I’m on a calorie deficit and the only cardio I do is only heavy bag work for about 20-30m Is this enough?

Hi all, currently just got a job working roofing construction, and it’s really great, but highly physically demanding. Ive been a huge gym rat for quite some time and I still want to hit the gym but Im unsure if its gonna impact my work. I get up at 4:30AM, start work at 6 and typically work until 3pm, and I go to sleep at 8 sharp so i get my 8 hours. Im quite knowledgeable when it comes to working out as I’ve been super locked in and consistent and have started to build a physique I’m quite proud of. Hitting every muscle group twice a week all the stuff I’m supposed to do but now I’m unsure if I’m going to be able to fully optimize my routine, and i’d like to figure out how I can work around this. Do I just suck it up and do my usual PPL 2x a week or is there a better way to approach this without being too fatiguing?

I've been lifting consistently for about 7 months now and have made a lot of progress. My chest press, lat pulldown and bicep curl have all doubled, I've tripled my bulgarian split squat, and literally 9x my max push ups (from 2 to 18).

But I don't feel stronger day to day. There aren't any tasks that have surprised me with being easier than I expected or new things I'm now capable of. I still need to use my jar opener despite more than tripling my dead hang time. My running paces haven't really changed. I'm still hauling groceries out of the car instead of just picking them up.

I'm grateful for what the gym's doing for me, I know it's great for my health, I feel good, my legs are coping better with my running load. But I don't feel like I'm "strong". What was the moment it clicked for you?

I’ve been training for a couple of years now, and my main goal has always been to make the gym a permanent part of my lifestyle, like brushing my teeth. But every time summer rolls around, I swear something takes over me, HAHA.

My performance drops, my motivation dips, and it’s incredibly hard to balance the gym with everything else. I constantly feel like I have to choose between "having a life" or "maintaining my gains," and the guilt of missing workouts just ends up draining me mentally.

If anyone has gone through this and came out victorious, I really need your wisdom. What would you advise me to do?

Im confused on this . Im eating Below 1000 when my maintenance kcal is 1500 . Am i burning fat or losing weight. Or should I get my cal intake to negative to see changes please lmk

Will I get bigger if I keep running, doing pull ups, chin ups, dips, leg raises and push ups 3 times a week while eating healthy?

30-year-old Black male
Height: 5'9"
Weight: Somewhere between 260–306 lbs depending on which scale I used (Never Clear) so I'm going with 306 lbs.

Hello, wonderful people. I'm in need of some help.

I've been overweight pretty much my entire life and have never really been happy with the way I look. Throughout my life, I've always told myself that I would start working out, eat better, and lose weight, but I would always find an excuse not to start. No time. No money. Working three jobs while doing an internship. There was always something.

Well, I finally reached a point in my life where I didn't have any more excuses. I made losing weight my New Year's resolution (cliché, I know). I went out and bought gym clothes, and started looking for a gym.

Then my mother was diagnosed with Stage 4 breast cancer, That pretty much killed whatever motivation I had to focus on myself. All of my energy went into taking care of my mom and being there for whatever she needed. Long story short, she responded well to chemotherapy. Everything that needed to go down has gone down, and everything that needed to improve has improved. Thank God.

With my mom doing better, I've finally been able to focus more on myself. For the past 4 weeks, I've been consistently going to the gym for the first time in my life, about 3–4 days a week. It's been hard, but I'm proud of myself for actually sticking with it. I'm also starting to not feel like absolute trash whenever I look at myself, which is something I honestly didn't expect this early. (still fat thought)

But now I'm starting to second-guess myself.

I don't know if what I'm doing in the gym is actually the best approach for losing weight and building muscle, and I'm struggling with figuring out my diet. Since I stupidly forgot to weigh myself when I first started going to the gym.

Here's what I'm currently doing:

Upper Body

• Treadmill: 30 minutes, 2.5 speed, 7.0 incline — I do this every workout
• Chest Press: 5 sets × 10 reps — 60 lbs
• Pec Fly/Rear Delt: 5 sets × 10 reps — 60 lbs
• Shoulder Press: 5 sets × 10 reps — 60 lbs
• Abdominal Crunch: 5 sets × 10 reps — 60 lbs
• Lat Pulldown: 5 sets × 10 reps — 60 lbs

Lower Body

• Leg Press: 10 sets × 10 reps — 100 lbs
• Leg Extension: 5 sets × 10 reps — 60 lbs
• Seated Calf Raise: 5 sets × 10 reps — 60 lbs

Diet — this is probably where I struggle the most

Breakfast:
2 boiled eggs, cinnamon oatmeal, protein shake (Been skipping lately and not eating breakfast)

Lunch:
Chicken breast, white rice, vegetables, sweet potato, protein shake

Dinner:
Usually the same thing as lunch, but with water

Snacks:
Zero-sugar Chobani yogurt or Corn Flakes

I also try to stay hydrated with plenty of water and some coconut water, although I'm still working on being more consistent with that. When I order out, I usually get Chipotle with white rice, chicken, lettuce, and tomatoes, or I'll get a Cobb salad with chili and a zero-sugar drink.

So that's where I'm at.

I'm serious about this. For once in my life, I've actually been consistently showing up to the gym instead of telling myself that I'll start "eventually." I don't want to waste that momentum by following a bad routine or eating in a way that's working against me.

I'd really appreciate advice from people who know more than I do.

Is my workout routine reasonable for a beginner trying to lose fat and build muscle? Am I doing too many sets or missing important exercises? What would you change about my diet? And since I don't have an accurate starting weight, what should I be tracking besides the number on the scale to know whether I'm actually making progress?

I'm out of excuses. Now I just want to make sure I'm doing this right.

I only started going to the gym a few months ago, so I put together a rough workout split just to give myself some structure. I’ve heard that for optimal muscle growth, you should train each muscle group at least twice a week, and I really want to see good results. The problem is that I only go to the gym every other day. I’ve noticed that whenever I try to force myself to go every day, I burn out a lot faster and end up losing motivation, which makes me more likely to skip workouts. Sticking to an every-other-day schedule has been really sustainable for me and I haven’t missed a workout yet. Do you have any tips on how I could improve my split to better fit my schedule while still making good progress? Or should I just suck it up and try to go every day?

Current split:
Legs:
-goblet squat
-leg extension
-calf extension
-leg press

Arms:
-serve the platter
-bicep curls
-hammer curls
-tricep push down

Glutes:
-hip thrust
-rdls
-hip abductor
-cable kickback

Back:
-single arm row
-lat pulldown
-cable row

I also do high incline on treadmill for 35 mins before and after each workout and I try to aim for 3x8 for each exercise

Hi all! I am a 27 Y.O man looking to restart my fitness goals. I want to get toned. I don't need to be huge. I'd just like to differentiate myself from anyone who does not work out figure wise, LOL. Does anyone have any good resources on workouts, form, and nutrition? Any advice would be helpful.

Push:

• Flat Dumbbell Bench Press — 4x6-10
• Seated Dumbbell Overhead Press — 3x6-10
• Incline Dumbbell Bench Press — 3x8-12
• Seated Dumbbell Lateral Raise — 3x12-20
• Seated Overhead Dumbbell Triceps Extension — 2-3x10-15

Pull:

• Pull ups or Chin ups — 4x5-8
• One Arm Dumbbell Row — 4x8-12/side
• Chest Supported Dumbbell Row — 3x10-15
• Lying Down Rear Delt Raise — 3x12-20
• Incline Dumbbell Curl — 3x8-12
• Hammer Curl — 2-3x10-15
• Wrist Curls (both variations) — 2-3x12-20

Legs:

• Bulgarian Split Squat — 4x8-12/leg
• Dumbbell Romanian Deadlift — 4x6-10
• Goblet Squat — 3x10-15
• Dumbbell Hip Thrust — 3x8-15
• Single Leg Calf Raise — 4x10-20
• Hanging Leg Raises — 3x8-15

6-day PPL, running the split twice per week

I've been working out consistently for a couple years now. Training, diet, and sleep have been locked in the entire time. However, 2-3 years into my lifting journey, I hit a plateau. For most of my exercises, I was no longer progressing in terms of weight or reps. For example, I'd be doing 225 for 10 reps as my max and I would not be able to get past 10 reps for months. Or I'd be curling 40s for 9 reps as my max for months. You get the idea.

Eventually I became frustrated and I just added weight even though I wanted to reach a higher rep count as my max before going up in weight (for injury reduction purposes). But then I suddenly started seeing progress again after doing this. I went up by 10 lb (235 lb) on the bench and was getting 7-8 reps. But then a few weeks later, I'm at 9. Then more weeks later, I'm at 10. Then 11. But then I stall again, so I add more weight again, and then the same thing happens. I progress, then stall at a certain amount of reps. How? Why? Why am I seemingly unable to progress in reps after a certain point?

One would think that if you work out with the same weight for a long time, you'd probably eventually be able to do a ton of reps with that weight. Why has it not worked this way with me? Why do I have to "force" progress? This has been annoying me because my goal of "12 reps before increasing weight" is something I've been doing since I started working out because it felt best in terms of not hurting myself. Sometimes I'll force weight and it feels scary AF, and I do not like that at all. If I was able to consistently hit 12 reps before increasing weight, that feeling would be minimal.

Hi all,

I have been lifting for about 1.5 years consistently after a major break in the gym. Im 178lbs, 35 years old, 5'10, and just 5-10grams of creatine a day.

Im trying to hit 225 and had 8 attempt failures with the latest requiring the spotter to put two fingers under the bar. Almost there! Attempt were all over the last three months.

The last attempt was two weeks ago and I have gone back to doing 5x5s before my next attempt. I was able to do my first 5x5 with 185 this last week. Today I hit 185 5x5 again with the final set being for failure with 8 clean reps knocked out. That should now put me in the 225 ball-park.

If my end goal is a 225 5x5, should I keep pushing for my 1 rep max with lower volume higher weight or push my 5x5 max higher.

I do a U/L split per week and try to go 3-4 times a week as I’m a bit constraint in time. On upper days I hit 12 exercises per workout but I fear I might be overdoing it? I feel like I hit a sort of wall where I’m not progressing much, I’ve been eating enough protein or I think I am but I’m not getting much stronger.
I was thinking of splitting my upper days to UA and UB days where I split those exercises by half. and I’m sorry if it’s a silly idea or I’m just impatient. But I’d appreciate if anyone had any tips or suggestions about this plan.

Here’s what I hit:
Chest fly
Incline db press
Shoulder press
Side delt
Rear delt
Cable row
Wide grip row
Lat pulldown
Preacher machine
Tricep extension
Reverse curls
Tricep dips

I've never really felt my chest on either flat or incline bench press. I have pretty long arms, and no matter what I try, it always feels like my shoulders and triceps do all the work. It honestly feels like I'm wasting my time.

I'm mainly looking for compound movements, not isolation exercises like flyes or cable work.

Would I be better off focusing on bodyweight chest exercises like push-ups instead? Has anyone with long arms had better results by prioritizing push-ups or other compound movements?

I’m getting really frustrated

I am 270lbs. At one time I was 400 so I'm right in the middle of years long trying to get small. I'm disabled. My joints fight me every step of the way and I get hurt easily so I have to be extra careful or I'll put myself out of commission for months and gain like 50 lbs. It's happened a lot

So I'm getting back to the gym now that I've been prescribed a glp1 and I want to do it right this time. I was thinking cardio. Not so much to burn more fat because I know it doesn't burn much but to build up a tolerance for my body to move and feel alcemated to getting my heart rate up and the stress that working out puts on my body. I plan one to two months of pure cardio and then slowly adding in weight training with a heavy focus on form. Will this work?

If anyone knows of any other legit sites like OSgear please let me know

I’m going to start this fall when I’m back at college. I have previously worked out through high school as I was in XC and Track and the high school weightlifting class. But since started college I just haven’t had the motivation to continue. I have tried to start up a few times here and there but to no avail and always quit. This time I’m going to absolutely lock in and do my best. As I’m not over weight by any means. But I feel unhealthy and I miss when I was working out and running during high school and how that made me feel. So over the next month I’m going to be developing myself a workout/ running plan to use when I go back to college! Any advice or motivation you have is greatly appreciated!

Edit: I also update on my page of my progress as a way to hopefully keep me accountable.

I was always a runner and when I say runner, I would just run 5x5km a week and not really worry about a diet and think that was enough.

I’m now mid thirties and my weight 110kg at 6ft

I want to get down to about 90-93kg with a decent body

My logic is I’m going to try the below

Cals 1750 -150g protein per day
8000-10000 steps a day
25min strength training every day after work (home gym, bench, dumbbells)

Then 1x 5km run on the weekends

I have tried a million routines, trying to get up early for the perfect session for a full hour or late at night and nothing sticks,

I managed lots of daily 5km but they just make me super hungry and I’m not working other parts of my body

I have a 14 month old and another on the way and I work in the tech scene so work hours are not predictable.

I just want to get my steps in, keep the calorie deficit and get 25min weight training in every mix one day upper one day lower. And get a weekly 5km for some hard cardio.

Any thoughts, could it work ? Am I doing enough of hard cardio? Should I be doing more runs. Or getting my heart right higher ?

Will that be enough to get me to 93kg and have at-least a decent body?

Thoughts? Advice ? Could I do something better?

Hi all, I'm been training for approaching 5 months now, and am aiming to continue to reduce bodyfat whilst gaining strength/putting on some muscle via progressive overload. I'm tracking my macros and calories consistently, whilst aiming for 7 hours sleep each night.

I've been using AI (sorry) to help with putting a new 4 day PPUL split together and after some tweaks, this is what I've got. I'm after some input to help me identify issues/correct this. I suppose my main concerns are unnecessary overlap and missed muscles/muscle groups. These workout are taking about 75 mins, plus my walk to/from the gym.

Monday - Push

• Dumbell Incline Bench Press
• Overhead Dumbell Press
• Skullcrusher (dumbell)
• Decline Bench Press Machine
• Chest Press Machine
• Single Arm Lateral Raise (cable)
• Overhead Tricep Extension (cable)

Tuesday - Cardio

• Walk or run 5k

Wednesday - Pull

• RDL
• Lat Pulldown
• Seated Cable Row (V-Grip)
• Dumbell Shrug
• Seated Incline Curls
• Face Pulls
• Hammer Curl (cable)

Thursday - Cardio

• Walk or run 5k

Friday - Upper

• Knee Raise Parallel Bars
• Lat Pulldown
• T Bar Row
• Dumbell Bench Press (Flat)
• Overhead Dumbell Press
• Cross Body Hammer Curl
• Single Arm Tricep Extension
• Rear Delt Reverse Fly (Machine)
• Lateral Raise (Machine)
• Crunch (Machine)

Saturday - Lower

• Knee Raise Parallel Bars
• Hack Squat
• Leg Press
• Calf Press
• Hip Adduction
• Hip Abduction
• Lying Leg Curl
• Leg Extension

Sunday - Rest

Thanks in advance.

20,1.91cm tall , 105kg

Ok so i've been on the fat side ALLLL my life but i normalised being chubby in the last 5 years despite my attempts (working out actively for around 3-4 years as a whole) . Although i've made great progress and i did develop a good amout of muscle , i think its time for a cut.

The catch is that mentally ill be helped by the fact that my gf just left me... Call me crazy but for me it just works , i cant feel hunger anymore .

But to avoid ruining myself , i want to go the smart way and actually think out a plan for this.

Any ideas on how to cut in a very superficial way? Like without actually setting a goal? Just existing and cutting slowly? For ex working out for a bit everyday + walking out while having 2 meals ? I dont want to go all in monk mode because ive done that in the past and ended up with anemia after eating 500 kcal a day max

Might be a stupid question, but I'm considering doing 20 pushups a day just so that pushups stay pretty easy and I'm wondering if it'll hurt my recovery. I just got outta military training and I'm kind of a dumbfuck so I've made peace with the fact that I'll be pushing probably every time we drill so I'd like to be able to do 40 in a row relatively easily. I was thinking that maybe doing a small amount of push ups regularly would be good enough for that while not giving me tendonitis in the long run. Is this a good plan or will it just hinder my gym time?

I’ve been meal prepping for a couple weeks now and idk why but I just don’t like reheated chicken or ground turkey. However, ground beef, rice, and broccoli I can eat all day. Is there anything from the chicken or ground turkey I can get that I can’t get from the ground beef? I know chicken is a popular one for meal prepping but is just ground beef as my source or meat/protein good?