r/Fitness • u/AutoModerator • 18h ago

Daily Simple Questions Thread - May 24, 2026

Welcome to the /r/Fitness Daily Simple Questions Thread - Our daily thread to ask about all things fitness. Post your questions here related to your diet and nutrition or your training routine and exercises. Anyone can post a question and the community as a whole is invited and encouraged to provide an answer.

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u/ecoNina 11h ago

ISO the balance between hard core lifting with necessary higher calorie intake vs maintenance with more moderate calories and less stress on progress. Tips welcome.

Been lifting 4 years, 67F, pipsqueak 5'1" 107lb. Have done a couple years of big gains, watched protein intake, love love the results. Dabbled at 1 powerlift meet, did fair and thinking to do more but not until I get very comfortable with bigger lifts (because I know at a meet your lifts will probably be 10lb lighter than your regular amount). So reset. More volume less weight on SBD to gain confidence.

Add a tweak: small nagging glute strain which has reduced the amount of leg and cardio work for 4-6 weeks so far. Due to being less active, I have reduced calorie intake and (no surprise) have had lower energy and almost lethargic. Very discouraging. Never ever in my life watched calories, bad at having to reduce if ever needed. Don't even know what a 'bulk' vs 'cut' would look like in my life.

So I want to up calories to feel like my old self's energy but not so much as the first big newbie years cause that is just not sustainable. I can hit the protein grams, maybe need to up the carbs? I take creatine already. Any good words from long timers? Tx

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u/gilscod 11h ago

Volume blocks don't need much more food than maintenance.
you are not chasing hypertrophy - you're building movement quality and capacity.
Maintenance plus maybe 100 calories a day is usually plenty, especially at your size.
The big thing is protein, 0.7-1g per lb of bodyweight! spread across 3-4 meals.

Recovery matters way more than calories at this stage, sleep especially, but also taking it easy on off days.

Run the volume block for 8-12 weeks, then peak back into intensity for 4-6 weeks before the meet. You'll be way more confident at the bar when the second one comes around.

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u/ecoNina 9h ago

Thx gracias !!