Grogon

Hey I am kind of feeling sad right now.

I started working out in December 2024 and since then I am consistantly in the gym. I started off with Full Body for a month but got bored and did a Upper Lower Split for maybe 6 weeks and then I swapped to PPL.

I ran PPL 6x a week.

My workout I could just say was (imo) on the lower end (Push had 2 Chest, 1 Shoulder, 1 Triceps // Pull had 1 Vertical 1 Horizontal 1 Shoulder (Face Pulls basically) and 1 Bicep exercise and Legs I did Barbell Squats, Leg Curls, Extensions, Calf Raises and 1 Ab Exercise)

I am still SKINNY. I mean not skinny my chest and belly are still fat and my arms and legs skinny.

What I changed in diet: Increased Protein intake from never ever tracking in my life to 2.2 g per kg bodyweight. I cut out most crap but still it bad stuff cause I need kcal to gain muscle. I try to eat healthy 3000 kcal a day but its hard but I always have my 2.2g of protein a day in me. The lowest I tracked was 4 months ago 1.55 gramm protein. The highest I had was a month ago with 2.9g of protein per kg bodyweight.

I started at 83.9 kg, droped to 76.5 kg (kcal reduced to 2100-2300) and now I am back to 80 kg after I increased kcal a month and half ago to 3000 kcal.

I am still benching only 22.5 kg (8 reps) dumbbells. I started at 15 kg which is already nothing (male, 32 years old) now. I started Lat Pulldowns at about 30 kg now I am at 73 kg (6 reps)

What am I doing wrong? How can a body (again I am a 32 year old male) only bench 60 kg (Barbell Flatbench Press) for 3 Reps??

Its depressing. People start off at 60 kg. I worked my way to 60 kg and thats considered beginner lift. And I cant even do 4 reps lol.

My genetics are so bad I honestly dont know what to do at this point.

Maybe PPLPPL is too much and I am not recovering properly? But its only 4 exercises day. And I dont even feel tired after training - despite not even being able to lift another rep. People say you should feel exhausted after training. I think if Id go back to the gym I can do another 9 reps of my last weight. But I cant do more than 9 reps of something if my energy is gone.

Today I did Cable Hammer Curls (38 kg…) 11 Reps, then 8 in my second set and in my third set I made 6 reps. It wasnt possible to get 7. I squeezed so hard to try to get the 7 but it wasnt possible. I took a shower, came back to the cable machine and did 9 reps of hammer curls with 38 kg. So I didnt train to failure earlier?

I just want to look decent and not skinny anymore. I need help…

Going to the gym isnt actually the problem at this point. I am so ready for my workouts I cant wait to go again. A reason why I prefer PPLPPL over Upper Lower or Full Body cause I have time to be in the gym every day for 1-2 hours (my workouts currently with these 4-5 exercises only 50 minutes per workout though) but Id have time for more if it was worth it.

Edit: Yeah it might look like progress my Lat Pulldown 30 kg to 73 kg (6 reps) but how am I even sure if I wasnt able to do 73 kg in december 2024 already? I never tried it. I just started off at 30 kg. I remember the 30 kg feeling quite hard, but just by looking in the mirror Id say I didnt gain strength/ muscle at all. My wife says I look wider but I think she is just wanting me to feel proud lol. I slightly remember trying to Bench Press the Barbell (20 kg at my gym) and did a few reps and added 5 kg left and right (so 30 kg) but I eventually instantly switched to Dumbbells cause I had no spotter and was alone most of the time in the gym and didnt want to die early by weights squooshing me. But I also never really bench marked my barbell bench.

Also the shame kicked in. Had 13/14 year olds benching 60 kgs while I was just benching the bar. So I made my final switch to dumbbells and started benching when no one was at the gym.

Today the same 16 year old started his warm ups with 30 kg dumbbells. I get it, he is strong asf but he is 16 years younger than me. I cant even pick up the 25 kg dumbbells and place them properly to start benching lol.

Not even judging him, I am judging me. I wonder how unnormal this is that a male my age cant bench 25 kg dumbbells.

Am I delusional or in a bubble? Maybe 22.5 kg is okay and I am just on the wrong side of youtube and the gym? Is 22.5 kg really that bad? lol.

I can't find one, like not one that seems decent.

I only see Upper Lower Rest - PPL Or PPL Rest UL

But they all have a rest day somewhere between monday and friday.

I really need a plan from Monday to Friday (weekends off) cause every second weekend I could end up not going to the gym and skipping that.

So my current plan is this, I structured it myself but I was wondering if anyone could look over it or maybe really show me an "ideal" upper lower split with 3 upper days?

Here is my current idea

Upper A (Full Upper Focused, Chest Focused and AMRAP Chest Press Machine:

1. Incline Dumbbell Bench Press 3x9-12
2. Wide Grip Lat Pulldowns 3x9-12
3. Machine Chest Press 1x5-8; 2x9-12, 4. Set is AMRAP (65% weight, 45 second pause after last set)
4. T Bar Rows Neutral Close Grip 3x9-12
5. Seated Dumbbell Shoulder Press 3x9-12
6. Cable Rope Hammer Curls 3x9-12
7. Overhead Cable Tricep Extensions 3x9-12

Lower A:

1. Barbell Squats 1x6-9; 2x9-12
2. Unilateral Leg Curls 3x9-12
3. Bilateral Leg Extensions 3x9-12
4. Smithmachine Calf Raises 3x9-12 with 1x AMRAP (80% weight, 45 second Rest)
5. Cable Abductor 3x10-15
6. Decline Crunches 2x to failure bodyweight

Wednesday was my Fat Oxidation Optimization Session day, where I'd just do 1 Hour of Zone 2 around 130 bpm incline walking.

Thursday Upper B (Push Day)

1. Incline Dumbbell Benchpress 2x6-9; 1x9-12
2. Seated DB Shoulder Press 3x9-12
3. Machine Chest Press 3x9-12
4. EZ Bar Skullcrushers 2x9-12; 1x6-9
5. Unilateral Cable Pushdowns 3x10-15
6. Lateral Cable Raises 3x12-16

Friday Upper C (Pull Day)

1. Neutral Grip Pull Ups 3x5-10
2. T Bar Rows Wide Grip 3x9-12; 1 AMRAP (50% weight, 45 second rest)
3. Cable Hammer Curls 2x9-12; 1x6-9 + AMRAP (50% Weight, 30 second rest)
4. Cable Face Pulls 3x10-15
5. EZ Bar Curls 3x10-15

Saturday Lower B (which I skip a lot cause of family, friends,..)

1. RDLs 2x5-7; 1x9-12
2. Leg Press 2x6-9; 1x9-12 + AMRAP (50% weight, 45 second rest)
3. Unilateral Leg Extensions 3x9-12
4. Bilateral Leg Curls 3x9-12
5. Leg Press Machine Calf Raises (3x10-15)
6. Cable Adductor 3x10-15
7. Leg Raises 2x to failure

You guys think I could skip the rest day on wednesday and just do UpperLowerPushPullLegs Rest Rest or how could I modifiy it so I don't skip my saturday anymore?

So that was the plan I made like a month ago but tend to skip saturdays which isnt optimal in my opinion.

My new plan in short would be doing this:

1. Incline Dumbbell Bench Press 3x9-12
2. Wide Grip Lat Pulldowns 3x9-12
3. Machine Chest Press 1x5-8; 2x9-12, 4. Set is AMRAP (65% weight, 45 second pause after last set)
4. T Bar Rows Neutral Close Grip 3x9-12
5. Seated Dumbbell Shoulder Press 3x9-12
6. Cable Rope Hammer Curls 3x9-12
7. Overhead Cable Tricep Extensions 3x9-12

every Monday Wednesday and Friday, but changing the order for "A", "B", "C" versions. A would be Chest starting + 1 AMRAP on Chest exercise. B Would be replacing wide grip lat pulldowns with Pull Ups and starting the session with Pull and C would be basically starting with Shoulders.

But is it possible to manage fatigue with 3 full"body"upper days?

Or maybe another question:

Could I do 2 Sets of Lat Pulldowns and 2 Sets of T Bar Rows on Monday but then do 3 hard sets of Cable Rows + 3 Sets of Pull Ups on Wednesday? My Back should be recovered from 4 sets of monday til Wednesday? Then I could just play around with sets (Monday 2 Sets Lat, 2 Sets back, Wednesday 2 Sets Lat, 2 Sets Back and Friday 4 Sets of Lat and 4 Sets of Back) and do this with all muscle groups.

So instead of doing Biceps Curls on Monday, I'd just do them only on wednesday and friday, while I do Triceps on Monday and thursday?

This is really frustrating to me. I also don't see how I could get my volume in by just 2x Upper days. Imagine if I do my day "A" twice a week. I'd only have 6 Sets of Lat Pulldowns and 6 sets of Rows the whole week without Pull Ups.

Hey I am doing PPL Rest/ Cardio PPL Rest/ Cardio and so on.

Instead of a PPL A and B version I went for only "A" to track my reps better.

I noticed I am just not achieving anything. Monday I did incline bench press (3x8-12) and did 1. Set 14 Reps, 2. Set 12 Reps and 3. Set 9 Reps.

I thought I might go up with weight now on thursday since I hit my rep target in 1. and 2. set.

Instead I wanted to try and get another rep in 1. Set and 2. Set and 3. Set but to my suprising it didn't happen. My first set today was 9 Reps, 2. Set 6 Reps and 3. Set I had to reduce weight to even get it up.

I recovered (imo) very well. I am off work, was sauna between the days, slept almost 10 hours a day and ate quite a lot (3.1k+ kcal and 200g+ protein every day). No stress at all either.

So I went to the gym today and this just happend. I wasn't even expecting that much of a crash. My previous plan was even actually increasing weight - thank god I didn't lol. That would have gone bad.

But now what?

My plan is following: Push:

• Incline DB Bench Press 3x8-12
• Seated DB Bench Press 3x8-12
• Machine Chest Press 3x8-12
• EZ Bar Skullcrushers 3x8-12
• V Bar Pushdowns 3x10-15 + 4. Set (50% weight of working weight AMRAP).
• Cable Lateral Raises 3x10-15 (+ also AMRAP 50% weight)

What am I doing wrong?

Hey... I am training a few months and been trying out things a lot.

My thoughts on this: I do one day (strength) focused in rep range 4-7 and one day in rep range 9-12.

Now my big issue with this is basically I can't do 4-7 or 9-12 reps in 3 sets.

If I choose a weight that hits for example 4 reps, my second set will only be 3 reps and my third set 2 reps. Or if I choose a weight I can hit the 9 reps, my second set will fall to 7 or 8 reps and my third set to 5 or 6.

So if I don't ADJUST my weight I chose for the first set my reps are ALWAYS going down duo to fatigue.

This brings me to the next issue. I will choose rep range 9-12 as an example. My first set I do lets say 12 reps. My next set 10 and my third set 7 reps.

The next time I still can't increase the weight even though I did 12/12 reps on my first set, cause both other sets are not 12/12.

But by not increasing weight I can now do 14 or 15 reps with the same weight on Set 1 because I got "stronger". But again, now that I did more reps on Set 1 I still can't do more reps on Set 2 and 3 cause of fatigue from Set 1.

How can I ever get 7/7 or 12/12 if Set 1 is pre fatigueing me?

Choose a lighter weight and do 12/12 on set 1 even though I could do 20+ more reps or what? That makes no sense. But only with a lighter weight I can complete 3 sets of 12/12 or 7/7.

I dont understand how this should work. Choose a weight that I can do 15 reps safely but still only do 12 so I can do set 2 with 12 reps and set 3 with 11 reps and then up the weight?

That would mean I have to do set 1 with 3-4 reps in reserve, so I can do atleast 12 reps in set 2 and a minimum of 10 reps on set 3.

My honest opinion on this after trying it for a few months. I think I am better off blasting my self on Set 1 with 1-2 reps in reserve instead of trying to hit 12 reps in all three sets. Then I use the same weight (if I think I had 1-3 reps in reserve) and AMRAP Set 2 with 2.5 kg less and not do a third set at all.

It feels like, or atleast that is what I think I am doing: trying to prevent fatigue in set 1 so I have enough energy for set 3 and hit my 12 reps.

Im not sure if that is good... it feels like Set 1 is totally wasted cause I cant go "all in" duo to being afraid of not getting the reps I want in set 2 and 3.

Today I dumbbell bench pressed 10 reps with 25 kg dumbbells. I quit at 10 reps cause I knew that if I did 3-4 more I wouldn't be able to do 8 reps in Set 2 not even 6 reps in set 3. So I did 1. Set 10 reps, 2. set I went for 12 reps anyways and my 3. set failed again at around 7 reps. And again I wasnt able to stay in my target rep range of 9-12 cause of doing 12 reps on set 2 instead of 10 reps.

I honestly have no friggin idea how people can do 3 sets of "12" and then increase weight after doing 3x12 back to 3x8 until they are at 3x12 again. Because either I can do 1x16-20, 1x10-14 and then 1x 6-9 but not all three at 12 reps. Heck I can't even choose a single weight for 3x8 cause if I choose a weight that hits the "8 reps" directly I wont ever be able to do 8 reps with the same weight after 3 minutes rest again on set 2 yet alone set 3. It always goes DOWN. 12 -> 10 -> 8... or 7 reps -> 5 reps -> 3 reps... but never consistent reps. Its always set 1 good, set 2 worse, set 3 very bad.

Edit: As a beginner in weightlifting this is totally complicated for me to understand.

I thought Id give rep schemes another try today but it feels like my new approach of doing drop sets feels better to me. I am just choosing a weight with which I can do 12-14 reps, but quit at 12 reps and then use that same weight and work my way down to 8 reps. So my first set is usually 12 or 13 reps, depending on how I feel and assuming I could do 1 or 2 more but still stop. Then I do my second set with that same weight and AMRAP that thing (usually around 10-11 reps) and then I finish my third set with a bit of lower weight but also aim for 10-11 reps again.

What I also tried is just increasing weight after my first and second set are both around 10-12 reps even though my third set is still only at 9 reps. Just increase anyways no matter what the litature says 12/12/12. Because by the time I hit 12 reps on my third set with a specific weight I am basically doing 20 reps with that weight on Set 1 and 15 Reps on Set 2.

But honestly for me as a beginner it is way easier picking a weight that I know I can lift around 13 times, give my best and stop the set once I think I can't lift 2 more times. Or basically just increase weight as soon as I hit 9-10 reps on set 3 instead of waiting til 12.

Hey! Currently doing PPL Rest/Cardio PPL Rest/ Cardio and so on.

I start with Pull instead of Push so I do Pull Push Legs Rest.

All my days have an A and B version. Here is a short list how my days look like:

Pull A: (Pull Up Wide Grip Focus)

1. Pull Up Wide Grip (3x8-10)
2. V Grip Lat Pull Down (3x8-10)
3. T Bar (Chest supported) Neutral Grip (3x8-10)
4. Seated Incline Dumbbell Curks (4x12-15)
5. Cable Hammer Curl (Short Rope, 4x12-15)

Push A: (Bench/ Dip Focus)

1. Flat Dumbbell Bench Press 3x8-10
2. Bodyweight Dips (3x8-10)
3. Machine Chest Press (2x6-8)
4. Lateral Cable Raise (4x8-10)
5. Rope Push Down (3x8-10)
6. Dumbbell Overhead Extensions (3x8-10)

Legs:

1. Barbell Squats 3x8-10
2. Romanian Deadlifts 3x8-10
3. Seated Leg Curls 2x8-10
4. Smith Machine Calf Raises 4x12-15
5. Cable Crunches 5x8-10

Pull B: (Lat Pulldown Focus)

1. Wide Grip Lat Pulldown 3x8-10
2. Pull Up Neutral Grip 3x6-8
3. Dumbbell Rows 3x8-10
4. Cable Face Pulls 3x8-10
5. Barbell Curls 4x8-10
6. Dumbbell Hammer Curls 4x8-10

Push B: (Shoulder/ Triceps Focus)

1. Incline Dumbbell Bench Press 3x8-10
2. Seated Dumbbell Press 3x8-10
3. Lateral Cable Raises 4x12-15
4. EZ Bar Skull Crushers 4x12-15
5. Dumbbell Overhead Extensions 4x12-15
6. Dips 3 Sets to failure

Legs same as A just starting with RDLs instead of Squats.

Kind of afraid this might be too much for a beginner? At the gym since december 2024. But then I don't know what to put out of my program. My focus is actually calisthenics but I'd like to atleast keep the big lifts in (Pull Ups, Dips, Squats, RDLs, Incline/Flat Benchpress).

So yeah basically I want to get a decent body and then full swap to calisthenics. I am skinny fat, so currently think I need dumbbells, machines etc. to grow. I don't want to go full on calisthenics or only machines/free weights, like a mix would be great. I weight 78 kg and 175 cm tall....

Just wondering, cause it seems low volume but I am hitting my muscles 1-2x.

Example currently:

Push 1: Monday

• Flatbench DB Press 5x5-6 (Chest)
• Incline Barbell Press 3x8-12 (Upper Che&Shoulder
• Dips (Chest Tri Shoulder) 3x to 2-3 RIR
• Skull Crushers 4x12-15

Push 2: Thursday

• Flatbench DB Press 4x8-12
• Shoulder Press Barbell (standing) 4x8-12
• Triceps Overhead Extensions 1x6, 1x8, 1x10
• Cable Lateral Raises 5x15

I am basically doing 9 Sets Chest just with DB Benchpress. Do incline presses count and do the shoulder presses count too?

I cant do more im exhausted by the end of my workout and each takes already 1 hour.

For legs I do: wednesday 1

• RDLs
• Bilgarien Splitsquats
• Leg Curls
• Smithmachine Calf raises

Saturday 2:

• Squat Barbell
• Leg Extensions
• Leg Curls
• Calf Raises

Dunno... or should I Stick to same exercises for each PPL day?

I wonder if its bad doing incline bench and standing shoulder press only once for example... but dont they kind of target same muscles?

Hey! I am currently doing a Upper Lower Cardio PPL routine. I was doing PPLPPL but just couldn't add Cardio somehow without being fatigued.

My structure of Upper day is:

1. Back (Pull Ups // Lat Pulldown)
2. Chest (Flatbench Dumbbell Press)
3. Back (T Bar // Seated Row)
4. Chest/ Shoulder (Incline Bench Barbell // Seated Dumbbell press or Standing Barbell Press)
5. Biceps (EZ Bar Curl // Cable Curls)
6. Triceps (EZ Bar Skull Crushers // Overhead Triceps Extensions Rope)

Those are my current upper body exercises.

For Push day I do basically all exercises above (Chest/ Shoulder, Triceps) just the 2. exercise option) So instead of EZ Bar Skull Crushers (if I did them monday) I'd do Overhead Triceps Extensions on Thursday. If I did Cable Curls on Monday I'd do EZ Bar Curls on Friday (Pull)

Is okay for beginner?

Legs I do the same everytime I go:

1. RDLs or Squats
2. If I do RDLs I do Bulgarien Splitsquats, if I do Squats I do Leg Extension Machine instead
3. Leg Curls
4. Calf Raises (Smithmachien)

Can't do Deadlifts cause I don't know proper form. I thinking about removing Squats and RDLs to but then I just suck on leg day cause I am not sure if form is good enough.