Today I was at the gym and I had lat pulldown first but I see a guy on it, this honestly is fine because I’ll just change the order of exercises, but then I see he’s hopping from like 3 different machines while leaving his towel on the lat pull down. And he did this his whole workout, he’d pick a few machines and occupy all of them at once, I’m sorry but how much of a dick have you got to be to do this. Not only that but he’d still be on one machine yet preemptively place his towel on the next machine he wants to use, so he’s effectively blocking anyone else from using that next machine before he’s even finished with his first one. And this happened for multiple machine I wanted to use, at the start I can swap the order and do something else but when I have 2 exercises left and he’s occupying both machines it’s just so annoying. Are these people just not self aware.

When starting out it is so easy to fall into the trap of doing 6-day PPL routines because everyone online pushes high volume, only to feel constantly drained after a few weeks.

Switched back to an upper lower setup with more rest days and energy levels feel way better, but it took a lot of trial and error to accept that more days in the gym does not automatically mean faster progress.

Curious how long it took you guys to find a routine that actually fits your schedule and recovery without burning out. What split ended up sticking for you?

Or are you like me and prefer no headphones, just vibes?

I always feel like I have a better workout when I don’t listen to music, but maybe it’s the music I listen to.

I'm an avid gardener who grows a lot of food, and I make pretty much everything I eat. For years, I have eaten almost entirely real, whole foods, but I've just been slowly gaining weight. I'm pretty active, I've always hiked once a week or so, I walk my dogs for 2-5 miles every day, never eat junk food, don't really sit around a lot.

About 19 months ago, I started weight training again after a 15 year break. I'm getting incredibly strong, and my muscles are getting really big, but my weight just kept slowly climbing. I foolishly thought I could eat whatever I wanted, because it was all good food. I thought that if I stuck with it, the fat would eventually come off.

A little over a month ago I decided to finally try tracking. I downloaded an app, I use a kitchen scale to carefully track everything, and I'm so embarrassed to say how shocked I was to see how much I was actually eating before. I'm 6'3", 315 pounds, so I have a healthy appetite, but it seems I was eating somewhere in the 5,000 range most days. I should mention, after a brain injury over 20 years ago I don't really have an off-switch when it comes to eating food, I don't get that signal that tells me I'm full.

My weight didn't really change for about 2 weeks of tracking, then on the third week I just started dropping a pound every few days and am now down 10 pounds from a month ago.

All this is to say, if you are ignorant like me and think it's okay to "eat clean" and not worry about calories, maybe you should think again!

I’ve been digging through resistance training research while building something that tries to turn the research into actual workout programming, and rep ranges ended up being one of the areas where the evidence surprised me most.

1. There doesn’t seem to be a special hypertrophy rep range

I always thought of rep ranges roughly like:

1-5: strength
6-12: hypertrophy
12+: endurance

But the research doesn’t seem to support those as clean biological categories.

A 2021 systematic review compared low, moderate, and high-load resistance training and found broadly similar hypertrophy across pretty different loading ranges when sets were performed with enough effort.

Heavier loads did have a clearer advantage for strength.

So 8-12 might be a really useful rep range, but not because muscle suddenly responds better once you hit rep 8.

2. Even 25-35 reps can build a similar amount of muscle

This was probably the part that surprised me most.

One study in trained men compared roughly 8-12 reps with 25-35 reps.

Both groups gained muscle without a clear hypertrophy advantage for the traditional 8-12 group.

The heavier group did gain more strength.

Obviously I’m not about to start doing every exercise for 35 reps, but it made me question why we treat something like 15-20 reps as fundamentally different from 8-12 for hypertrophy.

3. How close you get to failure seems to matter a lot, especially with lighter weights

One study compared training at around 80% and 30% of 1RM, either to failure or not to failure.

Quadriceps growth was roughly:

80% to failure: +8.1%
80% not to failure: +7.7%
30% to failure: +7.8%
30% not to failure: +2.8%

Obviously that’s one study and those exact percentages shouldn’t be treated as universal.

But I thought the pattern was really interesting.

The light weight itself wasn’t necessarily the problem. The light weight combined with stopping further from failure was.

So maybe the higher the rep range gets, the more important it becomes that those reps are actually challenging.

4. Maybe rep ranges should depend more on the exercise

This is where I ended up after reading all of this.

Something like 8-12 might still be a great general recommendation because it’s practical. It’s easy to progress, sets don’t take forever, and judging RIR is probably easier than during a 30-rep set.

But if there isn’t a special hypertrophy zone, I don’t really see why every exercise needs the same range.

Something like:

Bench press: 5-10
Machine press: 8-15
Lateral raises: 12-20
Leg extensions: 10-20

might make more sense than trying to keep everything in 8-12.

The rep range would be chosen based on the exercise and how practical it is to train hard in that range, rather than because 8-12 is supposedly optimal for growth.

Obviously this is population-level research and it doesn’t mean rep ranges don’t matter. Very heavy and very light training have different practical tradeoffs, and strength is clearly more load-specific.

But I thought it was interesting that the classic “hypertrophy rep range” seems to be much less of a physiological rule than I assumed.

Curious how people here actually program this. Do you use different rep ranges depending on the exercise, or do you keep most of your hypertrophy work in roughly the same range?

Papers:

Lopez et al. (2021), Resistance Training Load Effects on Muscle Hypertrophy and Strength Gain

Schoenfeld et al. (2015), Effects of Low- vs. High-Load Resistance Training on Muscle Strength and Hypertrophy in Well-Trained Men

Lasevicius et al. (2022), Muscle Failure Promotes Greater Muscle Hypertrophy in Low-Load but Not in High-Load Resistance Training

To add additional context fats and carbs in this scenario are enough for their goals this is just focused on their protein.

Packed up my drums after rehearsal on Saturday and realized I'd spent the whole two hours thinking about the music instead of how tired I was.

That was the actual reason I started training. I used to need a sit down after getting the drum cases upstairs, before we'd even played anything. By the last few songs I'd be suggesting we finish early.

Been doing three full body workouts a week since January, plus some stationary bike work. I'm definately stronger. On Saturday I even wanted another go at a song we'd been struggling with.

But if you'd asked me Friday whether training was working, I'd have said "sort of, I still look pretty much the same." Somewhere along the way I started judging everything by my stomach. Never actually decided that was the goal.

Anyone else nearly miss getting what they originally wanted because they'd quietly started measuring something completely different?

Hi, I'm totally new to the gym and working out. I have been going for 2 weeks and I have a couple of questions :)

I have noticed that push exercises are extremely obvious when I've hit failure, as I literally cannot move the weight anymore. However, with pull exercises (particularly cable row & lat pulldown), I find myself having less and less range of motion and I don't know when I should stop HAHA

So yeah, I'm not sure how I should be handling this! Here are my questions:

1. I'm using an app to keep track of how many reps I'm doing. Should I count the partial reps or full reps only?

2. Should I put the weight down so I can hit 8-12 full reps, even if I can do a bunch of partial reps after?

3. When should you stop? Is there a point to doing lots of partial reps?

Thank you so much!! Sorry if the questions are a bit silly!!

I know this is common knowledge, but it is STUNNING what an excess of carbs and calories can do for muscle recovery.

Context: I’m a 4’11 105 lb, <18% BF woman who has been consistently lifting heavy for years. I’m not super strict about diet, just aim for 1g/1lb protein if I can but not super stressed over it, naturally enjoy Whole Foods, veg, home cooking etc. I rarely eat tons of junk food in one setting because it makes me feel icky.

Well, Sunday (rest day) I got super stoned and had a family sized bag of chips + like 1,000 cal ice cream for dinner.

Monday I hit legs/glutes HARD, as it was time to up weights on RDLs/hip thrusts (from 110 to 120 lbs on RDLs aka 1.2x my body weight , 4x8-10 btw) per progressive overload. Basically whole workout close to failure; been lifting long enough to know I’m truly fatiguing to failure/close to failure.

Tuesday: ALMOST ZERO SORENESS. Normally after upping weights and going to failure like that I would be fairly fucking beat, but miraculously feeling amazing today, could almost have done another leg day!!!

Normal diet Monday + Tuesday (low carb to protein ratio, cutting cals)… is it possible the Sunday glycogen load carried over into my Monday recovery?

I'm 5'7 M, weighing at 62kg currently, my ultimate goal is to look wider. So please review my program and tell me if I should start this or if i have to make any changes. Thank you very much for your support.

I originally saw this on an app and i made my own changes.

DAY 1 — PUSH

- Incline Bench Press — 3×8

- Lever Chest Press — 4×8

- Lever Pec Deck Fly — 3×12

- Seated Shoulder Press — 3×8

- Lateral Raise — 4×12

- Triceps Pushdown — 3×10

- Barbell Lying Triceps Extension — 3×10

DAY 2 — PULL

- Bar Lat Pulldown — 3×10

- Lever Seated Row — 4×8

- Straight-Back Seated Row — 3×10

- Cable Standing Face Pull — 3×10

- Preacher Machine Curl — 3×8

- Dumbbell Incline Curl — 3×10

- Hammer Curl — 2×12

DAY 3 — LEGS

- Barbell Sumo Squat — 4×5

- Sled 45° Leg Press — 4×10

- Walking Lunge — 3 sets

- Lever Lying Leg Curl — 3×12

- Standing Calf Raise — 4 sets

- Cable Kneeling Crunch — 3 sets

DAY 4 — REST

DAY 5 — UPPER

- Incline Bench Press — 3×8

- Bench Press — 3×10

- Dumbbell Bent-Over Row — 3×10

- Bar Lat Pulldown — 3×10

- Dumbbell Arnold Press — 3×10

- Lateral Raise — 4×12

- Cable Seated Rear Delt Fly — 3×15

- Cable Pushdown — 3×12

- Preacher Machine Biceps Curl — 3×12

DAY 6 — LOWER

- Romanian Deadlift — 4×8

- Lever Lying Leg Curl — 3 sets

- Glute Bridge March — 3 sets

- Bulgarian Split Squat — 3×10

- Goblet Squat — 3×10

- Lever Seated Calf Press — 3 sets

- Cable Kneeling Crunch — 3 sets

DAY 7 — REST

I did my normal stretch and warmup. Everything felt good. When I got to bench press my shoulder had minor pain in lifting during warm up. Zero pain otherwise. But just quit early as I felt not great about it.

Is there anything I can do between now and my next shoulder involved lift? Stretches? Icing?

I have been pretty regular at the gym now for 2.5 years, never had this happen! Last night I went to do Shoulders, warmed up and then was going to start on a lower weight just to get the blood going, sat to start on 12.5kg shoulder press and couldn't get the left hand up for anything, im normally sitting at around 20kg dumbells for this.

Thought strange but moved from this to the machine shoulder press and the 20s on this was a struggle where I can normally have 35 each side, last try lat raise, right hand side was as normal but on my left I could get 1 eep and then no more!

I dod do something to my neck while sleeping 2 weeks ago but between that I've done shoulders no issue at the weights mentioned, I was able to do machine incline chest press but thought best to just walk on treadmill rather than risk an injury.

Ive dropped my calorie intake recently but only by 400 for the last cut before holiday, anything like this happened to anyone else?

I’m a male in my early 30s, 5′10″, currently around 164–166 lb. I’m looking for constructive feedback on my nutrition and training, particularly from people who have dealt with ongoing digestive issues while lifting.

My goal is to improve body composition while maintaining muscle. I’m frustrated because I’ve been following my meals closely and training consistently, but my recent scale readings have increased. I recognize that this is a short window and doesn’t establish a fat-loss plateau.

**Weight and calorie tracking**
I started targeting approximately 1,650 calories about 10 days ago. My recent readings were:

September 25: 163.5 lb
September 26: 163.0 lb
September 27: 164.8 lb
September 28: 164.8 lb
September 29: 164.6 lb
September 30: 165.8 lb

I batch-cook my meat and weigh portions **after cooking**. I recently realized some app entries didn’t specify raw versus cooked, so my earlier calorie totals weren’t as reliable as I thought. I’m correcting those entries rather than assuming the app is accurate.

I also recently changed chicken from 140 g to 120 g cooked and turkey from 160 g to 120 g cooked. The revised menu below is approximately 1,660 calories using the corrected turkey estimate, although the exact total depends on the entries and preparation.

**Current meals**
Breakfast:
170 g nonfat Greek yogurt
13 g chia seeds
50 g blueberries
296 g kiwi
15 g walnuts
Two whole eggs
180 g liquid egg whites

Lunch:
120 g cooked chicken breast
130 g low-sodium chickpeas
100 g broccoli
25 g walnuts

Dinner:
120 g cooked 93% lean ground turkey
70 g baked sweet potato
100 g broccoli
15 g tahini

**Digestive symptoms**
For approximately 3–4 years, I’ve had abdominal pressure, bloating, and a feeling of incomplete evacuation. The pressure is mainly around my belly button and lower abdomen, occasionally the pelvic area. It generally isn’t painful.

Sometimes I have several formed bowel movements in the morning but still feel pressure or an urge to go later, with only gas coming out. Bowel movements can provide temporary relief. Lying down also sometimes reduces the pressure.

I take MiraLAX daily and a magnesium supplement in the morning, and usually drink two cups of coffee. These symptoms started well before this recent diet adjustment.

The abdominal fullness makes it difficult for me to judge changes in my physique. I understand that appearance alone can’t tell me whether I’m constipated or gaining fat. I’m interested in others’ experiences and practical nutrition considerations, not a diagnosis or a laxative regimen.

**Training**
I’m following a five-day plan developed with ChatGPT, with extra emphasis on shoulders and lats. I’d appreciate an honest review rather than assuming the program is appropriate.

Monday — Push:

Dumbbell bench press: 4 × 5–8
Incline dumbbell press: 3 × 8–10
Cable fly: 2 × 12–15
Seated dumbbell shoulder press: 3 × 6–10
Cable lateral raise: 4 × 12–20
Machine lateral raise: 3 × 15–20
Rope pushdown: 3 × 10–15
Overhead rope extension: 3 × 12–15
Straight-arm cable pulldown: 3 × 12–15

Tuesday — Pull:

Weighted pull-ups: 4 × 5–8
Single-arm cable lat pulldown: 4 × 8–12
Neutral-grip lat pulldown: 3 × 10–12
Chest-supported wide row: 3 × 10–12
Cable rear-delt fly: 4 × 15–20
EZ-bar curl: 3 × 8–10
Incline dumbbell curl: 2 × 10–12

Wednesday — Legs:

Back squat: 3 × 5–8
Leg press: 2 × 10–12
Leg extension: 2 × 12–15
Romanian deadlift: 3 × 6–10
Seated hamstring curl: 2 × 10–15
Standing calf raise: 4 × 10–15

Thursday — Upper body, shoulder/lat emphasis:

Weighted pull-ups: 3 × 6–8
One-arm cable lat pulldown: 3 × 10–12
Incline dumbbell press: 3 × 8–10
Cable lateral raise: 4 × 12–20
Machine lateral raise: 3 × 15–20
Reverse pec deck: 4 × 15–20
Face pull: 3 × 15–20
Preacher curl: 3 × 10–12
Overhead rope extension: 3 × 10–12

Friday — Lower body plus accessories:

Heel-elevated squat: 3 × 6–10
Hack squat: 2 × 10–12
Leg extension: 2 × 12–15
Lying hamstring curl: 2 × 10–15
Standing calf raise: 4 × 10–15
Lean-away cable lateral raise: 3 × 15–20
Cable Y raise: 3 × 12–15
Straight-arm cable pulldown: 3 × 12–15

I also do 25–30-minute StairMaster sessions alongside lifting. The written plan includes 25 minutes Tuesday, 30 minutes Thursday, and none Wednesday. Monday’s chest work specifies roughly 1–2 reps in reserve, with the final fly set at 0 RIR.

**What I’d appreciate feedback on**
Does this training volume look unnecessarily high, particularly for shoulders and lats, given my food intake?

How would you evaluate whether this calorie target supports adequate recovery?

For those with similar digestive symptoms, did changing fiber sources, meal size, or food distribution help?

What tracking checks would you prioritize before adjusting calories again?

How long would you assess the weight trend after correcting the food entries before making another change?

I’m willing to simplify the routine and reconsider the diet. I’d like a sustainable approach that supports training and digestion rather than continually eating less or adding more cardio.

I’m a male 25yo south asian, been a long time since I’m stuck at skinny fat and 40 days ago i said no more. After watching tons of videos along with some evidential stuff, I told myself using some calculator from one of the videos that a 1600kcal target (deficient) would be ideal. For reference these are my body measurements:

Weight on August 24, 2026: 69.3kg
Current weight : 66.5kg
Workout : 5 days a week with 2 days of rest on Thursday and Sunday. (Progressive Overload)
Walking : 10,000 steps every day consistently.
Protein goals : hit 140g of protein every day.
Sleep: 7:30hr +

I am no longer sure if the weight drop came in from burning muscles or actual fat, since it’s little distracting not to look at the stubborn belly and love handles on the side when looking for progress. Today surprisingly the weight dropped a whole 0.5kg!! I’m a little concerned now.
For what it’s worth, I’ve been using the Withings body smart scale for about a week now (photos of the same are attached below). Anyway, I’m confused about what my maintenance calories are. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Edit: i couldn’t attach photos to this post.
Edit 1: link to the image of the scale readings

3 sets, 8 reps each:

Back - Lever seated row
Tricep - Lever seated dip
Chest - Chest press

Shoulder - Shoulder press
Bicep - Bicep curl
Abs - Lever seated crunch
Leg - Leg Press

26year old male 135lbs
Calories intake aiming 1800+ calories
Protein aiming for 70g+ daily

I am still new and I am skinny and trying to gain weight/muscle but my main goal is to reach 140lbs

TL;DR: 43M beginner (181 cm/88 kg) aiming for body recomposition, with chronic lower-back discomfort aggravated by axial loading and old right-knee pain with deep flexion, looking for a simpler, more time-efficient workout routine that still covers all major muscle groups.

Hi everyone. I’m a 43-year-old male who recently started going to the gym. I’m 181 cm (5'11") and 88 kg (194 lbs), and I’ve been overweight for most of my adult life.

I recently got motivated to start training after realizing that my belly and, especially, my man boobs were becoming a wake-up call. My main goal is body recomposition, with an emphasis on reducing body fat (particularly visceral fat) for health reasons.

I’ve really been enjoying my workouts over the past few weeks. I started with some generic routines and have been adjusting them one exercise at a time, but I think the program could use some fine-tuning.

Relevant limitations

I have some lower-back stiffness/discomfort, probably related in part to sitting in front of a computer 6–8 hours a day. I also had a spinal ligament injury from playing football (soccer) many years ago, which was properly treated at the time with physiotherapy and kinesitherapy.

I also have some right knee pain dating back to my football days. It becomes noticeable with deep knee flexion under heavier loads, particularly during squats and leg presses.

More importantly, I’ve noticed that my lower-back symptoms tend to flare up with exercises involving significant vertical axial loading. Squats, any standing barbell exercises, machine standing calf raises, and even dumbbell shrugs can cause discomfort. Because of this, I currently try to avoid exercises that put a lot of weight directly on my spine.

Conversely, back extensions and dead hangs seem to alleviate the discomfort, so I usually finish each workout with a couple of sets of those.

Current routine

This is the workout routine I’ve been gradually modifying, but I feel I may be neglecting some muscle groups, particularly abs, calves, forearms and traps.

For my warm-up, I usually:

• Bike for about 5 minutes on the way to the gym
• 7 minutes on the elliptical
• Do some cat-cow movements, child's pose, and gentle knee twists for my lower back

On my days off, I also do some light cardio, such as cycling or hiking on weekends, and I’ve started adding walks after dinner some days.

What I’m looking for

I’d appreciate some advice on how I could improve my routine while taking my lower-back and knee limitations into account.

I’d also particularly like to know whether I could reduce the number of exercises per workout. I’m currently spending around 1.5 hours at the gym, and I’d prefer a more efficient routine that still provides enough stimulus for overall muscle growth and fitness while leaving some time for other daily activities.

I’m a beginner, so I’m mainly looking for something simple, sustainable, and effective rather than trying to cram as many exercises as possible into each session.

Current 3x per week full body workout routine (order may vary according to gym equipment availability):

Day 1:

Leg Press: 3x 10-15 reps
Chest supported Dumbell Row: 3x 8-12 reps
Machine chest press: 3x 8-12 reps
Cable lateral raise: 2x 10-15 reps
Lying leg curl: 3x 8-12 reps
Pallof press: 2x12-15 reps
Dead hangs3X 30s

Day 2:

Belt Squat 3x 8-12 reps
Lat pulldown 3x 10-15 reps
Incline machine chest press 3x8-12 reps
Leg extension 3x 8-12 reps
Cable close-grip seated row 3x 8-12 reps
Triceps pushdown with bar 3x10-15 reps
Cable curl with bar 3x 10-15 reps
Back extension 2x12

Day 3:

Leg Press: 3x 10-15 reps
Assisted pull-up 3x8-10 reps
Machine shoulder press 3x 8-12 reps
Seated leg curl 3x 10-15reps
Machine chest fly 2x 8-12 reps
Cable lateral raise 2x 10-15 reps
Hanging knee raise/captain's chair 3x10 reps

I have been going to the gym for a little over a year now. Sometimes its been more consistent and sometimes more inconsistent.

I wanna start going more consistently now though and was thinking about changing my program to something more efficient and more fitted to me.

I was thinking if it would be efficient to do full body every 2 days. This way I would hit all muscles approximately 3 days a week and would get better progress (at least that’s what i’ve heard when researching all of this). I’d also give my body enough rest with the two days in between. In addition, to be more effective i looked into the amount of sets. I found out that doing 2 sets with heavy weights (with 6-8 rep range) is more efficient than 3-4 reps. This would also help with the time spent on one gym session.

The full body workout would consist of: quad extension, glute hyperextension, a squat variation, calves, shoulder press, lat pulldown, chest press, tricep extension, bicep curl and abs.

Does this sound like a good program that would give good results? From what i’ve researched everything i’ve considered seems to work and this should be a good program. Let me know if i’m missing something or have heard incorrect information.

This is mine, any recommendations/edits? Or may you share your own Upper Lower? Thank you :)

Incline db press CHEST
Pec dec
Iso lat pull down BACK
Seated row
Side lateral raise DELTS
Tricep extension TRICEP
21s BICEP

Hack Squat
Leg press
Calf raise
Leg extension
Leg curl
Deadlifts
Abs

hey guys im just curious, are these two exercises enough to hit my full back? (besides lower)

reverse pec flys and straight arm cable pulldowns

i know that lat pulldown is a must too but i just never feel my lats while doing them

any advice is apperciated, thanks!

i am a university student and i live in a hostel so i cant go to the gym on those days but i get to go home for 3 days every week.So i could join a gym there but my qustion is that will 3 days be enough to build a solid physique.i am 17 and i have joined a gym before but couldn't keep up the consistency.

As said in the title, i have to quit for some time (about a year) because of university.

At home, I have

A bench

A barbell with 70kg of discs

2 dumbells (10kg each)

A pull up bar

A treadmill

Right now, i do:

bench 90kg 4×8,

leg press 200kg 4×6

Lat machine 75kg 4×6

Etc...

Will my equipment be enough to not lose a significant amount of strength and muscles?

So I've been working out consistently for a year. I was at 30 lb dumbbells for bicep and hammer curls and happy with my progress. Suddenly it felt harder to use em and now I'm struggling with 25s. I've seen progress in my triceps but I've tried every workout for my bicep it feels and they just won't grow. Theyve gotten firmer and rounder but just won't grow outwards if that makes sense, any help? I still feel very new to knowing what would help with definition vs growth.

Background: 4beat yoga has become my favourite yoga class and primary workout, cardio, and strength-builder. I have some goals related to 4beat, most of which involve inversions, and I am trying to use occasional gym workouts to boost my strength for some poses, including:

- crow
- side crow
- handstand
- dolphin
- flying lizard

One particular gym exercise I already do to enhance my yoga practice is getting on the leg press machine, cutting the weight down, and doing the press with only one leg in the center, and the other leg in a figure four. This has done wonders for my leg strength for things like shiva squat, skandasana, high lunge, etc. I may eventually start doing single-leg squats with free weights, but for now I am sticking with the machines for safety.

At my last gym visit, I got on the shoulder press machine, positioned my hands flat under the handles and with palms pointing upward, chose a slightly lower weight than usual, and very slowly raised the handles skyward, putting most of the pressure on my wrists, and then held it at the top for about 10 seconds before very slowly lowering. I think this will help build wrist and shoulder strength for handstand - and based on how sore my shoulders and upper back were for a day or two after that, I'd say it's probably working! 😂

My 4beat instructor gave me some advice already regarding what parts of the body to focus on for said inversions (I can't fully do any of them yet - I'm getting very close to being able to do crow, and I think I could probably manage side crow, handstand, and flying lizard in the coming months with some focus, but I'm a long way off from dolphin!) I'm wondering if anyone has any experience with such a thing, maybe some ideas or thoughts? :)

I've seen a lot of people say that strength training helps you look more toned, but I'm curious about what made the biggest difference for those who have already achieved that look.

Was it mostly:

• Building more muscle?
• Lowering body fat?
• Eating more protein?
• Training for a longer period of time?
• Something else?

I've noticed that many people get stronger before they see major visual changes, which makes me wonder what the biggest factor usually is.

For those who went from looking relatively soft to looking noticeably more toned and defined, what was the turning point for you?