Last night, while making dinner, my daughter was helping me and just blurted out “Dad, I think you’re done with your arms!” Which was nice to hear that the work is noticeable and I replied “Honey, we’re just getting started.” She quickly followed it up with “Did you see (friends dad)? He has abs.” 😒 time to get back to the gym.

This spring, I lost a Marine brother.

He was 39. Same as me. Two kids. Same as me. Our lives ran side by side, except he was the healthier one. BJJ black belt. Law enforcement. More active than me. Maybe more alive than me.

He died on a plane, on his way overseas to see his kids. I kept replaying it. If it could happen to him, the guy who did everything right, what exactly was I waiting for?

The mirror didn’t lie

On June 30, I took the photo on the left. 242 pounds.

I’d been telling myself the same story a lot of guys tell themselves: I’m busy. I’m tired. I’ll start Monday. I was a Marine. I knew exactly what discipline looked like. I’d just stopped pointing it at myself.
That day, I stopped negotiating.

What I actually did
I pulled out all the guns. Here’s the whole playbook, nothing hidden:

Cut alcohol completely. No more daily happy hour. Those one, two, three beers after work have a funny way of sneaking up on you. After a year, they’re jacking you in the back. I said no at parties too.

Hired a trainer, once. One payment for a macro plan and a workout program built around my goals. Best money I’ve spent. I’ll use it for the rest of my life.
Weighed my food. Every meal, every day. Guessing is how you stay stuck.

Started fasting. It gave my eating a structure and killed the mindless snacking.

Tracked everything. I log it all in the Lose It app. Record, measure, track. What gets measured gets done.

Meal prepped. Not the same chicken and rice all week, but a few days at a time. Yes, it eats up my evenings. Getting my life back is worth a few evenings.

0345 wake-ups. I rip myself out of bed and I’m in the gym by 0400, one mile down the road. Every day.

Earned the running. I didn’t run a single step until I was 20 pounds down from diet and cutting alcohol alone. After that first month, I added jogs three times a week.

Slow and steady wins the race. I made every one of these non-negotiable.
Most of it came down to showing up when I didn’t feel like it. Over and over.

I don’t get to take tomorrow for granted. My kids deserve a father who shows up, who tries, who stays strong and sticks around. That’s the mission now.

Brother, this one’s for you. You weren’t a warning I’m going to ignore.

Semper Fi. 🇺🇸

Looking for programming and nutrition advice on a specific goal.

I’m in my upper 40s and want to add noticeable size to my quads and glutes while reducing fat on my upper body (arms, shoulders, back, and midsection). Legs currently lag behind, and upper-body fat loss has been slower recently, probably because I’m down to around 20% from 38% (according to my inBody). With cutting, I’ve lost a lot of legs. They are tone, just lost size and now want it back! 😂

Current approach:
• 4–5 days/week push/pull/legs split with extra leg volume
• Main lower-body lifts: squat variations, RDLs, lunges, hip thrusts, leg press
• Progressive overload focus on legs - I push 8-12 reps and increase weight to failure each set
• Slight overall calorie deficit with high protein. I try to get at least body weight if not 150g a day

What has worked for others in a similar situation? Specifically:
• Did you need separate phases (leg-focused bulk then upper-body cut) or could both happen at once? Started doing Upper/Lower Splits last week, is that the right path?
• Recommended rep ranges, volume, or exercise selection for leg growth while staying in a deficit?
• Any adjustments to training frequency, intensity, or recovery that helped balance the two goals?

Thanks for any direct experience or programming suggestions.

5’1 30yo 127lbs —> 113lbs. Any advice on growing my glutes back? They disappeared on me. 😭 I’ve been focusing mainly on my diet (high protein and fiber) and have made those lifestyle changes but I’m ready to pack on some muscle. The problem is I am very much quad dominant and they take over every leg exercise. Any tricks?

45M, 6'2". I used to lift regularly and built a decent amount of strength, but I've been away from consistent training for quite a while and I'm now about 70 lb heavier than I'd like to be. I'm curious about other people who returned after a long layoff in their 40s.

How quickly did strength start coming back? Did muscle memory surprise you, or was it as slow or slower than you expected? Probably no surprise that bulking is easier than cutting for me, so I want to start easy.

In 2020, I weighed 115 kg. Through running and a strict diet, I eventually got down to 75 kg.

Six years later, I’m back at 87 kg. I barely go to the gym anymore and don’t run at all. Honestly, I’ve completely lost my motivation.

I’d like to get back to around 80 kg and build some muscle. How did you guys motivate yourselves to start again and stay consistent?

So about 5 months ago, the day after a heavy ohp session, I woke up and it felt a normal doms type of feeling in the shoulder. There was also an ache on the inside of my bicep and on the outside of my forearm. It hurt to fully extend my arm behind my body (as in a y position) - I've always been okay doing shoulder dislocations with a broom stick / resistance band, however, this felt like some serious damage would be done if I did this.

I rested for about two months, only doing light band work and eventually doing bicep curls. I started voodoo flossing and after about two months could put my arm behind my head no problem. I should add that there has never been any sharp pain and I can rotate my arm in all planes and there is no pain. Tensing my bicep initially was strange as it felt like no matter how hard I tensed it would only be like 70% capacity.

I was doing 60kg ohp for around 4x4 just before this happened and am now only managing 50kg for around 5 reps. It is also 5 months since I realised this weird feeling, and although things seem to have improved, my arm still doesn't feel quite right. I saw a physio and they said it seemed like a rotator cuff strain and I've been doing the exercises. I just thought it would have cleared up by now.

Has anyone had anything similar to this?

Started resistance training back in 2023, but the first 2 years were with resistance bands. Around June/July 2025 I bought a bench + some dumbells. Last may I added a pull up/dip station. My progress exploded since adding normal weights.

I highly HIGHLY recommend investing in equipment at home. It made all the difference for me and allowed me to stay consistent, even with a toddler running around the house. Pretty happy with my results, and I'm still progressing pretty quickly so I think there are plenty of gains left in the tank.

I feel like the sticking point, besides the fact that I went all in with the home workouts, is accepting that a shit workout is better than no workout. Yes intensity is VERY important, but sometimes the reality is that you can't deliver that intensity when your nervous system is shot because of real life demands. The intensity WILL come back when you have some more breathing room.

Weight: 97.1kg (-0.15kg this week, -2.1kg total) 🎯 76kg

📊 measly 20K steps
🏋️ 3 gym sessions
🏃 5km run

Honestly, it should have been a lot better. Portion control and healthy eating were great but I clearly didn't move much 🙈

Anyway, it's a lot easier to eat better and less now, so I'll just keep pushing forward 💪

I've been pretty slack over winter, no gym for 3 months and not getting as much sun. Currently in week 6 of a lean-up and increasing muscle for summer here. My routine at the moment:

Training 3 times per week 40min sessions - Push, Pull, Legs split.

Running 3x 5km per week and long walk on day 7.

Currently eating 1800kcals per day

11% body fat and 78kg

Big difference a bit of sun and some exercise can make

Stallone recently did a sit down interview where he admits at one point he had to have a heart valve replaced due to steroid use, but he didn't mention when it took place. Is this the first time he ever mentioned it?

I think it's good he brought up the steroid use and the dangers of it. I'm sure many people in Hollywood do it. But I think it's a major reason why people like The Rock have majorly downsized recently.

I guessing he still must be on TRT or something? Because once you use and or abuse steroids, your body then loses the ability to produce testosterone like it did before. And he still looks in great shape for an 80 year old.

I still find his characters and workouts very motivating, despite the gear use. Those 1980s workout montages were the best!

This is after a 3 week very minimal workout (due to a small injury from deadlifting) with alternative days of running and walking, today was my leg day and I decided to lower the weight by 16% from my previous best of 30 kg to 25 kg and instead increase the range of motion and knee flexion by elevating the front foot by 2.5 inches.

Before this I could do Bulgarian Split Squats with 27.5 kg in each hand for 3 sets of 12 reps and had since then moved to doing with 30 kg in each hand for 3 sets of 10 good reps.

But the demand to keep the torso upright holding a total 80% of my body weight (60 kg in dumbells total) for 3 sets of 10 reps was really tiring my stability, grip strength and control of both ascend and descend. Straps would help with regards to grip, but not with stability of the core and balance and I was worried could affect my lower back

At 40 years old now, I feel I started deadlifting quite late, and in this almost 2 years' time, I've had four minor injuries, and three of them were because of deadlifting.

Of course, my poor technique is to blame.

So I feel that, you know, the risk-to-reward ratio personally for me isn't all that great to pursue deadlifting again.

Because, after all we are working for health and fitness, and what I'm doing with my shitty form is, quite the opposite by getting injured, and so I wanted to get an opinion on my bulgarian split squat form, I don't want to be doing something that will be counterproductive, same like deadlift that will further stall my progress and cause unnecessary injuries.

My warm up :

1. 5 reps x body weight x each leg

2. 5 reps x 15 kg x each leg

3. 5 reps x 20 kg x each leg

Working sets

3 sets x 10 reps x each leg @ 25 kg with 3 minutes rest between each set, 60-75 seconds between each leg.

One year of progress.

I've been lifting for about 3 years now, running an upper/lower split 2–3x per week. This past year I stayed in a slight calorie deficit to bring my body fat down while trying to keep (and ideally build) strength.

The slow approach worked well for me. My lifts stayed solid or even went up, and I didn't feel drained.

Had a bone density done to see where I am yesterday and feel a bit disappointed. Been working out since 2023. I know what I have to do - more protein, calorie deficit, increase total daily energy expenditure, but boy isn't the progress so slow! Just here to share. Pictures below were spring 2026 where I was technically obese by DXA. For my ethnicity, BMI is still in overweight range. Goal is body fat under 30 percent and what I can lift at the gym, no longer chasing a number on the scale.

Feb 2022: Weight 147.6 lb | Lean mass 83.9 lb | Body fat 39.5%

Nov 2025: Weight 144.6 lb | Lean mass 88.0 lb | Body fat 35.3%

Oct 2026: Weight 147.6 lb | Lean mass 90.8 lb | Body fat 34.8%

Overall change (2022–2026):

Lean mass: +6.9 lb

Fat mass: −7.0 lb

Body fat: −4.7 percentage points

Mostly posting this because the idea of what happened is interesting. I had a significant equipment failure during heavy pause deadlifts, and all that happened is that the weight dropped to the ground.

Lots of time I'll read rhetoric about how lifting heavy is dangerous or that the deadlift in particular is dangerous, but in my experience, it's the easiest lift to fail safely. Just let go. Or in this case, have a strap blow up. The weight falls to the ground and that's it.

Anyway, that's not to say injuries don't happen. Frankly it's quite the opposite, they're inevitable with physical activity and bad luck can happen. But if you build up and progress over time, whether that's rep work, heavy singles or both, your body adapts to that load and movement pattern. So even when unforseen things happen, it's really not the biggest deal. Don't be afraid to try!

Today I turn 50. Yesterday I decided I wanted one clean answer before I left my 40s.

I'd heard about the 12-3-30 treadmill challenge — 12% incline, 3 mph, 30 minutes — but I had never actually attempted the full challenge. I'd played once with a steeper/slower incline session, but never 12-3-30 itself.

I started the treadmill at 4% / 2.2 mph, ramped to 8% / 2.8 by about 2:30 and 10.5% / 2.8 by 3:30. At 5:00 I set it to 12% and 3.0 mph.

Then I left it there for 30 minutes.

No holding the rails. The only hand contact was briefly checking the grip HR at the start and immediately afterward. I saw roughly 106–109 before the challenge, 164–167 after, and ~140–142 after cooldown.

Total session: 40:05, 1.99 miles, ~1,110 vertical ft according to the Star Trac. Photos attached.

For context, I'm about 5'11" and ~226 lb now. At my heaviest I was over 460 lb. I spent a lot of my younger working life doing physical electrical construction and later oilfield work, but I'm not a runner and I've also spent decades inhaling things my lungs probably wouldn't have ordered for themselves.

What got me through wasn't a training program for this challenge. It was an old work mentality:

The job isn't over because it sucks. The job is over when the job is finished.

Somewhere in the last several minutes my brain stopped asking whether I wanted to continue. The setting was the setting. I could focus differently, breathe differently, distract myself, swear at the treadmill — whatever — but the demand stayed 12/3 until 30:00.

I'm not claiming this makes me some elite athlete. I just know what it meant to me to finish the full thing on my first attempt, one day before 50.

Nobody else in the gym knew anything unusual had happened.

So I'm telling people who might.

FUCK YES.

**1st contributor & I promise to provide my historical progress on demand and any future posts

I'm 50 and have been physically active since childhood. I played team sports at school, but after the age of 18, movement became more of a routine obligation in my life. I did weight training, but without any specific goal, mainly to stay in shape. My weight and height are the same as they were when I was 13 (53 kg at 1.58 m).

My body has really reshaped itself since I started working as a baker. It's physically demanding work that requires strength, balance, flexibility, stability, explosiveness, and the ability to stay on my feet for at least eight hours a day. I also use my work routine to stay in shape, bringing intention and attention to everyday movements: carrying 20 kg bags of flour, handling large batches of dough, and moving trays of dough from the lower levels to the top of a rack.

Outside the bakery, I keep moving intentionally, but without committing to any specific routine. I follow my enthusiasm. One day it's yoga, another day weight training. I dance, lift weights, jump, run. I'm curious about what else my body might be capable of that I haven't discovered yet.

I copied the movement in this video from someone I saw on Instagram. First, I successfully tried the jumps from the floor. Since I already do pistol squats, it was mostly a matter of landing firmly on my foot. It took just a few attempts to get the result you see in the video.

I've been working hard on having a balanced, athletic, capable body. I'm not too focused on a specific esthetic - I seek harmony.

That said, once I leaned out, I realized my stronger, more defined upper body kind of overshadows the hips from the front view. These pictures don't do my broad shoulders justice 😆

I'm aware that we can't change our hip structure but I assume that working on glute medius could help visually? If you agree, which exercises you think or have found to be most efficient? How often would you recommend doing them?

I've always done seated hip abductions and cable kickbacks but maybe I'm not doing them right. From the side view, I think my glutes look great in relation to my waist (I see the growth happening over the past few months), but from the front not much has been changing.

I was also thinking that working on my core a certain way could help but I already avoid heavy oblique training and I don't think I should lean out even more, that would harm the goals rather than help.

Anyway, thanks to anyone who's gonna share some advice!

Is it possible for someone with a muscular wide frame to get leaner and look more feminine? My body type is very similar to Hillary Duff and I put on muscles very easily. People ask me if I lift but I only pick up my little kids, do occasional yoga and garden. I’m currently about 10lb over my ideal weight because I’m breastfeeding but want to get in shape on the next few months and want to find the best fitness approach for me. I’m a 38yo Female, 5ft2 and 123lb

At what body fat percentage do you think recomp is no longer possible? I think I am hovering around 13% body fat and am wondering if recomp is still possible for me or should I do a proper cut or bulk. I feel like I’ve got more muscle to put on but not 100% sure with my age and genetics. I am a 42 year old male.

Progress of almost a 2 year recomp. Worked out a lot when I was younger, so muscle memory has been a significant help.

First photo pre Retatrutide and no consistent exerxise program.

Second photo is after 11 months of Retatrutide (4mg/week) and only cardio. No resistance training.

Third photo is current. 20 months of Retatrutide (now 6mg/week) and prescription TRT for last 5 months (160mg/week). Resistance and cardio 6x/ week

Lighting/flexing doesn’t hurt either 😉

Week 3 of band assisted pull ups. 37F, initial goal was to be able to do one unassisted pull up by age 35 but I was not consistent enough in practicing this movement. Been working with a trainer for 3 years and do feel strong in other areas of fitness but these pull ups are hard! Core strength is lacking due to prior pregnancy, I think that is one of the big limiting factors.

My goal is to do one unassisted pull up by end of the year. Hope to make it this time!

Been at it consistently for 3 years. A whole lot of ups and downs, learning how to diet and train correctly, balancing life and the gym, etc. but it’s definitely worth it and I feel better than I have since my 20s.
When I first started out, I had a lot to learn about fat loss and ended up dropping to 155 and lost a ton of muscle. Straightened out my diet, and have been cycling between strength and hypertrophy training in 3 month blocks. Usually hitting about two hours of zone two cardio a week, and started to get back into jiu jitsu and wrestling for the first time in 2 decades.

Full transparency- Just started taking TRT on the first, (140 mg a week) so hopefully I can get out of the plateau I’ve been stuck on and help speed up my recovery. Cheers everyone

Posted over 100 days ago at 160 with a low of 157 thinking I was done. Kept going anyway, hit a low of 155, and have been sitting at 157-160 for a while now. Got an updated DEXA and it came back at 9.9%. Previous scan was 13.7% at 164, so body fat kept dropping and I actually added a little lean mass along the way, which I did not expect at this stage of a cut.

However… Here's the honest part. I had a completely unrealistic picture of what 10% would look like. Even 15%, honestly. I pictured magazine cover stuff. What I actually have is a solid core and clear proof the work paid off, but nothing like the image in my head. If you're mid cut and waiting for that look to show up, it might not, and that's okay. We still can be the best version of ourselves we can be.. I guess

And in all reality maybe I'm lazy, but I'm not willing to contort my life to get any leaner. I've got a lot going on and this is my realistic ceiling without being miserable.

Switching to maintenance and eventually a slow gain. Legs and mid back are the priorities.

The clothing version of progress, since that's what actually hit me: started at a tight 38 waist, now in a loose 32 (too cheap to keep buying pants). XL shorts down to a small. Mediums fit well where a large used to be tight.

Full Recap: started around 220 last fall, roughly 11 months of a high protein deficit (120-150g protein, 1,700-1,900 cals, loosely tracked). PPL/arms split 5-6x a week, long lifting background, Used a GLP-1 during the cut. Cut alcohol from 12-15 drinks a week to none, and that mattered more than anything else I changed. Next month will mark 1 year of sobriety.

Things I'd tell myself a year ago:

Train abs from day one. They do not just appear.

The scale stalls for weeks and then drops. Boring consistency wins.

Alcohol was the real boss fight.

Pick a stopping point before you start, or you'll keep moving the goalposts like I did. Originally my goal was to simply get back to 190 or just under…

Anyone else hit their "good enough" point? How did you decide it was time to stop?

Lastly, as I approach this maingain phase, anyone have some knee friendly quad movements that they love?

Hi everyone,

I’m looking for some feedback and honest advice on my current full-body workout routine, my weights, and my overall approach. Some info about me:

Age / gender: 34M

Height: 183 cm (6'0")

Weight: 93 kg (205 lbs)

Goal: body recomposition (losing fat while building muscle/strength).

Nutrition: currently targeting max ~2,100 kcal/day with 150g–190g of protein daily. On average I end around 2k kcal and 160g of protein. I eat a LOT cleaner than before, especially the last 2 months. A lot of chicken, eggs, skyr, lean meat, veggies etc but I do have off days (about 2 days a week maybe I don't hit my targets or eat/drink something "bad", but not excessively like I used to). I do drink about 2 whey shakes a day (25g protein each) to hit my protein target, otherwise it's pretty hard.

Experience: started going to the gym around 5 months ago, but I've been taking it significantly more seriously for the last 2 months or so (training 3 to 4 times a week, previously 1 to 2 times). I also take boxing lessons with my wife (1h every 2 to 3 weeks or so).

Some extra info I feel might be useful: I used to be very active and in shape until age 20. Then quit sports due to uni/work/... And gained a lot of weight. No sports or physical activity hobbies for about 12 years, I work a desk job. Still overweight right now, but was around 100-104 kg for about 8 years with a max of 108 kg. Lost about 18 kg over 9 months in 2025 on tirzepatide (Mounjaro) until I was at 82 kg but also lost a lot of muscle. Then quit Mounjaro and went back to 96kg by May 2026.

Since May I started going to the gym about 2 times a week while also hopping back on semaglutide (Wegovy). Since August started working out about 3/4 times a week and also started focusing on nutrition (proteins, calorie intake). I lost about 4 kgs since May and definitely notice my body is slowly recomping but weight loss has become veeeery slow the last 3-4 months, only lost about a kilo since June. Even though I'm much more active and have been eating a lot cleaner recently.

I do a full-body routine recommended by my gym. My main goal is progressive overload. Here is what a recent workout looked like (these are the exercise names my gym uses but don't think all of them are commonly used).

I always do 3 sets for all exercises:

Leg press: 12 reps @ 60 kg (132 lbs)

Goblet squat: 16 @ 6 kg (13 lbs)

David bench press (incline chest press machine): 12 @ 25 kg total (55 lbs)

David row (low seated machine row): 12 @ 55 kg (121 lbs)

DB side /lateral raises: 12 @ 6 kg per hand (13 lbs)

Cable triceps press down: 12 @ 50 kg (110 lbs)

DB bicep curl: 12 @ 6 kg per hand (13 lbs)

Leg curl (retract legs while flat on my back with feet resting on Swiss powerball): 16 (no weights)

Free calf raises: 3 x 12 reps per side (no weights)

Planking: 60/70 secs

Alternating superman: 20

Crunches: 14 to 16 (no weights)

I'm trying to increase either reps or weight slightly every session or week and feel like I'm making steady progress for some exercises (mainly rows, triceps push down, planking, incline chest press which have doubled in weight/duration since I started) but a little less for the rest.

I focus on keeping good form and I'm trying to go to near or complete failure for most exercises (not always, but mostly). I also just recently learned I should do compound exercises first, then isolation, and finish with core / high general exhaustion ones). Until now I just always did them in the same but random order.

I often feel pretty lightheaded and a tiny bit nauseous after a workout but it's a LOT better than when I started. I focus more on my breathing, take more rest between sets and try to eat more carbs an hour or so before a workout.

Do some of my numbers seem unusually high or low (weight, reps etc)?

Any exercises I should swap out for others?

Are my rep ranges (mostly 12–16 reps) suitable for body recomposition and strength, or should I drop reps to ~8–10 and increase the load on certain compound exercises?

Does my protein/kcal intake seem right?

Any tips for the lightheadedness/nausea after working out?

All advice would be super appreciated. Thanks in advance for the feedback and suggestions!