The Momentum blog
Training, nutrition,
and actually showing up.
No hacks and no supplement reads. Just the reasoning behind how Momentum works, written out so you can disagree with it.
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How accurate are calorie counting apps, really?
Labels can be off, databases disagree, portions drift — yet tracking still works. The trick is knowing which errors matter and which cancel out.
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Cardio vs weights for fat loss: the order of operations
The deficit decides the loss, lifting decides what you keep, cardio makes the deficit livable. Most people run this hierarchy exactly backwards.
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How long does it take to build noticeable muscle?
You'll feel it in weeks, see it in the mirror around 3–4 months, and others notice around 6. The honest rates, and why the first weeks fool everyone.
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Push/pull/legs vs full-body: pick by schedule, not ideology
Splits distribute the same weekly volume differently. The right one is whichever your real week can execute — 3 days says full-body, 5–6 says PPL.
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Progressive overload: when to add weight, reps or sets
A decision rule you can run mid-workout: top of the rep range at the same effort → add load; under it → add reps; weeks of neither → check recovery.
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How much protein per day when you're cutting?
1.6–2.2 g per kg of bodyweight covers almost everyone, with the top of the range earning its keep in a deficit. Here's the arithmetic and the exceptions.
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How long should you rest between sets? It depends on the lift
2–3+ minutes on big compounds, 1–2 on isolation work. Short rest doesn't burn meaningfully more fat — it mostly makes your next set worse.
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How many sets per muscle group per week actually grow muscle?
The honest answer is a range, not a number: roughly 10–20 hard sets per muscle per week — counted per muscle head, not per body part.
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Strength standards: what a good bench, squat and deadlift is
Bodyweight multiples for novice through advanced lifters, why the deadlift moves first, and how to use standards without letting them wreck your training.
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Should you train when you're still sore?
Usually yes — soreness is a poor gauge of recovery and of workout quality. When to push through, when to train around it, and the two real red flags.
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Why you regain weight after a diet — and how to not
Regain isn't weak will. Your expenditure fell while you dieted, and the old 'maintenance' number is now a surplus. Here's the mechanism and the exit ramp.
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Workout motivation is overrated. Build friction instead.
Motivation is weather. The people who train year-round engineer defaults, floors and stakes so the workout happens on the days motivation doesn't show.
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Where your fitness data actually goes (and where it shouldn't)
Your weight trend, meals and body photos are a health dossier. Most apps ship it to a server on day one. Here's what to ask, and what local-first means.
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Why your TDEE calculator is wrong — and what to use instead
TDEE calculators are population averages applied to one person. Here's why yours is off, by how much, and how an adaptive TDEE fixes it.
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Counting sets for "shoulders" is why your rear delts lag
Weekly volume tracked per muscle group hides the heads you never train. Here's how to count sets by head, and the target bands worth aiming for.
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The best training program is the one you're still doing in March
Program design gets all the attention and adherence decides the outcome. What the consistency research says, and how to build a streak that survives a bad week.
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