I was told this might be appreciated here. Took me a couple of tries to write a comprehensive post about my own long term delulu about fitness and finally overcoming it.
After 10 years of lifting, I finally accepted reality… and got rewarded with progress. Which I did not expect at all tbh. For over a decade I was still being delulu and trying to find shortcuts. Can I somehow build muscle without actually eating more or hitting protein? Can I just keep cycling through deficits? Is there a magical glute exercise I’m missing? Turns out… no. Like I said, the delusion was strong.
I got to the point of being really frustrated about “putting the work in” and not seeing the physique I wanted. So I had to do some real accountability and reflect on my lifestyle.
I went from eating around 1,600-1,700 calories while doing cardio multiple times a week to eating roughly 2,100-2,500 calories and replacing most of that cardio with steady-state incline walking. I also stopped trying to force generic programs onto my body. I’m quad dominant. My shoulders are super responders and grow well. My glutes though have always existed but like meh. I did not “feel” them. So I finally built a program around my body instead of generic “dr Bubblebutt recommends”.
- Monday – Heavy Lower
Smith machine hip thrusts – 3 × 8–12
Bulgarian split squats – 3 × 8–10/leg
Squats - 3 x 6-8
Leg press – 3 × 8–10
Cable kickbacks – 3 × 8–12/leg
Hip abduction machine – 3 × 12–15
- Tuesday – Upper Body
Arnold press – 3 × 8–10
Lateral raises – 3 × 10–12
Upright rows – 3 × 8–10
Dumbbell curls – 3 × 6–8
Cable curls – 3 × 8–10
Overhead triceps extensions – 3 × 8–10
Cable triceps pushdowns – 3 × 10–12
- Wednesday – Conditioning & Core
Incline treadmill walk – 45 minutes
Cable crunches – 3 × 12–15
Hanging/captain’s chair leg raises – 3 × 10–15
Planks – 3 × 30–60 sec
Mobility/stretching – 10–15 minutes
- Thursday – Glute Hypertrophy
Smith machine hip thrusts – 3 × 10–12
Heel-elevated goblet squats – 3 × 10–12
Step-ups – 3 × 10/leg
Cable kickbacks (standard) – 3 × 10–12/leg
Cable kickbacks (crossover) – 3 × 10–12/leg
Hip abduction machine – 3 × 12–15
Leg extensions – 3 × 8–10
- Friday – Lower Body Strength
Smith machine hip thrusts – 3 × 8–10
Bulgarian split squats – 3 × 8/leg
Leg press – 3 × 8–10
Cable kickbacks – 3 × 8–10/leg
Hip abduction machine – 3 × 12–15
Ham string curls – 3 × 8–10
- Saturday: Rest or light walking
- Sunday: Rest or light walking
The biggest thing I had to accept was that calories determine whether you gain or lose weight. Nutrients determine what that weight is more likely to be. It does matter where the calories are coming from and raging against reality will not change anything. Resistance training creates the stimulus for muscle growth. But adaptation requires resources. Enough carbohydrates to refill muscle glycogen.That glycogen piece was something I massively underestimated. I look depleted in my before pictures. After it isn’t all new muscle.Glycogen is the stored form of carbohydrate inside your muscles. Every gram is stored with roughly 3-4 grams of water. That’s why people often start eating more carbs while lifting and suddenly look bigger, rounder, and more muscular within days. The scale can be incredibly misleading because of this. Two people can weigh exactly the same, but the person carrying more muscle and fuller glycogen stores will usually look leaner, tighter, and more athletic.
Over the past several months I’ve built more muscle than I did during years of spinning my wheels because I finally focused on the boring stuff instead of looking for loopholes.
1. Track your calories.
You don’t have to do it forever, but if you’re trying to change your body composition you should probably know how much you’re actually eating. I’ve tracked calories most of my adult life because, honestly, I like the flexibility and control it gives me.
2. Food quality matters.
Calories determine body weight. Nutrients determine how well you recover, train, and build muscle. I “ghetto rig” recipes all the time. Half a protein shake goes into my coffee instead of cream. I’ll swap ingredients to get more protein or fiber without changing meals I already enjoy.
3. Eat enough protein.
Around 1.6-2.2 g/kg of body weight is where the evidence consistently lands for maximizing muscle growth.
4. Eat your fiber.
I aim for 25-35 g per day. It helps with satiety, gut health, blood sugar, and as someone with PCOS, it makes a noticeable difference. Or whatever they’ve decided to rename PCOS this week.
5. Stop being afraid of carbs.
They’re your muscles’ favorite fuel source. That little jump on the scale after increasing carbs is often glycogen and water inside your muscles, not body fat.
6. Progressive overload is non-negotiable.
If you’ve been lifting the same weight for the same reps for six months, your muscles have absolutely no reason to change. Progressive overload doesn’t always mean adding weight. It can be another rep. A slower eccentric. A better range of motion. An extra set. Better execution. Just give your body a reason to adapt.
7. Muscles don’t own calendars.
One of the biggest myths I keep seeing is that you have to wait 48-72 hours before training the same muscle again. Recovery isn’t determined by a stopwatch. It’s determined by training volume, intensity, proximity to failure, nutrition, sleep, and your own recovery capacity. You absolutely can train lower body multiple times a week, even on consecutive days, if the workload is programmed intelligently. My lower body gets trained three times every week with different priorities each day, and it’s worked far better than chasing every new “glute activation” exercise that trends online. My staples have honestly been boring:
- Hip thrusts
- Bulgarian split squats
- Squats
- Leg press
- Cable kickback variations
- Hip abductions
- Step-ups
My “discovery” was accepting reality. Muscle growth happens when training, nutrition, and recovery all work together. A great program without enough food won’t maximize results. Eating more without progressive overload won’t maximize results. It has to be all of it. Over and over again. For a long time.
Unfortunately, physiology doesn’t care how badly I want a shortcut.
