Hey! Been reading a lot currently on how to create a routine and found this

https://www.aworkoutroutine.com/the-beginner-weight-training-workout-routine/

And read quite a lot on his side.

So the idea (if natural beginner) is basically to do Upper Lower (3-4x) or Upper Lower with PPL (5x) as a beginner.

My idea right now is doing PPL 5x a week but cycle through. So I start Pull, Push, Legs, Pull Push (weekend rest) and start my next week with Legs, Pull Push, Legs, Pull (weekend rest) and then go on with Push, Pull, Legs, Push Pull (weekend rest) and so on.

This should provide enough recovery for me as a beginner (7 months gym) or am I wrong?

I also should reduce volume from 6-7 exercises for better recovery.

So my new workout is basically:

Pull A: (Lat Pulldown + Wide Grip Focus)

1. V Bar Lat Pulldowns 3x6-8
2. Wide Grip T Bar Rows 3x8-10
3. Cable Face Pulls 3x10-15
4. Seated Dumbbell Curls 3x10-15

Push A: (Chest Focus)

1. Flat DB Benchpresses (3x6-8)
2. Bodyweight Dips (3 Sets to failure)
3. Cable Lateral Raises (3x10-15)
4. EZ Bar Skull Crushers (3x10-15)

Legs A: (Squat Focus)

1. Squats 3x6-8
2. Seated Leg Curls 3x10-15
3. Smithmachine Calf Raises 3x10-15 (each set different stance)
4. Decline Crunches 3 Sets to failure

Pull B: (Pull Up Neutral Grip Focus)

1. Pull Ups (2 Sets Wide Grip)
2. Pull Ups (2 Sets Neutral Grip)
3. T Bar Row (Neutral Grip) 3x8-10
4. Cable Hammer Curls (Rope) 3x10-15

Push B: (Shoulder Focus)

1. Seated DB Overhead Presses 3x6-8
2. Cable Lateral Raises 3x15-20
3. Machine Chest Press 3x8-10
4. Incline Bench DB Flys 3x10-15
5. Triceps Overhead Extensions (Cable) 3x10-15

Legs B: (RDL Focus)

1. RDLs 3x6-8
2. Seated Leg Ext. 3x 8-10
3. Bulgarian Split Squats 2x 8-10
4. Smithmachine Calf Raises 3x10-15
5. Hanging Leg Raises 3x to Failure

Any thoughts on this? Is volume "decent" or too low?

I know I should stick to a programm but I haven't found one I enjoyed and just changed a few exercises to what I like and matched the Set/ Rep range and reduced exercises to beginner level (8 months gym experience).

Is this okay?

Question would be: Is this allowing for enough recovery even if I go 5x a week? Should I just combine Pull/Push to Upper Day and do 8 Exercises on each upper day instead for an extra rest day? Upper Lower Rest Upper Lower Rest Rest?

What I like about 4-5 exercises is that I can easily do 20-30 minute low intensity cardio after each workout day?

I usually plan on Sundays, adjusting based on how much time I’ll have. I always aim for at least 4 workouts a week, even when life gets busy.

I heard from a lot of people that it's not good too switch up routine too often, but to me it's actually feeling quite good swapping PPL with UL (if time is short) but going atleast 4x a week (UL - UL) or perhaps UL PPL.

I wanted to share my workout routine that balances flexibility and consistency. I use a mix of Upper/Lower and Push/Pull/Legs (PPL) depending on my time constraints each week.

Typical Week: 6x per week: PPLPPL (Push, Pull, Legs, Push, Pull, Legs) 5x per week: A mix of Upper/Lower and PPL 4x per week: Upper/Lower (always at least 4 workouts)

I made a few Upper, Lower, Push and Pull days to select from and alternate every now and then.

Upper A: Chest focus Upper B: Back focus

Lower A: RDLs Lower B: Squats

Push A: Chest focus Push B: Shoulder focus

Pull A: Back/Lat pulldown Pull B: Back/Pull-ups

Is it really that bad to change routine this often?

About a year ago, I got married. I couldn’t invite everyone from my friend group, so I decided to only invite people I actually spend time with one-on-one outside of group stuff over the past year or two.

There are two people in the group—one of them being the one this is really about—who I honestly wouldn’t even know if they stopped hanging out with our shared friends. We’ve never done anything just the two of us. We only ever see each other at parties every few months.

Thing is, those two are also the ones who organize everything. They’ve kind of created their own mini friend group inside the bigger group—like 6 or 7 people out of 15 who get invited to the real stuff: birthdays, city trips, holidays, etc. And five of those people are actually close friends of mine.

When I invited 9 of the 15 to my wedding, I told people I just couldn’t include everyone. Most people were cool with it, even her best friend didn’t mind. But now, she’s throwing a party for her 30th birthday and invited everyone—except me.

She’s never invited me to her birthday before, which is part of why I didn’t invite her to the wedding in the first place. I figured if we’re not close enough for a birthday dinner, a wedding isn’t happening either.

But this time it’s different. She invited literally everyone else in the group. My best friend wasn’t invited either, but that makes sense—he doesn’t really know her. With me, though, I’m pretty sure it’s payback for not inviting her to my wedding.

And yeah... I don’t know. I usually don’t care about her events because I’m not close with her. But this time feels different. Not because I wanted to go to her party—but because everyone else is going. I know I’ll be left out when they’re all talking about it later. I’ll miss out on those shared moments, even if it’s with people I do care about.

I get it. I didn’t invite her, she’s not inviting me. Fair enough. But I can’t help feeling weird about it. Like, yeah, maybe I started this when I didn’t include her—but at the same time, she’s the one who’s always made the group feel split in two. She’s been excluding people for years.

Anyway, here we are. Not invited. And for once, it actually kind of stings. Wish it didn’t. But this one hits different.

I probably won't be able to fix this cause even on group gatherings we rarely have a 1:1 conversation. Like never had... she is the person that is always there and in the middle of all but if we talk it's in a group setting. I can't remember if I ever talked alone with her.

I personally would have invited her to something like a birthday. But I don't celebrate my birthdays. I never did and I don't care about my birthday. Three years ago I planned a trip to a theme park and I invited everyone (and her) to join and organised everything. A few weeks later she organised something else but only with the 5 other friends. So that was the last time I organised something.

It's weird because this person also makes me feel very insecure. It's not that I don't like her but when she is around I am totally different. I am more quiet, scared to say things I would normally say,... it's a very loud person and I just don't like that. But that is all I have to her. Maybe she is different alone but I sometimes do wonder why everyone likes her. She likes to be in the middle of everything, kind of like attention seeker. But not really either... To me she comes off as passive toxic. If I just observe her at parties I am always happy I only see her at these parties and not on vacations, trips etc... but maybe it's also cause I am mad about the splitting of our group and that she didn't invite me 3 years ago after I organised a trip first.

This feeling actually made me more silent, I avoid going to these parties more and more. I go more to the gym, do things with 2 other friends but I feel like I am isolating myself more and more and trying to find new people which is very hard. I go to the gym like 6 times a week and talk with someone there but that is it. This whole thing makes me feel like I am not really wanted anymore in that group and maybe she is saying things to my other friends about me. Or I am just thinking this going full psycho and nothing is going on. In the end maybe she just forgot to invite me and doesn't even care - but that I don't believe. This time she excluded me on purpose and invited the others who she normally never invites intentionally.

Hey, I was reading a lot lately and built myself a new plan after I followed my other one since weeks.

It's a simple 6-day Push/Pull/Legs - A/B rotation with a weekly rep scheme progression in it.

Rep ranges rotate forward for each version every inbetween each version (picture).

Exercises I have chosen:

PUSH A Barbell Bench Press Seated Dumbbell Shoulder Press Cable Chest Flys (mid-chest) Lateral Raises Cable Triceps Pushdowns EZ Bar Skullcrushers

PUSH B Dumbbell Bench Press Incline Barbell Press Dumbbell Flys (flat bench) Dips

PULL A Chest-Supported Rows Lat Pulldown Face Pulls Rear Delt Flys EZ Bar Curls Incline Dumbbell Curls

PULL B Pull-Ups Seated Cable Rows Straight Arm Pulldowns Reverse Pec Deck Hammer Curls Preacher Curls

LEGS A and B currently same: Leg Press Bulgarian Split Squats Leg Extensions Lying Leg Curls Standing Calf Raises

A couple of years ago, I started building a house. It was a huge project, and while I didn’t directly ask my friends for help, I quietly hoped some of them might offer. No one did, which was disappointing, but I didn’t confront anyone about it.

At the same time, I was planning a wedding with my wife last year. We invited my entire friend group (about 15 people) and had a great time (August 24). The last time we all saw each other was at a New Year’s gathering—but since then, things have gone quiet.

What’s happened now is that about 7 people from the original group have started doing more things together, but they don’t regularly invite the rest of us anymore. I’ve noticed I’m no longer naturally included. We haven’t had a falling out, but there’s been around 4 months of silence now, and I haven’t reached out either—partly because it feels awkward after this long.

Since then, I’ve also changed my lifestyle a bit. I started going to the gym regularly and I’ve pulled back from drinking, which the group still does a lot of on weekends. So maybe I’ve distanced myself too, without fully realizing it.

Now I feel kind of alone. I have barely any social contact outside of two others from the group who also seem to be excluded. And honestly, it’s been getting to me. At my age (early 30s), it feels hard to find new people to really connect with. I do say hi and chat a bit with regulars at the gym, but that’s as far as it goes. I wouldn’t feel comfortable just asking someone to go out to eat or hang out.

So I’m wondering:

Is this just a normal phase of life and friendship? Was I expecting too much back then? And is it worth trying to reach out again, or should I just accept the drift and try to build something new (somehow)?

I’d really appreciate any outside thoughts or similar experiences....

It keeps getting me if I see posts from my friend group when they go on vacation or trips together and put it on their status. Even if I likely wouldn't have time I'd think it would be cool if they would just ask if I wanted to join? But I don't seem to fit in at all anymore.

I’ve been in this weird headspace lately where life is just… strange. On the surface, everything is fine. I go to work, eat relatively healthy, try to stay on top of errands, keep things running — the usual. But underneath it all, there's this constant feeling of dull pressure, like I'm being stretched thin by things that don’t really matter. It’s like I’m always busy, but rarely present.

Every day feels packed, but nothing sticks. I go through the motions, check off tasks, scroll a bit, eat, sleep, repeat. I end the day drained, like I ran a marathon in my head — but can’t really remember anything meaningful that happened. It’s not burnout in the dramatic sense, just this low-grade hum of tiredness and disconnection that never really turns off.

Socially, things have gotten quieter too. I barely see my friends anymore. Most of them are still into drinking and going out — stuff that used to feel exciting but now just feels... loud and repetitive. There was no big falling out. Just different rhythms now. Slower ones. And sometimes I sit with that and wonder if it’s just part of growing up, or if something deeper got lost along the way.

And then my brain starts spinning, usually late at night, when everything’s quiet. I start thinking about the future — and it honestly kind of scares me. Not in a dramatic, apocalyptic way, but in that creeping "things-are-moving-too-fast" way. AI is suddenly everywhere. Wars are happening in the background of our everyday lives. Economies feel fragile. Everything seems more unstable than it used to be, like we’re just pretending things are normal while the ground shifts under us.

And weirdly, my mind keeps drifting back to 2006. I don’t even know why exactly — maybe because it felt slower. Simpler. The internet was just fun and weird, not all-consuming. There were fewer screens, fewer existential threats in the news feed. Boredom existed, but it didn’t feel dangerous — it felt open. It felt like space to breathe. Now everything feels compressed, even rest.

I don’t think I’m depressed. I’m not miserable. But I feel… detached. Like I’m watching my life from the outside, waiting for it to feel like mine again. There’s this quiet emptiness running underneath everything, like background static. Not loud enough to break me, just enough to make everything feel slightly out of tune.

Anyone else feel like this? Have you figured out how to shake it — or at least live with it in a way that makes sense?

I am so exhausted.

My older brother has to be the most selfish egoistic person that exists on this planet. When I meet him everything is "fine" he talks like the friendliest person ever, always has a positive opinion about things and can generally talk very well.

My grandpa died a few months ago so my mother and her brother got the inheritance. Since my mother didn't want anything and left it to her brother our state by law asks the children of the next generation if they want to accept or refuse inheritance.

So my mom didnt want it and she told us to not accept it either. It would be 25% for me and 25% for him.

I said sure, fine - my brother was still thinking about it cause we own a small little "land".

Long story short: My brother talked with my oncle before hand and begged to give him the property and he wouldn't accept the inheritance in exchange. I didn't know about the deal and during all this I questioned the land with my mother and my brother as well but my brother kept saying: "We can't do that, it wouldnt be right to accept the inheritance if mom said we shouldn't."

End of story: I didn't accept it (moral reasons), my brother didn't accept it but he got the land and is now bragging around that he owns land.

I couldn't care less, I got my own stuff but I hate how he handled this whole shi.t making me look like a greedy dude in front of my mother cause I questioned it but during that time he already had a deal with my oncle about it.

Man I hate people.

This isn't the only thing I noticed. I am seeing very clearly 35 years too late. Everytime we go out with his kids I pay for his coffee, I pay entrance to stuff for his kids cause he says "You are the oncle you gotta do it once in a while". Last weekend I visited him for a coffee in his area and we went to the local coffee shop again. I already invited him 5 times and this time he said he would pay. Right before we had to pay he said he has to use the toilet and disapeared for 10 minutes until I was done paying. He does pulls that off every single time.

It's hilarious cause I never really bothered about those small things. Even my father, my stepfather and mother say he is a selfish person and my mother basically disinherited him a few years ago so I will be getting most of my mothers stuff when she passes away.

Yesterday was easter sunday. He visited the "new property" with his wife and children but only invited his wifes family to the BBQ event he planned for his new "yard". My mother, lives about 1 mile away from the property and she didn't get invited. It was her property. She was so mad when she found out they didnt invite her.

My mom called me and said it was the stupidest idea ever to let her brother have everything and if she would have known that my brother did such a deal she wouldn't have let this all happen. Now she has to live with the fact my brothers wifes family being on her old property. I cant pack this whole thing in the topic here but my mother isnt "good" with his wife.

I know I didnt get "ripped off" because I didnt own anything here. But I feel like my brother screwed me. I know I shouldnt feel this way cause it was never my inheritance to begin with.

I am always wondering and overcomplicating things in life and I have been posting quite a lot of questions here lately because I am just more confused the more I read.

I came to the conclusion that I absolutely might not need a rest day if I have the energy and motivation to go to the gym.

But I also can just quit going to the gym if I need more rest as well instead of just one rest day.

I have a few exercises that I know I can execute with a decent form. Probably not perfect but fine enough to not break me in the future so I just do them.

I feel like I have the best results in this kind of a mixed routine.

One week I do for example Push Legs Pull while moving Triceps from Push to Pull day and Biceps from Pull to Push day. This just feels way better than Chest + Triceps cause I have to lower weight for triceps exercises by almost 50% once I get to the exercise on chest day. Same goes for Biceps. Why biceps on pull day if I could just throw in a rest day after pull day and repeat again or heck, I can still go Push again with a bit lighter weight if I figure I don't need it.

So right now my routine is more like this: Monday: Chest + Biceps Tuesday: Legs (light) and bouldering (climbing) Wednesday: Back + Triceps Thursday: Cardio Friday: Upper Body (2 Chest, 2 Back, 1 Triceps 1 Biceps exercise) Saturday: Legs heavy Sunday rest.

But sometimes I don't feel the need to rest and I just add an arm day and after that I rest again.

It feels like I don't have a real routine but I am just juggling with the exercises I know and when to do them with the goal to hit most muscles 2-3 times a week.

After a pull day it sometimes feels wrong to not go to the gym the next day and just go for 4 biceps exercises so I just do that and call it a day.

I'm totally not sure about recovery in general but it might be taxing on my CNS but I just throw in a rest day here, a rest there and sometimes two days or heck even three days and go full into it again. Correct me if I am wrong but I think it could be a better idea to just listen to your body and not to a routine?

I just did Upper Lower + PPL (5 days) and tomorrow is sunday. Why should I stay at home tomorrow if I feel I can go hard on push tomorrow? If I go hard on push tomorrow I could still rest on monday and continue with legs and pull on tuesday and wednesday?

I don't look like Doc Mike, Chris Heria, Chris Bumstead and whoever is out there. But I also will never go as heavy as they go so it feels like that this whole recovery story on social media is more for the people who are really deep in the game but not for people who have so many sessions. Don't understand me wrong. Recovery is important and thats why I don't go to the gym every day. But sometimes it feels like working out chest and back twice is a week is perfect but my arms could actually need 3-4 workouts. Sometimes it feels like my legs only need one workout and I am dead the whole week so I won't do them twice. Just as an example...

I think waking up in the morning and doing whatever doesnt feel exhausted (worstcase soor) should be worked out. If I do chest monday and wednesday I feel like its fresh - why not just do Push again and move the pull to the next day?

But same goes the other way: Why should I go into my leg day if I am tired and exhausted from a heavy push day? Yeah my legs are fine but holy if my CNS is fried why?

Hey... I weight 76 kg, started at 83,8 kg in december 2024. Am 175 cm tall and eat about 2500 kcal and 1,6 gramms and more per kg bodyweight since december. Haven three days with less than 120g protein.

But my weight training sucks. I stsrted with 7,5 kg dumbbell presses and now I am at 12,5 kg. My barbell incline press was 2,5 kg each side now 7,5 kg so in total with barbell 35 kg.

Dunno what I am doing wrong? Doing Push Pull Leg 6 days a week, once I did PPL UL cause of time.

I feel so bad. Im doing everything I can

So I have been doing full body workouts the last months.

I switched to Push Pull Legs recently and it'sgoing quite well. PPLPPL Rest.

What I am asking myself though is do I have to be consistant with PPL so I reach 6 times a week?

What I mean does it have to be Push Pull Legs Push Pull Legs Rest or can I do that one week and the next week Push Pull Legs Rest Push Pull Legs?

Is it also okay to start the week with PPL and if I notice I have no time for 3 more times can I do PPL, Rest, Upper body, Lower body?

If I notice I have even less time, can I do PPL, Rest, >Full Body< Rest Rest?

So basically I should always benefit from PPL if I can guarantee atleast 4 times a week because I can always do Monday to Wednesday. Sometimes work and family kicks in and I cant add another cycle of PPL.

Am I giving this too much thought?

So last week I did PPL PPL Rest. This week I can do PPL and I will do Upper Lower Body on Friday and Saturday cause of work inbetween (coworkers got sick).. what do you guys think?

If this happens a lot, should I just stay with Upper Lower Body split instead and scrap PPL?

I like PPL currently but it sucks that I cant always guarantee 6 days time. I'd say every second week I can go 5 times... it never happend that I only did 4 workouts yet.

The question also could be: Is Push Pull Leg Rest Upper Lower Rest also viable? Is Push Pull Legs Rest Full Body Rest Rest also viable? Since I have to reduce my exercises in a upper body day and lower body day...

Basically my Upper Body day is nothing different than Push/ Pull, just two or three exercises less. But I keep the compound movements in it like Pull Ups and Dips, Benchpresses,... I scrap the isolated exercises though.

The reason I am asking this is because I heard PPL is useless if you only go 3 times a week. But how is it if I can atleast go 4-5x a week? To me it sounds actually quite decent since I can still focus on chest triceps etc. on mondays, back and biceps on tuesdays and legs abs on wednesdays. And I can still hit most muscles again if I do upper day and lower day instead of another round of PPL either way. Maybe not as effective cause I won't be doing flys and isolated triceps/ biceps exercises, but they still get hit a little bit twice?

Maybe someone can give me advice here or atleast confirm if my thought process is correct.

I currently weight 77,6 kg, 175 cm (male) and I am skinny fat. Meaning I am very skinny, have barely fat on my arms and legs but stored fat belly/ chest area.

So I calculated my kcal a day at about 2300 kcal. If I want to gain weight (muscles) with weightlifting I need a 200-400 kcal surpluss.

If I want to lose fat, which I also do (belly and chest) I need a deficit of 100-200 to maintain or gain slowly muscles while workout without losing muscles.

So I need 2200 kcal (maintain muscles, lose fat) to 2600 kcal (gain more muscles, not lose fat) a day to see gains everywhere and fat loss in belly/ chest area?

What is the best approach here? Lose fat in chest/ belly area first meaning going down to about 65 kgs first and then build muscles back to 75 kg or build muscles and lose fat later?

Obviously with the approach of going for 2200 kcal I might see slower muscle gaines but also fat loss, but also slower. I can't do both very fast if I don't commit to losing fat first or gaining muscles first.

So if I add cardio to my training programm I would have to eat all my kcal I have lost in the cardio session + the 2600 kcal surpluss resulting in about 3100 kcal a day to see gains. In other words: if I have problems eating a lot of food, which I do, I should avoid cardio currently?

This has impacted my life so negatively I don't even know where to start.

My friends and I started drinking at 17 and went out almost every weekend. Every year we had huge events like festivals (Germany has many) and well those were like 3 days being drunk in a row.

If i could turn back time I'd probably just tell myself to not do it and probably do it again anyways.

I'm getting invested in the gym and it's so good. I wonder how I'd look like today if I would have just been at the gym in my 20s.

Not only that. I wonder how my friend circle would look like cause currently I have no friends I'd consider "friends". Those were all drinking buddies. They still drink every weekend and more and more I realised they are just functioning alcoholics.

And since I don't drink anymore (2 years) I'm basically out.

So I'd say alcohol didn't only have a negative impact on my brain while I was still young (and after) it also hit my wallet, my time for better things (sports).... etc.

Man. Sucks. Sucks to be me.

Now I am happy I have a wife, a house and going in the right direction but it is soooo hard to find friends or atleast people if you aren't in school anymore and coworkers busy with own life.

If I could give anyone younger advice I'd just stay screw it and go to the gym and find a hobby like climbing, swimming, golfing, tennis or something and get people there.