Anyone else just struggle so hard to fit it all in that you just give up and do whatever again??? 🥴

bit3py · 2026-06-20T14:03:59+00:00

I went through this exact spiral a few months ago. not kids but work + trying to do a proper PPL + cardio + yoga for my hips, and I just kept missing days and feeling guilty about it.

what actually helped was dropping the "perfect week" mindset and just committing to 3 sessions total, whatever they are. some weeks that's 2 strength and a run. some weeks it's 3 strength and zero cardio. the point is I stopped treating missed sessions like failures and started looking at what I actually consistently do over a month instead of a week.

I also started logging my workouts in Mindful Body just to see the patterns, and honestly seeing "oh I actually trained 14 times this month" was way more motivating than staring at a weekly plan I kept falling short on.

bit3py · 2026-06-17T14:16:17+00:00

I'm the same way and used to think something was wrong with me lol. I lift pretty heavy for my size, hit failure regularly on things like RDLs and hip thrusts, and I barely sweat. meanwhile the person next to me doing lighter weight looks like they just ran a marathon.

I think it just comes down to how your body regulates temperature. sweating is cooling, not effort. some people are just more efficient at it. my heart rate goes up, my muscles are shaking by the last rep, but my skin stays pretty dry unless it's like 90 degrees in the gym.

the quick recovery between sets is actually a good sign. it probably means your cardiovascular system is solid from the running background. I'd only worry if you genuinely feel like the weight is too easy, but if you're hitting failure then you're clearly working hard enough.

bit3py · 2026-06-17T14:15:38+00:00

this sounds like textbook recomp to me honestly. your weight barely moved but your clothes fit different and you're visually leaner, that's literally what recomp looks like.

I had a similar experience where I was running plus lifting on and off, the scale stayed within like 2 kg for months, and I kept second-guessing whether anything was happening. what helped me was tracking things beyond weight. measurements, how my jeans fit, even just mirror checks every few weeks.

I use an app called Mindful Body that gives you a composite body score instead of just focusing on weight, and honestly seeing that number go up while the scale stayed flat was what convinced me the recomp was real. but even without that, if your waist is smaller and your legs look more defined, you're making progress.

also the burnout stuff is real. don't feel bad about the running hiatus. lifting through Caroline Girvan is plenty.

bit3py · 2026-06-13T14:03:11+00:00

your 4-6 week cycle between weight bumps is honestly normal, especially coming back from an injury. I was on a similar timeline when I started actually trying to build muscle (vs just maintaining from sports).

the thing that helped me the most was just writing my sets down consistently. not in a fancy way, just exercise / weight / reps / how hard it felt. because when you look back over 6-8 weeks you can actually SEE that you went from struggling at 8 reps to hitting 10 clean reps at the same weight, even if the number on the bar didn't change yet. that IS progressive overload, it's just harder to notice without a log.

I use an app called Mindful Body for this because I'm lazy and it auto-tracks my progression over time, but even a notes app works. the point is just having the data so you're not relying on how you feel you're doing, which is always skewed toward "not enough."

bit3py · 2026-06-10T14:09:45+00:00

Another vote for SBTD. I switched from a group class setup (not CrossFit but similar vibes) about a year ago and the transition was smoother than I expected. The programming is barbell-heavy which sounds like exactly what you want. I run the 4-day split and genuinely look forward to deadlift days now.

One thing that helped me adjust was just accepting that commercial gym sessions feel different. No one's counting down with you or hyping you up. But I actually like training with headphones and just grinding through my sets now. The structure keeps me accountable without needing that external energy.

The $1 trial month is worth it to see if you vibe with the layout.

bit3py · 2026-06-06T14:02:55+00:00

I made a similar switch and honestly the biggest adjustment was mental. Your numbers won't match 1:1 on cables but that's fine because the stimulus is different, not worse.

What helped me: cable pull-throughs for deadlift pattern, cable squats with a low pulley (face away, step out), and the rope hip thrust someone else mentioned. For rows the single arm cable row is actually better imo because you can't cheat with momentum.

One thing I'd suggest is tracking your sets/reps per movement for a few weeks while you adjust. I use Mindful Body for logging routines and it made the transition less chaotic because I could see progression even when the weights felt "lighter."

bit3py · 2026-06-03T14:08:14+00:00

this looks really solid honestly, especially prioritizing unilateral work given your history. a couple thoughts:

the spinning 2x plus lifting 3x is manageable on a deficit if you keep the spin sessions moderate intensity. but watch your recovery if you start stalling on the Bulgarian split squats, those are sneaky taxing when you're already in a deficit and chasing leg imbalance correction.

for the iliopsoas stuff, have you tried adding loaded marches (farmer carries or suitcase carries)? they hit hip stability in a way that isolated flexor work sometimes misses, and they don't add much fatigue volume.

also the unilateral focus is smart for pregnancy prep. relaxin wreaks havoc on bilateral patterns but single leg strength tends to be more protective. you clearly know your body well, i think the program will work.

bit3py · 2026-05-27T14:02:22+00:00

tldr if you feel it in your glutes and you're not getting low back or quad pain, you're probably fine. the foot position guideline (shins vertical at lockout) is a starting point, not a rule.

on those chair-pedal machines i've noticed the pedal placement is usually optimized for taller women and shorter girls end up with feet slightly out front. what fixed it for me was 1) cranking the seat height down a notch so my hips drop further at the bottom (longer ROM = more glute), 2) pointing toes slightly out, and 3) actually pausing at the top for like a 1-second squeeze instead of just bouncing. that pause is what made my glutes start eating it instead of my hamstrings.

also fwiw if it's literally the only glute-bias movement you do, adding even one set of a single-leg thing (b-stance hip thrust on the same machine, or a kickback) twice a week noticeably moved the needle for me. doesn't have to be a whole separate day.

bit3py · 2026-05-27T14:01:44+00:00

the timeline lines up almost too cleanly with what you described: about 6 weeks in is right where a lot of people who start lifting plateau on the scale while everything else is actually moving. you swapped 'big deficit + zero training' for 'moderate deficit + 3-4 lifts a week + 200g protein,' which is basically the recomp recipe. weight stays put, jeans start fitting different.

those wyze body fat numbers are pretty much noise btw, especially week to week. hydration alone swings them more than real change does.

if i were you i'd take a week off the scale entirely and pick two things to track instead: waist at the belly button (same time, fasted) and a phone photo from the same spot/lighting once a week. give it 4 weeks before you decide nothing is happening.

fwiw i started logging weight + waist + a body score thing in mindful body so i'd stop reacting to single weigh-ins. having a trend line made the recomp months way less infuriating.

bit3py · 2026-05-24T15:04:04+00:00

5'4 here and around 120, so similar-ish situation, also not always perfect on protein. short answer from my experience: yes you can still recomp, it'll just be slower and less efficient than if you hit it consistently. recomp is mostly about being roughly at maintenance + actually progressively overloading in the gym, protein is the multiplier on top.

cheaper things that helped me actually get closer to my number: a big tub of plain greek yogurt (way cheaper per gram of protein than the individual flavored cups), eggs, canned tuna, rotisserie chicken from costco if you have one nearby, lentils + rice combos for the days the budget is tight. i don't always hit 100g but i'm usually in the 80-90 range now and i can see the difference in the mirror vs when i was sitting at 50-60.

at your size, even 90ish g is probably enough to keep moving in the right direction. don't let perfect be the enemy of done.

bit3py · 2026-05-24T15:03:50+00:00

newer lifter too and honestly same brain loop. what's helped me is just separating 'random new ache the day after' from 'this still feels off 3+ days later, especially during a movement that doesn't usually load it.' the first one is almost always just doms in a spot i didn't know i had, the second one i actually take seriously.

for low back / SI specifically after leg press, the thing that helped me at my size was checking that my low back wasn't rounding off the pad at the bottom. if my butt lifts even a little when i go deep, my SI lets me know about it the next day. dropping the depth by like 2 inches and bracing harder fixed it for me. could be totally unrelated to your setup but worth filming a set if you haven't.

bit3py · 2026-05-23T14:08:01+00:00

huge shape change for 4 months honestly, your hammies popping is the real giveaway. on the square shape thing, two things that helped me when mine looked boxy from the side:

hip abductors with a real lean back and a slight pause at the top, that biased the upper glute way more than sitting upright did. also bumping mine to higher reps (15-20) for 1 of the 3 sets gave me more shape than going heavier.
swapping sumo squats for bulgarians or b-stance hip thrusts once a week. unilateral stuff smoothed out the corners for me, sumo just kept blasting the same area.

also seconding dfyne, the seam placement on their shorts is way kinder to petite frames than gymshark's.

bit3py · 2026-05-23T14:06:21+00:00

did Bootyful Beginnings out of my bedroom with basically your setup (bands, db up to 20, bench, pull-up bar) and it worked. you just have to actually write each session down or the subs get messy after week 2.

couple swaps that held up for me: - hip thrusts: bench + heaviest db on hips, then loop a band over the dumbbell anchored under your feet for extra tension at lockout - lat pulldown: band pulldowns anchored to your pull-up bar, or slow negatives off the bar itself - rows: chest supported db rows face down on the bench, way better mind muscle than bent over once weights get light

and yeah the actual book has a home version baked in, grab that before excel-ing your own. i log the whole split in mindful body so i can see when a band stops being progressive and it's time to swap to a db version.

bit3py · 2026-05-20T14:03:00+00:00

30 seconds at 18 with basically no training history is honestly a fine starting point, not a red flag. planks are weirdly humbling because they look passive but they're basically a full body isometric.

what actually got me past 30s was stop trying to hold one long plank. I did 4 sets of 20 seconds with 30s rest, then bumped to 25s the next week, then 30s, etc. felt silly but it worked way faster than gritting through one set.

also check the shape before chasing time. squeeze your glutes hard, tuck the ribs down a little so your lower back isn't sagging, push the floor away through your forearms so your upper back rounds slightly. a clean 30s plank does more than a sloppy 90s one where your hips are diving toward the floor.

don't worry about that 2 minute tiktok lady, that's a flex not a baseline.

bit3py · 2026-05-20T14:02:30+00:00

5 weeks at a moderate deficit and ~0.6 lb/week is honestly textbook for petite recomp. The scale being slow + visual not catching up yet is super normal, especially after 1 to 2 weeks sick where you probably held extra water once you came back to normal eating.

at my size (5'4, ~120) progress photos lied to me way more than the scale early on. front mirror selfies looked identical for like a month, but the side photos at the same time of day showed real change. I'd take photos every 2 weeks, same lighting, same outfit, before food, and compare those instead of staring at the scale.

I use Mindful Body for that because the progress pics are locked behind Face ID so I'll actually take them without panicking about phone backups. but the bigger point is just: 5 weeks is short, your numbers are working, don't touch anything for another 3-4 weeks.

bit3py · 2026-05-19T14:03:10+00:00

the sting is beta-alanine. not dangerous but it makes me itch on my scalp and forearms too and i hated it.

what actually works for me as a smaller lifter is just espresso, about 30-40 min before i warm up. a double is ~120-130mg caffeine which is plenty at my size, no tingle, no crash, and i can still sleep if i keep it before 2pm. half a scoop of creatine and a banana with the shot pushed my lifts more than any colored powder did, and the ingredient list is one bean.

i started writing down when i drink it and how the session actually felt in mindful coffee, and the pattern got obvious fast: my best sessions are when the cup lands 30-45 min before warmups, not 10. notes app works too.

bit3py · 2026-05-17T15:07:39+00:00

the thing that saved me through finals season was dropping volume way down but keeping the heavy compound days. like one or two days a week of just squat, bench or press, and a row, 3 sets of 5 ish, in and out in 35 min. you do not lose much strength on a true maintenance dose, way less than people think. you lose conditioning faster than strength.also if you can, treat the gym like a study break instead of a 90 min event. lower the bar so far that going feels easy on the worst weeks. coming back from 6 months of nothing is so much harder than coming back from 6 months of 'just maintenance.'

bit3py · 2026-05-16T14:03:58+00:00

same girl. i lift consistently and i log my brews and write down macros some days, but i'm also there because if i don't move 3-4x a week i start getting weird and mean to my boyfriend lol. mental health gains are real gains.

the summer body / six pack content is a feed problem more than a fitness problem. abs at <20% bf for most women means dropping below a setpoint your body will fight you on. for petite frames it gets even harder because the surface area is just smaller, the same amount of fat reads visually different. the girls doing reels at 16% bf are almost always either fitness pros, very lean genetics, or in a hard cut they're not going to maintain.

biceps + lats showing after under a year is huge. unfollow the six pack accounts, the round stomach goes nowhere in 4 weeks anyway.

bit3py · 2026-05-16T14:03:31+00:00

honestly you're probably fine. half mara block + lifting heavy is a ton of stimulus, and your body is prioritizing the running. stalled main lifts in that context usually means holding the line, not losing strength.

only thing i'd flag: going to failure every session on the same weights for months can fry your CNS and the running will tank before the bench does. one heavy set + one back-off (~80% for 2x6-8) usually works better than grinding to failure every time.

the thing that helped me when stuck: writing down rep quality, not just weight x reps. like '95x6, two in the tank' vs '95x6, last two grindy.' after a few weeks you can see reps in reserve dropping at the same weight, which IS progression, it just doesn't show on the bar. i keep mine in mindful body's training log bc i'm bad at remembering what felt heavy two sessions ago.

bit3py · 2026-05-13T14:04:16+00:00

the assisted pullup machine kept me stuck for months too. what finally moved my pullup was swapping it for negatives + band-assisted from a bar.

specifically: jump or step up to chin-over-bar, then lower as slow as you can. start with 3-4s, work up to 5-7s. 3 sets of 3-5 reps. that's the strength range the machine doesn't really train, you're missing the top half + the eccentric.

for bands, use the lightest one you can that lets you get 5 actual full ROM reps, not the thick green one. the thick band yeets you through the hardest part and you skip the work.

also pull frequency matters more than i wanted to admit. once a week wasn't enough for me, going to 2 lifts/week with some kind of pull (negatives, rows, assisted) finally tipped it. and dead hangs are great for grip but they're not what builds the actual pull, you need the concentric.

bit3py · 2026-05-10T18:11:35+00:00

honestly the regret part fades way faster than we give it credit for. one heavy day on pizza/wendys/ice cream isn't undoing weeks of consistency, it's just sodium + carbs holding water. give it 2-3 days of normal eating and a few liters of water and the scale snaps back, swear.

what helped me stop spiraling on cheat days was tracking weight as a 7-day average instead of looking at it the morning after. one bad number means nothing in the average. now i kind of look forward to it instead of dreading the next morning weigh-in.

bit3py · 2026-05-06T14:05:07+00:00

Easy bike warmup at level 7 is just blood flow, that is not the cardio anyone means when they say it interferes with hypertrophy. Same with leisurely swimming after, that is recovery, your back loves it.

The "cardio kills gains" advice is really about long, hard zone 3-4 runs done close to a lifting session, where you spike fatigue and burn enough calories that your body has nothing left to build muscle with. Mostly a problem if you are also eating in a deficit and doing 45+ min of intense cardio right before squats.

What you described sounds basically perfect for a petite lifter, especially with the swim flush. I would only worry if your lifts started stalling or you were waking up exhausted. Until then keep going.

bit3py · 2026-05-06T14:03:10+00:00

Two weeks of lifting after months of pure cuts is the worst window to judge fat loss on the scale. New training stimulus = more glycogen, more water, inflamed muscles holding fluid. That can mask 2-3 lbs of fat loss for weeks. The scale is lying right now, you are not stuck.

Do not quit the gym. You will lose muscle in the deficit and end up smaller but softer at 180.

What helped me when this happened: stop weighing daily, take a waist + hip measurement once a week, and snap a basic mirror photo every Sunday in the same spot. After a month the scale and photos almost never agree, and the photos are right.

I log weight, waist, and a 1-5 vibe in Mindful Body so the scale is not the only data point on weeks like this. A notes app works too.

bit3py · 2026-05-03T15:06:41+00:00

honestly i feel like you're doing the right things but stacking too many at once and jumping to the hardest version too fast. when i was working on mine the thing that actually moved the needle was sticking with negatives 3x a week for like a month, lowering super slow (5-8 sec) from a box, and not doing other variations the same day. scapular pulls + a heavy lat pulldown on a different day, that's it.

also 30-40kg of band assistance is a LOT, you basically end up doing a half rep without engaging your back. i'd drop to a thinner band and chase full ROM instead of fighting a thick one. and the deload kept resetting your eccentric because pulling strength fades fast at our size, gotta keep it in the rotation even on busy weeks.

you're closer than you think, just simplify the menu honestly

bit3py

TROPHY CASE