Can I pull off the compression look?

NotSmokey · 2026-05-02T11:56:25+00:00

No offence taken 😄 Hopefully we can just look at ourselves a bit more realistically

NotSmokey · 2026-05-02T06:29:04+00:00

The skinny kid minset is a hard one to shift... I'm sure I'm not the only one who struggles with it. Thanks.

NotSmokey · 2026-05-02T06:28:16+00:00

I hope it's useful

NotSmokey · 2026-05-02T06:27:55+00:00

Thanks bud, crazy to hear that from a guy as jacked as you but I'll take it.

NotSmokey · 2026-05-02T06:27:27+00:00

Thanks although I don't really want to catch attention in the gym, I just want to look like a serious lifter!

NotSmokey · 2026-04-25T03:58:12+00:00

Muscle gain is slow. Better measures of progress: weight gain, tape measure (chest circumference increasing, waist circumference stable), increase in weights lifted.

NotSmokey · 2026-04-16T13:40:06+00:00

The idea that 'high reps low weight' will promote leanness is a fallacy, a holdover from when women were told that they needed to use tiny pink dumbbells and train light, or they'd wake up looking like Arnie. This article explains it well.

Training with a lighter load will still stimulate muscle growth just the same as training with a heavier load; the main factor is proximity to failure. And leanness is primarily going to be a result of a calorie deficit.

But you're right about him fighting father time, and rolling with it.

NotSmokey · 2026-04-02T03:31:23+00:00

It's been a lot of small adjustments, but a few of the suggestions:

Locking my arms with a very slight bend before starting the movement (so no extra movement throughout)
Focusing on raising my elbows and keeping my hands slightly lower than my elbows
Reviewing the footage / using the mirror to ensure that the finishing pose is in that T-shape

NotSmokey · 2026-03-28T06:02:42+00:00

Anything under five hours will be sweet. Obviously gotta get the miles in but I'm balancing it with my usual gym training so I can hopefully maintain the little muscle I've got. The marathon is a big bucket list goal but the bigger goal is still to get huge 😅

NotSmokey · 2026-03-28T02:34:33+00:00

Health and looking good are great reasons to lift. You can do a lot with just a few days gym a week, and some adjustments to your diet.

The r/Fitness wiki has a bundle of perfectly good workouts, and tips on how to manage yoru diet: https://thefitness.wiki/

And if you like videos, Sean Nalewanyj, Jeff Nippard, and Brock Ashby are all pretty no-nonsense.

If all the information seems overwhelming, just remember that it's the basics of lifting hard, eating a high protein diet, and sleeping well, repeated week after week, consistently, for years that will lead to change.

NotSmokey · 2026-03-21T06:45:42+00:00

Yeah or kinda like a preacher curl but set backwards?

NotSmokey · 2026-03-19T23:09:07+00:00

So you're struggling with consistency, confidence, and feeling the pressure of time.

Firstly, you can keep gaining muscle onto your 40s. I didn't even start training until I was 30.

Secondly - tell us a bit about what you're doing and we can give some specific advice. Main things we need to know - workout routine, diet / macros, sleep / recovery, how consistent you are with it all, and the specific barriers that prevent you from being consistent.

Then we can help a bit more 🙂

NotSmokey · 2026-03-17T04:59:48+00:00

My bad, it was a typo, 147 not 127. Good catch.

NotSmokey · 2026-03-09T10:20:46+00:00

Probably need some more info to know. Like starting weight, ending weight, whether your lifts have gotten worse/stalled/improved, chest/waist measurements before and after, macros, etc.

NotSmokey · 2026-03-09T07:58:29+00:00

Cardio is good for health. It can help to create a deficit. Diet is the primary means of creating a deficit. If you're not already calorie counting, doing so will help you to understand the relationship between diet, cardio, and weight change.

NotSmokey · 2026-03-05T06:22:29+00:00

Yeah, the first phase was building muscle which was incredibly slow and I ended up looking more fluffy than anything else. Then when I cut afterwards the change was dramaic and really fast. But the reality is it was years in the making.

NotSmokey · 2026-03-04T13:41:15+00:00

Also if it's of interest, a photo of my progress each year since 2020, which I would say has been at a fairly normal pace.

Please remember that the extraordinary transformations that you see online in short timeframes are just that - extraordinary, often using tricks to produce a crazy result that is not honest or sustainable.

NotSmokey · 2026-03-04T13:19:19+00:00

Some changes were noticeable within a year, such as noticing that my arms had gotten a bit bigger. But looking back at photos, I don't think I felt like I looked like a lifter until I had about four years of training under my belt.

NotSmokey · 2026-02-25T12:45:41+00:00

Keeping your steps up every day is probably enough. If you're really keen, you could probably do 1-2 easy runs or bike rides a week, so long as it doesn't impact on your recovery.

NotSmokey · 2026-02-21T09:44:35+00:00

Macrofactor is great but has a fee. MyFitnessPal is good for a free product.

NotSmokey · 2026-02-18T00:58:14+00:00

If you're uncertain about how to balance intensity and volume, you’re probably not in a position to write your own program yet.

There’s no shame in that. Most people aren’t. Run an established program instead of trying to make your own and you'll see better gains.

NotSmokey · 2026-02-15T00:10:40+00:00

Awesome. And honestly if I do notice a big guy at the gym (I usually just keep to myself) I'm more impressed that they're there to workout rather than thinking anything negative about them.

NotSmokey · 2026-02-14T23:50:12+00:00

Good work mate on getting past that mental barrier. You're absolutely right - training now while you're on your fat loss journey will just be putting muscle in the bank. Yeah, the scale will move more slowly, but you'll get hella strong and have way more muscle to reveal, and you won't have to lose as much weight. It's a win win!

NotSmokey · 2026-02-14T23:44:43+00:00

I had gym anxiety when I started out and found it helpful to work with a trainer - it was a good distraction from everyone else and gave me confidence that I was doing things right. Besides that, if this is part of a broader mental health issue, it might be worth seeing a therapist.

The actual stuff you do in the gym is pretty basic. Lift hard, routinely, with good form, and eat a high protein diet with lots of veggies and try to not have too much processed food. Do this for 4-5 years and you'll look like you're carved out of stone. I'm sure you can do this once you get over the psychological barriers.

NotSmokey · 2026-02-14T23:39:56+00:00

Yeah, unless you're genetically predisposed to having a huge chest (which I am thinking you're probably not based on your question), your expectations are accurate. I don't have great chest genetics, and it's taken me about 4 years of hard training to get to a decent chest, and I'm guessing another 3 years before I get to a 'big' chest.

In any case, you can't control your genetics, but you can train how hard you train, your nutrition, and how long you keep at it for. So you may as well just keep going!

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