I was a squat, bench,deadlift guy for the majority of my life.
Ive noticed much better improvements these past few years getting away from them, I purchased a few meadows pre made programs, and have just done the basic bro split as well and have noticed major improvements.
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Yes I always loved meadows stuff maybe I should follow him more again
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I think we’ve all seen proof that there are multiple roads to reach our goals. I’m doing Best Damn 6 days a week now but I’m sure I’ll do a 4 day per week push/pull and a 3 day per week full body program at some point in the year. At the very least it helps me mentally with the variety.
The compounds lifts are great for strength and building a base but I think isolating things works better for physique development. You can get into greater ranges of motion when you get away from the barbell or split things up (like you’re doing with upper body). A reverse lunge or single leg Romanian deadlift can get you into ranges of motion that squats and regular Romanian deads won’t.
If you want to look like a stage competitor then train like one. No one said you had to do the show prep and crazy dieting.
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I’m with @Yogi1. Train less, what he set out is good. Eat less if you want to lose fat. You’re lean enough that his suggestion of a brutal and short cut would likely work very well.
Currently your training is pretty fucked, TBH. Kudos on the work ethic, but it’s counterproductive. From my understanding your sessions are super long, too. Go in, hit what you need to and GTFO. It’s also probably the reason you need to eat more, just to function. If you can dial back how much you train and cut back other non-training energy expenditure you’ll probably recover better AND be able to do it while eating less so your body composition improves.
Your lats are awesome, BTW.
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I understand what you’re saying . I’ve always trained pretty excessively. I just love being there I guess it’s hard to leave lol . But do less eat less seems to be a much more sound approach.
And thanks 
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Oh I just want to also say
That was me a few years back at my leanest. I worked out 2+ hours per day, 7 days a week . Three shoulder days, two leg days, and two back days . Cardio 20-40 minutes 7 days a week. I literally worked out 2 full years without a single rest day , and I looked like how I “wanted”.
So it’s hard for me not to use that as a past example of what I feel like works or whatever because now I do so much less than she did and I’m not at that physique .
Obviously I don’t want to do all that excessive shit now, but I feel like a lazy ass compared to that person because she achieved her body. So that’s kind of where I’m coming from anyway, and why I have difficulty doing less even if eating less goes along with it.
I have no advice but just wanted to say wow you were lean and looked good, but you can also look really good and sexy with more curves. It sounds like you had to work waaay too hard to get that leanness which kind of make sense coz the human body doesn’t like to have such low amounts of fat reserves.
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I, too, worked out unsustainably for a few years. I was about 10 lbs lighter than I am now, could crank out 30 pull ups, run a sub 19-minute 5K, and bench press 125 lbs over my body weight. Now, I workout 3-4 days a week for 45 minutes, play sports, do yoga and run/hike on the weekends. I’m stronger in some areas (squat and deadlift), but can’t do everything I did then and am not as ripped.
I heard a podcast (can’t remember who) that was talking about just this mentality. He said that as long as you are fit, strong, and well dressed, nobody else really notices or cares beyond that. Sure, if you are in a bodybuilding show then every detail is critiqued. But in the real world, anyone would see a fit, strong, healthy girl in both your “current” photo and that from a few years back.
So, while wanting to keep training, staying fit and healthy is great, I would remember the big picture that the rest of the world just sees someone who obviously takes care of themselves in both your earlier and current scenario.
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Awesome post thanks for that. I really want to stop comparing myself to that person. I don’t want to be her again she was completely fucked up. I just want her arms lol!
If your arms are the first place you notice fat and the last place it leaves then it’s going to be tough to have “her” arms without doing what she did.
That being said, bigger muscles can stick out more and give the appearance of being more lean. Add arms to the focus and maybe you’ll get close to that without having to be crazy and obsessive.
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Yes I was just thinking my arm routine is lacking . I have elbow pain on my right when my palms face up and curl so I’ve been doing hammer curls and rope curls only until it passes as that doesn’t hurt. For triceps I do a lot of cables and dumbbell tri kick back . I think i will add close grip bench and skull crushers . Can you think of anything else for biceps that I could add ?
Does it hurt through the entire range of motion?
If it’s only at the start or the end then you could do partial reps. I’ve been doing 21s style stuff again lately and love it. I could still get some good work with partials if I was limited.
Don’t forget about reverse grip curls to emphasize the brachialis (if it doesn’t hurt).
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Oh awesome call, I bet partials would feel fine! Thanks
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Yeah as other said try changing up your macros -cals about the same but more good fats less carbs. Up your greens also pretty much free calories.
brosciency but a lot of mid level cardio can make some women sort of hold water/be puffy, change this up maybe replace 2 sessions with HIIT on the bike or swimming
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it’s not about that. You like how you look in that picture of you in the black better than how you look now because you’re carrying less body fat.
If you want to look like that again then it’s going to involve a calorie deficit. Nothing to do with what your arm routine is.
Not that it’ll probably matter, but I think you look way better in the first photo when you’re not as lean. Suits you better I think, but if you’re happier at a lower bodyfat then got to cut those calories down.
Diets aren’t so bad! You could easily cut for 8 weeks without too much trouble.
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Actually, my step milling is pretty intervally lol. Like I run up it for 2 minutes and then walk up it for 2. It’s pretty hellish tbh. But I’ve never heard this puffish thing… could the way I be doing it have that same effect also ? That’s very interesting though I will have to keep that in mind
I knooowwww you’re right. But I’ve been the hungriest little girl my entire life. Like when I was 10 I ate more than my 200lb hard working uncle at Christmas time.
I can eat more than my entire family combined . I seem to have a very obese woman living inside me and she’s already caged 
Plus I am pretty happy with my butt so I’m very on the fence because I know spot reducing won’t happen and I’ll probably lose ass before arms. It’s hard I think to muster up motivation when it’s just being stored all in one stupid place that happens to be very visible . Like wtf just go on my thighs I never look at those.
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Probably a dumb question, but why don’t you simply go for a 3 days full body routine - squat, push, pull?
You’d still be able to squat three times a week (different sets/reps, intensity, types of squat and so on), push three times a week (with a focus on shoulders if that’s what you want) and fit in a balanced amount of pulling (with more focus on the arms and less on the back if you feel your back is overdeveloped compared to the rest).
It sounds like it would keep your training volume/time in check, make it easier for you to fit in conditioning and wouldn’t make you so hungry all the time. Each day you’d also have some room for isolation stuff for whatever muscle group you want.
Chinups “done wrong”? By focusing on pulling with the arms while keeping the lats out of the movement - but without trashing your shoulders.
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That sounds rational and reasonable . But I absolutely love being in the gym . I truly hate my rest days so having so many of them would give me serious anxiety unfortunately . I think that’s a huge part of my problem really. I self medicate my anxiety with crazy workout shit
Also this is probably a question for a doctor but could hormones play a role in where body fat is stored ? Years ago I never had this problem of storing fat here, even at similar body weights . I also use to have super tiny tits TMI and now they are normal . And this happened like 28ish not puberty lol . And the arm pit fat I hate is like in the same area so if a hormone increased it could dictate where there are fat reserves , right ?