Hello everyone, this is my first time posting here. I am trying to open up my chest and define my abs. Dealing with some random drawbacks but committed to learning more about the gym. I am trying to implement progressive overload and increasing my weight to 170 lbs. Any advice for athletes at my level?
I started in a similar position as you at
5’8
170lbs
I personally don’t think you need to bulk, when you’re new you have newbie gains to get, I personally leaned down, but staying around maintenance calories while you get your newbie gains might be better, if you do decide to bulk, a lean bulk is the way to go, imo
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Thanks for the reference photos, I do see that we have a similar build. I am hoping to do a sort of recomp, and this is reassuring. I want to put on muscle, but I also enjoy some cardiovascular activities such as rucking and swimming. Just trying to get in the gym more in general. I hope to keep things lean, but I also want to become very strong. We will see. I just want to be in control of my weight at the end of the day, and it was always very hard for me to gain weight but now its becoming easier, so I hope if I do put on any extra weight that I can use it to build muscle and slim back down after I reach my specific goals for upper/lower definition.
How old are you? Are you even training right now? What does that look like? What did you eat yesterday, specifically ?
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What do you mean by this?
Which would you rather do first?
I can also tell you from experience, unless there’s a specific athletic goal, chasing an arbitrary scale number usually doesn’t get us where want to be.
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Work on getting consistent with food and training. Build good habits.
What are you currently doing?
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21 years old, always training but I’m here because I want it to be more effective moving forward: I spoke with a trainer to get a split, which I am incorporating into my weekly schedule with my other activities as a busy college student.
I am also training for a couple specific reasons like my upcoming wedding. But also just for health/strength in general.
I am eating lots of boiled eggs which has made me gain a considerable amount of fat in the lower back and stomach. Tracking macros online, I’ve been hitting 2500-3500 calories from mostly milk, steak, chicken, and eggs. And I eat a lot of fruits/ vegetables (I know this might be controversial.)
But yeah the truth is I don’t know exactly what I’m doing but I have been training and eating hard, and my legs are super sore from a 250 lbs leg press machine lol. Just want to know where to go from here, and appreciate the insight.
Was sleeping, crushed legs yesterday which might be my best muscle group at the moment even though they’re not at their peak.
Here is my split:
5dayliftingprogram
1- Push
Shoulder/General warm up (5min)
Barbell Bench Press 3 x 6-8
Incline db press 3 x 8
DB Shoulder Press 2 x 8-10
Cable lat raise 2 x 10-15
Dips 2 x 8-10
Chest fly machine 2 x 12-15
Tricep cable pushdowns ropes 3 x 10-12
2- Pull
5 min warm up/dynamic stretch
Assisted Pullups 2 x 10-12
Row Machine or DB Rows 2 x 8-10
Cable Pull Arounds 2 x 10-15
Bayesian one arm curl 2 sets 2 x 15
Hammer curls 2 x 10-12
Rear Delt Machine 2 x 12-15
3- Legs
Barbell Back Squat 2 x 5-8
Sled press 3 x 8-10
Ham curl machine 2 x 12
Leg extension machine 2 x 12
Calf raises 3 x 12-15
4- Upper
Shoulder/General warmup
Lat raises 2 x 12-15 (RPE 6)
DB shoulder press 2 x 12 (RPE 7)
Bench press 3 x 8
Lat pulldowns 2 x 10
Tricep pushdowns 3 x 10-12
Preacher curls 2 x 8-12
5- Lower
General Warmup
Rear delts, 3 x 12
Barbell OR DB RDLs 2 x 8-10
Smith squats or sled press, 2 x 8
Leaned back leg extension, 2 x 8-12
Other than that I’m just working on trying to become more consistent with my eating. Coming from being super underweight as a teen, so taking a lot of cheat meals right now, and yeah I am open to constructive criticism because I need more instruction.
Thanks for the perspective. I have been working hard towards many goals like graduation, marriage to my lovely fiancé, and working on my overall condition. I do have specific goals in mind but perhaps I have too many. I always wanted to be able to bench a plate, but it’s been very difficult for me with my frail wrists and bad chest posture. I admit to not having the best routine, but everyday now I wake up and want to hit the gym and eat enough calories to grow.
Macros tracking with ChatGPT:
Day 1
Macro Breakdown (Estimated)
2 eggs
-
Calories: ~140
-
Protein: ~12 g
-
Carbs: ~2 g
-
Fat: ~10 g
2 apricots (fresh)
-
Calories: ~35
-
Protein: ~1 g
-
Carbs: ~9 g
-
Fat: ~0 g
Large chicken veggie bowl
(Assuming ~5–6 oz cooked chicken, light rice, moderate beans & chickpeas)
-
Calories: ~550–600
-
Protein: ~45–50 g
-
Carbs: ~65–70 g
-
Fat: ~8–10 g
Carb sources here are actually high-quality: beans, sweet potato, veggies → fiber-rich, slow digestion.
Fairlife chocolate protein (42 g protein)
-
Calories: ~230
-
Protein: 42 g
-
Carbs: ~8–10 g
-
Fat: ~4–5 g
1 bag SunChips (Original, single-serve)
-
Calories: ~210
-
Protein: ~4 g
-
Carbs: ~19 g
-
Fat: ~11 g
Total So Far (Day Snapshot)
| Macro | Approx Total |
|---|---|
| Calories | ~1,365–1,415 kcal |
| Protein | ~104–109 g |
| Carbs | ~105–110 g |
| Fat | ~43–46 g |
(Before dinner, I think I just had like two burgers that day)
Day 2
Eggs & Breakfast
-
2 boiled eggs
~140 kcal | 12g P | 10g F | 2g C -
1 medium egg breakfast burrito (egg + tortilla, minimal extras)
~250 kcal | 12g P | 12g F | 25g C
Dairy & Protein
-
2 strawberry-banana yogurts (11g protein each)
~200 kcal | 22g P | 2g F | 26g C -
Fairlife protein shake (42g protein)
~230 kcal | 42g P | 3g F | 6g C -
4 oz 2% milk
~60 kcal | 4g P | 2g F | 6g C
Seafood
- 2 oz raw fish (poke bowl) + squid/octopus
~70 kcal | 14g P | 1g F | 2g C
Meat
-
10 small pieces orange chicken (≈ 1 cup total)
~450 kcal | 25g P | 20g F | 45g C -
2 pieces beef (tri-tip + brisket, ~4 oz cooked total)
~300 kcal | 26g P | 22g F | 0g C -
Turkey sandwich (21-grain bread + 2 slices turkey)
~260 kcal | 16g P | 4g F | 38g C
Fruit
-
2 bananas
~210 kcal | 2g P | 0g F | 54g C -
1 mango
~135 kcal | 1g P | 0g F | 35g C -
5 cherries
~20 kcal | 0g P | 0g F | 5g C
Nuts
- 1/5 cup almonds
~165 kcal | 6g P | 14g F | 6g C
Daily Totals (Estimated)
Calories: ~2,480 kcal
Protein: ~184 g 
Carbs: ~275 g
Fat: ~92
Day 3
Everything You Ate Today (Complete)
Earlier intake (from before)
-
2 eggs
-
2 cups milk
-
½ homemade apricot PB&J
-
1 banana
-
~45 kcal coconut milk
-
2 dates
-
Handful of almonds
Additional Meal
Medium salad with:
-
Dates
-
Carrots
-
Pasta
-
3 olives
-
3 pieces tofu
-
Mixed greens
-
Croutons
Protein
- Fairlife protein shake (42 g protein)
Dinner
-
2 In-N-Out double-singles
-
Fries
-
½ vanilla shake
Updated Macro Estimate (Realistic)
Calories
~3,300 – 3,600 kcal
This is:
-
Above maintenance
-
Totally normal for an active person
-
Not remotely alarming as a one-day intake
Protein
~190 – 215 g protein
(Genuinely trying to eat more)
The split looks solid man! I’ve been running a PPL split for a while and I’ve been looking to switch to a PPL/UL split and yours looks solid! 2 hard sets per exercise is really good, I would maybe consider tweaking the order of exercises, you hit chest with bench and the hit chest again with incline bench. I personally hit chest press, dumbbell shoulder press, then incline dumbbell press, to give the chest a little break
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I don’t think I’d purposefully pursue weight gain were I in your shoes, or significant loss, for that matter.
I think it’s time to nail the consistency on both your lifting and eating; this game is mostly a function of time. How many exact weeks have you strung together of what you laid out?
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I see, yeah I already have a considerable amount of BF so I could really go either way. I don’t want to rush putting on the weight just to wreck my definition, but I do want to see some gains. I met with the personal trainer who gave me my split about two weeks ago, and I had been going to the gym inconsistently for the past two years but prior to that I was into some training mostly at home with dumbbells and a pull up bar. I am also into the ab roller but with my injured wrist I have been taking a break from it. Now, just trying to work on my diet and consistency on top of everything else and avoiding caffeine so that I can have maximal appetite. So you really think I should just try to maintain a steady recomp lean bulk for this summer?
Am I missing something? Is there any definition to wreck?
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Sorry I didn’t mean for that to come off in a weird way, I’m just hoping to define my abs a little more or at least not lose the definition I worked for with swimming and recreational sports + ab roller, but without compromising my ability to gain strength in other areas of my upper body. Do you think I have a lot of isolation work to do?
I can’t tell if you’re being serious anymore. I don’t mean this in a hurtful way at all, but you just look untrained. You have no discernible muscle and are certainly not lean.
Are you working with the trainer? Are you having doubts, if so?
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That’s valid but also a bit harsh, I just came here to look for genuine advice on my body but I guess we all need to hear the truth sometimes.
I am relatively untrained, but we all start somewhere. If I were to devote my life to lifting then I would clearly look different, but I am actually a scientist, so health and physique is just another part of my professional responsibilities. After all, community is where we can discuss how to optimize our efforts.
I am just aiming to achieve a more athletic and manly figure, so whatever advice you have for me is valuable and ultimately the reason I came here.
I am not working with the trainer anymore, but I would like to work with one. Thankfully some of my friends back home are pretty good at fitness so I might just try and hang out with them this summer.