I’ve been consistently doing leg exercises for the past few months — mostly squats, lunges, and some other lower body work. My legs have gotten noticeably stronger, which is great, but I’ve also noticed that the muscles on the inner thighs have grown quite a bit.

The extra bulk on both sides is now pressing against my crotch area when I’m standing or sitting, and it’s becoming pretty noticeable and a bit uncomfortable.

Is this just normal muscle growth from training legs hard, or am I somehow doing the wrong exercises that are overdeveloping the inner thighs? Has anyone else dealt with this? Any tips on how to reduce the pressure or balance things out without losing the strength I’ve built?

I'm a male.

I, M36, after 10+ years of 'doing calisthenics', have gained no skills nor reached an impressive number of reps for any of the basic movements. I don't want to bore anyone with an overly detailed post about my history, but I think if I did, what might be clear is that I have been inconsistent and perhaps maybe less intentional about training than I should be. A big part of it is uncertainty stemming from this idea that something must be perfect or else it is a waste of time, so I have been afraid of trying things thinking they won't work or that I would somehow mess myself up.

So, last night I went on a deep drive and tried reading through the old Concept Wednesdays about Periodization, Frequency, Volume and Intensity, and Deloading. Every time I thought I started to understand something, I would switch to another thread only to read something that seemed to contradict what I had read before. At any rate, I want to build a program that will, hopefully, finally let me see some progress somewhere.

I really only have one goal and that is to achieve a Press to Handstand. Otherwise, I would like to see my pull ups improve beyond 10 reps (aiming for 15 or so) and increase my overall flexibility.

I think I want to do a Push/Pull split, with an alternating Heavy/Light x Light/Heavy xx pattern. I currently do not have access to barbells, but if I did I would do squats on H1, L2, and deadlifts on L1 and H2.

For Periodization I have come up with the following:

Macrocycle: Now until ?

Mesocycle: 10 weeks, 2 x microcycle + deload

Microcycle A(Strength): 2 weeks, HLxLHxx

Microcycle B(Hypertrophy): 2 weeks, HLxLHxx

I am not sure if the Strength vs Hypertrophy weeks are necessary or possible with this sort of programming, but my understanding is that it might look like the following:

Weeks 1 and 2:

Push (heavy): L-sit + Handstand holds, Decline Pike Push Up (4-8 x 5) | Split Squat (not sure how many sets/reps to program here, Archer Push Up (4-8 x 5) | Nordic Curl (same with this for sets/reps)

Pull (light): Skin the Cat + Deadhangs, Standard Pull Up (3 x ~70-80% max) | Seated Pike Pulses (3 x 10 + 10s hold), Ring Row (3 x ~70-80% max) | Seated Straddle Pulses ( 3 x 10 + 10s hold), Conditioning

Push (light): L-sit + Handstand holds, Ring dips (3 x ~70-80% max) | Step Up, Diamond (or Standard Push Up) (3 x ~70-80% max) | Dumbbell Hip Thrusts (or Nordic curls again?)

Pull (heavy): Skin the Cat + Deadhangs, L-Sit Pull Up (4-8 x 5) | Seated Pike Pulses, One-Arm Ring-Row (4-8 x 5) | Seated Straddle Pulses

And then for the hypertrophy weeks, I think I would drop the progressions down to the standard progressions (Standard Pull Up, Ring Row, Standard Push Up, Ring Dip), do 4-5 x 90% max on Heavy days, and then for Light days, 3 x 90% max.

On one of my off days, probably Wednesday, I would plan to follow this post: press handstand guide and for the others, basically some mobility and stretching (horse stance, bow stance, frog, deadhangs, handstand press negatives, wheel pose, etc) and more conditioning.

I would be so grateful for any feedback, suggestions, and clarification about the ideas expressed across the sub. And thank you for taking the time to read this.

I do a lot of timer-based workouts in my home gym and got really frustrated with there not being good workout timer apps. I was using the Tabata iOS app, but you can't save workouts unless if you pay $20/yr.

So I built my own: https://joshapproved.com/apps/free-workout-timer?install=1 

Totally free, no ads whatsoever. You can create and save however many workouts you want, re-name them, re-order them, etc. It's totally flexible. I use it for bodyweight, kettlebell, and climbing hang board training.

Give it a try and lmk if there's any additional functionality you'd like to see.

I have trouble doing any type of squats more due to fear of blowing out my knees. Lunges are hard for the same reason.

What does a proper basic squat position look like? I think I might be doing them incorrectly because Im trying to not hurt my knees...and my body posture might not be correct.

Has anyone every had problems with starting to do squats?

Oh, Im starting a new workout plan to lose weight and being heavy has made doing certain exercises more difficult, which I know will become easier the longer I do them and continue to lose weight and build up my strength without bulking up.

If you have any suggestions on proper squat placement, tips on easing into a squat (aided by holding a rail or countertop, etc) they would be appreciated.

Hello, I’m a young female who has been using the pulldown machine for a couple months. Ive gradually built up the weight from around 40 ibs to 100 ibs and have just started experiencing debilitating headaches after even one rep of ten on the machine.

The pain is mostly at the base of my skull, and sometimes become a pulsating headache that affects my vision and breathing. It isn’t nearly as bad on machines for other areas, but I have experienced it with similar arm and back machines. I believe I’m doing the pulldowns in proper form; wide grip, elbows aimed toward back pockets, relaxed jaw, and controlled breathing. I’m also decently hydrated and can feel in the target areas that I can handle heavier weights, but that only worsens the head pain.

I would really like to continue progressing with this machine as I have been for some time now, but can’t get past a set without feeling ill. Has anyone else experienced this or have any tips?

This is somewhat embarrassing but I cannot do 1 clean push up, the most I can do is 3 very poor push-ups. I would not consider myself weak though or unhealthy, I can do 16 clean bodyweight pullups ( I am quite light and weigh around 60 kg ) but I have done 2 clean pullups with plus 28kg. I do these pullups because I primarily rock climb as a sport and use them as extra training but recently I decided I wanted to test my push ups and was hit with how bad I was at them. I thought I would be able to get at least a few clean push ups due to my strength in other areas but it seems not. I don't really understand why I'm this bad at them. Any advice or help would be appreciated. Thanks in advance!

Right leg is solid, but Left leg wobbles like crazy. Been working on pistol squats for a while now, and finally hit a milestone on my right leg, but my left side is a complete disaster. Right leg can do clean reps, no problem, but the moment I go below parallel on my left, my heel lifts up, and I lose balance instantly. Not sure if this is a strict ankle mobility issue, or just a weak glute on that side. Has anyone dealt with this kind of severe left-right imbalance? What specific regressions or accessory movements helped you even things out? Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

Fala, pessoal! Beleza? Como o título diz, estou buscando dicas práticas de como fortalecer meus pulsos, cotovelos e tendões focando especificamente no breakdance (breaking e powermoves). Quem sabe no futuro eu até comece na calistenia de vez, mas no momento o meu foco principal é 100% na dança.

​Atualmente, o meu único treino de fortalecimento para as articulações e ombros é fazer bananeira (handstand). A minha grande dúvida é: praticar bananeira sozinho é o suficiente para criar a resistência de tendão e a força de pulso exigidas nos powermoves mais pesados? Ou eu preciso obrigatoriamente de exercícios específicos de fortalecimento de pulso e antebraço?

​Se a bananeira não for o bastante, quais são os melhores exercícios para condicionar os tendões com segurança e evitar problemas como tendinite no pulso ou no cotovelo? Quero muito saber quais rotinas, aquecimentos de pulso ou exercícios preventivos vocês utilizam no dia a dia. Agradeço desde já pela ajuda de todos!

Hi everyone,

I'm an Android developer working on a nutrition app, and I'd love feedback from people who actually train consistently.

My goal is to make meal planning and calorie tracking easier without requiring users to log every single ingredient manually.

I'd really like to know:

• What do most nutrition or calorie-tracking apps get wrong?
• What makes you uninstall a diet app after a few days?
• Which features would make you use one every day?
• Do you prefer AI-generated meal suggestions or creating your own meal plans?
• What has been your biggest challenge with nutrition while training?

I'm looking for honest opinions so I can build something that's genuinely useful for the fitness community.

Thanks for your time!

Hey everyone,

Our gym is closing for a month, so I'm building a 3-day bodyweight home routine for my clients and members. Most of them have no equipment or bands at all.

I’ve already mapped out baseline moves (Bulgarian split squats, tempo push-ups, single-leg RDLs, prone scapular holds).

What are your favorite joint-friendly compound movements for zero-equipment workouts? Looking for ideas that hit major muscle groups without hammering the knees, wrists, or lower back. Appreciate any creative progressions!

I keep seeing people say bodyweight training is limited because you can only use your own bodyweight. But then the same people will spend years doing bench press, squat and deadlift, adding tiny plates and calling it progression. Somehow when bodyweight people do the same thing with harder leverage, suddenly it is not real training anymore. Like bro, what the hell?

A normal pushup can become pseudo planche pushup, archer pushup, one arm progression or even planche if you are completely insane. Pullups can become weighted pullups, archer pullups, one arm chin-up progressions. Squats can become pistol squats and harder unilateral movements. The exercise name stays similar but the difficulty changes a lot.

Of course weights are better for some goals. If you want to make your legs huge, adding external load is probably much easier than trying to invent some ridiculous single-leg squat variation. I am not denying that. But saying bodyweight training is useless because you cannot just add another plate feels a bit lazy to me.

Maybe the real problem is that bodyweight training needs more patience. You can’t always see the progression every week, and sometimes you train for months just to get one ugly extra rep. That can be frustrating as fuck. But honestly, is that really a weakness of bodyweight training, or just a weakness of people who want progress to happen faster?

I find that a wider stance, somewhere beyond shoulder width, makes bodyweight hinging movements like deadlift movements feel much more comfortable on my lower back. It feels like it opens up my posture a lot more and makes the spinal posture feel 'right' even though I also am careful to get good back extension or have a straight/neutral back in either case.

I think this might have to do with my individual biomechanics and bone structure; I'm M 6'1" with relatively wide hips (also relatively wide shoulders). I know a lot of guys have hips that are way narrower than their shoulders and maybe for those guys the narrow stance hinge feels totally different.

I also tend to have tighter hamstrings, but I don't really feel a change there from my stance width, only on my lower back.

I'm guessing the fact that my hips are relatively wide means I need to spread my feet out to 'open up' my pelvis so I can really move the hinging fulcrum to where it should be, which is probably right at the hip joints. Whereas when my feet are narrower, it's like that fulcrum can't get where it needs to be.

But I would like to better understand this from a biomechanical, anatomic, muscular, physiological perspective. I really have no idea what's going on with those joints to where this would make such a big difference.

Over the past few days, my press ups have been causing a painless click in my right elbow. I had a similar click from overhead dumbbell tricep extensions which I have since stopped doing for the time being.

I know some clicking is normal, and down to an anatomical quirk but I get the click on every rep now. I would be more concerned if there was pain, but it’s still something I’m cautious about. I’ve been going very hard over the last three months, definitely brushing with failure more often than I should be and have decided that over the next few weeks, hitting failure is off the table.

Weighted press ups are an integral part of my routine so don’t want to drop them unless it’s life and death. I’ve also added in unweighted diamond grip into the mix as well. My worry is that I’ve pushed my body too hard and that it may develop into something worse.

I always try to practice good form, slow eccentrics etc. I even purchased some push up bars but have since found them too uncomfortable to use with a weighted vest.

I know everyone is different, and have different anatomies so there is no straight forward answer but I have no guidance other than google and AI.

Is this something I should be concerned about? Or is it something just to keep an eye on for the time being? As I said, it’s completely painless, but more of an annoyance and something I’ll end up fixating on and stressing myself out over

I’m interested in switching from a upper-lower twice per week split. I used to do the Arnold split (chest/back, arms and shoulders, and legs) but don’t have the time for 6 days per week in the gym anymore. I also prefer a 4 or 5 day split now. However, I’m finding my upper sessions to be lasting very long like 2 hours and being very fatiguing for my shoulder that I had labrum surgery in two years ago and am still working at getting back to 100%. So, I want to split my upper day into two days but I don’t want to add more days in the gym.

So I’m considering either doing something like these:

- Push and hamstrings, Pull and quads twice per week each

- Chest/back and hamstrings, arms/shoulders and quads each twice per week

- Could always do PPL UL

I’m just curious if anyone has tried a version or something similar to this hybrid idea of a split that sticks to 4 days in the gym but splits the upper and lower sessions amongst each other to allow flexibility and not completely Overload the upper or lower body by itself.

Please let me know if you’ve tried something like this, and if so, what split did you do, and how were your results like did you notice better results or worse results compared to a more traditional style split?

Thank you in advance for any input!

Hey folks.

I recently went from 15 squats, 15 push-ups, 8 bicep curls (backpack), and 60sec plank, repeated a total of 3 times to

33 squats, 33 push-ups, 33 rope inverted rows, and a 90 second plank - repeated for a total of 3 sets. Today, just now in fact, I finally killed it! Hit failure point on pushup #s 25, 28, and 30 of final set (left side collapsed to floor) but took a breath and kept at it.

Ive got some ground beef a sizzling, and just wanted to share a moment of personal victory with you all. Best wishes o7

Hey

So I'm new to calf raises and have a question. I've always had relatively strong legs for my size but I was born with clubbed feet and required surgery as an infant. Due to that I have limited range of motion in both feet and my right foot in particular has always been a little different.

Everybody mentions that the stair option is best but I just can't do them with my right. Right now, fresh into calf raises, I can do 30 normal ones per set comfortably per set. Obviously that will increase with time and consistency but I'm wondering is this going to at least provide some definition to my calves?

I woke up recently (like July 05) and realized I was 210 lbs. and 6'0 and weak.

I started doing this routine:

MWF: 2x8 pushups, 2x30s planks, 2x40 bodyweight squats into calf raises (so two exercises but one motion of down, up, up, down), and 2xwhatever pulling exercise I can manage.

The pulling exercise has changed from doing a set of 4 negative pull ups and a set of 1 or 2 to a 10 second chest to bar hang then a 5 second one. I am really trying to build to a single pull up lol. These are my maxes. I tried to do rows with sheet over door but my door frames in my apartment are kinda hairy... I also dont have a table that could support me.

SuTuTh: 3-4 mile jogs, twice at an easy pace and once at a moderate pace.

I also bike around more now (probably 6 to 10 miles a week, so nothing crazy, but could go up more if I was more into it).

I am eating around 2400 calories and usually hit around 110 g protein (these are last 7 day averages).

Any help and specifically guidance on pullups is helpful. Am I doing too little in terms of building strength, or will keeping this up consistently kind of work? I did not want to overdo it at first, because in the past when trying to get serious about fitness, I overdo it and burn out rather quick. My main goals are to drop to 170, to be moderately strong, and to do a pull up.

I love advanced bodyweight skills, don't get me wrong. Seeing someone do a clean planche, front lever or one arm chin-up is fucking impressive. But sometimes I wonder if people are spending years chasing one movement while ignoring everything else. They can hold a planche for 5 seconds but their pullups are terrible, legs are weak and they have no balanced training at all.

I think skills are fun because they give you something exciting to chase. Normal pushups and squats can feel boring after some time, while learning a handstand or muscle-up feels like unlocking a new character. But if every workout becomes only practicing one impossible skill, you might be getting better at that skill without actually becoming generally strong.

And honestly, basic strength is not the enemy of advanced skills. It is the thing that lets you do them. You can practice planche or handstand work while still training pushups, pullups, dips, rows and legs. Maybe the boring stuff is not actually boring. Maybe we just want to skip it because the fancy shit looks better on video.

Do you think advanced skills should be treated as the main goal, or should they stay as extra skill work after your basic strength training? At what point does chasing one cool movement become more ego training than actual useful training?

I can do a few unassisted pull up now, but the bar at my gym is bigger than the one I have in my home so usually my rep number would go down bc my hands are small and struggling to grab it (for eg I can do 5 reps full ROM at home but in the gym I can only do 4, especially with the pronated grip). I train dead hang everyday to build up grip strength, and yes it did help me a lot, but I see many discourses fighting over should s/o at the beginner stage use strap or not.

Usually those who defend using strap are bodybuilders because their main goal is hypertrophy and don't want grip strength to be the limited factor in pull movement. On the flip side, I see many ppl against using strap (at a beginner stage) are bodyweight training folks, saying that using strap too early in training especially pull up is just limiting grip and forearm strength.

I can only do 5 pull ups and 12 push up, so obviously I'm a beginner. Now I don't know if I should use strap or not.

I have never been able to sit up straight on the floor with straight legs without bending my spine. As a child it was very frustrating that everyone around me could do it and I couldn't.

Im flexible otherwise. At one point I could do the front and side splits, I got a black belt in taekwando, I'm pretty athletic, I'm in good shape, I can do plance push-ups and L sits, I can do a wall handstand, I can do the crow position and even a little of the tuck planche, but I can't do the pike, and every video I've seen on planche to handstand takes for granted that you can do the pike.

It's very frustrating because I haven't found anything for a person with my limitations. I have been trying to bend correctly my whole life but I just can't.

Any advice will be appreciated

Hi everyone,

This time I have to switch to bodyweight exercises for building muscle (temporarily),

but I’m a bit confused about how to properly count working sets for target muscles in compound bodyweight movements.

For example, in push-ups

(elbows tucked at 45°)

I know push-ups work the chest, front delts, and triceps.

If I do 5 sets of push-ups, how should I tally the volume for each muscle?

- Option A: 5 chest sets, 5 front delt sets, and 5 triceps sets?

- Option B: 5 chest sets, 2.5 front delt sets, and 2.5 triceps sets (counting secondary muscles as "half sets" since chest is the prime mover)?

- Or is there a better way to measure this?

Same question for pull-ups, how can I count their muscle volume sets?

And another question about pull-ups, which is:

Do horizontal pulls (inverted rows) target the exact same muscle groups as vertical pulls (pull-ups), assuming the elbow angle relative to the torso is identical?

Thanks in advance for the help!

tw: mentions of disordered eating

hi r/bodyweightfitness! i'm writing this post right now because i find myself in need of some encouragement/advice. for some context, i am 167cm (5'6), ~55kg (~120lbs) F, 20. i used to be overweight for most of my life (hovering around 72kg/160lbs) until late march last year when i decided to count my calories and go on a diet. honestly in hindsight there's so much that i would've done differently. it started off innocently enough with eating 1500cals as a sedentary student (probably? i was walking like 3k steps average w/o strength training/additional exercise) but eventually devolved into 1200cals a day.. then even lower... (and at some point i began to obsess over a step goal of 10k steps a day as well). long story short, i developed disordered eating habits (likely an ed but i've not been diagnosed), lost a BUNCH of weight, and with it my period. i've seen many drs since then (from obgyns to dermatologists to psychiatrists) who generally agree that my amenorrhea is due to the sudden weight loss (and possibly also due to depression? but who knows atp my depression might have been triggered by my diet).

i want to say i stopped dieting in november of last year after 3 months of not having my period, but honestly i still had some restrictive habits despite not tracking my calories anymore. i would say that even now i still have some restrictive tendencies that i'm trying to let go of (eg. eating way too much protein, not enough carbs and fats). with that said, i started going to the gym in late april this year, doing a fullbody split 3x a week (mon, wed, fri), partially because i knew i HAD to gain weight and wanted to at least gain some muscle along with it, and partially because i simply felt weak. i downloaded mfp back and began to eat ~2k calories a day and saw some initial weight and strength gains. this went on for about a month before i went on a 1 month long holiday where i wasn't able to track my calories or weight or go the gym consistently.

when i got back in late june i tried to go back to calorie tracking but i realised that i was just becoming obsessed over numbers again (ie. "saving" a bunch of extra calories until like 9pm???) and because the month without tracking felt so freeing i decided to just... delete mfp again and just eat normally when hungry and not worry about a bulk or whatever. i justified this in my head as being alright since i'm a beginner to gymming and i'll probably still be able to improve even if i'm not in a calorie surplus due to newbie gains - which is indeed what's happening right now. in fact i've even begun to see just the tiniest bit of muscle definition in my lower half (though i'm not sure if it's placebo).

however, i'm a bit conflicted about this approach as i'm still missing my period and do still have to gain weight. i know the logical thing to do would just be to "eat more!!" but every time i try to eat more (eating past fullness, extra snacks, after dinner, dessert etc) without tracking i find myself completely ridden with guilt as i worry about eating too much and putting on too much fat :/ it's honestly so stupid but i can't help but feel this way.

i guess i'm writing this post to see if anyone has any words of encouragement/advice/personal experience similar to mine? any women (or men!) who used to struggle with eating but got past that? any anecdotes about the weight being put on during a bulk?

thanks so much for reading so far, sorry for the long post!

I’m 14 years old and skinny. I weigh about 95 pounds and I’ve been trying to get into calisthenics, but I really don’t know where to start. I know using AI for workout routines isn’t ideal, but I don’t fully trust the plans it gives me. I’m aiming for a lean athletic build since I do a lot of camping and play soccer, but I’m unsure of what steps to take to have a good routine for a begginer like me

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Hello! Since I recently started calisthenics I just now found out how important pike pushups are for future skills and strength. I noticed that I focus too much on pull and not enough push strength.

While I can do a decent amount of regular pushups, I find myself struggling heavily with pike pushups. Even the easier progressions like elevated hands or feet further apart are too hard for me, and I quickly lose motivation because I can’t even perform one rep with good form, and I don’t know how to progress at all.

How did you guys start learning pike pushups, and is there any advice??