36F. Strength training 4 months now, 3x a week, hour sessions. Been feeling great and getting strong. Since training I can tell my body composition is improving in some ways but I’m also gaining weight, like most bothersome is my pants don’t fit anymore. I can tell my waist, legs, and arms are toning/strengthening but at the same time I’m just getting bigger.

I used to do frequent intermittent fasting but stopped once I started training per my trainers guidelines. I definitely eat more now that I’ve been working hard in the gym.

Should I start cutting now and what should that look like? Thanks for any tips or advice for me as a newbie.

Here is my 3-day split plan. I typically go Monday, Wednesday, Friday with an A-B-A-B-A-Band so on...Have been pretty happy with it so far. Have been working out for a couple months and the newb gains have been nice. Still making progress on increasing weight. Am I missing anything?

Workout A

• Leg Press
• Chest Press
• Lat Pulldown
• Shoulder Press
• Cable Lateral Raise
• ✅ Dumbbell Curl
• Leg Curl
• Plank

Workout B

• RDL
• Cable Row
• Incline Push-Up or Chest Press
• Leg Extension
• Cable Lateral Raise
• ✅ Hammer Curl
• Triceps Pushdown
• Core

Hi all, I am looking for a consistent plan to build muscle. Which one would you recommend? Ideally, it would incorporate running too but if not that is fine as well as I am mainly looking to gain muscle.

Hello! I am completely new to working out so I definitely need some help with a routine & what workouts I should do. I am 15, 6’1, and 245 LBS. I am not too concerned about losing weight, I just want to be stronger and healthier- any advice?

42 M, 285 lbs/6'9". I've been losing weight through calorie counting since last September, down from 340, and I want to start lifting to preserve/build muscle. Started attending the gym regularly just last week. However, I hurt my lower back pretty badly last May. I have recovered to the point that I am normally not in pain, but I have to be very cautious when bending at the waist while picking things up and working, or it can feel like being hit with a cattle prod.

Are there some best practices I should follow as I start lifting? Maybe some alternatives or modifications I could try for moves like deadlifts? I want to get stronger but I am feeling pretty nervous.

I saw it advised to try using a leg press machine, but the ones I have access to max out at 350, and that's only a little more than my body weight.

So, I’m 37 yo female, (235lb) I’ve gotten back into the gym over the last 6 months but in all honesty I’ve only been truly consistent over the last 2 months or so. I’m trying to focus on body recomposition and trying my hardest to stay consistent moving forward.

Anyway, I was at the gym and saw a bar that was left set up and was curious as to whether or not I could lift it. I think it was maybe 220 lbs on it. I looked up safe ways to lift and the form or whatnot and I easily lifted it on my first try. I thought, cool. Did my workout and left the gym…

My next gym session, the first dl crossed my mind and
It kinda made me wonder how naturally strong I am. So this time on a whim I set up a bar and lifted 295lbs. I think I may have woken up a new interest. My question is, what is the average or safe starting weight for female deadlifting? Also, I’m not sure if there are any benefits to dl? Also, if I wanted to really get into it, where do I start? Are there programs or something?

Is it normal to get bruising on ur ankles during bss? Most of the time I leave with bruises after my sets and it can range from light to harsh bruises (mainly light), which I know derives from the pressure I put on the bench. I haven’t seen anybody talk about this yet but I want to know if it’s a sign my form is wrong; I try to target more glutes during bss, therefore I move in a back and forth motion. I also drive through my front leg while trying to ensure my glutes touch my heel as I move downward *forgot to mention I use the smith machine

I've been training for about 9 months now and I've always heard that training to 0 rir is most effective, so i started doing it for every set on every excercise

It probably doesn't help that am also doing a full body split 3x a week so am pretty worried that I might get an injury from all the failure training I do

Any advice???

So, it's been a long time since I did any kind of strength training (15 years actually). To make a long story short, I'm starting a 3 day Push Pull Leg routine using only Dumbells (adjustable) or my own body weighr at home. I prefer to avoid a Gym and While they say people always have commitment issues with working out at home, I can assure you I will be an exception. I'm highly motivated.

My goal is to increase my metabolism so that I'm burning more calories during the day (trying to lose the 150 lbs I've gained since my 20s) as well as increase strength. While I do hope to increase some muscle mass (reasonably), it is not my primary intent.

I'm back to being a novice. I have forget my old routine (developed by a trainer in my 20s) but have established a new routine and just want to make sure I'm not overlooking something, overly Isolation a muscle group over the other and I want to avoid redundant excersizes (Also, I don't want to end up with some kind of miss-shaped body). Right now I'm starting out slow (extremely low weight until I establish where my limits are).

Below is what I've established and just hoping to get some thoughts and advice. I'm hoping to do a Push, Pull, Leg routine, 3 times a week using only my body or Dumbells at home.

Day 1: Push

• Dumbell Floor press

• Dumbell Overhead Press

• Dumbell Close Grip Press

• Dumbell Lateral Raises

• Dumbell Overhead Extensions

Day 2: Pull

• Bent-Over Dumbell Rows

• Bent-Over Dumbell Flys

• Dumbell Floor Pullovers

• Either Dumbell Hammer Curls or Isolation curls (originally gonna do both but might do one or the other in order to avoid over working my biceps?)

Day 3:

• Dumbell Goblet Squates

• Dumbell Romain Dead Lifts:

• Dumbell Walking Lunges

• Dumbell Standing Calve Raises

• Crunches and Leg lifts

(or maybe Hollow Body Holds instead?)

Getting a vasectomy soon, it looks like most people are back to heavy lifting 4-5 weeks post op.

What can I do to try and keep strength and muscle mass loss minimal during that time?

A bit of a bummer cause I'm in the middle of a great run, feeling strong but don't want to risk anything getting back to it too early. Thanks.

I’ve been training for about 18 months and I’m trying to switch up my workout routine a bit to make it more efficient and well-rounded.

I am trying to work around a busy work ans family life so can really only manage to train 3x a week:
Tuesday
Thursday
Saturday

Current setup is:
Tuesday:
45–50 mins max, basic equipment only (dumbbells, barbells, squat rack etc.)

Thursday:
60–70 mins, same equipment setup

Saturday:
Up to 90 mins and access to a full gym

What do you guys think of this split?
Anything you’d add, remove, or structure differently given the time/equipment constraints?

TUESDAY
(45–50 mins)

1. Bench Press

* Warm-up sets as needed
* 3 working sets
* 5–8 reps
* Rest: 2 mins

2. Romanian Deadlift

* 3 sets
* 6–8 reps
* Rest: 2 mins

3. Pull-Ups / Assisted Pull-Ups

* 3 sets
* 6–10 reps
* Rest: 90 sec

4. Goblet Squat

* 3 sets
* 10–12 reps
* Rest: 90 sec

5A. Hammer Curl

* 2 sets
* 10–12 reps

5B. Dips OR Close-Grip Push-Ups

* 2 sets
* 10–15 reps

Superset these.
Rest:

* 30 sec between exercises
* 60 sec after superset

THURSDAY — Upper Hypertrophy + Arms

(60–70 mins)

Goal:

1. Incline DB Press

* 4 sets
* 8–12 reps
* Rest: 90 sec

2. One-Arm DB Row

* 4 sets
* 8–12 reps
* Rest: 75–90 sec

3. Standing DB Shoulder Press

* 3 sets
* 8–10 reps
* Rest: 90 sec

4. Pull-Ups / Chin-Ups

* 3 sets
* 8–12 reps
* Rest: 75 sec

5. DB Lateral Raise

* 3 sets
* 15–20 reps
* Rest: 45 sec

6A. Incline DB Curl

* 3 sets
* 10–12 reps

6B. Overhead DB Tricep Extension

* 3 sets
* 10–12 reps

Superset.
Rest:

* 30 sec between exercises
* 60 sec after superset

SATURDAY — Lower + Full Hypertrophy

(75–90 mins)

1. Hack Squat

* 4 sets
* 8–12 reps
* Rest: 2 mins

2. Romanian Deadlift

* 4 sets
* 8–10 reps
* Rest: 2 mins

3. Leg Curl Machine

* 3 sets
* 10–15 reps
* Rest: 75 sec

4. Flat DB Press

* 3 sets
* 8–12 reps
* Rest: 90 sec

5. Chest-Supported Row OR Cable Row

* 4 sets
* 8–12 reps
* Rest: 90 sec

6. Cable OR DB Lateral Raise

* 3 sets
* 15–20 reps
* Rest: 45 sec

7A. EZ Bar Curl

* 3 sets
* 10–12 reps

7B. Rope Pushdown OR Skullcrusher

* 3 sets
* 10–12 reps

Superset.
Rest:

* 30 sec between exercises
* 60 sec after superset

My legs and calves have grown, and am now finding difficulty fitting my legs properly in the hole bit of decline benches.

I've always had big calves even before I started training, but now it is getting to a stage where it is very uncomfortable on the benches that my legs do fit into, and there are a couple that i don't fit in at all.

For the weighted crunches bench, I removed the padding from the bit you put your feet through so there's more space for my legs to fit through, but not all decline benches have removable padding.

With machines like those for leg extensions and hamstring curls, it isn't much of an issue yet, but we are approaching the same territory -_-

Did anyone else have this issue? If so, did you manage to find a solution?