Strength Weight Training: Anything and Everything II

[kaiserchief13]

for toning? doesn't really matter it's what you're eating

By toning I mean no carbs/fats.

 

[lysp]

By toning I mean no carbs/fats.

Toning is a meaningless word - It means gaining muscle mass and lowering body fat. Both are opposite goals. Eat more to gain muscle, eat less to lower body fat. The reason it was invented was for female magazines as women have a fear of the word "bulking" as they think by lifting light weights they'll accidentally end up like a steroided bodybuilder.

No carbs/fats has nothing to do with if you're dieting or not. It's about total calories.

Also sweet potato is a carb, so it doesnt fit your "no carb/fat" guideline either.

You'd be best reading up a little more about nutrition, calorie counting, assess your goals and then set up a plain to meet those goals.

 

[lysp]

I've finally broken my squat plateau. I think adding a widow-maker set after my work sets has really helped.

My previous best was around 5x100kg and never could push much past it without failing.

Added the widow-maker to the last 6 sessions. Doing reps of 6x, 6x then 7x on the final set followed by 20x80kg.

Since doing that my squat has gone up 2.5kg every session and today managed to push out 112.5kg for my 3 work sets.

So i think the extra volume has helped as i'm still relatively new to the squat (under 6 months). Plus my quads look a little larger too, although that could be my imagination.

 

[Mofra]

Excellent cfol

 

[evo]

Are sweet potatos good to eat for toning?

I've changed my program to this. Please let me know what your thoughts are.

Monday - Dips 3 X 8 pushing inwards, Dumbbell bench 3 X 8, Pushups 3 X 12, Abs
Tuesday - 3 X as many as possible Pullups, Close grip front lat pulldown 3 X 8, 3 X as many as possible chin ups, 3 X 8 Squats
Wednesday - Cardio
Thursday - EZ barbell curl 3 X 8, Zottman curl 3 X 8, Reverse grip bent over rows 3 X 8, Bent over 2 arm long bar row 3 X 8
Friday - Deadlift 3 X 8, Leg extensions 3 X 8, 3 X 8 Calf raises, Abs
Saturday - Nothing
Sunday - Cardio/Nothing (depends if I can be bothered)

seems to me your program is way out of balance. you are doing biceps and back twice in a row.

apart from dips you aren't doing much tricep work. And no shoulder presses at all

the pulling exercise are getting over trained and the pushing ones are being under trained.

try to make it more balanced and allow each muscle 5-7 days rest. That way you can go full intensity when you train the particular muscle.

so do say:

Monday- biceps and back

Tuesday- triceps snd chest

Wednesday- cardio

Thuursday-shoulders and abs

Friday- legs

Weekend -rest/cardio


-

 

[lysp]

seems to me your program is way out of balance. you are doing biceps and back twice in a row.

apart from dips you aren't doing much tricep work. And no shoulder presses at all

the pulling exercise are getting over trained and the pushing ones are being under trained.

try to make it more balanced and allow each muscle 5-7 days rest. That way you can go full intensity when you train the particular muscle.

Translation:

As a beginner don't make up your own program and use an established beginner program (ie. starting strength, stronglifts, etc).

 

[PatrickBateman]

Translation:

As a beginner don't make up your own program and use an established beginner program (ie. starting strength, stronglifts, etc).

I agree. More compound exercises required.

 

[pocketpears]

would someone be kind enough to give me a quick full body bulk up work out program please

 

[Keystone agony]

Dont know if people would agree or not but i try and focus on two main muscle groups each gym session for a bulk.

I dont know what alot of the exercises are called but ill describe them

Chest
Bench 3 x 8-12 reps
Incline press 3x 8-12 reps
Pec Deck (i do with free weights and lay down on a bench/i switch with the machine every now and again) 3 x 8-12 reps
Wide Grip dips 3x 8-12
Cable Fly crossovers (i dont do these but are good) 3 x 8-12 reps

Biceps
Normal curls 3 x 8-12 reps
lightweight controlled hammer curls 3 x 25 reps
Chin ups 3 x 6-12 reps (if your new to them, than maybe just try max out and push as hard as you can for 3 sets) - underhand grip shoulder width
One arm pull towards you (left/right) 3 x 8-12 reps

Than id do shoulders/back/tris the next day.

Id do either 3 days on 1 day off 3 days on
OR if you not as commited and getting use to it start slower

2 days on one off, 2days back on one off ect

 

[ThePezDispenser]

Far too much volume!

 

[Ricky90]

For a beginner maybe too much volume, especially on biceps though.

For chest I do 12-15 sets total but I'm a push/pull type of guy at the moment - more so than a direct/indirect (for those unaware, it means I will do chest and tri's one day, and back and bi's on another day [push/pull] rather than chest and bi's one day, back and tri's the other [direct/indirect] - mainly because I feel my arms get plenty of stimultion when doing compound chest and back movements - must be genetics haha)

To the other dude, tell me a bit more about yourself, age, weight, body type, experience etc. it's just, I don't want to tell you to do front squats or Arnold presses if you've never lifted before. We can just stick with the basics or adjust depending on lifting experience.

 

[Keystone agony]

Far too much volume!

To being with, YES

But if hes been doing this for some time which i assumed correctly or incorrectly, than id say no.

As i said i dont do a few of those exercises like crossovers ect. But my body is use to this and needs to be pushed harder and not allow my body to comfortable with training.

Either just focus on one muscle group as a beginner in one session or if your more advanced do both, eat right, at the right times sleep and you will be comfortably able to do this. I also do the above with full days of brick paving before hand, so cant see why others cant if they have been at the gym for some time. Ive only been there for 6 months straight after broken fibula and OP surgery after having a good year and 4 months off from any weight lifting.

 

[Mofra]

KA, what are 5 exercises for chest doing what 2 good ones done properly wont?

FWIW I subscribe to Lyle McDonald's studies showing bodyparts worked twice in an 8 day period attract the the maximum potential for gains in size & strength (the body doesn't recognise arbitrary time periods such as the "week" )

 

[Ricky90]

KA, what are 5 exercises for chest doing what 2 good ones done properly wont?

FWIW I subscribe to Lyle McDonald's studies showing bodyparts worked twice in an 8 day period attract the the maximum potential for gains in size & strength (the body doesn't recognise arbitrary time periods such as the "week" )

Hitting a greater number of fibres?

I'm not sold on KAs workout. Peck deck for example is something I haven't touched since I was 14.

But I'm not going to do bench press for 5 sets and incline dumbell press for a further 5 and assume my workout was comprehensive. What about flyes and dips? It's more than just getting a nice peak contraction, that stretch you get from flyes and dips is invaluable for growth. And then you can play with declines as well if you lack in that area.

But on your second paragraph, I agree completely. Don't know who Lyle McDonald is (rings a bell, would probably know of him but don't care enough to jog my memory of who he is) but I currently work chest every 4 days. When people say, "so twice a week?", it's always "nooooo, every 4 days, are you daft?!"

 

[Mofra]

Hitting a greater number of fibres?

I'm not sold on KAs workout. Peck deck for example is something I haven't touched since I was 14.

Is it really hitting a greater number of fibres though? It would be an interesting question to put to someone who only works chest once a week. Chest isn't like teeh delts which have a massive range of different muscles & movements

I tend to subscribe to the 4 days theory but I do change every second chest workout (day 1 would be flat DB presses & flyes, day 2 is incline DB presses with weighted push-ups).

Weighted dips I tend to class as a triceps exercise, prefer closer grip than wide grip

 

[evo]

i tend to agree with Ricky 90. I reckon if your really want to make sure you've worked every fibre possible better to do dips and flys as well.They all do different regions of the pec. i like to do flys last as they are a good way to really stretch out the muscle to finish it off.

Furthermore, you often find you are 'between weights' from one session to the next on one particular exercise. So although you may not be adding extra to your bench max this week, you might be able to put a little more weight on you fly or dips. Thus yuor chest as a whole has still been asked to progress a little.

 

[Mofra]

i tend to agree with Ricky 90. I reckon if your really want to make sure you've worked every fibre possible better to do dips and flys as well.They all do different regions of the pec. i like to do flys last as they are a good way to really stretch out the muscle to finish it off.

How do you go with time in the gym if you're hitting every body part with 3-5 exercises twice every 7-8 days?
I tend to limit myself to an hour in the gym/pool/hills Mon-Friday and find that with the exception of cycling/sprint sessions, I tend to creep over the hour mark fairly easily.

 

[evo]

I'm vigilant about always stay under an hour. I do pushups to warm up, then one set of bench 50% max then straight into working sets. so that takes like 5 minutes

Working sets of 3x6-8. 4 exercises = 12 sets. Stay strict on 60-90 sec rests. That can be done in half an hour no problem.

Personally I do tricep work on chest day and given triceps already warmed up go straight into tighht grip press, skull crushers, and machine push downs. Thats another 20 minutes.

So thats about 55 minutes.

I do 2 days on 1 day off, rolling. So chest/triceps gets done every 6 days.

Edit: I should add that I work out at home during the day. so there is no time wasted waiting to use equipment, wiping down nnoobs sweat or perving on chicks. It's all bi'ness.

 

[Mofra]

Edit: I should add that I work out at home during the day. so there is no time wasted waiting to use equipment, wiping down nnoobs sweat or perving on chicks. It's all bi'ness.

Ja, I often share machines but that can add time to a workout.

My warm-up is a little longer too (I warm up with a few minutes of cardio, push ups, core, then tend to have a light set pre-workout sets).
I'm running 4-5 sets per exercise, 6-8 reps generally (higher for tris, weighted push-ups, undergrasp chins).

Time certainly flies, espeically when you have a good workout

 

[George Washington]

Time certainly flies, espeically when you have a good workout

Would you say...

When you're in the gym...

Time..

Flyes?

 

[Mofra]

Would you say...

When you're in the gym...

Time..

Flyes?

Only if you really press me

 

[Keystone agony]

Is it really hitting a greater number of fibres though? It would be an interesting question to put to someone who only works chest once a week. Chest isn't like teeh delts which have a massive range of different muscles & movements

I tend to subscribe to the 4 days theory but I do change every second chest workout (day 1 would be flat DB presses & flyes, day 2 is incline DB presses with weighted push-ups).

Weighted dips I tend to class as a triceps exercise, prefer closer grip than wide grip

Thus the reason i said wide grip dips, they target more pecks (pectorial minors to be precise).

where as when im doing tris i usually do shoulder width dips to concentrate more on the triceps being contracted.

Remember you can always find a study to back just about anything up, most are very bias or poor testing or poor sample size.

I go by the theory that more is better. My chest is probably the largest part of me, so i can only say it works.

The chest is quite a big are when you consider both pec minors and majors and comparing that to something like triceps. Im not sure if there are more muscle fibers or what?

Qs?

@RICKY would like to know why you dont do the peck deck, FWIW i do it with the dumbells and the bring together. I find this the best exercise by far that targets the pectorial minors and really never feel like it is going to cause any injury either. The wide hand grips also target them, but i find that it can actually hurt your shoulders sometimes and i try to limit that depending on how i feel.

@MOFRA and everyone. What are peoples thoughts/philosophies on how many sets are required. Personally i never really go over 3 sets for any specific exercise. Where as MOFRA does 4-5. I purely do this so i can push closer to 100% more often, eg: by the time i get to a 5th set im that fatigued and need so much recovery that it just isnt worth doing as im not pushing anywhere near 100% and its also a massive time waster. eg: 5 sets takes longer to do, but the rest time you need before your 4th and 5th sets increases compared to that before sets 2 and 3.

I prefer to hit up another exercise and push closer to 100% again. I mean what benefits are you gonna get from doing 4-5 sets compared to 3 sets. Should it might build up some muscular endurance but i think their are much more efficient ways to do that like the way im training right now. Basically drop weight, increase reps and do 4-6 exercise straight after each other, the burn is amazing.

 

[lysp]

My current split is basically this:

Chest/Bi:
DB Flat Bench 3 x 5-6
DB Incl Bench 3 x 5-6
Cable Fly 3 x 8

Barbell curl 2-3 x 8
ss with/pushups (various widths) 3 x 12

Legs:
Squat 3 x 5-6 + 1 x 20
Horiz. Leg press 3 x 5-6
Leg ext: 2 x 8
Leg curl: 3 x 8
ss with/ seated calf: 3 x 15

Shoulders + Tri:
Standing barbell press: 3 x 5-6
TBar press: 2 x 8
Upright Row: 2 x 8
Seated shoulder machine: 2 x 5-6

Raises - front: 2 x 8-10
Raises - side: 2 x 8-10

Raises - laying rear: 2 x 8-10
ss with/ dips: 3 x 10

Tri pushdown: 2 x 8-10

Back + Abs:
Deadlift: 3 x 5 (weight ramped up)
Pendlay row: 3 x 5-6
Lat pulldown: 2 x 8
Cable row: 2-3 x 5-6

Weighted pull-ups: 3 x 8-10
ss with/ leg raises: 3 x 15

If i cbf (or have time):
Decline weighted situps: 3 x 12, plus 3-4 drop sets til failure with no rest

Have a fair bit of volume with shoulders, but that had always been a weak area for me.

Try to do 3 x 5 for my main lifts, usually 2 sets and 8-10 reps for isolations or secondary lifts.

 

[Kong]

Would you say...

When you're in the gym...

Time..

Flyes?

 

[Keystone agony]

What i do

Chest/Biceps
Bench Press 3 x 6
Peck Deck with dumbells lying down 3 x 10-12
Incline Press 3 x 8-12 (have been doing a german styled thing lately on the incline press machine eg: the pyramid)

Heavy Bicep curls 3 x 12 (6 each arm)
Light Bicep hammers (really conrolled) 3 x 25-30 (12-15 each arm)
Chin ups 3 x 10-12
Biceps across body 3 x 10 (10 each arm)

Legs
Hamstring curls 3 x 15
Vertical Leg Press 3 x 12
Leg extensions 3 x 15-20
45 Led Press 3 x 10
Squats 3 x 8

Triceps
Pushups or Dips 3 x 15
Overhead push 3 x 10
Traditional Tricep pulldown 3 x 10
Boxing with weights on this special machine we have 3 x 12-15 each arm

Shoulders
Straight arm raises to eye line 3 x 10-12
Shoulder press dumbells 3 x 8-12
Dips 3 x 10
Barbell lightweight shoulder raises and pushes 3 x 20

Will add my back ect