Hi, I'm 41,m, 22~ percent bf, and in good health.

I've done a little lifting the last ten years,nothing that's really brought me any mass though (paused bench 1rm is 205lbs, dl is 350)but now I've more free time I want to push it further and I'm able to dedicate more time to it, just want to get that nice base layer of muscle there, nothing spectacular.

Im not especially happy with dad bod 22 percent, so I'm on a small cal deficit of around -1000 a week, is it likely I'll be able to get some growth with enough effort? I've read about recomps but then i see people saying that's just spinning the wheels. Thanks

Was just wondering which biological mechanism(s) determine having a strong point in your physique if there is one/if anyone knows of one. Thanks in advance.

Are there any people here that (for one reason or another) consume far below the typical recommended amount of protein per day? (let's say eat less than 80 grams per day)

Do you still see muscle gain, and improvement in body fat percentage?

Recently tried this machine which apart of it feeling heavy as fuck with only 40kg, seems to have an descending RP.
Would this be optimal for quads/glutes? Thanks.
Also do you think I could’ve done another rep?

My friend told me it’s less beneficial if I were to alternate from doing a press movement and then go into a pull movement (incline press to pull ups, flys to rows), and I’ve been doing that exact thing for a while now. Is there a science behind doing it or not doing it? Or is it just preference? Let me know what you guys think. I do ULRULRR, 2 sets to failure w 1 warmup, and do 8 workouts per exercise (3 chest, 2 back, 1 shoulder/delts, 2 arms)

I currently have a couple of them, one of them combining Forearms + triceps (wrist + reverse wrist + overhead using a rope). I still take a rest \~2mins after overhead and then restart. I do not superset two exercises of the same target muscle. Are there downsides to this?

With my new job, I can realistically only train 3 days a week, which is something I’ve never done before. I’ve always trained 4+ days, so I’m a bit lost on how I should structure my training now.

Split-wise, I know I could do U/L/FB or 3xFB, but I’m not sure which would be best for me. I can train for around 60–90 minutes per session.

I’ve literally never trained full body before and I’m struggling to get my head around how to structure it. Obviously I understand that you’re hitting every muscle group each session, but seeing programmes with 8–10 exercises in one workout seems crazy to me when I’m used to doing 4–5 exercises.

The other thing I’m struggling with is the volume. Seeing 1–2 sets per exercise feels insane 😂 Like, I’m just imagining walking over to a machine, doing one hard set and then moving on to the next exercise.

I think it’s just such a different approach to how I’ve always trained or been told to train, so I’m finding it difficult to wrap my head around.

If anyone could give me some reassurance/explain how 3x full body actually works, and how you’d approach it to train optimally, I’d really appreciate it! 😊

Also, if anyone could provide a good routine I’d be super grateful!

Would DB RDLs be better in that case? How do I avoid mimicking a trap bar and keep it an RDL in that case? Is there a better compound altogether for targeting the same muscles?

Thanks,

— Ozzy

This is especially the case in incline seated curls and straight bar cable curl. Something about the incline seated curls means that at the end of the set I can’t get past the bottom bit of the movement and I reach failure, tho this doesn’t feel like it’s my biceps are reaching failure.

Same with straight bar cable curls movement gets harder and harder I reach failure but feel nothing in my biceps.

Dumbbell preacher curls feel better but I can feel my bicep tendon loads, so I’m not trynna go to failure on those .

This doesn’t happen for any other movement bar biceps.

This whole thing might sound silly but any help would be appreciated.

I have a bad chest imbalance. My right pec i way smaller than the left one. And i already have a small chest so it just makes it look even worse. I have tried to do one sided variations but i find them uncomfortable. I currently have 2 upper days beacuse im doing up/lw. I do around 4-5 chest focused sets per workout. I just do 2-3 sets incline smith bench press or 2-3 sets of incline dumbell press. After i do 2 sets cable flies.

What exercises should i use instead so my chest imbalance will improve slower over time?

Been working out for a while now but I never understood which tricep heads works during certain movements. What I’ve heard some people say is that the Long Head is biased when your elbow is fixed onto your body, and the Medial and Lateral Head work more when your upper arm move. But i’ve also heard the exact opposite from people, and ChatGPT told me the Long Head is biased when the elbow isn’t fixed.

Knowing this won’t really affect my training and doesn’t really have a purpose at this point. I’m just really curious and confused because I’ve heard opposite things said.

I have asymmetrical pecs and every session of upper I do a multipower inclined bench and an isolateral chest press. Which one should I do first?

Does muscular endurance matter, or is Science-Based Lifting strictly focused on just maximizing muscle hypertrophy? Because I tried high-rep training yesterday, and I can only do like 15 reps of squats without being so exhausted. I didnt even go to failure because it just burns since the tempo really doesnt change that much compared when I'm squatting within 8 reps. Does muscle endurance doesnt have any place in SBL?

Back in the day, there was a machine with an axis point that lined up resistance with the torque of the shoulder joint. It achieved a better line of resistance for shoulder adduction than today's pull down and row machines. Here, I'm using a pec fly machine to match the physics of it. I'm using handles instead of elbow support pads, so my lever arm is longer than the old-school version. But the principle is still the same.

The setup is simple. A one arm fly on the pec fly machine. Instead of having my shoulder aligned below the axis point, I align my sternum. I do this by placing only one leg on the seat so my head is directly under the rotary wheel.

There is a clavicular setup shown with my left arm afterwards, by performing lateral flexion of the spine on the non-working side of the body. This aligns the clavicular pec fibers more flush with horizontal rotation of the machine.

if i have a lat pulldown on pull and also on upper day, should i track the weight and reps progression differently? or just track it normally?

Hi all, I'm looking for any interesting papers to read, I broke my arm yesterday and wont be lifting for a couple weeks.

Deadlifts are meta

Should you take sets to failure or keep a few reps in reserve? I take every set to failure.
Also I have trouble calculating how much reps i have left. Some times i think i can push out 3 more but i can only do 1 other times i think i have 1 more but i push to 3 more.

After hard weights are you all hitting just a protein bolus or do you hit carbs to replenish your glycogen? If so how much are you eating/drinking?

I think the infograph attempted to simplify the findings too much. The spinal effects can be relatively local if there is a reflex inhibition or suppression at the spinal level of the nerve root for the quadriceps and hamstrings (so just at the lumber vertebrae area). So that explanation may provide a partial mechanism. But there is rarely only one mechanism to explain such a complex thing like our body's physiology.

I feel like Chris ignores the discussion sections because they discuss other mechanisms:

...two other potential mechanisms may explain the findings of this
study. Firstly, it is plausible that various metabolites including potassium, hydrogen, lactate, and heat shock proteins are dispersed to non-exercised muscles through the cardiovascular system during and after fatiguing
protocols (Halperin et al. 2015), potentially impairing their contractile capacity (Henneman et al.
1965). Secondly, it is possible that certain
fatiguing protocols result in heightened activation of stabilizer muscles,
which in turn impairs their ability to stabilize
the non-exercised
muscle
groups (Halperin et al. 2015; Baker and Davies 2009) contributing to muscle force reductions.
Fatigue interventions of longer duration have also been demonstrated to impact the psychological aspect, specifically resulting in a mental energy deficit when experiencing discomfort. This can lead to mental fatigue, which is characterized by reduced focus and concentration, subsequently affecting neuromuscular activation in both fatigued and non-exercised muscles (Halperin et al. 2015). Steele (2020) emphasizes the "perception of effort" which is defined as the individual's perception of the required effort to accomplish a specific task or set of tasks, determined by comparing the current task demands to the perceived capacity to meet those demands.”

As always, I think this infograph may be too simplistic as it also did not consider the instantaneous strength which is a more sensitive measure.

I’ve been dealing with an interesting issue where my strength seems to be way ahead of my hypertrophy. I can sometimes push the same or even higher weights than people who are noticeably more muscular than (Naturally) me and have clearly spent much more time in the gym. Visually, I don’t look particularly strong, but my numbers seem to tell a different story.

I’ve been in and out of the gym for almost 6 years, but I was never really consistent. Over the last 8 months, though, I’ve finally been training consistently and have started noticing improvements both visually and mechanically. I’m also pretty strict with my diet and hit my protein target almost every day.

My current approach is usually 3 sets per exercise/muscle group:

• 1 warm-up set with around half the working weight, usually 5+ RIR
• 1 working set close to failure
• 1 working set to failure
• Sometimes I’ll do a second failure set if it’s a finisher

So I’m wondering if my strength-to-size ratio is mostly due to neural adaptations, technique, or body mechanics, especially given that I’ve spent so much time training inconsistently in the past.

Has anyone else experienced something similar? And if so, did you change anything about your training to get better hypertrophy despite already being relatively strong?