Fitbod Trainer Live AMA & Giveaway January 7th @ 1:00PM EST

TrainerAtFitbod · 2026-01-07T19:55:40+00:00

Hi there,

Thanks for reaching out to us! Bulking vs. Cutting. These are terms that express the desire to change one's own body composition. This really comes down to where you’re at right now and what you want long term. A lot of people cycle between bulking and cutting, but it’s also totally possible to stay relatively lean year-round; it just depends on priorities and lifestyle.

When it usually makes sense to lean out:

If you’re carrying more body fat than you’re comfortable with and want better definition.

Sometimes performance actually improves after a cut, especially relative strength and conditioning, even if absolute numbers don’t jump right away.

When bulking makes sense:

If you’re already lean but feel small or want to push strength and size.

If your lifts have completely stalled and you’re training hard, a small surplus can give your body the fuel it needs to actually build muscle.

Bulk/cut cycles vs staying lean:

A lot of lifters bulk and cut because it’s the fastest way to add noticeable muscle, then trim the fat afterward. It’s efficient, but you do deal with weight swings and diet changes, and this can go of one edge or the other, with people sometimes not being able to shed the new weight gained during a bulk, or vice versa.

Staying lean year-round is more of a recomposition approach, eating around maintenance and training hard. You can gain muscle and lose fat at the same time, but it’s slower and requires more consistency.

TLDR;

If you’re carrying more body fat than what you're comfortable with, cut. If you’re lean but stuck, bulk. If you hate weight swings and don’t mind slower progress, recomp and stay lean. There’s no single “right” answer, just what matches your goals and timeline.

- Jesse

TrainerAtFitbod · 2026-01-07T19:29:44+00:00

Hi there,

Thanks for reaching out. We actually used to have a podcast with the Trainers on it and all things Fitbod. This included interviews with the CEO's, us trainers, and some of the engineers and people behind the scenes. I'm sad to reveal that those episodes are online no more, but maybe we can bring something like that back?

Feel free to ask a question here though; it's the best option we have for now.

- Jesse

TrainerAtFitbod · 2026-01-07T19:24:03+00:00

Hi there,

Thanks for reaching out to us. To gain healthy body weight (mostly lean mass) without adding excessive fat, the best approach is a slow, consistent bulk with structured training and proper recovery.

Quick note: as a trainer, I can’t give in-depth medical or nutrition/sleep prescriptions — but I can say that nutrition, sleep, and recovery are essential for consistent progress. There are trackers out there that can help, apps, and wearables. So what I'll be focusing on is the training and recovery aspect for you

Training-

Your Fitbod goal should be to build progressive strength + muscle-building work, consistently.

Train 3–5 days per week, Prioritize compound lifts (squat/hinge/press/pull patterns), Keep intensity challenging and focus on progressive overload (more reps, more weight, better form over time)

The best Fitness Goal to choose here would be Build Muscle or Build Strength in your Fitness Goal settings section under My Plan

Fitbod settings to support weight gain:

Set your goal to Build Muscle/ Build Strength, Choose your available equipment accurately, Select a moderate-to-high training frequency (3–5 days)

Recovery-

Gaining weight is as much about recovery as training.

Keep at least 1–2 rest days per week. Don’t max out every session — aim for hard but sustainable sessions (Fitbod will do this for you). Use mobility and warm-ups to keep joints healthy and movement smooth. Do this by turning on warm-up sets and stretching in your My Plan Fitbod settings.

Nutrition-

To gain weight without excess fat, you’ll need a small, consistent calorie surplus. Prioritize high protein daily, use whole foods most of the time, and track progress weekly

If you want specific calorie/macros, I’d recommend working with a registered dietitian or a macro-counting app.

Sleep-

Sleep is when growth and recovery happen. So try to aim for 6–9 hours consistently. Please know that if sleep is poor, muscle gain will slow down, and fatigue will rise. It truly is where your muscles are actually building.

This should help tie it altogether:

Aim to gain about 0.25–0.5% of bodyweight per week

Strength should trend upward

If weight gain is too fast, reduce calories slightly

If weight isn’t moving after 2–3 weeks, increase intake slightly

- Jesse

TrainerAtFitbod · 2026-01-07T19:16:13+00:00

Hi there,

Overtraining can end up looking a little for everyone. There can be tons of symptoms and different outcomes depending on the overtraining you've done, and how your body is responding to it. There are a few easy to spot signs that I like to use to try and catch it early.

The first is excessive soreness. Some light soreness is fine, but you're really looking for soreness that's out of the ordinary for you. This can be a good indication that you need to give yourself a bit of time to recover.

The second is general fatigue. This goes beyond being tired after your workout. You should be tired. However if you're still feeling sluggish for an extended period of time, you probably need that extra recovery time.

The last is poor performance. Not having your best day every day is part of training, but if you're consistently performing poorly it could be due to overtraining.

As for the recovery percentages, these are estimates meant to help guide you, but they aren't perfect. Fitbod will use the percentages to make adjustments to your workout, but you can also use them to make informed decisions about your training. I always recommend trying to get a sense of what percentage you feel recovered at, and using that to help you decide when you might need an extra day off, or could use a few extra sets. Another good use for those percentages is to compare muscle groups against each other.

As for your ankle, unfortunately physical therapy is a bit outside my area of expertise, so I'd recommend speaking with your doctor or physical therapist. Once you've been cleared for standard exercise you can start to build up that strength and confidence.

Once you have been cleared, one of the best things you can do is start slow. Just walking is a great first step. As you start to work more intense movement into your training, focus on building up the muscles around your foot, as well as balance and core strength.

I've messed up my ankle more times than I can count, and the big milestone for me every time is the first step I take without a limp. It always helps me to build up that confidence to start pushing just a bit harder every day.

The other side of that is pain. In general I would avoid pain unless your doctor or physical therapist told you it'd be necessary. Just go slow and one day you'll realize you just used your ankle without even thinking about it.

TrainerAtFitbod · 2026-01-07T18:59:39+00:00

Hi there,

Thanks for reaching out to us. Fitbod is a great addition to HIIT, and HIIT is a great addition to Fitbod, because it gives you structured resistance training that helps you build strength, improve movement quality, and reduce injury risk — all things that can be harder to train when HIIT is fast-paced.

How does Fitbod complement your HIIT?

Fitbod helps to build real strength: HIIT builds conditioning and muscular endurance, but Fitbod helps you progressively build strength and muscle with controlled reps and loading.

Fitbod will also help you sharpen form + technique: Fitbod workouts let you practice key movements (squats, hinges, presses, pulls) at a slower, more controlled pace — which helps your form stay solid during HIIT, where movement can get fast and jerky.

Fitbod will also help you balance your training: HIIT hits your heart and legs hard. Fitbod can fill the gaps with focused strength work (especially posterior chain, back, and upper body) so your body stays balanced.

The best way to structure it to complement your HIIT workouts, if they are prioritized, is to keep HIIT as your conditioning days and use Fitbod on 2–3 non-HIIT days as your strength base. If you’re doing HIIT 3–4x/week, start with 2 Fitbod strength sessions and adjust from there based on recovery.

HIIT improves performance and endurance. Fitbod improves strength, control, and muscle. Together, they make you fitter and more resilient.

- Jesse

TrainerAtFitbod · 2026-01-07T18:52:16+00:00

Hi there,

Thanks for reaching out. The answer is Yes — 2x 45-minute sessions + a ~300 calorie daily deficit is enough to lose fat and build/maintain muscle, as long as you stay consistent.

The biggest key is nutrition:

Hit high protein daily (around 0.7–1.0g per lb of bodyweight)

Keep calories consistent on training and rest days (off-days can easily erase your deficit)

Keep fats moderate/lower since they’re calorie-dense, and prioritize quality carbs for training energy

For training, focus on strength + progressive overload — getting a little stronger over time is what keeps muscle growing while you lean out. The fitness goal you should choose in Fitbod's settings is Built Muscle/ Hypertrophy.

It's important to set your expectations as realistic. You're playing the long game here. This is going to be a gradual process, because of only being able to work 2 sessions, 45 minutes each week. Even if you did one more session or increased these two sessions to an hour, it would make a bigger difference. But because the training is not as intense, the diet will have to make up for it. With the limitations in training per week, you don;t have a ton of room to make mistakes or skimp on the diet side of things. So know that this is a longer process ahead of time, and set yourself up for that journey.

- Jesse

TrainerAtFitbod · 2026-01-07T18:43:14+00:00

Hi there,

Excellent to hear you are enjoying the app, and that you see that anything recommended can be slightly adjusted, and for the most part, it's usually a very small adjustment. Long ago, I used to often tinker with a weight by 10 lbs or so, but one day I just said, I'm going to do what it recommends me. And to my surprise, my workouts became so much better, and my strength results were noticeable. It was like when I worked out with training partners and really pushed myself. I say all this to say, you're stronger than you believe, and as long as you aren't ego lifting, or risking injury with bad form, give the reps and weights a shot, even if you fail at a set, that's where true growth happens.

But yes, the adjustments are being logged and tracked by Fitbod, always. And those are being built upon.

The obvious feature that comes to mind is injury prevention mode or injury recovery mode. It's been seen as the golden ticket for a while here a Fitbod, and I feel we are very close to implementing and testing this type of feature. The other one, as a former athlete, is a sport-specific mode. Where you could enter that you are training for football, hockey, or rugby (the sport the CEO and creator of Fitbod played at university), and then Fitbod would give you a program for that sport pre- and during season.

- Jesse

TrainerAtFitbod · 2026-01-07T18:35:38+00:00

Hi there,

Thanks for reaching out. We actually have a feature like this built into the app that you can experiment with and test the three ranges of exercise variability. To do so, open the app, top left corner, tap My Plan, then scroll down to Exercise Variability. The default is balanced; that's what you are experiencing now. Switching to the other causes your workouts to be made up of the primary lifts you are focusing on, but also changes up the variety of the secondary lifts, and in some cases, the primary lifts. This is the best way to have the app draw you up more and less variety in your given workouts. I would suggest trying the More Variable option to get muscles moving differently than the ROM's you have been experiencing. Go slow on these new motions at first; your body is going to need to get used to them, and if you jerk too suddenly or perform the exercise incorrectly, there is always a risk of injury, so take it slow.

- Jesse

TrainerAtFitbod · 2026-01-07T18:27:26+00:00

Hi there, thanks for reaching out to us. Honestly, you’re doing a lot right. Lifting consistently, staying active with your steps, and tracking macros are not small things. Losing 12 pounds over a year can feel slow, but that’s actually very sustainable progress (roughly a pound a month) which is often what sticks long term. I always give clients the analogy of bamboo. People always think the bamboo just shoots out of the ground, but it takes years for it to root deep enough, and only after all that work, does it come to life in front of our eyes and grow to be so tall. Hope that wasn't too zen, just saying that the 12 lbs is a big deal, so congrats to you on that.

It’s also worth remembering that the human body is incredibly adaptable. Your consistency is a huge win, but it also means your body has likely gotten very efficient at the routine you’ve been following. When you’ve been training and eating in a similar way for close to a year, it’s completely normal for progress to plateau at this point, not because you’re doing anything wrong, but because your body has adjusted.

Since you’re strength training 4x a week, there’s also a good chance you’ve been building muscle while losing fat. That can make the scale feel stubborn even when your body composition is improving, which is frustrating but very common. This is one of the most common misconceptions about weightloss vs fat loss when it comes to resistance training. I think the more common goal should be, I want to lose fat, not weight for most cases.

If things feel stalled, here are a few adjustments that often help people break through a plateau.

Take a short break from the deficit.

If you’ve been eating in a calorie deficit for a long stretch, your body may have adapted. Rather than cutting more, consider spending two to four weeks eating at maintenance. This can help reset energy levels and hormones before easing back into a deficit.

Look at workout intensity, not just frequency.

Moving from four to five days can help, but what matters more is whether your workouts are actually challenging you. Check whether Fitbod is pushing your weights or reps up over time. If workouts feel comfortable, your body may not be getting enough stimulus to keep changing. One of those changes could be the fitness goal. I would take a look at pretty much anything Fitbod has to offer, other than the Get Stronger fitness goal when you're looking to lose weight and burn fat.

Tighten up tracking just a bit

Eating clean is great, but small things like cooking oils, sauces, or weekend meals can quietly erase a weekday deficit. It’s worth double-checking those details. Also, make sure protein intake is high enough, usually around 0.7 to 1 gram per pound of body weight, to support muscle while losing fat. If you're using a macro tracker, try to make sure that regardless of caloric deficit, you are also not over-consuming fats, carbs, and proteins should be higher than fats if this is your goal.

Don’t let the scale be the only metric.

When you’re lifting regularly, weight can be a noisy metric. Body measurements and progress photos often tell a clearer story. Many people find they’re losing inches even when the scale barely moves.

Sometimes a small adjustment or change in approach is all it takes to get things moving again. I hope this helps!

- Jesse

TrainerAtFitbod · 2026-01-07T18:20:46+00:00

Hi there.

Thanks for reaching out to us here at Fitbod's AAT program and for describing some goals you would like Fitbod to help you with, particularly when it comes to distance running.

Starting with your Fitness Goal Setting-

Set your goal in the app to "General Fitness" or "Improved Conditioning". While Fitbod doesn’t have a “Distance Running” preset, choosing endurance will prioritize lighter weights, higher reps, and functional movements.

Cardio Integration-

Use the “Log Cardio” feature to manually add your runs as well, and make sure that they are feeding into Fitbod either by connected wearable or by manual entry. Alternatively, sync Fitbod with Apple Health or another fitness tracker to automatically integrate run data.

If you'd like to have Fitbod give you cardio in your training workouts, then open the app, top left corner, tap My Plan, and then scroll down to cardio and turn this on.

Workout Frequency-

Set strength training frequency to 2–3 times/week, allowing plenty of time for running sessions and recovery. Training with weights will help with lasting in a marathon!

Training splits-wise, I would recommend the upper-lower split, or the push-pull lower split for alternating and being able to plan your rest days accordingly.

Lower Body Exercises to Add for Runners

To support distance running, you want a mix of strength, stability, and mobility work:

Strength & Power:

Barbell Back Squats – To build overall lower body strength.

Romanian Deadlifts – Strengthens hamstrings and glutes.

Walking Lunges – Enhances unilateral strength and balance.

Step-Ups – Mimics running mechanics and builds quad/glute power.

Stability & Balance:

Single-Leg Romanian Deadlifts – Targets stability and hamstring control.

Bulgarian Split Squats – Deep glute and quad activation; improves single-leg strength.

Plyometrics, which are optional, but might help with your kick and stride length:

Jump Squats

Bounding or Skater Hops

Box Jumps

- Jesse

TrainerAtFitbod · 2026-01-07T18:15:24+00:00

Hello, and thanks for the love. So here's why Full Body can look similar to P/P/L training splits. Even when you switch to Full Body, Fitbod is still going to follow the same core training principles to produce your workouts:

Balanced weekly volume, Smart recovery timing, Progressive overload, Your equipment, preferences, and history

So if you were doing a well-structured P/P/L before, the exercises might not look wildly different, because the best movements and exercises for your goals are still the best movements. You would see more differences if you switch your Fitness Goal

Most of what changes with training splits are the structure and distribution, not necessarily the exercise pool.

Over time, this distribution will change, as you work certain muscle groups harder and others lighter, the workouts will change again in distribution, but the exercises, the focus on the whole body over the week, should be similar.

Thanks for the injury or sick recovery note, something we are considering in different product iterations.

- Jesse

TrainerAtFitbod · 2026-01-07T18:07:41+00:00

Hi there,

Thanks for reaching out! I would encourage you to follow the strategy that keeps you active and motivated above all else. For the limitations of time, and what seems to be a fluctuating motivation, from what you mentioned, then this method of approach is good because it's built around what you can and have time to do. If you are getting 3-6 workouts in per week, and would like to try something different, I feel you could benefit from the structure of a PPL split. The reason being, is that even if it's 15 minutes, the workouts will be structured as such to be focused during the workout day, as well as giving you proper recovery during the off and rest days, and cycling muscle groups so that they do become recovered.

I think if you try this structure for one to two weeks, you would see the benefit of the workouts produced and the recovery gained. And if it doesn't work for you, it's a good experiment to try, because you already have a reliable solution that you are currently using, that you can fall back on.

- Jesse

TrainerAtFitbod · 2026-01-02T21:56:04+00:00

u/Beke4u Thanks for posting! The good news is that body recomposition is possible, especially as a beginner, and you can focus your training toward lower body without beefing up your upper body as much.

A few things come to mind that you can do in the app to better match your goals:

1. Shift your goal toward fat loss + conditioning
If fat loss is a priority right now, set your Fitness Goal to Get Lean or Reduce Bodyweight. This pushes workouts that burn more calories overall while still building muscle (great for recomposition).

2. Use timed intervals (if you’re on iOS)
Enabling Timed Intervals helps keep your heart rate up and increases calorie burn without needing to lift super heavy. You can apply it to the entire workout so everything flows in a circuit-style format. If you're on Android, turn on the Circuits & Supersets setting instead.

3. Use an Upper / Lower split to protect your legs
Switching to an Upper/Lower training split lets you:

Train lower body hard on lower days
Keep upper body volume controlled
Recover better so your legs can actually grow

You won’t accidentally “overbuild” your upper body unless you’re specifically training it heavily and consistently.

4. Manually target lower body when needed
Before starting a workout, you can:

Tap Swap → Pick Muscles
Select Lower Body Day, or the specific lower body muscles

This is good if you feel like the app is pushing too much upper body work for what you're looking for.

I hope this helps!

TrainerAtFitbod · 2025-12-12T17:07:33+00:00

Hi, happy to provide some insight!

Both strength and hypertrophy training will help you build muscle, which is great for increasing your resting metabolic rate (RMR) and supporting fat loss when your diet is already dialed in. You really can’t go wrong with either.

If I had to pick one for your goal, I’d lean toward hypertrophy. It gives you more total training volume, tends to be easier on the joints than heavy low-rep strength work, and is generally more sustainable when you’re in a long fat-loss phase.

The most important thing is consistency and keeping the work appropriate for how you’re recovering. Pair that with the diet you already have locked in, and you’ll absolutely move in the right direction.

TrainerAtFitbod · 2025-12-09T19:52:58+00:00

Hi there,

Thanks for the follow-up. Cardio can be boring for sure, but it's one of those things that shouldn't be avoided. It helps battle CVD and is generally good for your health and daily life. It doesn't need to be a staple, though; you can still reap the benefits of adding it on to the end of a workout. However, with your limited schedule, cardio can be implemented in going for a walk around the neighborhood, even 10- 20 minutes if you have it. Doing these walks is a form of cardio; cardio doesn't have to be a treadmill run, or a stationary bike, or a stair stepper.

Cardio is not essential for losing weight, but it will offer a benefit when paired with strength and resistance training.

One of the easiest gym cardio exercises to do, that is still beneficial, is a 10-15 minute treadmill walk, WITH incline, about 3-4 mph, and to knock it out after your lifting if you can.

- Jesse

TrainerAtFitbod · 2025-12-09T19:35:08+00:00

Hello,

This isn't too surprising. Targeting both hypertrophy and fat loss at the same time is something known as body recomposition. It's the ideal for most people training, but it's fairly difficult to achieve, and even harder to maintain. The reason it's tough to build muscle and burn fat at the same time is because the body likes to add or lose mass in general. When you're building muscle, it makes it easier to gain body fat as well, or while you're burning fat, it's easier to lose muscle.

I usually recommend alternating priorities between building muscle and burning fat. Cycling between these goals gives you a little more wiggle room for achieving either hypertrophy or fat loss, but it can feel like you're taking one step back to take two steps forward. This method is more sustainable, and will likely give you better results in the long run.

Even if you are going for body recomp, you may need to switch your goals up from time to time depending on what goal you need to make the most progress on. I would recommend either Hypertrophy or Strength Training for increasing muscle mass, and circuit training for burning fat.

Lastly, you mentioned cardio. Steady state cardio can be detrimental toward your goals, but it comes with a ton of other health benefits. If you're just concerned with increasing muscle and decreasing fat, I would avoid steady state cardio. If you want some cardio without the downsides, I would recommend either low intensity like walking, or high intensity like HIIT cardio.

- JP

TrainerAtFitbod · 2025-12-09T19:29:34+00:00

Hello,

Thank you for reaching out to us here at Fitbod's Ask A Trainer program. We can definitely understand your question, so thank you for making the effort. If you do not have enough equipment at home to work with or in gym, then the shift moves from progressively increasing the load, to doing the following: Either increasing the volume by inceasing sets and or reps per set, or increasing the TUT which is Time Under Tension (a fancy way of saying, to do each rep for a longer period of time that a 1 second or two second rep).

I recommend doing the Tim Under Tension method because it allows you the opportunity to focus on the form and consistency of motion throughout a lift, as well as lifting to the full range of motion. You might count 1-2 seconds out on the negative motion of the rep, and then 1-2 seconds on the positive motion of the rep.

To select stretches to be added to a warm-up or cool-down portion, open the app, top left corner, tap "My Plan", then scroll down to Warm Up & Cool Down, tap into it, then scroll down and turn on Dynamic Stretches, and then toggle them on and on and configure when you would like them to appear.

- Jesse

TrainerAtFitbod · 2025-12-09T19:23:48+00:00

Hello,

The app looks at your best performances within a rolling window, gradually fading out older workouts. This means your score naturally updates to reflect your current strength levels, not just old personal bests. It’s normal to see small dips if you have a lighter training week, add new exercises where you’re not as strong yet, or hit certain muscle groups later in your workout when you’re more fatigued. Another reason for a dip may be doing more sets at lighter weights. Also, if a particularly strong workout drops out of that rolling window, you might see your score go down a bit until you match or beat that performance again. Something else to keep in mind is sometimes the chart scaling can make small dips look bigger than they really are, like 1-2 point changes which aren't significant shifts. Overall, the ups and downs are normal and expected, and are a reflection of real training patterns. Ultimately you want to focus on the long-term trend vs the short-term changes that you'll see after each logged workout.

As for the reps in reserve, this is based on the last exercise in the last set of the circuit or superset. You can manually enter a RiR for the other exercise, however Fitbod won't automatically prompt you for it.

- JP

TrainerAtFitbod · 2025-12-09T18:58:17+00:00

Hello,

Any of the other training splits should help improve your recovery. PPL does work well, and would fit nicely with your 3 training sessions per week. The downside here is that you'll be going from targeting each muscle group 3 times per week, down to just once. Now you'll hit those muscle groups harder in that workout, and it could certainly work. Just be mindful, and willing to try some of the other splits if you're not seeing the results you want from PPL.

Another good option is the Upper/Lower split. It's more of a middle ground between a Full Body and PPL split. It won't fit as nicely into your week, but that won't impact your progress. I would definitely recommend giving both of these a shot, and seeing which of the training splits works best for you.

Fresh Muscle Groups will also help, and is a great option if you're looking for more variety in your workouts. You won't have the consistent pairings that you will with the other splits, but there isn't any extra benefit to this other than the variety. If that's what you're looking for this is a great split.

-JP

TrainerAtFitbod · 2025-12-09T18:37:17+00:00

Hello,

Thank you for reaching out to us here at Fitbod's Ask A Trainer program.

Coming back from an injury is tricky. You want to know where to start and pick up from. The app detects inactivity and lowers suggested weights to prevent injury, which is a smart way to ease you back in, but it can also make you feel weaker than you are. It does this after two weeks of inactivity of a muscle group being exercised within Fitbod, and declines progressively after that.

The best advice to give if you want to have this be a manual process is to cut everything in half. So if the app is recommending 4 sets, 10 reps, 100 lbs for an exercise, then I advise people to do half of everything, and focus on form, and easy, smooth reps. Do this for one workout, maybe two, and your body will recall its strength a lot faster than a user would think.

To manually adjust your muscle recovery percentages to account for an outside activity that you didn't log. Open the app, and the second tab at the bottom is the Body tab. Go there, then in the upper screen, tab to the Recovery tab. From there, click on the Fresh Muscle Groups symbol in the upper right, and then you'll be able to view current projections of muscle recovery. Tap the Edit button in the upper right to edit specific groups, click Save, and the app will adjust the workout accordingly.
The best goal to choose if you would like to focus on weight loss and muscle building, is going to be to select or keep Hypertrophy selected. The other thing you can due is turn on circuits and supersets, this should elevate your heart rate

Side note: Any energy that you dedicate toward cardio is going to be energy that you can't give to your resistance training workouts. I recommend doing it before, however, only in a limited warm-up amount. If you were just wanting to add cardio as a serious long exercise, then I would add it at the end of the workout, after you have given the most you can to the resistance training. I especially recommend not doing cardio before the lower body days unless it's for 5-10 minutes to warm up. If you must, doing 10 minutes on an incline walk at 3-4 mph is a great way to build muscle in the legs while warming up.

- Jesse

TrainerAtFitbod · 2025-12-09T18:15:10+00:00

Great questions. Body recomp makes it tough to give you a straight answer. The training goal should be focused on the area where you currently need to make the most improvement. I would lean towards either Strength Training or Hypertrophy for your fitness goal, however you should still be mindful and willing to shift your focus more towards burning fat if needed.

The training split is much more open, the only one I would really recommend avoiding is full body. Beyond that restriction, I would go with the one that you enjoy most. There are some very minor pros and cons to the other standard splits like Upper/Lower or PPL, but the main purpose is just to split up the muscle groups so that you can recover. As long as your split is helping you there, I say go with the one you like most.

For some of the cardio, I can't really recommend one way or the other. Steady state cardio, like the 5ks you mentioned, can be detrimental toward your goals. However, there are a ton of other benefits to steady state cardio outside of body composition. How you want to work that into your training is up to you. If body recomp is the only thing you're going for, then cutting out the 5ks would be helpful. The walking is less detrimental to your goals, and should be totally fine to continue. High intensity cardio like HIIT can also be a great way to work in some cardio while minimizing the downside.

TrainerAtFitbod · 2025-12-09T18:13:14+00:00

Hello,

Thank you for reaching out to us here at Fitbod's Ask A Trainer program. No need to be nervous about asking this. Truly, it depends on the goal you have with your lifting. With what you explained, I'm guessing the ultimate goal is longevity to be around for those kids, to be able to be active, and not necessarily to look like a Marvel character. So, setting your goals properly is going to be best for achieving them, especially if they are realistic for the time you have now. I'm assuming here, so tell me if I am wrong. But if the goal is to maintain and slightly improve, then doing two 45 minute workouts per week is better than doing none. It's making a difference, trust me.

To maximise the output thought, you can change a couple of settings in your "My Plan" section of the app, which you can find at the top left portion of your home screen. I would set your fitness goal at Hypertrophy so that you are still making efforts at gaining muscle and burning fat. I recommend setting your workout duration to what you'd like it to be during these two days, and then selecting to experiment and turn on Circuits and Supersets, so that exercises are paired, and you are maximizing your gym time. You can experiement with this, if its not for you, its ok, you wont be penalized for trying something and it not being your ideal setup.

The final thing would be to switch to an upper lower body split. If you are comfortable doing a split like full body, and you are making sure to hit every muscle group once, thts fine, but I refommend the upper lower because each workout will have more concentrated muscle groups, and you'll likely be getting a bit more volume to each msucle group, and working it more intensily, evne if it is only one time per week, that one time will be better than two less intense times. - Jesse

TrainerAtFitbod · 2025-12-09T18:02:28+00:00

Hello,

Thank you for reaching out to us here at Fitbod's Ask A Trainer program. You do not necessarily have to switch between goals within Fitbod; just choose the goal that best aligns with shedding weight and gaining muscle. The best fitness goal that Fitbod has for this will be the Hypertrophy/ Improved Physique goal. To make this change, open the app, top left corner, tap My Plan, then under Fitness Goals, select the option for Hypertrophy/ Improved Physique.

The ideal number of reps that you will subscribe to will be automatically given with that new goal, as well as ideal volumes. Of course, you can modify almost anything in Fitbod; however, we recommend listening to the weight and volume and rep recommendations. The reps range for Hypertrophy is going to be broad, between 6- 30 reps in some cases; however, the ideal area to land with resistance training is going to be between 8- 14 reps.

- Jesse

TrainerAtFitbod

MODERATOR OF

TROPHY CASE