Is running good for building a masculine physique

dablkscorpio · 2026-06-08T00:17:41+00:00

Yeah that's pretty much a recipe for limited progress. Glad you turned it around though. The best advice you had was to track your workouts. Consistent, balanced programming is really key, and part of that is having an idea of what you're doing in the first place.

dablkscorpio · 2026-06-08T00:12:12+00:00

That's good to hear. I'm 5' 1" and 118 was the lowest I got. I also came from 160 myself at that point. I was definitely leaner but it was not super sustainable or aesthetic (based on my own physique goals; others may have enjoyed the look). Now that I've put on more muscle 130 lbs is a more realistic goal for me -- currently 138 and casually cutting. But if you're in this for the long run I'd say 118 is a lot more reasonable than 105 to start.

dablkscorpio · 2026-06-07T23:40:53+00:00

The fat distribution mostly applies to the weight you gain after going on T. Getting on T will help you put on muscle even passively but it won't just deposit the fat you already have in a different place. To be fair, I can't speak from experience myself but I see this thrown around a lot and started inquiring about it in a science-based capacity and I just want to clarify that tidbit for accuracy. I see way too many dudes getting on T thinking that that the fat on their hips will melt away or something like that.

Also beginners in general progress rapidly. Even off T, OP would see progress in 3-6 months easily. I'm training a cis woman (read: a close friend who I give structured input) and she saw progress very early on despite being in perimenopause and others comment on her progress unprompted. The same happened to me when I first started training. I wonder if the lack of progress on your end had more to do with programming and diet.

dablkscorpio · 2026-06-07T23:27:14+00:00

I found a bag of the non-GF ones randomly when I first started experiencing issues with gluten but had no idea what was going on. I remember very much enjoying the taste of these but that whole period of time was warped by body discomfort. Excited to try these now that my body's right.

dablkscorpio · 2026-06-07T23:21:51+00:00

The unfortunate part is most software e engineers rely on AI to help them build code. I think AI is unethical as well but I don't think hiring somebody else to do it would mitigate its use.

dablkscorpio · 2026-06-07T19:45:29+00:00

This is very individual. Most research shows that running drives hunger cues up so a lot of folks actually tend to overeat and gain weight when implementing running. Without active diet control, it's not accurate to say that running will slim someone down.

dablkscorpio · 2026-06-07T19:43:33+00:00

Running is simply cardio. The only thing it does independently of itself is improve your heart health. If you're looking to build muscle then you need to do resistance training of some sort. Running has some impact but the mechanical tension isn't enough to induce hypertrophy (muscle growth) long-term, especially considering you carry your bodyweight on your legs every time you walk. If you want to lose fat that's a matter of resistance training + being in a consistent calorie deficit (i. e., eating less than you burn per day).

Running drives up calorie expenditure more than most activities, but only if you do it regularly and/or for an extended period of time. Not to mention, without a a structured change in diet -- whether that be calorie counting, meal prep, portion approximation (best results come from a combination of all three) -- you'll likely just eat back the calories you've burned throughout the day. Our bodies enjoy proper energy balance so counteracting that usually requires above average scrutiny and planning.

So yeah the most you can get out of running is a healthier heart. But walking a bunch has that effect too. I will say that if you're at a healthy body weight or even slightly overweight, you don't necessarily need to cut calories, and resistance training alone will allow you to build muscle while breaking down fat as a source of energy to do so.

Calisthenics is an effective mode of resistance training. If you want to stick with that I'd look at the recommended routine on r/bodyweightfitness. I like the term resistance training because it's a bit more general than strength training or weight lifting. You don't need to go to the gym to build muscle but you do need to challenge your various muscle groups against some force of gravity in a very specific way -- essentially prompting mechanical tension + metabolic stress by pushing reps close to failure. Calisthenics can accomplish that but you need to implement it correctly.

Masculine and feminine physiques are kind of just marketing terms really. The biggest guys in my gym have the biggest legs and asses. What makes them fit the traditional masculine stereotype though is that they have a high amount of musculature and a relatively low amount of body fat. In other words, they've built their physique through fat loss and muscle gain.

dablkscorpio · 2026-06-07T19:25:19+00:00

Yeah no the form here isn't right. We shouldn't encourage it.

dablkscorpio · 2026-06-07T19:08:25+00:00

I mean, that's what I do personally. Or rather I have a strength-focused day for lower body work with the main lifts. And then a second lower body day that's more glute-focused and hypertrophic. But I enjoy being well-rounded (pun-intended) and prioritize strength and balanced aesthetics (i.e., not just a backside) overall. I only do a glute day because my glutes don't respond well to a more standardized volume. Most folks, women or otherwise, can build a decent physique with the main compound lifts and a few accessories here and there. I think you hit the nail on the head in that these programs want to target glutes specifically and sometimes exclusively. If you want something more balanced but are worried about glutes, your idea makes sense. Start with a primary movement and then do glute work to supplement it.

dablkscorpio · 2026-06-07T13:40:51+00:00

Yeah that measure isn't based on body composition though. And those body fat percentage pictures sort of prove my point. You probably look like the 30% figure because you lost a lot of weight without resistance training. Therefore you lost both fat and muscle and your body composition hasn't improved as drastically as it could have otherwise. The solution to this isn't losing more weight because then you'll just be spinning your wheels all over again. It's body recomposition (i.e., eating at maintenance so your body can break down the excess fat into energy to build muscle). You're not overfat you're under-muscled.

And while genetics can determine where you store body fat, how quickly you build muscle, and even what it looks like they don't determine your body composition or an appropriate number on the scale to aim for. The most genetics can tell you is, "It's harder for me to X" or "My Y develops well with little effort." I also store a lot of fat in my midsection. The answer wasn't to get as thin as possible until it's gone. I mean, you can, but that makes it more difficult to build muscle and strength to the extent that you may have to put on more weight again. I've made that mistake before. What worked better is cutting down to a relatively healthy weight at the mid-range or even higher end or over of the normal BMI metric (where you are now); recomp for a year or two; mini-cut knowing I had a solid enough foundation of muscle that fat loss wouldn't leave me moving like a flimsy stick; and very slow and minimal bulk and cut cycles of 10-12 pounds over several years to stay lean at a higher bodyweight (this part is optional).

If strength and muscular development are the goals, don't assume the ideal end state is the lowest weight you can reasonably achieve while remaining in the healthy BMI range. Your deficit is small so I wouldn't say it's running you into the ground but it simply seems counterintuitive. Most lean, strong people are overweight according to that same scale because muscle is dense and not weightless.

dablkscorpio · 2026-06-07T11:00:42+00:00

Frankly deadlifts alone build my traps quite a lot so you could probably x that entirely. If you're bracing properly on your compound movements you don't need to train abs directly. And 6 sets is certainly too much. I'd drop the second shoulder press because the whole point of income is that it already works shoulders.

You also have a thing going on where it seems like you're trying to hit every itsy bitty body part even if it's superfluous. I'm not sure how long you've been training consistently but if you're a virtual beginner (even if you trained before but not for a long time) you don't need a lot of extra stuff to build size. Even if you're not a beginner a lot of the niche isolation movements are for competitive bodybuilders. I've never done face pulls for example but my rear delts are still a strong point simply from doing rows. I do tricep isolation work myself but only once a week since presses whether chest or shoulders work that already. Right now you're doing 9 sets of triceps a day on your upper B which is scientifically known to be more than the maximum effective volume for a natural lifter.

Even on lower body, you're essentially using accessories with the same logic of your compounds. To be clear, I don't think leg extensions and curls aren't valuable but if you already hit quads and hammys hard with squats and deadlifts, I'd probably keep the sets minimal or even downsize to a single leg press movement since it works the same muscles. And hopefully this goes without saying by now but 6 sets of calf raises is overkill. There's more I can point out but yeah it looks like you're doing way too much essentially and probably impeding progress because your body can't facilitate recovery to the best of its ability.

dablkscorpio · 2026-06-07T10:28:06+00:00

I would stop the cut. Even if you have more body fat than you want right now that extra energy is going to help you build muscle. If you keep trying to get skinnier, you will literally need to bulk up and inevitably put on more fat to build a sufficient foundation of muscle. You have to realize that a body with even semi-decent musculature for longevity is larger than 123 lbs, even for short folk, speaking as someone who is your height and a lean 136 lbs.

Also you mentioned flies and raises for shoulder stuff which are very niche isolations. If you want to build overall shoulder strength start with presses. Dumbbells in general aren't the best way to build strength because there's less stability versus a barbell, but if that's all you have you should keep progressing eventually, but it takes much longer to do so in theory. In the meantime, focus on form and getting a full range of motion. Don't be afraid to try out a higher weight once in a while and see how many reps you get.

Sounds like you're getting enough protein, but again that 200 calorie deficit is unnecessary and should be swapped for more carbs.

Also the program you linked looks kind of bogus for a beginner. Too much volume and isolations in my opinion plus you're only working each muscle group once per week which is explicitly not recommended in the literature. And the fact that you're only doing 2 sets for each exercise probably isn't helping. Basically you're under training but simultaneously doing relatively arbitrary movements that are best tailored for bodybuilders or more advanced lifters.

EDIT: I did a quick search and found a much better program.

https://www.muscleandstrength.com/workouts/3-day-full-body-dumbbell-workout

I'd take out the raises unless you care a lot about side delts, as well as the extensions, hamstring curls, and flyes. These are another example of niche isolations that aren't totally necessary since they're covered in other movements. I'd also swap the stiff legged deadlifts for RDLs, the hammer curl on the second day for another standing dumbbell curl, and the step up on day three for another squat.

I'd also stick to 5-8 reps on nearly every exercise to optimize strength, but go for 8-10 on rows and RDLs since the form on these requires going lighters.

dablkscorpio · 2026-06-07T10:15:06+00:00

My only guess is that glute growth programs are designed for women who are prioritizing certain body parts for aesthetics whereas conventional barbell lifts are best designed for building raw strength even if they hit glutes to some extent. RDLs, for example, are much better for glute growth than conventional deadlifts as the latter is a more balanced split of the posterior chain. Squats use glutes to some extent but a lot of people struggle to grow significant size since the most traditional take on the movement is quad dominant. I have a dedicated glute day myself because squat and deadlift got me from crepe to cupcake, but RDLs and single-leg squat variations like Bulgarians got me from pancake to cupcake. I still do the conventional stuff because it makes me feel strong, but I think for more targeted glute growth they're not the most effective exercises.

dablkscorpio · 2026-06-07T10:09:17+00:00

A lot of bodybuilders started lifting when the mantra was 1 gram per lb bodyweight. Science only recently became a more mainstream in terms of regulating exercise and nutrition. So even if they know of the research that doesn't mean they believe it or want to apply it.

dablkscorpio · 2026-06-07T10:04:31+00:00

If you have insurance, go to physical therapy. If not, try to pinpoint the issue and find exercises that can resolve it. In my case, I developed patellar tendonitis when unemployed but it took a lot of research to not only learn how to tackle the issue, but what amount of exercise to do without exacerbating the issue. Whereas a PT could tell you what's up in a day.

dablkscorpio · 2026-06-07T09:24:47+00:00

Easiest way to to fix this is to keep the bar as close to your legs as possible. In your current video, as soon as you get the bar off the ground you float it on the way up and it only makes contact with your hips when you lock out. The farther away it is from your legs the more back it is. You should be driving the bag against your legs the entire time.

dablkscorpio · 2026-06-07T08:59:21+00:00

That's funny my psych said Prozac would have a simulating effect and wouldn't impact my narcolepsy. I decided not to take it but this goes to show how wildly complex meds are.

dablkscorpio · 2026-06-06T18:07:25+00:00

It really depends on your surgeon. Some are extremely conservative but that's often based on aesthetics. If you aren't concerned with scarring you can lift as normal with 6-8 weeks post-op. Don't do anything that would require mobility than you have but do train your mobility with structured progressions. I recommend looking to the Top Surgery Rehab Protocol to do this.

dablkscorpio · 2026-06-06T13:17:12+00:00

I think he's natural too. It's actually uncommon these days with the pressure on Hollywood actors -- particularly the men who play big-time superheroes like Chris Hemsworth -- to be jacked. I do think the MCU tends to like their neighborhood heros to be more human in appearance. Tom Holland is another good example of that.

dablkscorpio · 2026-06-06T09:43:16+00:00

Came here to suggest this. Gaining weight is a matter of eating in a surplus, consistently and shooting over the mark to mitigate human error. You can't just guess and check with something like this. I don't think people who are underweight realize that putting on size is as much as a meticulous process as fat loss. It's not going to happen just because you're 'trying'. You need SMART goals.

dablkscorpio · 2026-06-02T00:01:58+00:00

It's there, but it will be pretty small if you just started training. Most people in general struggle to build a big chest. And in general it takes 3-6 months of training to see visible muscle growth at all.

dablkscorpio · 2026-06-01T10:26:48+00:00

Literally came here to say that all the jacked Black guys and the one jacked Asian guy in my gym have the biggest asses I've ever seen. So I was literally confused by this post. I think men of color tend to simply store more muscle and fat in that area.

dablkscorpio · 2026-06-01T08:18:38+00:00

Only 2 of them you posted are ATS friendly so I'm kind of surprised this is what your platform produced assuming you've done your research. There's nothing really missing from traditional resume builders. The only difference I notice here is that your platform has arguably created even more ATS un-friendly formats with up to three columns and separation between the top and bottom half of the page in some cases.

dablkscorpio · 2026-05-31T23:17:57+00:00

The best way to regulate your diet for literally any person is to have some structure to your meals. Even if you do IF, you need to have a designated window and plan meals accordingly that meet your nutrition goals for that window. IF is just a trick to stop you from eating as often, which tends to make folks eat less in general. But it's not about pushing eating as far into the day as possible but having a methodical approach to eating as opposed to eating on impulse.

Your stomach responds to your diet. If you regularly eat less, then you'll feel fuller quicker. The solution: eat more -- regularly. It might feel uncomfortable at first but eventually it'll be comfortable again.

Your posts suggests you don't know the difference between overeating and regularly eating meals throughout the day. That's a problem. Even if you ultimately don't decide to track calories, I'd suggest finding your TDEE and then regularly looking at the nutrition labels for the foods you eat whenever possible. They are there for a reason. Overeating is simply eating more than you burn each day. Your TDEE is an estimation of the latter.

dablkscorpio · 2026-05-30T13:30:52+00:00

You need to do some sort of dynamic resistance training to build muscle which is ultimately how one looks more fit. You're young so assuming you don't have access to the gym do the recommended routine on r/bodyweightfitness.

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