Question about lifting weights

[iamme]

You're supposed to wait a day in between work outs, right? Does that mean 24 hours? Will lifting weights every morning (same muscle groups) be counterproductive?

BTW, I've been focusing on lighter weights and more reps for more muscle endurance. This is the way to look more "cut", as opposed to heavier weights and less reps......right?

 

[Fausto]

Originally posted by: iamme
You're supposed to wait a day in between work outs, right? Does that mean 24 hours? Will lifting weights every morning (same muscle groups) be counterproductive?

BTW, I've been focusing on lighter weights and more reps for more muscle endurance. This is the way to look more "cut", as opposed to heavier weights and less reps......right?

Actually, you should wait 48 hours in between workouts of a given muscle group. Lifting every day or even every other day won't allow adequate time for recovery; you won't make progress and will just end up tearing something.

And yeah, lighter weights + high reps will give you more definition and tone (and less bulk) that big weights.

 

[iamme]

BTW, how can I gauge how light/how many reps I should do? Is there some sort of rule of thumb?

 

[Fausto]

Originally posted by: iamme
BTW, how can I gauge how light/how many reps I should do? Is there some sort of rule of thumb?

I don't know about a rule of thumb per se, but you should pick a weight that will work muscle X to failure (or nearly to failure) in a reasonable amount of reps (say 15-30 for the kind of workout you're after). If you're cranking a dumbell up and down 100 times per set, you need to add a bit of weight just for the sake of efficiency unless you want to spend 3 hours in the gym every day.

 

[iamme]

Originally posted by: Fausto1

I don't know about a rule of thumb per se, but you should pick a weight that will work muscle X to failure (or nearly to failure) in a reasonable amount of reps (say 15-30 for the kind of workout you're after). If you're cranking a dumbell up and down 100 times per set, you need to add a bit of weight just for the sake of efficiency unless you want to spend 3 hours in the gym every day.

Cool, thanks

I've been shooting for 20 reps X 3 sets.

 

[JOSEPHLB]

If you want to put on some serious muscle.. Your main sets should compose of heavy weight / low reps.
Heavy weight really stresses the muscle fibers, and will shock them to new growth. Make sure you are intaking enough protein and a multivitamin

The normal is 48-72 hours of rest for a body part. This is all trial and error though
Its mainly for the larger muscle groups that need the longer rest period (Chest, back, legs). Its all trial and error though. I usually can get by with 48 hours on my smaller muscle groups such as biceps, triceps, abs, calves
Smaller muscles dont take much work and stress to break the muscle fiber down; so, recovery time is the same as well.. not very much time before you can work it again

 

[Fausto]

Originally posted by: iamme

Originally posted by: Fausto1

I don't know about a rule of thumb per se, but you should pick a weight that will work muscle X to failure (or nearly to failure) in a reasonable amount of reps (say 15-30 for the kind of workout you're after). If you're cranking a dumbell up and down 100 times per set, you need to add a bit of weight just for the sake of efficiency unless you want to spend 3 hours in the gym every day.

Cool, thanks

I've been shooting for 20 reps X 3 sets.

That sounds about right. You can add some high-rpm stationary bike work at the end of your leg days to really burn things out. 20-30 min at 90+ rpm should do the trick.

 

[JOSEPHLB]

an example chest workout for me (When I am in "mass building mode" )

Flat Bench (2 Warm Up Sets)
1 Set Of 10 Reps (You should struggle somewhat on the 10th rep)
1 Set Of 8 Reps (You should struggle a little on the 7th and 8th rep)
1 Set Of 6 Reps (You should really be working hard for all 6 reps on this; very heavy, but not as heavy as the last set)
1 Set Of 4 Reps (As heavy as you can go for 4 reps, no more)

Then I would move on to an Incline Bench or Incline Dumbell Presses. Since I am already warmed up, I would go right into my work sets.

Incline Dumbell Presses
2 Sets Of 10 Reps(Moderate weight that will cause you to really have to work hard to push out the 9th and 10th reps on both sets)
1 Set Of 8 Reps(Increase the weight to the point of struggle on the 7th and 8th reps)
1 Set Of 6 Reps (As heavy as you can go for 6 reps)

And for the following exercise to end my chest workout, I would finish up with some cable flies, or dumbell flies

4 Sets of 8-12 Reps (With a moderate amount of weight)

Building mass and lifting heavy requires a tad bit more rest between each set. The general guideline and rule of thumb is 60-120 seconds of rest. For cutting, and somewhat of an aerobic effect, rest should only be 30-60 seconds between sets. Of course , you will not be pushing as much weight here.

 

[Jfur]

Originally posted by: iamme
You're supposed to wait a day in between work outs, right? Does that mean 24 hours? Will lifting weights every morning (same muscle groups) be counterproductive?

BTW, I've been focusing on lighter weights and more reps for more muscle endurance. This is the way to look more "cut", as opposed to heavier weights and less reps......right?

the way to look more cut is to lose FAT to reveal the muscle. I'd focus on heavier weights and cut your calories a little (clean up your diet); unless you are very unusal you won't bulk up too quickly.

 

[CrazyDe1]

Originally posted by: Fausto1

Originally posted by: iamme
You're supposed to wait a day in between work outs, right? Does that mean 24 hours? Will lifting weights every morning (same muscle groups) be counterproductive?

BTW, I've been focusing on lighter weights and more reps for more muscle endurance. This is the way to look more "cut", as opposed to heavier weights and less reps......right?

Actually, you should wait 48 hours in between workouts of a given muscle group. Lifting every day or even every other day won't allow adequate time for recovery; you won't make progress and will just end up tearing something.

And yeah, lighter weights + high reps will give you more definition and tone (and less bulk) that big weights.

They say lifting every 24 hours and working the same muscle groups won't give you time to recover, but what I've noticed on my benching is if I don't do it everytime I lift, which is every other day, I drop. If I bench every time I go every week or 2 I move up 10 lbs. Otherwise I start dropping and lose 1 or 2 reps everytime I go. I think everyone's different...my friend does the same workout as me everytime and if he benches everytime his bench never goes up. If he waits a week between benching he gains 2 or 3 reps...he's also 220 and I'm 155 and we're both doing about 205 on our last set 8 times.

 

[brendan0]

Try a split routine to let each muscle group recover:
Push day- chest, shoulders, triceps, stomach
Leg day- legs, stomach
Pull day- back, biceps, forearms, stomach
Rest day- don't do anything except lift the remote
repeat.

And larger muscle groups (like quads, chest, back) you want to get around 12-15 reps. Do 2-3 sets (only do 1-2 until you build up your muscles)
Smaller muscles you want to be able to do only around 6-10 reps and only do 1-2 sets.
All this is for building larger muscles.
The big old Arnold Schwartenhegger (sp?) book is actually one of the best out there for general bodybuilding.

 

[Amused]

I do a push/pull schedule as well.

mon: push
Tue: pull
Wed: off (though I sometimes run on this day)
Thu: push
Fri : pull
Sat: off
Sun: off

I also run 4 - 5 miles 4 days a week, but never on the weekends. I give myself at least two days a week with no structured exercise to give my whole body time to heal.

Lifting weights causes micro tears to your muscles. It is the healing of these tears during recovery that gives you your results. Not giving each muscle group at least 48 hours to recover between workouts is counterproductive, frustrating, and painful.

To look "cut" you will first need some size. I would start with heavier weights and lower reps to build size. Once you get the size you want, then start cutting. Also, no matter how much you lift you'll never get "cut" if you don't do cardio work and lower your body fat percentage. A good start is 30 miniutes, three or four days a week. You must keep your heart rate at your target rate for the entire time.

Lifting weights alone will not make you "cut." No matter how light weight/high reps you go, you'll never be able to keep your heart rate high enough, long enough to effectively burn fat.

 

[scorp00]

You don't get cut by doing high reps. Bodybuilders are pretty cut for competitions and they don't do light weight for a lot of reps. If you want to get cut, lose fat. High reps will burn more calories, but you shouldn't be lifting weights to burn calories. That's what cardio is for.

It takes most muscle groups on average 96 hours to recover. Most people who workout a lot find that each muscle group once a week is optimum.

Working the same muscle groups everyday is very counterproductive. Your strength only goes up very slowly and you might experience overtraining(sickness, fatigue, etc). I did the everyday thing for two years until I started reading up on the right way to do it. I've gained more strength in the past 6 months than in the previous 2 years.

bodybuilding.com check out the forums for a great deal of information

edit: here's my workout schedule

sun - legs, abs
mon - off
tues - back, biceps, forearms
wed - off
thurs - chest, triceps, shoulders
fri - off
sat - off

I find it best for me to take a day off between each workout. I do occasionally do 2 in a row if something comes up, it's not a big deal. There's just more intensity if you go every other day.

 

[Nutdotnet]

scorp00 has the best looking split I have seen throughout this thread. People who are just beginning lifting weights and/or beginners only need to work each muscle group once per week. Hell, even advanced bodybuilders typically only workout each bodypart once per week, although many of them do this using a 4 or 5 day split.

If you are looking to gain muscle mass then do heavy weight, low reps (I prefer 4-6 reps, some prefer 6-8). Start your workout with the larger bodypart (ie. chest) and then work the smaller body parts (triceps, shoulders, etc..). Oh yeah, and EAT! The only way to get larger is to intake more calories per day than you burn. Depending on your metabolism, this can mean eating well over 3000 calories a day.

If you are looking to "cut" (which I am going to start doing in about a month) then do lighter weights with higher reps (8-12). I believe this is primarily for an aerobic effect but am not entirely sure, this is my first cut cycle so I am not as knowledgeable with it as I am with gaining mass. But I do know that a person should include cardio into their regimen. Plus, you need to intake less calories than you burn daily. Having a low body-fat percentage is what you need to look "cut". That is it.

Anyone interested in more info can go here and click on "Forums". Best site I have ever been to for bodybuilding/weight-training.

 

[acidvoodoo]

i am thin and want to increase muscle/strength. I won't be starting until after new years (it my new years resoulution to get in shape). I'm not really sure where to start. I am ogin to get some heavy weights, but i am not sure what sort of diet i should go about. whats a rep? and do i need to do cardio? (that's running/cycling right?) how long do u a day or every 2 days would i need to work out to get results?

thanks for help, i'll check out a few of those fitness sites too

EDIT: also, how do u work the chest, stomach, back etc? i thought dumbells etc are only for arms

 

[scorp00]

Originally posted by: acidvoodoo
i am thin and want to increase muscle/strength. I won't be starting until after new years (it my new years resoulution to get in shape). I'm not really sure where to start. I am ogin to get some heavy weights, but i am not sure what sort of diet i should go about. whats a rep? and do i need to do cardio? (that's running/cycling right?) how long do u a day or every 2 days would i need to work out to get results?

thanks for help, i'll check out a few of those fitness sites too

EDIT: also, how do u work the chest, stomach, back etc? i thought dumbells etc are only for arms

A rep is one revolution. Like one bench press down and back up. If your thin, you don't need cardio(running/cycling). If you do a good split and get proper nutrition and rest, you should see and feel results in a month. The nutrition part is more important than the actual workout. You need at least a gram of protein for every pound of body weight. (140 grams for a 140 pound person) A multivitamin is also a good thing, and plenty of sleep.

Chest is worked by dumbell press's. Back is worked by dead lifts(picking up a bar off the ground with knees bent). Stomach is worked by situps/crunches.

 

[Aquaman]

What I do is to work different body groups on different days

Day 1 Chest & Triceps
Day 2 Back & Biceps
Day 3 Shoulders & Legs

Cheers,
Aquaman

 

[chizow]

Originally posted by: iamme
You're supposed to wait a day in between work outs, right? Does that mean 24 hours? Will lifting weights every morning (same muscle groups) be counterproductive?

BTW, I've been focusing on lighter weights and more reps for more muscle endurance. This is the way to look more "cut", as opposed to heavier weights and less reps......right?

I used to go 5, sometimes 6 days a week, but then again, I was in college and playing lots of sports and getting lots of rest. I would alternate days with muscle groups, making sure there was at least 1 day rest between the same group.

As for what routine you should use, you need to cater it to your body type. I used to work out in pyramids, starting with a warm-up set, then peaking to a set weight, then going back down until exhaustion. A typical workout for me on bench press would have been:

155 x 12-15 (warm-up)
185 x 10
205 x 10
225 x goal of 10, but often less
205 x 10, sometimes less
185 x 10, sometimes less
165 until muscle failure

I found this enabled me to rip it up pretty good without hitting muscle failure too early. Supplements definitely help, but its a good idea to get a good base before taking any. I'm pretty toned naturally, and this type of workout allowed me to increase mass as well as tone.

Again, I emphasize that the amount of rest and how often you exercise or play sports has a large impact on how often you should work out. I average about 5 hours of sleep during the week now, and can only make it to the gym 2-3 times. If you are 19 and in college, don't be afraid to push yourself 5-6 times a week, just make sure to work different muscle groups (back/legs/shoulders one day and chest/arms/abs another)

Chiz

 

[Nutdotnet]

Originally posted by: chizow

Originally posted by: iamme
You're supposed to wait a day in between work outs, right? Does that mean 24 hours? Will lifting weights every morning (same muscle groups) be counterproductive?

BTW, I've been focusing on lighter weights and more reps for more muscle endurance. This is the way to look more "cut", as opposed to heavier weights and less reps......right?

I used to go 5, sometimes 6 days a week, but then again, I was in college and playing lots of sports and getting lots of rest. I would alternate days with muscle groups, making sure there was at least 1 day rest between the same group.

As for what routine you should use, you need to cater it to your body type. I used to work out in pyramids, starting with a warm-up set, then peaking to a set weight, then going back down until exhaustion. A typical workout for me on bench press would have been:

155 x 12-15 (warm-up)
185 x 10
205 x 10
225 x goal of 10, but often less
205 x 10, sometimes less
185 x 10, sometimes less
165 until muscle failure

I found this enabled me to rip it up pretty good without hitting muscle failure too early. Supplements definitely help, but its a good idea to get a good base before taking any. I'm pretty toned naturally, and this type of workout allowed me to increase mass as well as tone.

Again, I emphasize that the amount of rest and how often you exercise or play sports has a large impact on how often you should work out. I average about 5 hours of sleep during the week now, and can only make it to the gym 2-3 times. If you are 19 and in college, don't be afraid to push yourself 5-6 times a week, just make sure to work different muscle groups (back/legs/shoulders one day and chest/arms/abs another)

Chiz

Talk about overtraining with one exercise. I couldn't imagine doing 7 sets of bench press, not to mention you were doing over 65 reps. You were probably strong as hell, and could have been lifting a lot more weight.

Plus, I wouldn't recommend doing back and legs on the same day. Those are two very large muscle groups, they really need their own day.

 

[gbz]

can anyone suggest some good books to read on the subject i am looking at starting with weights and going to the gym, It will be new to me as i had always been in good shape naturally, then the job and hours kicked in and im starting to notice that im needing to get a little more exercise . anyways i really have no clue as to how i should go about using the gym effectively. And i dont really have anyone to instruct me as of yet because I am going to use the gym at work.


thanks

. g b z .

 

[chizow]

Originally posted by: Nutdotnet

Talk about overtraining with one exercise. I couldn't imagine doing 7 sets of bench press, not to mention you were doing over 65 reps. You were probably strong as hell, and could have been lifting a lot more weight.

Plus, I wouldn't recommend doing back and legs on the same day. Those are two very large muscle groups, they really need their own day.

Heheh well, like I said, I had a lot of time on my hands in college. I had the luxury of spending up to 2 hours in the gym, which was only 5 houses down from my frat house. I didn't need to emphasize my legs as much b/c we ran ball behind our house almost daily, and our house was #1 overall in IFC sports, so we had athletic events almost daily. Again, I rarely tried to push heavier weight, as I had plenty of mass, but I didn't want to get so big that I would lose flexibility in sports. Yeah, some would say that so many sets is overkill, but that routine came very naturally, unlike other exercises for my biceps and legs. Once in a while, I would max out til exhaustion (stairs, not pyramid), but that was mostly in preparation for the IFC weight-lifting competitions. I found that after "maxing" out, I would be weaker in my regular routines for the next 2-3 workouts.

Chiz

 

[Nutdotnet]

So did you ever max out on your bench? Being able to do that much at that weight.......probably could lift some serious weight on a one rep-max.

If you don't mind me asking, what were your stats? (Height, Weight, BF%)

 

[JOSEPHLB]

my best one rep max on the bench press is 365 lbs at a bodyweight of 175 lbs
That was long ago though; I've got out of the "macho" lets see how much I can bench phase.
The last couple of years I concentrated on working on my physique instead of just throwing around mad @$$ iron..
I was at an all time best for myself at doing 315 lbs for 5 reps at a bodyweight of 179 lbs @ 8% bodyfat. not too shabby for a 5'7" guy

 

[thedan]

I do

Alternating Days

Arm Curls - 5x10 Heavy Weight
Long Bar Up Downy Thing (don't know what its called, but just the standard lie on your back and push up with heavy bar) 5x10 - Heavy Weight
Chest W shaped thing 5x10

then the next day I do the same stuff but with much higher reps and much lower weights.

Is that bad?

 

[dfi]

Originally posted by: CrazyDe1

Originally posted by: Fausto1

Originally posted by: iamme
You're supposed to wait a day in between work outs, right? Does that mean 24 hours? Will lifting weights every morning (same muscle groups) be counterproductive?

BTW, I've been focusing on lighter weights and more reps for more muscle endurance. This is the way to look more "cut", as opposed to heavier weights and less reps......right?

Actually, you should wait 48 hours in between workouts of a given muscle group. Lifting every day or even every other day won't allow adequate time for recovery; you won't make progress and will just end up tearing something.

And yeah, lighter weights + high reps will give you more definition and tone (and less bulk) that big weights.

They say lifting every 24 hours and working the same muscle groups won't give you time to recover, but what I've noticed on my benching is if I don't do it everytime I lift, which is every other day, I drop. If I bench every time I go every week or 2 I move up 10 lbs. Otherwise I start dropping and lose 1 or 2 reps everytime I go. I think everyone's different...my friend does the same workout as me everytime and if he benches everytime his bench never goes up. If he waits a week between benching he gains 2 or 3 reps...he's also 220 and I'm 155 and we're both doing about 205 on our last set 8 times.

Here's my question: how long have you been working out? If you've worked out for 5 years and added 10 lbs every 2 weeks, then you should be benching... well, A LOT. If you've just started working out, then I think the data is not very good. You can basically do anything when you first start working out and gain strength.

dfi