strength training

[Harie]

A lot of sources are saying to work each muscle group only once a week. How much would I lose if I worked them every 4 days, 4 compound sets and 1 isolation set each total for a muscle pair?

You will be just fine working your muscles every 4 days depending on how you split it out. If you're benching, back and shoulders on seperate days, but in a row, your shoulders will hate you.

There was one guy on BB.com that put overtraining to the test. He worked out every muscle in his body 3x/week (every other day but took Sunday off) for 8 weeks to see what would happen. He changed his exercises, reps and sets every time he lifted. I don't remember how many sets he did, but it was a crazy workload. I do remember his reps though, his reps were something like Monday/Tue 15 reps, Wed/Thurs 10 reps, Fri/Sat 5 reps.

He eventually did become overtrained and strained a muscle in his shoulder, but it took about 6 weeks to do so...And he was an intermediate lifter.

All that to say, so long as you eat a lot, it's harder than you think to overtrain. Plus, lifting a muscle group every 4 days isn't nearly as tough as what the above guy did.

 

[roki]

im looking for a trainning plan where can i find preaperd ones?
i want to work 2 days and then rest 1 day and then 2 days again and 1 day rest again

 

[Harie]

im looking for a trainning plan where can i find preaperd ones?
i want to work 2 days and then rest 1 day and then 2 days again and 1 day rest again

Check out http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=772206

That link is pretty much every single workout routine that's decent.

 

[CCS]

I read that newbies are recommend to do 3 sets of every muscle group every other day. Then when they stop gaining so easily, they are called intermediate, and have to change stuff up and do more intensity or volume and take 2+ day rests.

I've been working out a little here and a little there, never more than 2 months straight, most of my life, and missing 2 months at the gym was fairly common. I've not been getting much gains recently, but maybe that is because of inconsistency or not enough sleep or eating enough. So I don't know if I'm a beginner or not. I guess the only way to find out is to do the 3x a week thing.

My intermediate workout would be chest/tris every 4th day and bi's/back on the middle day, and shoulders/forearms at the end of one of those workouts every 8th day but on different days, and lats would get worked with dips or chin ups on any of those days. Reverse butterflies work both tricepts and the back, but mostly the shoulders, though I'd not go heavy on them. My legs would be split between push and pull and done on the 1 and 3 days. I do abs every day unless they are sore.

As for reps, I warm up, start heavy at 5 reps, get assistance going to 6 or 7, and then drop the weight 20 pounds (bench) so I can get 8 reps on the next set, and then 12 (starting decline and working to incline), and then get some 15 to 20 rep dips and isolation exercises, before going to abs, and then finish with lower back forearms, then shoulders, then lower back with one or two higher rep sets (if it is that day).

I then rush home to drink my fruit juice and whey protein, rinse off, take a nap, then eat a meal, and an hour later return for 15 minutes of light cardio.

 

[CCS]

On a nurse's suggestion, I now eat some fats about an hour before my workout so I will have more energy during the workout. Light headedness has been dictating when I must stop my workouts.

I also take 1-1.5 minute rests between my first three heavy sets, even if my performance drops fast with the short break, since the idea is to take my muscles to failure. I even do half reps on the last of the three sets. After that it is OK to take a small break before doing the higher reps stuff, though breaks between those should be shorter.

 

[JohnnySeville]

I think you should keep your workout simplier, cutting down on rest periods and doing partials is more advanced, I do not believe you are at that level yet, too much too soon will hold back your progress. Remember the axiom, KISS, Keep It Simple Stupid.

 

[CCS]

Thanks for the advice. Yeah, I should gradually work those in, I guess. Right now I'm doing a total of 5 sets per muscle group: 4 compound, then 1 isolation of each, 2 days rest in between. That's partially because I want to try more of a beginner's workout, and partially because I have a test on Friday and want make sure I don't have a workout scheduled for Thursday night.

Good news: I did 6 wide chin ups, the ones where my hands are about 3 feet apart. That is not much, but it is an improvement for me, since I used to have trouble doing even 3, never getting my chin high enough. Though in the past my grip was a little further apart. Feels good anyway, and it is nice to know of a good 6 rep exercise to start my back workout with. I want to do compound 6, 8, 12, 15, and then two isolation (one of each muscle group) 20's, one max set each on different exercises, and then some abs and obliques.

When I finish with curls, I make sure to do hammer one day, reverse another day, and regular another day, so my fore arms get a varied workout. Every other workout for a muscle group, I finish my last set with some shoulder shrugs in two of the 4 directions, though two that match that muscle group.

 

[CCS]

well that was long, but yeah, I'll save the half reps as an experiment for later in case I don't see gains, especially if I'm not even sore. I did not feel worn out after tonight's workout. I got light headed right after I finished my last upper body set. So I rested a few minutes and then did a mild ab workout and left 5 minutes later.

 

[CCS]

Well, I started just doing 3 sets of bench and 3 sets of rows/chin ups. I have not yet recorded how much I lift with the rows. But I go really heavy on my first bench set, and then do about 8 reps and then about 12. Anyway, I upped the weight right away, rather than waiting for the reps to go up. I went from 155 to 165. Yeah, I know I should have done 160 first, but I did the same number of reps both time: 3-4 with no assistance, and the last few with about 5-10 pounds of help from a spotter. Next time I will do 170. I hope my muscles are in the "beginner" stage. I just got to get plenty of sleep.

 

[b0ngman]

stick to basic core exercises such as deadlift, squat, bench press, and pullups. Esp if you are a beginner, i cannot emphasize this enough. I laught at all my skinny friends who have been working out for years and have gained 5lbs. Exercises that utilize multiple joints are far more stressful on the body, in reaction to this stress your body builds muscle. There is no single exercise that is better for adding mass IMO than snatch width grip deadlift on a platform, basically picking a barbell up with a super wide grip standing on a platform to increase Range of motion. Doing this exercise and steadily going up in weight is the most efficient way to grow.

Also, always strive for full range of motion, go all the way down till ur arms are lockedout on pullups, as deep as you can on squats, etcccc.... ROM>weight

make sure your eating a lot too, and by a lot, i mean you should be getting some fat gain if you are normally a sickly looking individual

 

[CCS]

would it be rude for me to ask some of the experienced lifters to teach me the proper form for squats, or should I hire a trainer for 10 minutes? If I were to do a squat right now, I'd grab the bar the same way I'd be at the top of a chin up, and just lean it against my chest a bit, and try to balance as I go down. Not sure if that is the right way to hold it. I saw some guys have their arms crossed when they do it, but I did not pay close enough attention to see just what they were doing.

 

[Harie]

They were doing front squats.

 

[s.a.f]

Rest the bar behind your neck at the bottom part of your traps and on your rear delts.

 

[CCS]

I have a mild hunch back. Would squats make it worse?

 

[Strange Days]

im looking for a trainning plan where can i find preaperd ones?
i want to work 2 days and then rest 1 day and then 2 days again and 1 day rest again

Try the Abs Diet DVD, it's $10 on Ebay. It's circuit training workouts.

I prefer following a video guide because otherwise I can't motivate myself.

 

[Harie]

Rest the bar behind your neck at the bottom part of your traps and on your rear delts.

That's rear squats.

CCS - front squats are much easier on your shoulders than back squats are. Plus, they're great to mix things up every now and again. Is your hunchback because of poor muscle development in your back? I know that if your chest is way stronger than your back, or your front delts are way stronger than your rear delts, you can have very poor posture.

I don't think that back squats will hurt your back at all. If you're in doubt, use a belt.

 

[roki]

thanks for the responses harie and strange days
at the moment i made my own program and it is something like the
max-ot program im gonna do this for three more weeks and i focus on my lower back and legs and then im gonna start ripptoe's program im gonna have to get someone to teach me how to do the barbell exercises right

 

[Harie]

There is a post earlier in this thread has a link to the Rippetoe program with exercise descriptions and videos of proper form.

Rippetoe is a great program. I just finished 10 weeks on it and made great gains. My weight went from about 198lbs to 217lbs in 10 weeks. My 3x5 squat improved by 80lbs
3x5 Bench improved by 70lbs
3x5 Pendlays (I had never done before)
1x5 deadlift improved by 120lbs

I'm now doing Smolov Squat Cycle. Smolov is by far the hardest program I've ever done. It has you squatting 4x/week.

Day 1: 4x9 @ 70% of 1 rep max
Day 3: 5x7 @ 75% 1RM
Day 5: 7x5 @ 80% 1RM
Day 6: 10x3 @ 85% 1RM

Week 2, you repeat the above, except you add 20lbs to all lifts.
Week 3, you add 10lbs to week 2 weights and repeat.

My legs are still sore from last night, and I've got to do 10x3 tonight. On top of that, I've gained 3lbs in the last 5 days since I'm always hungry.

 

[s.a.f]

Most people use the behind the neck method because it allows a heavier weight to be used and therefore works the legs more, it is also easier on your lower back.

 

[CCS]

I don't know why I have bad posture. I should pay for an X-ray to see if there are any sudden curves. i saw an X-ray back in 2001: no sudden curves. Standing up as straight as I could, flexing my back muscles as hard as I could, the X ray showed that my mid-upper back was a continuous curve of about 45 degrees. If I relax I can make my upper back bend over to 70 degrees and look really bad. I hope it is just muscle imbalance, but I just don't know. I was told recently that if I had kyphosis, the doctor who took the X-ray would have told me. The X-ray was from side view and was intended to examine my lungs.

I can row as much as I can bench press. Does that say much? On butterflies, I can do 8 reps of 110 pounds, and on a row machine with chest pad, I can pull over 180 pounds. Does that say if my back is too weak? Even a cheap chiropractor was not able to force it completely straight, though he could temporarily get it straighter than I had it.