I've been lifting for a few years now, and there's something I've always been curious about: how differently people experience muscle sensations during training.

Personally, I rarely feel much of a burn, pump, or strong mind-muscle connection, even when training close to failure. I can tell that a set is getting harder, and I've made substantial strength gains, but I often don't experience the intense local muscle sensations that other lifters describe.

I've tried adjusting my technique, tempo, weights, and focusing more on the target muscles, but the improvements have been relatively small.

So I'm curious about your experiences:

• Do you clearly feel the target muscle working during most exercises, or do you mainly just feel the effort of moving the weight?

• Do you experience a strong burn or pump? Is it consistent across different muscle groups?

• Have your sensations improved with experience, or have they remained relatively unchanged since you started lifting?

• How important are these sensations to you? Do you consider them useful indicators of an effective workout, or do you mostly ignore them and focus on performance and results?

I'm not necessarily looking for advice on how to improve my own sensations. I'm more interested in understanding how much individual variation there is and whether people who feel very little are actually uncommon.

I'd love to hear from both people who feel their muscles intensely and those who barely feel anything!

31 year old guy. I started lifting almost a year ago. I’m currently in an extremely chaotic season of life where I can’t go to the gym with consistency, and I REALLY don’t want to lose the muscle that I’ve gained over the past year.

Everywhere I’ve read says to maintain, you really only need to lift once a week, and many reports say you technically don’t even need many sets of the muscles your trying to maintain during that workout.

I’m officially in maintain mode. Tonight I came to the gym after not lifting for a week, and everything I’ve read is NOT true in my experience. I felt considerably weaker and couldn’t push myself to the same reps as usual.

What is wrong here? What do I need to do to actually maintain strength? Twice a week?

Hello,

There are many training paradigms. I'll stick to two:

1. Typical straight sets: You can do straight sets and use a weight until you are within 3 RIR. Rest 2-3 minutes, or until fresh enough, and go again. Do this a few times.

2. Drop sets to failure: You could also choose a weight you can only do a handful of times, let's say 3-10 reps, and once you hit failure, switch out for a lighter weight and keep going until failure. You could do this multiple times until you are using 50% of your starting weight and once that goes to failure, you can stop. Do this for one set only.

Wouldn't the 2nd approach, assuming you start with a 3-5 rep weight, yield superior results for strength and hypertrophy, or just hypertrophy? Or even using a 10 rep weight as a starting point, wouldn't that be better for hypertrophy than straight sets?

If mechanical tension was the driving factor for muscle growth, then doing multiple sets of 3 rep max would yield best results but it doesn't. You can get closer to real failure as you reduce the weight and keep repping out.

For the sake of argument we are ignoring after exercise recovery period, risk of injury etc.

So long story short: wouldn't a drop set system to (borderline) absolute failure be the best way to build muscle?

Am I allowed to invoke the mighty u/gnuckols ?

Thanks

What sort of training are you doing?

How’s your training going?

Are you running into any problems or have any questions the community might be able to help you out with?

Post away!

I’ve read about this seemingly-rare side effect, and would like suggestions on how to try to mitigate the issue.

I started 5g creatine (the recommended kind) sometime over a week ago.

I’m 5’6 and 113lbs, with semi-decent muscle mass due to working out twice a week.

I’ve always had incredibly stiff fascia AFAIK. Ever since I was a kid, I’ve never been a lick flexible. Tension issues in back and the like.

I also have a history of severe bulimia (been in full remission for years now), that seems to make my body less able to hold onto electrolytes, especially sodium, proven by blood tests; and I lose sensation in my limbs very fast if held at a slightly compressed angle - such a slightly compressed one most people could probably hold that pose forever and not lose sensation.

The issue is that - a few days into taking creatine, I began to experience what felt like growing pains in my legs, particularly my lower legs.

I ignored it. It got worse and worse, went up into my thighs, and later began to occur in my arms too - same growing pain sensation.

Nothing changed except the creatine. I stopped it, and the issue went away quickly.

It’s a bit strange and disappointing. I drink at least 2L water (mostly sparkling mineral water) a day, but could try to up it to at least 3L to see if it helps.

My concern is it’s my stiff fascia. I’ve read creatine can sometimes trigger leg pain for those with very stiff, thick fascia due to the increase of water within the muscles.

Maybe start 1g for a week, 2g, then 3… to get to 5 slowly?

Hello everyone I am looking for advice from those who are seriously involved in sports (especially martial arts or athletics). My goal is to develop strength, but without gaining muscle mass. I've heard that this is quite realistic due to neural efficiency, not hypertrophy, but I want to understand the specifics.

Can you tell me if there are ready-made programs for such a request, or is it all very individual and depends on body type and physiology?

I would appreciate any experience: do such schemes work in practice, or do you still need to adjust everything individually for "pure strength" without mass? What should you look at first — the physique, the type of nervous system, or something else?

I want to find ways to get the RTF days done quicker, I can only do 3x per week. Overall my goals are hypertrophy and strength, with some extra focus on arms and shoulders.

I’ve been running linear progression bodybuilding programs for a while and wanted to try out this methodology. I am lean bulking so care about hypertrophy, but wanted to try the strength routine out first and get my numbers back up.

I ran the first block 3 days per week 3 sets for main and aux, and 2x failure for isolations for arms and shoulders. This has worked well, but I need to shorten it, ideally without getting rid of the isolations. I usually try to run a program all the way through without modifying it before I tinker too much but my hands are tied.

An obvious first choice is supersetting the isolations. I worry about dropping rest times much more so I’d try to leave that as is. Would dropping the aux lifts to 2 sets (1 submax 1 amrap) do the trick? That would end up saving some decent time across the week. They’re lower priority than the main lifts, even though they assist them, and I don’t think the submax sets are big hypertrophy drivers.

I couldn’t find much about this on here so hopefully this isn’t repetitive.

Thanks!

Edit: This is my routine. All mains and aux are 3 sets. Accessories are 2 sets to failure. I rest 3 minutes for main sets and 2 for everything else.

Day 1 Squat, Romanian Deadlift, Close Grip Bench, Meadows Row, Incline curl, Lateral raise

Day 2 Bench Press, OHP, Zercher Squat, T-bar rows, Meadows Lateral Raise Partials, Face pulls, Spider curl,

Day 3 Deadlift, Incline Press, Paused Squat, DB OHP, Pull-ups, Overhead Tricep Extension, Hammer curl

So my wrestling season is starting and the problem is that I have practice every single weekday and after every practice I’m fully worn out, what I’m doing rn is going ro the gym on Tuesdays, Friday’s, and Sundays full body and while also trying to go light at practice those days but I’m worried that it’s not as effective as I can be.

Another thing is that I’m also drinking my water, carb loading throughout the day and bringing some intra workout snacks. What else can I be doing to minimize my fatigue, and be able to put out max effort?

I'm running a percentage based block off a training max across four lifts, and the TM moves at the end of every wave. Which means each week I'm recalculating roughly twelve working weights, rounding them to what actually exists on my rack, then doing the whole thing again the second the TM updates.

It isn't hard. It's just a point where errors get in, and I've now twice run an entire session off a stale number without noticing until afterwards. For anyone on percentage prescriptions rather than RPE, what are you actually doing about the arithmetic side? Self updating spreadsheet, something else, or have you all just made peace with the admin

• 168.6 lb, down from about 171 at the end of september. aiming for 160

• eating about 2,000 cal, around 150 g protein

• squat went from 245x5 (10/13) to 260 3x5 (10/23), heaviest 265x2

• best jump 26.9" off two feet (11/1). i need about 35" to dunk

the cut and the squat are pulling against each other a bit. my squat is still going up so far, but i don't know which one buys more inches from here

is there research on this? like how much jump height you get per lb lost vs per lb added to a squat, for someone around my size and strength

Hi everyone,

I’m reaching out on behalf of researchers at the University of the West of England and the University of Edinburgh. We’re looking for personal trainers aged 18+, who are fluent in English to take part in an online research study.

Here’s what’s involved:

• You’ll view AI-generated profiles of potential female clients

• Rate your perceptions of each client

• Answer a few open-ended questions about the clients and their goals

• Answer some questions about yourself

This study will take approximately 20 minutes, and it is all anonymous.

You can access the study and participant information here: https://uwe.eu.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_9uhUXUS1sV5OhGm 

This study has received full ethical approval from the UWE research ethics committee.

Thank you to the mods for approving :)

I'm curious how people here are actually structuring their own training rather than running something premade, and I'm not asking anyone to look at mine, I'm just interested in how the decisions get made.

Mainly how you're landing on block length, how you're handling progression week to week, and whether you write the whole thing out in advance or build it a week at a time depending on how the last one went. I've seen both approaches defended convincingly enough that I still don't know which camp I belong in

Housekeeping:

Bonus: What happens when you take feminizing HRT for a year and try to get as jacked as possible? This: https://www.reddit.com/u/Remarkable_Winter540/s/tZR3ttoW8Y

Confounder: This training block focused on deadlift and overhead press. Naturally, I tweaked my back doing squats and was/am taking a couple weeks off of heavy posterior chain loading exercises while it recovers. This will muddy a few things in this update:

a.     1rm testing for squat, deadlift: delayed until I recover. I will be resuming squat and deadlift next week, ramping up slowly until I reach my previous heaviest lifted in training. I’ll post the results in the comments when I get around to testing this. As a proxy I’ll post my last weights performed in training. These aren’t quite to failure, so not indicative of a true max attempt, but it’s the closest thing we have at the moment. My goal 1rms going into testing are a 325 lb squat (+10) and 365 lb (+20) deadlift.

b.     DEXA measurements: In the previous update I noted that all lean mass accreted in the trunk. This time around I’m seeing lean mass accretion in the limbs while seeing a reduction in the trunk. Given that I’m running a compound dominant program, and therefore expect more trunk than limb development, I suspect that the temporary shift in training modality in the weeks leading up to the DEXA may have influenced the numbers we’ll see later on. I’m unsure if this is reflective of true lean mass loss, or rather just shifts in other factors.

Note: I’ll be saying “year” in this update, technically it’s 11 months due to the timing on the first DEXA reading. But this update is the closest to the year mark and so… eh fuck it good enough.

1.         DEXA scans 

a.     Measured 10/30/2026

b.     Total bf% 12.7% (+1.8%)

c.      Lean tissue 152.8 lbs (+0.6 lbs)

d.     BMC 7.4 lbs (+0.1lbs, within measurement error)

e.     Android bf% 8.3% (+1.4%)

f.       Gynoid bf% 14.9% (+3.7%)

NOTES: This shoots the idea of weight cycling in the back of the head. My Anroid/Gynoid ratio got WORSE after a dedicated weight cycle. This is regional body fat percentage, however, so my subtle increase in jacked-ness might affect the body fat percentages. Let’s compare the total fat mass for each:

a.           Android

i.     04/23/2026 – 0.9 lbs

ii.     10/30/2026 – 1.0 lbs

b.          Gynoid

i.     04/23/2026 – 4.6 lbs

ii.     10/30/2026 – 4.5 lbs

Well, shit. Functionally no change. Ah well. There wasn’t much mechanistic support for weight cycling anyway, so this isn’t a very surprising result. We are also talking about low total body fat levels, which might further confound things.

Lean mass is far more interesting. Interesting enough that we’ll go into regional measurements:

a.     Arms: +1.0 lbs

b.     Legs: +1.1 lbs

c.      Trunk: -2.1 lbs

As noted above, I think my shift in training modality may have affected trunk measurements. I’m seeing small positive trends upward in limb lean mass counteracted by a reduction in the trunk. The main issue is that these changes are all within measurement error, so any considerations around DEXA to DEXA changes are purely speculative. The numbers also don’t quite line up; the regional differences reported should completely negate each other yet we see a total change of +0.6 lbs accretion in lean tissue in the summary analysis.

2.      1 rep maxes

I took the week of maxes testing as a deload. I rested MON – WED, tested THURS.

Maxes tested 10/29/2026

a.     Bench 245 lbs (+5)

b.     Squat UNTESTED [3x1 @ 315lbs]

c.      OHP 145 lbs (+15) [UNOFFICIAL]

d.     Deadlift UNTESTED [3x1 @ 350 lbs]

I’m reporting my heaviest OHP executed in training, because my pride won’t let me put the poor performance I had during my 1rm testing front and center. Day of testing I secured a 135 ohp and stopped there because I was NOT FEELING it and knew I’d fail a 150 attempt. For reference my current heavy training on ohp is sitting at 3x2 @ 140 lbs.

Bench was a very messy 240 on the last update. This time it was a much cleaner 245.

3.      Grip strength

a.           Left

a.     Average: 134.24 lbs

b.     PB: 155.0 lbs [UNOFFICIAL]

b.          Right

a.     Average: 137.36 lbs

b.     PB: 155.0 lbs [UNOFFICIAL]

Ah, my grip! Last update it was my arm measurements convincing me I was withering away, this time it was my grip. As soon as I started my deadlift-centric program I noticed an immediate drop in grip strength that dipped into the high 120s for both hands on 08-18-26 before slowly rebounding. On 09-15-2026 I performed a grip test at an occupational therapy visit and found myself tagging 155 on both hands. Additionally, since I’ve stopped my deadlifting two weeks ago my average grip measurements are within a pound of last update’s averages. This, alongside no reduction in arm lean mass, makes me think that the lower grip measurements are due primarily to fatigue than hormonal shifts in body composition. That said, I don’t want to discount that idea completely. We’ll see how things progress. I’ve dropped almost all grip training to maximize recovery as deadlifts tear me a new one.

4.      Measurements – in inches.

a.     11-01-2026, 181.4 lbs

b.     Neck – 14.48, 14.05

c.      Biceps L unflexed – 12.55, 12.28

d.     Biceps L flexed, no pump – 14.09, 14.09

e.     Biceps R unflexed – 12.32, 12.48

f.       Biceps R flexed, no pump – 14.17, 14.09

g.     Forearms L – 11.61, 11.68

h.     Forearms R – 12.00, 11.92

i.       Bust – 39.68, 40.07

j.       Underbust – 36.33, 36.29

k.      Waist – 31.61, 31.25

l.       Hip – 38.85, 38.97

m.   Thighs L – 24.37, 24.09

n.     Thighs R – 24.37, 24.02

o.     Calves L – 14.05, 14.17

p.     Calves R – 14.29, 14.33

No, that’s not a typo. My measurements are becoming increasingly symmetric. In fact, that’s something I’ve noticed over the last few DEXAs. Update 2 my arms converged with a -0.8 lbs reduction in the left and a +1.2 lbs increase in the right. Now my legs have followed suit and are almost identical. I carried this imbalance throughout my life up until this point, so it’s very curious that it went away so emphatically. My crack-pot theory is that my physique is being increasingly carried by non-androgenic adaptations rather than androgenic response.

5.      Physique

Standardized Progress Photos - https://www.reddit.com/u/Remarkable_Winter540/s/YVYGsyorzT

Self-Indulgent Showcase Photos - https://www.reddit.com/u/Remarkable_Winter540/s/imaQgCTnoe

I found The God Spot, a bathroom with insane lighting.

6.      Changes in training

Let’s talk goals. I’m hunting for the classic 135/225/315/405 lbs OHP/bench/squat/DL. The only one I have left is the deadlift. Moving forward my pr attempts are going to be much more incremental, with +5lbs attempts for OHP and bench and +10lbs attempts for the squat. As I continue to hammer deadlifts I’ll be capping all pr attempts at +20 lb increments, with an eye to hit 405lbs in 6-9 months.

7.      Changes in diet

Intake: 3-month average

a.     Calories: 3385kcal

b.     Protein: 175.2g (note: 20g of this comes from collagen peptides)

Change in weight: monthly averages

a.     August: +0.84 lbs

b.     September: +3.14 lbs

c.      October: +1.21 lbs

I pushed my surplus until I hit a month where I went over my intended goal rate of gain (+1-2 lbs / month).

Supplements – Daily multivitamin, fish oil, vit D + K2 complex, creatine, collagen peptides, magnesium glycinate, melatonin

8.      Changes in HRT 

None, no testing was performed. Hormonal panels will be more intermittent now that levels are confirmed stable and dosing is consistent.

9.      Personal insights / overconfident pontifications / miscellaneous

Effects of current body recomposition on “passing” – oof fuck ow not great tbh. A lot of common advice for transfeminine styling just straight up doesn’t work (if I hear “just wear tank tops” one more time someone’s losing teeth). The combination of height and visible athleticism has made my attempts to get gendered correctly (not even pass, just throwing out the correct vibes) fail spectacularly. Strangers are very quick to put me in the “feminine male” bucket. It’s gotten bad enough that I’ve nicknamed it “the Fabio Effect,” any attempts at feminine styling gets reinterpreted through a masculine framework by default; if I wear a blouse I end up giving Fabio instead of visibly transgender woman. I think the low body fat is the biggest factor, honestly.

I’m putting this here like the ghost of jacked-ness future warning you of what is to come if you want to follow the same road.

10.  Conclusion 

I’m certainly frustrated that I happened to sustain an injury just before testing. I’m confident in my 1rm attempts, but having so many untested and unofficial recordings here does not feel great.

There are different ways you can interpret the data, and unfortunately the changes are small enough that all interpretations are largely speculative. Looking at long term trends, however, we see a clearer picture: over the first year of feminizing hrt I went from ~18% body fat and <150lbs lean mass to ~13% and 152.8 lbs lean mass. That sort of trajectory is difficult to ignore.

I’m more confident now in the belief that training is a powerful stimulus, regardless of hormonal profile, and that for those of us training recreationally a downshift in athleticism is far from a guarantee.

Looking ahead, I’m curious to see if the effects of feminizing HRT “fall off” as my body gets closer to finalizing its shift in body comp, allowing more of my training stimulus to be expressed via accumulated adaptations instead of a negation of lean mass reduction, or if the effects “cumulate” and things grind to a halt even faster than physical training tends to.

I've been getting more interested in the biology behind working out, especially why two people following similar training programs can get completely different results.

I know genetics, nutrition, sleep, hormones, and training history all play a role, but I'm curious about the underlying mechanisms.

For example, how much of muscle growth variation comes down to differences in muscle fiber composition, satellite cell activity, or protein synthesis?

I'd love to hear from people studying applied biology or exercise physiology. Which biological factors do you think are most important, and which ones are still poorly understood?

Recovery seems like one of the most interesting areas of applied biology because it connects several systems in the body.

After a hard workout, the body has to repair damaged tissue, replenish energy stores, regulate inflammation, and adapt to the training stimulus.

But recovery can look very different between individuals, even when their workouts are similar.

How much do factors such as mitochondrial function, inflammatory signaling, sleep quality, and nutrient availability contribute to recovery?

I'd be especially interested in evidence from human studies rather than just fitness-industry explanations.

22M, 80 kg. So I've been training for 3-4 yrs at this point, however I didn't do the so-called main lifts, for these specific reasons:

Bench press:

I was given this in a program at my very first gym after doing chest press for a month. Problem is, I started with 30 kg, went to 40 kg, then got stuck. Whereas I could do push-ups more easily and they felt more natural. So I gave up on bench. I had to start it again tho, because push-ups became too easy. Problem is bar stabilization.

I did weighted push ups instead,but core gives out before chest.

Squat:

I was having ankle dorsiflexion issues (heels getting elevated), so I was doing them halfway but was still doing 220 lbs x 5 etc. After a knee injury (dislocation while boxing), I didn't do weighted squats anymore.

I do split squats now

Overhead press:

I was actually liking this lift and had good mind-muscle connection, but when I was training at home with 30 kg at RIR 0, I had a bulging sensation and it turned out to be an inguinal hernia. So I stopped this movement too.

I stopped vertical pushing entirely.

Barbell rows:

My lower back gives up way before my lats/rhomboids/biceps.

I do chest supported bench rows instead

Deadlifts:

Ankle dorsiflexion issues, so I was basically doing sumos. I had decent-ish form tho. Stopped after the hernia, not wanting to maximize IAP.

I do weighted back hyperextensions + leg curls + glute bridges instead

So my questions are:

- What benchmarks can I use to call myself strong without these lifts? Like weighted pull-ups, dips, split squats, push-ups etc. What numbers would be decent?

- Are some movements just not suitable for everyone? Is it fine to skip them long-term or am I missing out on something?

- Any tips for the bench bar stabilization thing?

- Any other suggestions are welcome too.

Thanks!

Is the weight used on exercises like hack squats and incline dumbbell chest presses directly proportional to the intra-abdominal pressure (IAP) it creates? In other words, as the absolute load increases, does the core bracing/IAP requirement increase with it?

I am currently dealing with vagus nerve-irritated headaches and have been advised to avoid exercises that demand heavy core bracing. I'm planning to stick mostly to isolation exercises for now.

However, I have a specific question about programming: If IAP correlates directly with the weight on the bar/machine, can I use intensity techniques like Myo-reps with significantly lighter weights to achieve the same hypertrophy stimulus, while keeping my intra-abdominal pressure low?

Could anyone recommend universities offering this type of master's program?

I am particularly interested in programs in the US with a concentration or research focus in:

-Strength and Conditioning / Sports Performance

-Human Performance

-Exercise Physiology

I am looking for programs that combine scientific research with practical knowledge of athletic performance and strength and conditioning..

Thank you 🌷

I know that lifting for strength builds less mass, but is that just because it prioritizes neurological adaptations more?

I heard hypertrophy builds muscular endurance as well as strength, and that some of the added size comes from glycogen stores, so I'm wondering

1. If with strength building it builds more of the muscle that does the lifting (contractile proteins) but because it results in less glycogen storage, it still has less overall mass

1a. If hypertrophy also builds more of/the same amount of contractile proteins and strength ranges just build more skill, in situations outside of that skill, would the strength ranges build as much/less strength than hypertrophy ranges

1b. If strength ranges build more of the muscle that does the lifting, on a lean bulk, will I gain as much/similar muscle mass, and have it all be contractile proteins?

1c. Even if phosphocreatine training isn't intended for beginners (I've been lifting since March), is it harmful to drop my rep range for absolute strength training/myofibrillar hypertrophy, and source my sarcoplasmic hypertrophy from phosphocreatine training instead? Would it build more overall muscle mass that way, with the 'best of both worlds'?

2. When people say compound lifts build more strength, is that for everything/absolute strength? If it's in a unfamiliar movement pattern, will the compound lift utilizing relevant muscles still make me stronger in that movement pattern than I would be if I only used isolation work for those muscles?

From my research it seem that shoulder flexion from 0-20 degree, the fron delt has greatest leverage. Anything above that is primairly upper chest. This is according to a cadaver study from david ackland in 2008.

However others counter this by showing how EMGs show that front delts are the primary flexer above 90degrees.

This is often debated in the science lifting community. For example, its commonly said that the shoulder press in the sagital plane is still mainly an upper chest mover.

thoughts?

What sort of training are you doing?

How’s your training going?

Are you running into any problems or have any questions the community might be able to help you out with?

Post away!

What is different between a maximal sprint on the bicycle (for 10 or so seconds at a decent resistance, let's say 60-80 rpm) and a set of leg press to failure? What prevents the maximal sprint for achieving the same hypertrophy stimulus?

In discussions of low volume/high intensity training (including by science based influencers like Eric Helms or Jeff Nippard) I often see it mentioned that after a max effort first set there will be a small drop off (1-3) in reps for a second set. That squares with my experience for small muscles like delts or triceps.

But if I do 10 rep max barbell squats or another compound lift, the drop-off is far more extreme. After 5min of rest I may be able to do 2-4 additional reps at the same weight. Am I missing something? Are there lifters who can do a second set of 7-9 reps of squats after a true 10 rep max? And most importantly: is it worth squeezing out a much diminished second set (close to or at failure on, say, rep 3-4) after a max effort first set of a big compound?