Stay/Get Back In Shape.... Vol 2.0

[apollo xxxiii]

Originally Posted by brettTHEjett

Originally Posted by DJprestige21

Originally Posted by Yan Can Cook

Originally Posted by ChewToy112

Originally Posted by nealraj006

For size, you want to do more volume so you exhaust the muscle more. That's why most bodybuilders train to muscular failure. It breaks down the most fibers, stimulating the most growth.

+1. That's why I do 3x12 with 30 secs of rest. Epic muscle fail. However, when I do my legs/sports workouts, I do eight reps for power.

whats the difference between gaining size and power?

Type I and II a&b fibers. Type I fibers are endurance motivators. Type II fibers are strength motivators which are also classified as fast twitch fibers.

1-5 Rep Range activates type II fibers which are responsible for denser fiber recruitment. While muscles won't fill out they will be much more dense allowing them a greater forceful contraction.

6-15 Reps will activate type I or slow twitch fibers causing muscles to fill out but won't necessarily cause significant strength gains. Muscles will also revert back to their original size hours after the workout swell while type II activated fibers will stay dense.

Thank you.
I just need this dumbed down slightly. In order to increase size (and keep size) should I be doing 6-15 or 1-5.
Also, is it understood that 6-15 reps will be of less weight?

I'm learning

So do I. I am really interested in learning on gaining muscle/strength, but my terminology is not up to par with y'all.

 

[sneakerking757]

^

For mass, lift heavy for reps in the 6-12 range and increase you calorie intake.

For strength, lift heavy for reps in the 1-5 range.

For endurance, lift whatever you can handle for 12+ reps.

 

[carlos tevez]

Originally Posted by Apollo XXXIII

Originally Posted by brettTHEjett

Originally Posted by DJprestige21

Originally Posted by Yan Can Cook

Originally Posted by ChewToy112

Originally Posted by nealraj006

For size, you want to do more volume so you exhaust the muscle more. That's why most bodybuilders train to muscular failure. It breaks down the most fibers, stimulating the most growth.

+1. That's why I do 3x12 with 30 secs of rest. Epic muscle fail. However, when I do my legs/sports workouts, I do eight reps for power.

whats the difference between gaining size and power?

Type I and II a&b fibers. Type I fibers are endurance motivators. Type II fibers are strength motivators which are also classified as fast twitch fibers.

1-5 Rep Range activates type II fibers which are responsible for denser fiber recruitment. While muscles won't fill out they will be much more dense allowing them a greater forceful contraction.

6-15 Reps will activate type I or slow twitch fibers causing muscles to fill out but won't necessarily cause significant strength gains. Muscles will also revert back to their original size hours after the workout swell while type II activated fibers will stay dense.

Thank you.
I just need this dumbed down slightly. In order to increase size (and keep size) should I be doing 6-15 or 1-5.
Also, is it understood that 6-15 reps will be of less weight?

I'm learning

So do I. I am really interested in learning on gaining muscle/strength, but my terminology is not up to par with y'all.

If you want to get strong (without necessarily gaining muscle), lift heavy weights for only 1-5 reps.

If you want to gain muscle (without necessarily getting stronger), lift weight that is challenging for you in the 6-10 rep range.

If you want to get strong and gain muscle, alternate between the two every few weeks.

 

[i3]

Originally Posted by Carlos Tevez

Originally Posted by gberdin

(NH) but is there any way to slim your butt down. i hate it and i hate how it looks in jeans. ALSO: i got a problem my chest is gettin lopsided for some reason, at least to me, because one side is gettin bigger than the other way faster?! normal, suggestions, comments?

For the chest question, perhaps you can do dumbell presses. I find that I push more with my right arm when I'm doing barbell bench presses.

As for getting stronger (without gaining weight), I definitely recommend low reps in the 1-5 reps range. I've stuck at 160 for 5 years now but have consistently gotten stronger at the gym by doing low reps (I'll alternate between 1-5 reps and 6+ reps every few weeks).

I recommend saving your energy on power lifting days by restricting yourself from doing too many reps when warming up. For example, if you bench press 200 pounds just 2 times, start off by warming up with 150 pounds x 5, 180 pounds x 4, 190 x 4 and then 200 x 2. I notice that I cant do much volume on the days when I'm testing my strength...I usually end up doing 20 reps total (warming up and maxing out) when I'm lifting for strength.

Squats im doing 4x8 at the heaviest I can with good form.. should I be doing less reps? I play basketball btw, going for that wicked crazy explosion lol.. However I get sore the next 3-4 days after my leg days, I was thinking if maybe its overworked and that I should do legs every 2nd week?

Your most likely feeling sore for 3-4 days afterwards because of the volume your doing, not because the weight is heavy. If you want to become more explosive, I'd look into bringing the reps down to maybe 1-5 reps. The good thing I find about working out for strength is that I hardly ever feel sore the next day because you cant physically do too many reps if your pushing your body that hard. For example, if you can squat 200 pounds x 4 times, work your way up to that point (again, dont waste too much energy warming up) and then when you feel you are ready, squat the 200 pounds for 3-4 sets.

In the past, I used to destroy my legs...8 sets of squats doing 8-10 reps, 4 sets of deadlifts, 6-8 reps , 2 sets of good mornings, 10 reps, 4 sets of lunges, 10 reps per leg...I'd have trouble walking for the next 4 days (the groin pain was the worst

). Ever since reducing the volume, I've felt very little leg/lower back soreness the next day and I'm usually 95% the 2nd day after lifting.


Awesome. I will definitely try that tomorrow as it is my leg day. So you recommend I try keep my weight the same or increase it? 5 reps sounds good.

Ideally, it sucks being sore 3-4days a week, because it cuts into my cardio and basketball training.

 

[carlos tevez]

Lift what is heavy for you but dont do more than 4-5 reps.

It's gonna take some experimenting for you to find out how much your body can handle.

I used to be like that in the past where I'd stick with a weight and lift it 6-10 times for months in a row

It wasn't until recently that I started adding weight to my squat and decreasing reps and I realized that your body can handle much more than you think.

If you were doing 180 x 8 (for example), you can probably max out (1-2 reps) at 225 pounds and do 4-5 reps at 210 or so. You wont feel as sore the next dayafter doing lower reps. Just make sure your form is 100%...I'm nervous as he.ll that my body is gonna snap in two when I'm pushing myself on legdays.

 

[chewtoy112]

Originally Posted by wawaweewa

You're not taking it far enough.

F= m x a

For sure, by rep 7 and 8 your velocity is significantly less than what you're capable of generating. Even by rep 4 it's considerably less than reps 1-3.
At some point you're just building muscular endurance and not necessarily power.

There's a reason that most of the dynamic weightlifting movements that demand power are done in the 1-3 rep range. Past 3 reps, velocity starts to decrease considerably as a result of the lactic acid build up prohibiting the maximum amount of oxygen from reaching the muscle.

Yeah, I respect what you're saying. Maybe I was a little unclear and off base in my wording. You're probably right in theory, but thattype of training isn't for me. I'm not training "for" power, but I train "with" power and intensity. Doing 1-4 reps per set justdoesn't cut it for me. It's way too short, and since the weight is heavy, way too much rest between sets. Also, to me, muscular endurance is morefunctional than pure strength. When playing ball or whatever sport, it's not the pure power/strength that lets you really excel, unless you're playingfootball; it's being able to perform well throughout the entire game without performance dropping off and having the endurance so yourshooting/defense/skating etc. technique doesn't falter, which decreases performance and increases risk of injury.

My "leg" day, is really a full body functional sports workout day. A lot of the exercises many people probably haven't even seen before, butbecause of the nature of the exercises, I'd be wasting it if I did very few reps. My fitness goal is to lose fat and stay athletic and ripped. I'malmost there, but I do have a bit to go. To achieve my goal, I need to burn more calories, which means more functional exercises, more reps and less rest. This is how athletes train, and one of my fitness mottos is "Train like an athlete; look like an athlete".

 

[jt air jt]

due to my wisdom tooth extraction i've been sidelined from the gym for the past couple of days...

can't wait

 

[joe camel smooth]

sup brahhhhs

im gonna start doing oly lifts finally. today at the gym i realized i was bored as $$%* with my current routine, like bored to the point of wanting to stoplifting.

it's gonna be sweet

will i just get superman strong or will i gain mass too?

 

[djprestige21]

Originally Posted by brettTHEjett

Originally Posted by DJprestige21

Originally Posted by Yan Can Cook

Originally Posted by ChewToy112

Originally Posted by nealraj006

For size, you want to do more volume so you exhaust the muscle more. That's why most bodybuilders train to muscular failure. It breaks down the most fibers, stimulating the most growth.

+1. That's why I do 3x12 with 30 secs of rest. Epic muscle fail. However, when I do my legs/sports workouts, I do eight reps for power.

whats the difference between gaining size and power?

Type I and II a&b fibers. Type I fibers are endurance motivators. Type II fibers are strength motivators which are also classified as fast twitch fibers.

1-5 Rep Range activates type II fibers which are responsible for denser fiber recruitment. While muscles won't fill out they will be much more dense allowing them a greater forceful contraction.

6-15 Reps will activate type I or slow twitch fibers causing muscles to fill out but won't necessarily cause significant strength gains. Muscles will also revert back to their original size hours after the workout swell while type II activated fibers will stay dense.

Thank you.
I just need this dumbed down slightly. In order to increase size (and keep size) should I be doing 6-15 or 1-5.
Also, is it understood that 6-15 reps will be of less weight?

I'm learning

Yes so for instance

1-5 reps would really mean to do the amount of weight you can actually do that many times. Which is about 80-100% of your one rep max for that exercise. Youonly want to do this for compound exercises (i.e, squats, deads, bench) and don't want to go over 1-5 reps on any more than one or two exercises.

As a hardworking casual gym goer I wouldn't worry about the 1-5 reps until you have a solid training partner or are comfortable to lift big weight properlywithout hurting yourself. As you start getting more familiar with everything you can eventually look into a 5/3/1 Jim Wendler's program or 5x5 Bill Starrprogram, personally I like Eric Cressey's Maximum Strength (you can buy the book) but not until you have at least 6 months of solid gym experience for anyof these programs involving huge weight.

I'd do something like this, lets say its chest day

BB Bench
1st set 12-10 reps
2nd set 10-8 reps
3rd set 6 reps
4th set 6 reps

DB Incline
1st set 10 reps
2nd set 8 reps
3rd set 6 reps

Now its important to note that these are all rough estimates of the amount of reps you are actually going to put up, its more like a gauge. Now one of the mostimportant things for new guys is the mistake of trying to go to heavy and sacrificing form. I'm not saying be a little $@@@* and don't push yourselfbut also accept what you can and can't do. Always overestimate the amount of weight you are going to do by 5-10 lbs especially for the first two sets, keepyour form and make sure you are getting full range of motion. This will help you substantially with gains.

 

[djprestige21]

Originally Posted by JOE CAMEL SMOOTH

sup brahhhhs

im gonna start doing oly lifts finally. today at the gym i realized i was bored as $$%* with my current routine, like bored to the point of wanting to stop lifting.

it's gonna be sweet

will i just get superman strong or will i gain mass too?

traps will get HYOOOOGEEEE

 

[yankeephan87]

How many exercises do you guys do on each day? I think I may be overdoing it. On arms day I do like 8. On chest and shoulders like 9 combined just for exampleis that too many ?

 

[Gill Baka Esq. LLC.]

yankee I think you may be overdoing it. I do a 2 day split sometimes 3 and on each day I do about 13-14 excercises and if its my chest day I do like 4-5excercises max. For each body part I do 3-5 excercises. But I've never done more than 5 excercises per body part since I started working out as a teenager,so my question is are you seeing any gains?

 

[wj4]

Originally Posted by Yankeephan87

How many exercises do you guys do on each day? I think I may be overdoing it. On arms day I do like 8. On chest and shoulders like 9 combined just for example is that too many ?

I'm not a body builder, I just do 5. I do go to the gym 5-6 times a week though.

 

[yankeephan87]

yeah I am seeing gains there good gains cause I'm actually loosing fat and trying to maintain but am also gaining some muscle as well. Well I do what yousaid though, you said for each body part you do 3-5 exercises I do like 4-5 for biceps and another 4-5 on triceps for arms day and 4-5 for chest. The thingthough is there are days where I get tired mid workout and I know its cause I already did like 4-5 other heavy lifting workouts.

 

[picknroll24]

Can someone recommend me a 4-day split?
I've been doing a full body routine WMF for about 5 months now, I think its time for a change.
I'm trying to bulk up FTR, I currently weigh 160 and trying to get to 165-170 (5'10" is my height)

 

[Gill Baka Esq. LLC.]

Yea I say just try each body part with fewer excercises because I think that although with more excercises your able to probably hit each group from differentangles and stimulate growth, maybe your later excercises like from your 5-8th are suffering because the muscle group is already tired. Maybe if you do lessexcercises your able to increase the intensity in some way because you won't have to worry about doing another 3-4 excercises.

If my way isn't doing good for you go back to your normal routine if your seeing gains. No need to fix what ain't broken.

 

[yankeephan87]

Originally Posted by GrimlocK

Yea I say just try each body part with fewer excercises because I think that although with more excercises your able to probably hit each group from different angles and stimulate growth, maybe your later excercises like from your 5-8th are suffering because the muscle group is already tired. Maybe if you do less excercises your able to increase the intensity in some way because you won't have to worry about doing another 3-4 excercises.

If my way isn't doing good for you go back to your normal routine if your seeing gains. No need to fix what ain't broken.

Yeah true, but another thing. How do you know when you should move up in weights? For examples for preacher curls I go 110 at 10 reps, 120 at 8and 140 at 6. Should I try to do more reps at 140 or cut out the 110 and do more at 120 and 140?

 

[verynecessary]

Originally Posted by I3

Originally Posted by Carlos Tevez

Originally Posted by gberdin

(NH) but is there any way to slim your butt down. i hate it and i hate how it looks in jeans. ALSO: i got a problem my chest is gettin lopsided for some reason, at least to me, because one side is gettin bigger than the other way faster?! normal, suggestions, comments?

For the chest question, perhaps you can do dumbell presses. I find that I push more with my right arm when I'm doing barbell bench presses.

As for getting stronger (without gaining weight), I definitely recommend low reps in the 1-5 reps range. I've stuck at 160 for 5 years now but have consistently gotten stronger at the gym by doing low reps (I'll alternate between 1-5 reps and 6+ reps every few weeks).

I recommend saving your energy on power lifting days by restricting yourself from doing too many reps when warming up. For example, if you bench press 200 pounds just 2 times, start off by warming up with 150 pounds x 5, 180 pounds x 4, 190 x 4 and then 200 x 2. I notice that I cant do much volume on the days when I'm testing my strength...I usually end up doing 20 reps total (warming up and maxing out) when I'm lifting for strength.

Squats im doing 4x8 at the heaviest I can with good form.. should I be doing less reps? I play basketball btw, going for that wicked crazy explosion lol.. However I get sore the next 3-4 days after my leg days, I was thinking if maybe its overworked and that I should do legs every 2nd week?

Your most likely feeling sore for 3-4 days afterwards because of the volume your doing, not because the weight is heavy. If you want to become more explosive, I'd look into bringing the reps down to maybe 1-5 reps. The good thing I find about working out for strength is that I hardly ever feel sore the next day because you cant physically do too many reps if your pushing your body that hard. For example, if you can squat 200 pounds x 4 times, work your way up to that point (again, dont waste too much energy warming up) and then when you feel you are ready, squat the 200 pounds for 3-4 sets.

In the past, I used to destroy my legs...8 sets of squats doing 8-10 reps, 4 sets of deadlifts, 6-8 reps , 2 sets of good mornings, 10 reps, 4 sets of lunges, 10 reps per leg...I'd have trouble walking for the next 4 days (the groin pain was the worst

). Ever since reducing the volume, I've felt very little leg/lower back soreness the next day and I'm usually 95% the 2nd day after lifting.

Awesome. I will definitely try that tomorrow as it is my leg day. So you recommend I try keep my weight the same or increase it? 5 reps sounds good.

Ideally, it sucks being sore 3-4days a week, because it cuts into my cardio and basketball training.

yea, i like to keep work volume to a minimum when i play basketball. if you can still increase the weight you squat doing 1 x 5, you reallydon't have to do multiple sets. maybe 2 sets at most. sometimes i'll go as low as 3 reps. i think you should be squatting heavier each week (or atleast attempting it) if you're doing it as part of a training regimen, otherwise you create a plateau for yourself.

Originally Posted by ChewToy112

Originally Posted by wawaweewa

You're not taking it far enough.

F= m x a

For sure, by rep 7 and 8 your velocity is significantly less than what you're capable of generating. Even by rep 4 it's considerably less than reps 1-3.
At some point you're just building muscular endurance and not necessarily power.

There's a reason that most of the dynamic weightlifting movements that demand power are done in the 1-3 rep range. Past 3 reps, velocity starts to decrease considerably as a result of the lactic acid build up prohibiting the maximum amount of oxygen from reaching the muscle.

Yeah, I respect what you're saying. Maybe I was a little unclear and off base in my wording. You're probably right in theory, but that type of training isn't for me. I'm not training "for" power, but I train "with" power and intensity. Doing 1-4 reps per set just doesn't cut it for me. It's way too short, and since the weight is heavy, way too much rest between sets. Also, to me, muscular endurance is more functional than pure strength. When playing ball or whatever sport, it's not the pure power/strength that lets you really excel, unless you're playing football; it's being able to perform well throughout the entire game without performance dropping off and having the endurance so your shooting/defense/skating etc. technique doesn't falter, which decreases performance and increases risk of injury.

My "leg" day, is really a full body functional sports workout day. A lot of the exercises many people probably haven't even seen before, but because of the nature of the exercises, I'd be wasting it if I did very few reps. My fitness goal is to lose fat and stay athletic and ripped. I'm almost there, but I do have a bit to go. To achieve my goal, I need to burn more calories, which means more functional exercises, more reps and less rest. This is how athletes train, and one of my fitness mottos is "Train like an athlete; look like an athlete".

I see what you're saying, but generally in training for a sport/athletics, you build up a fair amount of strength endurance simply by doingintensive movements like hard cuts, push offs, quick changes in direction or speed, near maximal jumps, etc. athletes do train a lot differently than bodybuilders do, but their training goals (besides skill related goals) are mostly performance related, with a varying degree of endurance tied to that. you cantrain for both maximal performance and conditioning, but it's usually done separately.

 

[needsomejays]

hey chewtoy112, how much do you weigh and how long did it take you to get to where you are now?

 

[klipschorn]

Taking a break from studying to post this..

http://www.youtube.com/v/17ptVrk4vo8&fs=1&source=uds&autoplay=0http://www.youtube.com/v/17ptVrk4vo8&fs=1&source=uds&autoplay=0

 

[nealraj006]

Originally Posted by wj4

Originally Posted by Yankeephan87

How many exercises do you guys do on each day? I think I may be overdoing it. On arms day I do like 8. On chest and shoulders like 9 combined just for example is that too many ?

I'm not a body builder, I just do 5. I do go to the gym 5-6 times a week though.

wj4, I think that you should reconsider your training a bit. The only reason that I'd go to the gym that often would be if I wanted size gainsand large volume of training. I know that you're going for the Fight Club look, but IMO, you could do 3 full body routines a week and see progress as well.Doing more compound movements will help burn more calories, work more muscles in less time, and allow you to train less often. You could base a full bodyroutine off of:
Pull ups
Rows
Bench
Military press
Squat
Deadlift

Just my 2 cents. A good site for those aiming for a lean look is: www.fitnessblackbook.com
Lots of good info on the site and Rusty really knows what he's talking about. He maintains 6-8% body fat year-round.

 

[i3]

^ I think i'll do compound training closer to the season/when the season starts, but for now we're approaching summer and im a skinny pos.. so i needall the gym I can get.

I reduced my squats to 4x5 and upped the weight 10lbs or so, could've gone a bit higher and more sets, but I hate feeling sore for the next 3-4 days. My DBlunges and etc.. stayed the same 4x8 heavy weights.

I actually did a set of ATG squats today, I even hit the damn pins

Hopefully tomorrow im not sore and can do some cardio lol

 

[drock2010]

Originally Posted by I3

Originally Posted by wawaweewa

Originally Posted by drock2010

Originally Posted by wawaweewa

Originally Posted by drock2010

I want my shoulders to get bigger and I work on them just like every other body part but I dont see them getting much bigger
should I up the weight and lower the reps
right now I'm doing low weight high reps

If low weight high reps isn't working then try going heavier with low reps. Personally I believe that heavy w/ low reps is the way to go but you also have to remember that the shoulder is composed of 3 heads. You need to stress all 3 heads.

Yeah I mostly do shoulder presses
what head does that work (nh)

Mostly the anterior (front) deltoid with assistance from the lateral (middle) deltoid.
Most the mass will actually come from the lateral and posterior (rear) heads.

Here's an anatomical pic;

Frankly, seated shoulder presses are pretty useless and hold back development. Seated presses can't harness the maximum shoulder strentgh of an individual.

Push Presses/Jerks are far superior. Seated presses are good as an assistance exercises but shouldn't be the main lift.
For example if I'm push pressing say 100lb for reps and all i can strict press is 60lbs, think of how much total poundage I'm leaving behind each training session.

So what else can I do besides a seated dumbell press?

i want to try that olympic lift thing..

Same thing I'm wondering...

 

[panaricanretro]

Originally Posted by I3

^ I think i'll do compound training closer to the season/when the season starts, but for now we're approaching summer and im a skinny pos.. so i need all the gym I can get.

I reduced my squats to 4x5 and upped the weight 10lbs or so, could've gone a bit higher and more sets, but I hate feeling sore for the next 3-4 days. My DB lunges and etc.. stayed the same 4x8 heavy weights.

I actually did a set of ATG squats today, I even hit the damn pins

Hopefully tomorrow im not sore and can do some cardio lol

If you're trying to improve strength, explosive power, etc... you should look into doing 5-3-1 training with your squat, deadlift, benchpress, and then doing heavy sets of 3-5 reps for exercises like power cleans, clean to presses, and overhead snatches.

 

[sneakerking757]

Starting tomorrow, I'm going to try 3 sets to failure for every exercise.