How many sets do people do when doing weights?

A2Z · 21 Mar 2007 at 23:42

it all depends on what works for you...i do 3x8 as well as 4x6 and 5x5, each for their own exercise, as ive found what i respond to best for most exercises

The_Judge · 22 Mar 2007 at 01:11

khimbar · 22 Mar 2007 at 09:11

Warm ups at 50% then 75% for compounds, and I've just finished a 5x5 phase. Am now on a 3x8. And I stretch afterwards.

Chads · 22 Mar 2007 at 09:38

So i'll go for a 2 set warm-up of 50% then 75%. Then 5-10minutes of stretching, then lifting, then stretching afterwards. I hadn't heard of not stretching before exercise, i'll keep this in mind - I still like to do some stretches before the heavy lifting, since it seems to help.

Thanks for the advice. It might be worth amalgamating this advice into the sticky, unless info on warming up is in there and I just missed it.

cyborg · 22 Mar 2007 at 11:15

Why is it that i hear high reps are bad? I have lightweight 2kg weights, really too light, but i make up for this with high reps. Anyone explain?

Chong Warrior · 22 Mar 2007 at 12:14

Chads said:
So i'll go for a 2 set warm-up of 50% then 75%. Then 5-10minutes of stretching, then lifting, then stretching afterwards. I hadn't heard of not stretching before exercise, i'll keep this in mind - I still like to do some stretches before the heavy lifting, since it seems to help.

Thanks for the advice. It might be worth amalgamating this advice into the sticky, unless info on warming up is in there and I just missed it.

Easier to just give an example: I goto gym and do

10 minutes of warming up, consisting of jogging, crunches, high knees, butt kicks, side dends, lunges, press ups, side lunges, squat thrusts. This warmup is performed at a high enough tempo to have me out of breath and sweating. If I feel that any muscle is tight such as hamstrings then I'll do a little stretch but I don't make a habit of stretching before lifting.

Then it's either squats or deadlifts first. I'll look at what I'm about to lift and half it for a warm up set, usually 8-12 reps. Then another set at 75%, usually about 6-8 reps then onto my working sets. These exercises basically hit every muscle in the body, so now warmups aren't really needed for other exercises as my body is a furnace by now lol

I still do a set at 50% on every exercise, just a quick one get my mind to muscle connection going on and get the joints and tendons ready, just to be safe

After I'm done I then do a little cardio as this is the best time for fat burning and it also doubles as a warmdown. Then I do a little stretching right at the end.

Chong Warrior · 22 Mar 2007 at 12:21

cyborg said:
Why is it that i hear high reps are bad? I have lightweight 2kg weights, really too light, but i make up for this with high reps. Anyone explain?

Depends what you mean by high reps. Anything over 15 and you're using a weight so light your basically just doing an aerobic workout, even 15 is a little too light but can be usefull (I'm currently doing a 2 week cycle of 15 reps).

Chads · 22 Mar 2007 at 12:27

Thanks for the advice Chong. Helped clear a few things up for me.

hittman · 22 Mar 2007 at 12:36

Before I do my workout routine, I stretch for about 5 to 10 mins before and after workout. I do 3x8 for all routines. that ok? So far I been ok.

Styles · 22 Mar 2007 at 12:40

hittman said:
Before I do my workout routine, I stretch for about 5 to 10 mins before and after workout. I do 3x8 for all routines. that ok? So far I been ok.

Do some light warm-ups, crunches, press ups, a jog whatever you wish and then do a couple of light warm up sets, stretch a small amount and then hit your working sets. I stretch after the workout too, just before my warm down.

khimbar · 22 Mar 2007 at 12:41

cyborg said:
Why is it that i hear high reps are bad? I have lightweight 2kg weights, really too light, but i make up for this with high reps. Anyone explain?

I really can't see what you can do with 2kg weights. What routine do you do?

digitalwolf · 22 Mar 2007 at 12:42

Lol depends on what arm I'm using as one is stupidly weaker than the other. 3x8 usually at 14kg.

MTA99 · 22 Mar 2007 at 12:44

Heaven Can Wait said:
Warm up sets are a must as soon as you go in, say your doing chest, and your gonna bench first, you need to do two warmups, then depending on what your going for, reps or weight, do 3-5 sets.
when you move on to another chest/tricep exercise then just get to it.

hittman · 22 Mar 2007 at 13:02

digitalwolf said:
Lol depends on what arm I'm using as one is stupidly weaker than the other. 3x8 usually at 14kg.

what u working on when u do that? chest? tri? biceps?

cyborg · 22 Mar 2007 at 13:11

khimbar said:
I really can't see what you can do with 2kg weights. What routine do you do?

I mainly use the weights between push ups and pull ups. Almost like a 'break' between them two.

Voltar · 22 Mar 2007 at 13:19

Personally it depends on the muscle group as to the sets and weights.
I dont really believe in warm up sets:
the reason is that I always warm up properly at the start of my session, my warm up lsats 30minutes. I will spend at least 20mins of which doing proper stretches and I am shocked that I never see people in my gym (including the more advanced users) doing any stretches whatsoever.

On average 3x8 is the norm for me. Power training is 3x5.

Stretching before use of muscle group as well as the warm up and then at the end of the session works perfectly for me.

daztrouk · 22 Mar 2007 at 13:30

i've never done warm up sets before doing weights, something i've gotta look into.

All my sets are the same:

12 reps
9 reps
6 reps

panthro · 22 Mar 2007 at 14:20

I do 15, 12, 10.

Or if I am doing really heavy weights, then its as many as i can do in 3 sets.

digitalwolf · 22 Mar 2007 at 16:42

hittman said:
what u working on when u do that? chest? tri? biceps?

bicep curls, my arms have always been pretty strong.

I do dumbell shoulder press with 12kg.