r/xxfitness

Hi, I’ve recently started working with a trainer and he really loves split squats and all of its variations. The problem is recently my right knee has been killing me when I get it down into that dropped position. So much so that I’m really starting to dread working out with him because I know it is going to suck.

If I give myself 2 recovery days it’s fine, but literally acts right back up on my first set.

Are there other alternatives to split squats that are more protective of the knee? I love the strength and results I’m seeing, but I don’t want to injure myself.

My goal is to be able to ride a horse for half a day, two months from now.

I have a business trip to Mongolia planned. Since it is business firstly I'm not sure it'll be on the schedule yet, but there may be a chance to go horseback riding. Not a days-long trek. Just a little ride of up to a half-day hike.

I'm excited because this has been a dream of mine since I was a kid, riding a horse in an open steppe with no fences. I want to try galloping too. I owned a horse in my teens and galloping was our favorite, going so fast the wind blows tears out my eyes straight back into my ears haha.

However, I haven't ridden in nearly two decades. Am not overweight but have been strictly deskwork jobs with no workout/sports/outdoorsy habits. I walk and public transport to work so I feel I could walk all day, but I don't actually have much core, leg, arm strength nor endurance. Also the Mongolian style of riding is to stand in the stirrups at any pace faster than a walk, so I will need thigh and core strength back especially.

Before attempting a gym, I'm working on building a little endurance first at home. Here's my routine:

10-15 minutes warm up with yoga: mainly cat-cow and bridge poses, also practice hip opening poses/doing the splits

60 squats

60 seconds planking

60 seconds air-chair against a wall

5-10 pushups (all I can physically manage at this point)

To wind down, 60 seconds of standing on one foot with eyes closed, or until my motion sensor light goes off lol, to improve balance

I have to break up each exercise, sometimes I can only do 5-10 at a time before needing a break. I get sweaty and winded just from this little routine that barely takes me 30 mins.

I have been doing this daily for only 5 days. Lots of muscle aches. I still have two months and will add exercises (+running too!) and time as I get better. But sometimes feel so defeated at how weak and out of shape I am that there's not nearly enough time in two months to undo two decades of sedentary living and get me in shape enough to safely ride again, especially at the level I used to enjoy as a teen (the dear soul was a firecracker and put me through her paces lmao)

Has anyone gotten in shape enough for an outdoor sport in two months, or is this completely unrealistic?

I’ve been thinking about this since a podcast I had recently listened to featuring climber/powerlifter Natasha Barnes.

One thing she said that really stuck with me was that when researchers compare men and women with the same lean muscle mass, the strength difference mostly disappears.

Which sounds obvious in hindsight, but I honestly had never heard it framed that way before.

She also pointed out that a lot of women simply don’t have the same training history because culturally we get pushed toward “light weights/high reps/cardio” way earlier, while guys are encouraged to lift heavy from the start.

What I appreciated was that she wasn’t doing the whole “women should train exactly like men” internet thing either. It was more: women respond really well to strength training, and a lot of us are leaving strength, confidence, bone density, muscle, and long-term health on the table because we underestimate what’s possible.

What are your thoughts on this?

hey ladies

are there any women in the 80-90kg range with wide hips/heavy legs who can actually do pull-ups? I feel like the only women I see online who can do them are naturally very slim in the lower body

I carry so much of my bodyweight in my lower body after training squats and deadlifts, and although I’ve been working on pull-ups for 12 months now, I still can’t get one unassisted.

It feels impossible, because I get heavier the more I train heavy squats and deadlifts…

feeling quite disappointed after yet another week of inverted rows, assisted pull-ups and barbell bent rows, but still no success!

Would appreciate advice especially from women with a similar weight distribution to me (5’6”/168cm, 86kg with wide hips)

i’ve gained about 12 pounds in the last 18 months without changing anything significant about how i eat or move. I know menopause affects metabolism but I didn’t expect it to be so sudden and so relentless. the usual things I used to do to lose a few pounds don’t work the same way anymore.
the frustrating thing is the advice i get is always identical. Eat less, move more, de-stress. I do all of these things. Something is definitely different about how my body is processing everything now and generic weight loss advice doesn't take that into account.
particularly the bloating is the one that bothers me the most. Some days I feel fine and some days I feel like I swallowed a balloon and can’t connect it to anything I ate or did differently. is this just something you live with or has anyone found something that actually deals with the hormonal side of weight and bloating rather than just telling you to try harder?

Hi ladies! As the title states, my legs can handle more weight but my arms can't supply it. I was doing RDLs today and I usually do 20-30 pounds, but today my usual weights were taken and I decided I could try to switch up to 40 lbs and see how my glutes would handle it. When I was doing the RDLs, I found that though my glutes were activated, I knew they could definitely handle more. My arms though? Shaking and exhausted. My split is legs, pull, rest legs, push, rest. My legs are significantly stronger than my arms and thats part of the reason I'm working out, but the main reason is I want to get stronger in general! (and get a bigger butt lol) Do I just have to stick to 40lbs until my arms can handle it? Or would lifting straps help me? I saw people online talking about the straps allowing them to lift heavier, so I thought it would be good to check here before investing in some. Is that the solution? Or should I just wait it out? I've been going to the gym consistently for about 3 months now, so I am pretty new.

Also I was just wondering if its best to do the same exercises on both leg days, or to do different ones each day?
My currently leg day is
- hip abductors
- hip thrust
- leg press
- RDLs
and I do each 1x8 as a warm up, then 2x till failure
Literally any and all help is appreciated! Thank uuuu :D

I’m currently stuck at 70lbs deadlifts 5’7 120lbs. I did 4 reps of 90lbs today and it was a struggle. I’m making good progress elsewhere, lunges with 60lbs, less press at 170lbs, curling 20’s, lat pull down 80lbs and incline walking at 3.8 speed full incline for 10mins now. All of those are way better than where I started but I can’t seem to make good progress on deadlifts. I’m pretty scared of an injury so I really focus on my form.

Any tips?

I don't take much, just a multivitamin, extra calcium, iron, fish oil, and creatine. But I'm always forgetting. I'd love to just take everything at once at breakfast, but I love my coffee and yoghurt bowl in the mornings and caffeine inhibits the absorption of the multivitamin and calcium/yoghurt does the same with iron. The toughest is probably the multiple cups of coffee throughout the day.

When do you ladies take your supplements? Or do you have a strategy for reminding yourself when to take them?

Hi everyone! I’ve recently taken up boxing twice a week and playing soccer one a week as well which have increased my stamina and upper body/back strength but i’m finding my lower back is lacking. I was doing some light weight lifting and calisthenics somewhat consistently during the winter months but stopped once boxing started. I’ve honestly always had trouble building muscle in my lower back and it’s frustrating. I would really like to have my lower back as toned as my upper back but feel a little lost on where to start or where to improve. My upper back has always been more muscley and it’d pretty broad so there is that but I would like to even it out. I also acknowledge I have a bit of body dysmorphia and a perfectionist mindset when it comes to working out, but I also like to hear from others on tips and ideas I may not be aware of! Any feedback is much appreciated :)

I’ve looked everywhere and can’t find anything recent on this or anything that gives me exactly what I’m after -

Can someone who does/ has done her program tell me how it’s actually set up beyond you can select how many days?

Like are there multiple focuses? Does she focus on one main lift a cycle? Is there glute work? Can you select different things to focus on?

Trying to figure out how she actually runs her programs on the app before I invest and I can’t find anything of substantial detail anywhere

Thanks yall

Hello everyone, I am looking for some advice and/or reassurance. I used to be 147-150 lbs about 3.5 years ago. I am female 23y/o 5’3. Over the course of 2 years I lost 40 pounds, then my mom died and I gained 15 or so back, then I started dating my bf and went up by ANOTHER 10. I now finally went back to the gym and I weight train 5 days a week and do cardio on all five days 15-20 min + Sundays is my cardio day. Within three weeks of working out I am now looking more balloon-ish, and haven’t gone down it weight..mind you I’ve been eating less and trying my BEST to calculate calories (although not always perfect). I’ve lost the weight before and I know I can again, I’ve just never had this where I’ve felt and looked bigger even though I was being consistent. Can anyone advise me on what I should do?

i am 165cm and weigh roughly 58kg according to the last time i weighed myself (which was a while ago, no noticeable changes though).

fitness has always been something i have avoided due to an almost lifelong battle with social anxiety and low self esteem, school playing a big part in that. despite this, i have always wanted to better my body in hopes that it will also better my mind.

i’m almost certain i would be deemed unfit by all means, but it has concerned me that i seem to have very little core strength, specifically when planking.

this obviously isn’t my main issue, but after seeing a woman on tiktok encouraging people to do a two minute plank with her (if they can) while explaining the long term benefits of it, it’s something i’ve become aware of and would like to get better at.

any advice is appreciated as long as it’s kind hahah

I recently started working out, and since I sweat a lot, I’ve been showering and washing my face way more often than before.

I never really had dry skin, but now I feel like all the frequent cleansing is destroying my skin barrier. These days, my face feels super tight after washing, and sometimes it even stings a little.

Right now I’m using TOUN28 serum and cream, and honestly they’ve been saving me because they’re gentle enough to layer multiple times without irritation.

But since I end up washing my face like 2–3 times a day, I feel like I need something extra. Maybe a super lightweight hydrating toner, mist, or gel that I can just toss in my gym bag and reapply throughout the day.

Has anyone else dealt with dry/dehydrated skin from washing too much after workouts? What do you use to calm your skin down quickly? Would really appreciate some recommendations!

so I’m a good 70lbs overweight, out of shape, and am extremely bored with the gym.

I somehow talked a friend into possibly joining me for a martial arts class (she has no experience either, but she’s thin, and in better shape than I am). Many martial arts/boxing places in my area also have a bit of a “dude bro” vibe and that makes me a bit nervous.

Is signing up for this kind of thing stupid? Like sounds really fun, either boxing or martial arts, but like I’m worried even showing up as out of shape as I am is stupid. Like maybe I should lose weight first before trying something complicated.

I am stuck in strength plateau for what feels like eternity now. I've been grinding the same home gym setup, pushing the same weights on my full body workout machine, and my body just shrugs like NAH, GOOD ENOUGH. Seriously I am tried reloading, eating more, sleeping as needed, even swapped routines. I just figured out that maybe my workout equipment is the problem. I got the basic things but nothing fancy like those smart home gym systems that supposedly adjust for you. I heard about varying resistance with bands or eccentrics to shock the muscles out of stagnation, and AI tweaking variables so I no more have to think. This just sounds good, but at this point I'll try anything.

What home gym equipment broke your plateau without making you rebuild your whole garage? Specific models or hacks are welcomed, now really got tired of feeling like my gains peaked in high school.

I’ve been trying to combine cardio, weight training and yoga into one routine and I’m wondering if this is actually sustainable or if I’m putting too much stress on my body.

My routine is basically alternating gym and cardio every morning, then doing yoga later in the evening around 5 PM almost every day. Overall I feel pretty good and yoga honestly helps me feel less stiff and more recovered, but sometimes I start thinking maybe the total workload is still too much long term.

For people who train like this, how do you tell the difference between a healthy active routine and overtraining? Does daily yoga usually help recovery enough to balance things out or can it still become excessive combined with gym and cardio?

Hey I am close to getting to the 100lb club and was wondering and i have been halting a little bit. I am just wondering how yall have reached knew strength goals and different ways yall achieved. any cool and interesting suggestions would be much appreciated.

Hello! I am 32 year old female looking to increase strength and mobility. I am not over weight just out of shape. I’ve been inconsistent for years and have tried apps to keep me motivated. I’m looking to make a change to improve my life and create healthy habits. I can do 3-4 days a week either at the gym or home although I do feel a bit more comfortable starting at home with dumbbells and a bench, and then moving to the gym when I get more comfortable. I’m trying to come up with a full body workout routine or a split routine but unsure where to start or which is best for a semi beginner. Any advice would be greatly appreciated :)

Hey all! I used to love traditional barbell and dumbbell workouts. However around a year ago I was forced to stop as my hips just couldn't handle it. Docs found nothing abnormal, all my labs were good, my form was good. I've found that higher rep/lower weight exercises (like circuits of sumo squat with a pulse, burpee variations, push-up to plank variations, squat to lunge variations) seem to give me a similar burn in the muscles as what I got with weights, but with none of the pain (yay!). I've been following a structured calisthenics program for the past month and promisingly, no upset hips! I definitely feel stronger and like certain muscles, especially my lower abs and the rear shoulders, are activating better than they used to. However I admit I got into exercised largely out of vanity and well, my thighs/glutes are smaller than they used to be! Does anyone have experience using HIIT and calisthenics to build up muscles?

While I can find results, it's almost always men in the calisthenics subs! So I am finding inspiration and knowledge hard to come by. Maybe I am running on psuedoscience but I am convinced that men and women have to function somewhat differently metabolically.

I know the 'burn' isn't technically associated with muscle growth, but when I was lifting it meant I got a pump which thusly meant I got swole.

Edit: I know what a decent PT could do. I have no health insurance (I make about 26k a year)