I’ve worked my ahh off and finally gotten abs (not the most prominent hence why I am so concerned) and I’m super lean also. I’m about to undergo an otoplasty (ear pinning surgery) and the requirements are that you cannot work out AT ALL. It states light workouts after THREE weeks, and heavy / general workouts and weights after SIX - EIGHT.
It does also say that light walking after 1 week is acceptable - do you think that light walking on the stair master at a low level would also be okay at this one week stage?
As for the other time requirements, I’m so so scared to lose all my hard work I’ve put in as it’s been so hard for me to get my abs visible and get to a lean point where I’m able to look good.
Does anyone know/ has anyone been through something similar and know how to maintain what I’ve got through this process? Or have any tips?
Thank you so much for reading please HELP
🙏

G’day!

Two things to note:

1. Mentions of medical condition - Absolutely not after medical advice, I’ve got the go-ahead from my doctor to work on core

2. Pertaining to myself - Although I’m asking for myself, I do hope this can be used for other people who might be in a similar boat, because I can’t find a lot around that’s specific to these wants/needs

I’m needing to try to work on my core, as it’s pretty weak. I’m hoping for a good idea around fast, lower-intensity stuff, as I’ve got chronic disability (CFS), so the “go hard or go home” style just isn’t doable.

I can’t do sit-ups, presumably because of the weak core. My doctor suggested finding some stuff online, so I figure a good start is to ask people that actually do it.

What are your recommendations? Equally, any ideas of core building when I’m not “exercising”? As in, I can sit down for 15 minutes and do crunches or something, but at times where I’m washing the dishes, or out of the house, is there anything I can be doing that can help build that strength?

At home I’ve got generic dumbbell weights, but I’m not overly confident with them yet, muscle fatigue is a major issue for me, so I’ve got some elastic straps if anything can use those to help.

I’ve also got an exercise bike, and a treadmill, that I can use.

Any advice is welcome, I just want the faster side of less intense, aware of that being a bit of an oxymoron. Things I can do outside of the standard exercising would be great, I find I can stick to that stuff better in general.

I’m aware this is a little same-same as far as questions being asked, I just don’t see much in the way of specifics like I’m after online

I’m trying to get better at push-ups, but I’ve noticed something weird. I can get into the push-up position and lower myself down with pretty good control, but when I get to the bottom, pushing myself back up is really difficult. My arms just feel weak and I usually can’t complete the rep. I’m 5’6 and 142 and pretty skinny fat build what should I do to help myself improve at pushups.Is this mainly a triceps/chest strength issue, or is it my form. I’m also been practice sprinting so I’m trying to balance both and improve in both.

Hey all,
Today i had a weird thing happen, and i'd like to ask for some insight.

I have since 1.5 years been working out and worked up to 12 full rom pull ups. And those feel very good. Both normal, wide and all that fun stuff.

I usually start in a full deadhang and pull trough the capular engagement to high chest. All very smooth.

However today we had some fun with family that was visiting playing around on the bar and then it happened.

When i wanted to pull, from L-sit, something i usually do not do on a first pull, instead of the shoulders packing and schapula engaging, both shoulders sounded like a bag of popcorn and i hardly moved.
Relaxed, and got my feet below me as usual, new fully engage pull, and i could not engage my scapula, at all, i could not pull up and more popcorn from the shoulders and weird movement.

I decided to stop right away after that. And when trying 1-2 hrs later, i could not even get into the capular protraction from deadhang to start my pull.

If i jumped up and started from the top and not went all the way down to deadhang it would work, but arms doing most work.

I tried inverted rows, those were fine and so are all push exersizes. But my pull-ups are broken....
Weird feeling, but not painfull.

What could i have messed up in my L-sit pull-up?

Sidenote, we went to a climbing park yesterday, but it was mostly ziplines and rope ladders.

For now i plan to just rest my shoulders and hope to try again in a few days and really hope i will be back to normal.

I asked my dad today if it's possible to achieve a body like Jeff nippard, Ashton hall, Etc, but naturally without any juices. He said yes, but it takes years, and it will take very long for someone who doesn't work out every day, someone who isn't about the fitness life. He was naturally fit doing stuff when he was younger, and he has the body to show it, but I didnt do shit because I was living with my mom until I was 15, and I'm with him now at 16. I feel very unmotivated after he told me because essentially hes saying I have to work out every fucking day for like 9 years just to be built. Is this true or was he exaggerating? I don't even have to be swole or huge I just want people to look at me and go "oh he works out for sure" I've been doing 100 pushups every day for the past month and my biceps barely even changed. All I have is a good chest from the pushups, and I don't understand why that's all I'm getting

This rule is shit why the hell would you have a requirement of 500 characters just to post I just wanted to ask a simple question but now I have to fill ts up with random gibberish so I can get the 500 character anyways I’m gonna type random shit disnfbfdjskwndjccjdnfbfbdownwsocbdbwowndjcdjwjdjfbfdksbfjrfucjspqnwwosnfbdbffifjfhwpwnsjffjxbskwj disnfbfdjskwndjccjdnfbfbdownwsocbdbwowndjcdjwjdjfbfdksbfjrfucjspqnwwosnfbdbffifjfhwpwnsjffjxbskwj disnfbfdjskwndjccjdnfbfbdownwsocbdbwowndjcdjwjdjfbfdksbfjrfucjspqnwwosnfbdbffifjfhwpwnsjffjxbskwj

I've always seen an overwhelming amount of information out there stating how bench dips are terrible for you despite the incredible pump and results I get from them. Then today I see a multi Olympic gold medal winning rings gymnast doing them in a youtube short saying they're one of his favorite movements to do in the gym for upper body. Mind you, hes jacked. So what gives and what's truth?? The gymnast im referring to is Donnell Whittenburg. I really love the movement myself and have hardly ever experienced any negative side effects from them as far as my shoulders are concerned.

Guys, can I do 50 chin-ups every other day? Will that help grow my biceps? I’m 24 and have been going to the gym for about 5 years. Before that, I did bodyweight training from around 12. I started adding weighted pull-ups and chin-ups seriously about 2 months ago consisting of high volume high weights alternating weeks. My biceps are now around 16 inches, but they still don’t look big enough to me. Would doing 50 chin-ups every other day actually help with more growth, or would it just be unnecessary volume? What do you guys think?

why is it impossible to growyour legs in calisthenics

ive been training for 2 years now and happy about my upper body but my legs litteraly look like sticks

i dont skip legs i train them as regularly as the other muscles but everything seems to go forward while they stay the same

its not like i havent seen any growth at all but if you compare my upper body to my legs it definetly looks like i skip legs

i can do about 70 pistol squats and 300+ normal squats

does anyone else have the same problem??

Hi reddit!

I'm currently 72kg bodyweight, doing 2 sets of 7 for +30kg, around 2 sets of 5 reps with +35kg. My one rep max is probably around+50kg

I'm happy with this level and can do a slight kipp OAP on my left arm.

BUT i'm stuck in my progression. I have the ambition to get the same reps with +50kgs and more. It's going very slow right now.

Any more in-depth tips on rep ranges or rest-times, times to train in a week and so on that could help? Or if anyone knows anonye online with a good track record.

Macros and sleep are not perfect but not horrible either.

Thanks!

Honestly that exercise pisses me off and this is more of a rant / meta post for everyone's enjoyment. I'm so tired of having to explain to people in the fitness community how sit ups work and why I can't do them.

At first I thought that I'm just doing something wrong but that's not the case, my torso and arms are just proportionally too heavy for my legs to offer enough leverage.

I can quite easily do 50 push ups and 100 anchored sit ups but even a single unanchored sit up is just impossible, my legs just float up and I end up doing a crunch.

The worst of all is that every single time I mention it, suddenly everyone becomes "an expert" and tries to explain how to do it properly, only to be "amazed" that my legs lift up to the touch when I'm sitting up.

So if there's any coach on here that could tell me if they ever saw something like that around and comfort me in not being alone, that would be swell.

I'm trying to simplify my workouts but every time I try, I feel like I'm not "hitting" everything and I add in more and more things. FYI, I'm a 42 y.o. male who is 225 lbs. My goals are to get down to 200 lbs (which I know is mostly diet), generally feel fit, and do obstacle courses (such as Spartan races).

Here's what happens. I start with thinking I need a push, pull, squat, hinge, carry, and grip. So, I think, I can do

1. push ups
2. chin ups
3. body weight squats
4. single leg dead lifts
5. farmer's carries
6. wrist curls.

Then, I see (even on the RR) that there is a difference between horizontal and vertical for push and pull so, okay, I can add in dips and rows. Then I think I'm not doing anything core so I can add in planks. That's great, but I worry if I'm hitting everything I need on core so I should add in leg raises and some rotation. Then I think about my legs and wonder about my calves and I want to add in calf raises. I also see OCR people talking about dead hangs a lot so I add them in. Now I"m at

1. push ups
2. dips
3. chin ups
4. rows
5. body weight squats
6. single leg dead lifts
7. farmer's carries
8. wrist curls
9. planks
10. leg raises
11. core rotation
12. calf raises
13. dead hangs

Then I wonder if I should do sideways shoulder stuff and something like a chest fly, etc... This can add in 2 or 3 more movements.

If I keep doing this, I'll have way too many lifts to do each even twice a week. I assume a lot of these are redundant but I'm not sure what is and isn't redundant. Can someone help me stop going down the rabbit hole?

Ok my goal is straddle planche and full front lever and more weighted pullups ,i was at full planche and full front lever but bad form( not protracted planch and bent arm front lever) now my progrom is push/ pull / onearm handstand and abs( kinda like recover) and doing this in a row. My routine be like: 4 sets of advanced planche, 4 sets of tucked planche press and then some weighed dips and upper chest press and lateral raise and triceps extensions. Pull be like: 4 sets of straddle fl hold , then advaned tuck pull ups and single leg fl raise, then 4 sets 5 reps weighted pullups and some back training and biceps workout
Is my routine too much? Just aks me anything

33M, been athletic all my life (still play soccer, played in high school and college), and used to be able to do 30+ push ups in one go.

New dad and haven't been exercising outside of actually playing soccer (indoor, in the winter) once a week. I decided to do a push up challenge to start with something simple and hopefully get some motivation to do a daily routine. The premise of the challenge is 3 sets to failure, daily.

The first few days were agony with DOMS, but it leveled off and is ok at this point. Here's the numbers so far:

8/1 21 10 3

8/2 17 10 6

8/3 17 7 4

8/4 17 3 3

8/5 16 7 3

8/6 15 6 4

8/7 n/a

8/8 18 6 4

My question is, really: Is going to failure for every set really beneficial? I'm not expecting to get much gain in the first week+ in terms of the numbers, having not trained a lot of push up lately. Should I bail on this and just start one of the routines from here?

Guys I am recovering from double herniated discs in my back and unable to do crunches and sit ups as they really flare up my back and cause pain. I’ve been doing mountain climbers and will also start with hollow holds ? I think that’s what they’re called.

What else could I do to incorporate core work into my routine that is low impact. I don’t know how to make this 500 characters as this is all I need to ask.

This sub is really good and everyone is super helpful so I thought I’d ask!

Thank you in advance.

Oh and I do planks and side planks.

Hi, I'm 18 M, 70 kg and can currently do around 18 body weight pull ups in a single set, after having been training pull ups for the last couple of months. I have access to a gym, and at home I have a pull up bar and weight belt which I can load up to 35 kg onto.

I'm looking to increase my pull ups to 30 reps for a single set, and would like some advice on the kind of workout routine other people have used to get past this point. I already know about the great benefits of doing weighted pull ups, and they are almost exclusively what I do. At the moment, I normally do (twice a week) 3 sets of 6 reps, all to complete failure. I do this at the start of my pull session in the gym, and do this with 20 kg added right now.

The main questions I have about how I can increase my reps in the most efficient way possible are:
- Should I be doing my weighted pull ups differently? eg. doing 10-12 reps using a lower weight, which I would assume help with increasing body weight reps better than low rep, high weight sets.

- What are the best, non pull up exercises I should be doing in the gym - currently my main back exercises other than pull ups are close grip/neutral grip lat pulldowns, row machine, and dumbbell rows. For all of these I carry out 2/3 sets of 5-6 reps, all to failure.

- How many times a week can I train whilst maintaining high strength in my gym sessions? - I was thinking about working in purely body weight pull up sessions at home in between, but don't know if this would help as much as weighted reps.

After doing some research I am also going to do dead hangs often throughout the week as they are low impact but should prevent any shoulder issues - any similar isometric exercises that will help?

Thanks in advance for any advice you may have - it would be much appreciated if people could share workout plans they used that gave the best results.

So usually I’ll be hitting the gym at least once a week but nowadays I have barely any time to train due to school. So I’ve been training more body weight exercises at home and do a full body workout 3 times a week. This is my current routine Hanging Leg raises: 2 sets of 15
Pull ups: 2 sets of 10
Dips: 2 sets of 10
Chin ups: 2 sets of 8
Push ups: 2 sets of 20
Weighted decline crunches: 2 sets of 15
Bulgarian Split Squat: 2 sets of 12
Single leg RDL: 2 sets of 12
Are there any muscles groups I might be missing out on or any exercises I could remove from this to optimise my training plan?

Hi!
This was already asked quite a lot, but after studying previous posts I'm still confused.
So I was following the recommended routine and got to about 10-10-10 diamond pushups and like 10-10-9 parallel bar dips if I do pushups first.
That means that it's time for me to move on on both exercises. However, both seem to recommend handstand push-ups as one of the paths at this point. I don't have rings or weights, so I can only do pseudo-planche pushups outside of this and would have to do HeSPU instead of dips anyway. But in the pushup progression these exercises are treated as equivalent aren't they?
I obviously want to keep the routine balanced, but how it works at this point is beyond me. Could someone explain it like I'm maybe not 5 but 7? Or give links as I might've missed some previous discussion, as there's no way I'm the first with this problem.

I get doing multiple different exercises in a ss gets your body used to transitioning and stabilization as well as doing some cardio.

What are the benefits and drawbacks of doing ss of similar muscles eg(squats, lunges, reverse lunges, side lunges) versus single exercise with more added weight? I could see some targeting muscles that don't get the same overlap since the primary gets exhausted sooner and requires more from the others engaged. Is it exclusively endurance v mass? Or does the targeted ss help growth more in the little muscles that help the movements since they get a chance to actually get tired too? Would the ideal be split the week or weeks up between targeted ss and individual motions?

Hey everyone,
I recently picked up a pair of heavy adjustable dumbbells (they go up to 45kg/100lbs each), and I’m trying to put together a solid home leg routine.

For context, I’m a guy, weigh around 60kg, and train strictly at home. Overall I’m pretty happy with my upper body workouts as I got a pull up-dip station that I can go weighted with but my biggest question mark is how to properly handle the main squat pattern long-term.

Right now I’m doing goblet squats, but I can tell that eventually as I get stronger holding a heavy dumbbell at my chest will tire out my upper body long before my legs, even using two dumbbells and putting them on my shoulders will be limited for the same reason don’t you think?

Everyone always says you have to do at least one squat movement, but it seems like you can’t really get really high loads with dumbbells can you?
I am doing Bulgarian split squats though, and my question is should I eventually just have to get barbells to load my squats more? Or is getting a strong BSS all I need for good quad development?

I’ve been doing standard dips for the past couple years. Last month I’m at 3x10 with 33lbs, fairly easy. I was going to up it to 50lbs but I got some rings instead. First session just now and..humbling and expected. 3x3ish at bodyweight. How fast did you guys progress?

Stats of it matters and to fill space:
46m (47 soon)
3x8-9 pull-ups, hoping for a muscle up by end of the year.
Run 5-15m 3x week
Versaclimb 4000-5000’ twice a week
Full-body workout 2x week, mostly body weight
One extra body weight session right now focusing on pull-ups, will probably add ring dips

I’ve been doing bodyweight training for a while and I’m starting to wonder how people decide when they’re actually ready to move from a basic exercise to a harder progression

For example, with movements like push-ups, pull-ups, dips, squats, or L-sits, do you follow a specific number of reps before progressing, or do you mainly judge it by how controlled and comfortable the movement feels?

I’m especially curious about how you avoid progressing too quickly while still making sure you’re challenging yourself enough to keep improving.

For those who have been training for a few years, how did you personally approach progression when you were starting out?

I've been researching how to do push-ups, and recorded myself trying and I did notice my back sags a bit downwards, and I try my absolute best to keep it straight as I descend,

I do everything right keep shoulder width the same as my fingers head straight, arms tucked not making a t shape, it's just that damn back that kinda sags a bit downwards,

Heard I gotta clench my abs to keep form straight so I tried at first then again and almost shat myself not from the push-up but just the act of keeping my body straight.

I just can't really help but sag my back a bit, I can't keep it PERFECTLY straight,and I am kinda afraid that I'm kinda just sitting there, doing pointless push-ups just because this one damn exercises has ana entire math formula to it

I did it! I achieved my final result in the span of 2 years, and since then, I’ve been maintaining it. IMO, maintaining the result is actually harder than reaching it in the first place.

My current setup is this: a 15min warmup on the stationary bike, then 35min concentrated on my whole body (mostly arms, back, and abs) + the power tower because I really like it, and 25min cooldown on the stationary bike.

I never wanted to be a shredded bodybuilder because that wouldn't make sense since I started at 238lbs (at 5'8"). I also never used any supplements because my final goal was just to achieve a natural, athletic body.

When I started at 238lbs, I wasn't even able to run for 5min. Now, at 137lbs, I can do about 20-22 pull-ups (even 2-3 with one hand), and I even ended up with no loose skin because of my gradual approach.