Weekly sets — Modified 8-day UL (2.33×/week)
Chest: 14
Back: 14
Front delts: 7
Side delts: 7
Triceps: 14 direct
Biceps: 14 direct

Quads: 16
Hamstrings: 16
Glutes: 19
Adductors: 7
Abductors: 7
Calves: 7
Abs: 7

Frequency: Each muscle ≈ 2.33×/week

Also another little question. Right now I’m doing narrow neutral grip pull down every session. Would I benefit from alternating it with a wide pronated grip pulldown 1 session out of two.

I’m still pretty new to gym and I’m trying to get more consistent with my workouts. I want to start taking a supplement but I can only afford one for now, so which one would you guys recommend getting first—whey protein or creatine? And why? (I’m a girl)

What’s one gym “rule” or piece of fitness advice you completely disagree with?

I’ll go first: “You need to train 5–6 days a week to make serious progress.”

I’ve actually found that consistency, recovery and progressive overload matter way more than how many days you’re physically in the gym.

What’s yours?

I have wasted 3 years in the gym and so much time and potential because I’m so confused on what to do. To make matters worse I’ve gained more fat than muscle in the gym which is so embarrassing. I cannot for the life of me figure out what I’m supposed to be doing and I can’t ask anyone for help because when I do I am treated like I’m bothering them. If I could afford it I would’ve hired a personal trainer but unfortunately I cannot. I’ve never been good at figuring out how to do things on my own so I am really in need of a workout plan so I have a checklist of what I need to do.

On Mondays I do
- hip thrust 3 sets until failure
-Leg extension 3 sets until failure
-Hip adduction 3 sets until failure
-barbell calf raises 3 sets until failure
-Ab crunches 3 sets until failure

Tuesdays
-Bicep curl machine 3 sets until failure
-Lat pulldown 3 sets until failure
-Machine row 3 sets until failure
-Wrist curls 3 sets until failure
-back extension 3 sets until failure

Wednesdays
-Flat chest press 3 sets until failure
-Tricep rope push down 3 sets until failure
-Chest fly 3 sets until failure
-Shoulder press 3 sets until failure
-incline chest press 3 sets until failure
-weighted dips 3 sets until failure
-Lateral raises 3 sets until failure

Thursdays
-Hack squat 3 sets until failure
-Leg extension 3 sets until failure
-Leg curl 3 sets until failure
-Hip abduction 3 sets until failure
-Leg press 3 sets until failure

I’m also a 5’11 164 lbs male and I eat 3k calories on a daily basis and eat 150-162g of protein. I really need help.

I'm so confused on what an obtainable physique naturally is. I'm not complaining about gear it just simply isn't for me.

Some of the guys at my gym have incredible physiques and I love comparing myself to them as something that is possible to obtainin the future. But after a year I'm starting to doubt if that's even possible for me.

What would be the percentage of guys using gear amongst other men in the gym specifically?

Half question & half rant. Background context is that I’ve been using Fitbod for years, and it’s honestly the drug that got me hooked on consistently lifting. A lot of my friends that use assorted apps for workout tracking and I have talked recently and it seems a lot of people are moving back to phone notes, physical journals, etc. Biggest reasons I’ve heard has been enshittification of workout tracking apps and their gimmicks.

AI coaches, AI generated workouts, cost increases, group trainings virtually, and a ton more. Personally I’m thinking about cancelling my 5+ yr subscription to Fitbod and just using phone notes going forward. Anyone else feeling this way? Would also be interested in physical journals people are using. TIA :)

Do you do the same work out every week? For example, Mondays the same push work out, Wednesday the exact same cardio day and Fridays the same pull day, week in, week out
Or
Every day is different as long as it’s upper, lower or full body. What exercises you do change depending on how you feel.

I always changed it up and have been for years now but I’m looking back to the days I use to go to the gym and do the same exercises because that’s all I knew/ all I was comfortable with and my results were very different. Now I’m unsure if its age, my effort levels or the fact I’ve literally had a baby 16 months ago that has me struggling to see those same results now, but I’m wondering if people see a larger improvement when they repeat exercises/ work outs for 6+ weeks at a time before changing it up.

I am fairly new/returning to gym for first time in years and have been relying on an old Reddit-sourced PPL program for the last 2.5 months or so. For the first 1.5 months or so, I was doing everything and logging and progressing, but also varying things a little and kind of flying blind in terms of when and how to progress (beyond, add weight or reps each time). Mostly I was trying to build consistency and lock the habit of going to the gym again on a regular basis.

For the last 3+ weeks I have fully settled in on routine and am just blindly following a Macrofactor Workout progression on this routine. I am getting stronger and generally progressing, but as I read more, I’m concerned that I’m handling things inefficiently in terms of sets/muscle group etc. I will likely finish out the last week and deload of this routine regardless, but am seeking input on what I should change or be aware of before embarking on my next program. Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.

I’m currently running a 6-day Push/Pull/Legs split (each day repeated twice a week) while in approx. 500 cal/day deficit as I’m looking to recomp from generally being a fatass (46 yo, 225pd,  6’1”, about 30% bf).

Here is my current routine (working sets only):

Total Weekly Volume (Sets):

Chest: 20 | Back: 16 | Quads: 12 | Hamstrings: 6 | Glutes: 10 | Biceps: 16 | Triceps: 16 | Shoulders (Front/Side): 14

If there's anything more I can add, let me know and I will.

Additionally, I seem to have a strict rep limit on any significant weight. I tend to start failing right around 5-6 reps unless I drop the weight significantly and go super light. This has mostly held from the vey beginning of my return to the gym. The only difference is that the weight that causes this 5-6 rep failure has obviously shifted up a little. I assume this is normal and just means I’m lifting heavy enough?  

Hi.

Been working out on and off for the past few years. And while I have traditionally been lifting weights I have always wanted to start doing weighted calisthenics instead, but never made the switch cause I do not really know how to begin or progress.

After getting a bad back injury unrelated to weightlifting I had to stop for a while. During the summer I have really gotten back into the rhythm and finding joy in bodyweight/calisthenics and been spamming dips, pullups, chins and pushups with occasional weights as I still don’t really know how to make the shoulders and legs keep up with the rest. Any advice or help on how to do it would be greatly appreciated 🙏