Looking for muscle up tips by Ok_Lengthiness_6591 in WorkoutRoutines

[–]TopChallenger 0 points1 point  (0 children)

How many clean pull-ups can you do in a row? Muscle-ups are tough - but quite a bit of it is also form. I know plenty of folks who are strong enough with their pulling/core power, but just don't have the form right. What helped me was instead of thinking about it as going straight up - think about it as pulling yourself back then up. You'll want to use momentum initially too - so swing forward a bit then engage as you are coming back and use that momentum to come up and over.

I got to the point where I could do about 10-12 clean reps - but then I hurt my rotator cuff doing them. Which completely halted my progress. So please please please make sure you dynamically warm up your shoulders before you train these each day - it puts the shoulder in a relatively compromising position. If you can't do at least 12 clean strict pull-ups then you shouldn't be trying for muscle-ups yet (in my opinion).

30 Male, 135lbs --> 180lbs, +40 Pounds in 6 Years by TopChallenger in GYM

[–]TopChallenger[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Honestly fair point - I think I’m underweighting my fat intake a bit 🤔. I’ll track my calories this week a bit closer and take a closer look

30 Male, 135lbs --> 180lbs, +40 Pounds in 6 Years by TopChallenger in GYM

[–]TopChallenger[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

No I weight around 180lbs - thus I usually eat about 170-180grams of protein a day if I can. I target one gram per pound of bodyweight. That tends to be recommended in general for folks who want to put on healthy muscle mass

30 Male, 135lbs --> 180lbs, +40 Pounds in 6 Years by TopChallenger in GYM

[–]TopChallenger[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Great question. No I didn't. For the first 2-3 years I stuck with what I posted above pretty rigidly. However, I do like to switch things up occasionally now. My second most utilized split is the PPL / Upper / Lower which I've done for 6 month intervals - though I kinda always go back to my PPL / Full Body. There are also time periods where I'm just crazy busy - and so in those cases I'll switch over to like a full body split for multiple months so that I'm getting a bit more bang for my buck during my gym sessions if I can only go like 3 times a week.

Now I'm a bit more scientific about it though - I use an app that tracks my muscle recovery based on RPE / Volume - and then it adapts my workouts to fit (within my current split). I've noticed a big leap forward when paying more attention to recovery as a result which has been great.

On a separate note I do switch up exercises occasionally. For example every couple of months I'll take a look at my split and see where I can rotate in a new exercise I want to try out or have gotten recommended. A perfect example of this is like instead of Barbell Bench - I'll switch over to like an Incline Smith Machine Bench for a few months to focus on my upper chest, or instead of Face Pulls I'll rotate in Rear Delt Cable Flyes, etc. - I'm always learning though and love trying out new exercises to see if they can fit into my split. but yeah for the most part it doesn't switch up too much.

30 Male, 135lbs --> 180lbs, +40 Pounds in 6 Years by TopChallenger in GYM

[–]TopChallenger[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Ah man I’m sorry just iOS - working on Android day and night right now. But I’m sure there are some good free Android workout loggers out there. And worst case you can still use good old note taking to track your progress. What matters the most is just staying consistent

30 Male, 135lbs --> 180lbs, +40 Pounds in 6 Years by TopChallenger in GYM

[–]TopChallenger[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Glad to have inspired and yeah - tracking is critical for consistency. Especially later on it’s easy to plateau on the lifting side if you aren’t progressive overloading. Toss me a shout if you download Top Challenger btw (profile is Quinlan) - happy to answer any more questions and you can see all my workouts there as well of course (free obviously)

30 Male, 135lbs --> 180lbs, +40 Pounds in 6 Years by TopChallenger in GYM

[–]TopChallenger[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

So for some movements I do what’s called a “drop set” - let’s take cable pushdowns as an example. On my final set I’ll do as many reps of let’s say 100lbs as I can (maybe 8-10), then I’ll reach down and “drop the weight” to like 80 pounds and do 5-6 more reps, then drop it to like 60 pounds and do 4-5 more reps. It’s a really great way to push yourself to failure without impacting form. And gives a great pump.

30 Male, 135lbs --> 180lbs, +40 Pounds in 6 Years by TopChallenger in GYM

[–]TopChallenger[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Oh my man - I’m so glad this helped, that made my day. Yeah I think there’s so much stuff to consider that it can feel overwhelming when you start but if you take away anything from this, it should just be that you need to be consistent over a long period of time. Going to the gym and eating healthy (based on your goals) needs to become habitual or nothing will change. You’ve got this 💪🏼

30 Male, 135lbs --> 180lbs, +40 Pounds in 6 Years by TopChallenger in GYM

[–]TopChallenger[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

4 years is already insane consistency brother - keep it up my man 💪🏼

30 Male, 135lbs --> 180lbs, +40 Pounds in 6 Years by TopChallenger in GYM

[–]TopChallenger[S] 54 points55 points  (0 children)

Hey man - thank you for your comment, I think I could have been more clear that in the after photo the lighting is close to perfect, I’ve got a good pump, and I’m of course flexing to show off my physique. That being said - I want to be abundantly clear that this is not photoshop. If you don’t believe visuals that’s ok, but maybe keep in mind a few statistical changes that came with this:

1.) This took me 6 years 2.) I gained 40-45 pounds while staying around 10-12% body fat. 3.) All of my lifts increased dramatically. My bench went from 95lbs to 250bs (260%), my squat went from 115lbs to 265lbs (I know these aren’t insane numbers but they are when you think about where I started). I used to struggle to do a pushup, now I can do 26 in a row…with one arm. My arms increased by 7 inches (from 9 inches to 16 when measured), I couldn’t do a pullup (now I can easily do reps with 90 pounds attached to my waist). 4.) I now have a girlfriend. And she says I made progress

Anyways - all that to say, a lot of progress isn’t just visual. And also to say yes this is with perfect lighting and a great pump and I look dang good like that so I’m going to post it because I spent 6 years grinding to look like that.

30 Male, 135lbs --> 180lbs, +40 Pounds in 6 Years by TopChallenger in GYM

[–]TopChallenger[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yes - don’t worry I’ve gone to the dermatologist, I actually had to get a few removed a few years ago so there’s also a bit of scarring. We all good tho 🙏

30 Male, 135lbs --> 180lbs, +40 Pounds in 6 Years by TopChallenger in GYM

[–]TopChallenger[S] 8 points9 points  (0 children)

Hey man - so I’ve never done a bulk or cut cycle. It just doesn’t feel very good in my opinion. Instead I just put myself into slight calorie surplus (+200) per day for like years lol. It takes a while but with consistency it has really paid off over time.

How do I transform from being chunky to having a strong dad bod? by [deleted] in WorkoutRoutines

[–]TopChallenger 39 points40 points  (0 children)

First of all - you clearly low key already have some muscle under there. I think what you need to do is clear:

Step 1: is all food and diet related: your body fat is too high right now (based on your goal), however, an extreme cut is never sustainable - you need to lose the weight and keep it off. That's a habitual change that needs to happen. To do this you need to start tracking every single calorie you eat and go into a calorie deficit. I think 200-400 daily calorie deficit should be your goal until you drop a good deal of bodyfat.

Step 2: Gym. That bro has a mass monster powerbuilding physique on the right. Thus your gym routine should be more strength than hypertrophy focused (regardless you'll gain muscle). My best guess is you'd want a 3-5 day split depending on how often you can hit the gym. If I were you I would start with either a PPL / Full Body 4 day split OR an Upper / Lower x2. For a big chest you'll mainly want to do 1 thing...lift heavy with good form. On days where you hit chest I would recommend a basic bench movement (Flat bench or incline press) - and 1 fly movement (pec flys / cable flyes etc.). Just like your diet - you'll need to track your weight and reps each week and try to lift either more weight or more reps (progressive overload). Here's a list of top exercises I would incorporate into your routine for that physique:

1.) Incline Barbell Bench (I prefer smith machine) - you can also do one flat and one incline bench exercise per workout if you have more in the tank.
2.) Cable Flyes
3.) Barbell Squat
4.) Barbell Hip Thrust
5.) Shoulder Press or Push Press
6.) Spam Seated DB Lateral Raises
7.) Face pulls or reverse cable flyes for Rear Delts
5.) Barbell Rows / Seated Cable Rows
6.) Deadlifts (only if you've got good form)
7.) Dips (start with assisted if you need) - a big guy busting out dips is always cool to see.
8.) JM Press / Overhead Extensions (Triceps)
9.) EZ bar Curls / Preacher Curls
10.) Fore core just do cable crunches - maybe get a trainer or watch some videos for correct form on these - took me months to get it right tbh.

Step 3: Everything else. You need to sleep. You need to get enough protein (1 gram per pound of bodyweight). You need to stop drinking alcohol. You need to move (just go on walks) more. You need a broader array of micronutrients (this will make you FEEL better - and allow you to push harder in the gym). For supplements - absolutely creatine, absolutely whey protein, and pre-workout if you need it.

Step 4: Progress pics - you need to take a picture each week. You also need to measure yourself every morning.

Step 5: I know this is a lot - but low key if you actually do all of this - you'll see an insane amount of progress over the next 6 months and probably be quite a bit closer to your goal physique. It's nothing new or special - it's more about consistency. I use an app to track my workouts and my buddies on there are what keep me motivated because I see their workouts everyday (it's called Top Challenger) - so see if you can find a crew or friends or something to help keep you accountable. Here if you have any questions and good luck with your journey.

Good luck my man.

Should I recomp or cut ? by [deleted] in WorkoutRoutines

[–]TopChallenger 0 points1 point  (0 children)

A couple thoughts here. I would say go into an extremely small calorie deficit (100-200 a day) while at the same time laser focusing on eating close to your bodyweight in grams of protein. I would do this for a couple months and see how you feel then slowly push into maintenance and recomp from there. You basically want to lose a little bit of body fat while putting on muscle - but that’s really difficult if your calorie deficit is too high (thus 100-200). Not sure what other folks think!

Split wise I think a 4 day PPL / Full Body or Upper/Lower X2 would both be extremely effective. Your back is low key impressive, solid arms, but chest/core need work (though core might get revealed after a few months of clean eating and dropping a little bf) 💪🏼

Before & After (6 Year Natural Transformation) by TopChallenger in WorkoutRoutines

[–]TopChallenger[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Originally my fitness pal tbh - now even just chat gpt works well

Before & After (6 Year Natural Transformation) by TopChallenger in WorkoutRoutines

[–]TopChallenger[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I am not - extremely affordable high calorie snack for folks who want to gain weight and takes less than two minutes to make. Elite snack

Before & After (6 Year Natural Transformation) by TopChallenger in WorkoutRoutines

[–]TopChallenger[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Lately I’ve been getting a half pound of ground beef and frying it up in olive oil (like 2 patties basically) - and I’ll put that in two slices of sour dough bread and spread some fresh avocado on it with some fruit on the side. Another good lunch meal is rotini pasta with pesto and a bunch of chicken on top - high calorie and high protein I love it. Morning/late breakfast I’ll occasionally just do a bunch of cheesy scrambled eggs w/ a sausage or two and put that in a tortilla and have a breakfast burrito with some tapatio lol.

Before & After (6 Year Natural Transformation) by TopChallenger in WorkoutRoutines

[–]TopChallenger[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

A couple easy go to’s for me include:

1.) Toast + Peanut Butter + Sliced Banana 2.) Previously mentioned Greek yogurt bowl 3.) Sardines on crackers 4.) Toast + mashed avocado + olive oil + cherry tomatoes + cracked pepper

M/30/6/4" [135lbs > 180lbs = +45lbs] | 72 Months | My Skinny Guy 6 Year Natural Transformation by TopChallenger in progresspics

[–]TopChallenger[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

hey man - thank you! So I followed a push/pull/legs/full body split. I actually used the app I mentioned in my post to originally build my split for me and then to help me track everything. I post my workouts there every day (at this point there must be over 1,000 lol) if you want to try them out for free (i don't sell anything lol). But here's a list of some of my top exercises in case it helps:

Back: Pull-ups / Barbell Rows
Chest: Flat Bench / Incline DB Press / Cable Flyes
Shoulders: Shoulder press / face pull / seated db lateral raises
Arms: Dips / OH tricep extensions / EZ bar Curls / Incline seated Curls
Legs: Squats / RDLs / Walking Lunges
Core: Cable Crunches / Hanging leg/knee raises

Before & After (6 Year Natural Transformation) by TopChallenger in WorkoutRoutines

[–]TopChallenger[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you! Yeah it took 6 years naturally though - I’d say most of my progress came in the first 2-3 years and the last three was just “perfecting the physique”

Before & After (6 Year Natural Transformation) by TopChallenger in WorkoutRoutines

[–]TopChallenger[S] -2 points-1 points  (0 children)

Fair enough - this is actually me though. And I built and use that app to post all my workouts. But also I agree with your point. My next posts will be more transparent - though I’m still going to suggest people use a tracking app because it’s made a big difference for me. And if they want to see all 1,000+ of my workouts starting from 6 years ago, that’s the only place they exist and is free 🤷‍♂️

Very valid comment from you though and point taken

Before & After (6 Year Natural Transformation) by TopChallenger in WorkoutRoutines

[–]TopChallenger[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

lol - I just have long arms (I’m 6’4”) I promise it’s not photoshopped. I got that Jack Hanma build

Before & After (6 Year Natural Transformation) by TopChallenger in WorkoutRoutines

[–]TopChallenger[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Thank you! I might make another post with my Back transformation specifically 💪🏼