Starting weight lifting again - help please :)

Admiral Huddy · 4 Oct 2006 at 16:24

http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/Triceps/WtTriDip.html

the difference being that the tricep dip is closer to the body where as chest is wide..

I'm not convinced it's a great chest excercise because it still heavily uses the triceps regardless.. just my opinion..

I like nothing fancy.. just to hit the muscle i'm targetting directly without to much from elsewhere.

Very good for triceps.. very hard..

alexakasloth · 4 Oct 2006 at 16:30

Thanks for the reply

I'll see how I go tommorow, and if I can i'll do some dips after the narrow grip bench

Styles · 4 Oct 2006 at 18:07

Admiral Huddy said:
The key to Muscle growth is intensity .. By the time you are on your 6th set, your muscle are starting to fatigue if you are working the muscle hard.. 9 sets is enough..

The key to muscle growth is intensity but it also involves breaking all the different types of muscle fibres. For general weight-lifting yes 9 sets is fine but for a bodybuilder that's no where near enough. How many body builders do you see go to train and push out 3 sets on bench, 3 sets on incline, 3 sets on flies and then go home? If you want to look good 9 sets by all means, but if you want to look BIG then it's just childs play.

Admiral Huddy said:
i do 4 to 5 training sessions a week.

session 1 - Chest and Abs
Session 2 - Biceps and Triceps
Session 3 - Shoulders
Session 4 - Back and Abs
Session 5 - Biceps and Triceps

What about the wheels?

Styles · 4 Oct 2006 at 18:16

$loth said:
Bugger, forgot to edit the set's/reps.

Bench press - 4 sets 6 reps
Weighted Dips For Chest - 3 sets 8 reps
Seated Dumbell military press 3 sets 8 reps
close grip bench press - 3 sets 8 reps

Is this better?

Right, just reading back through the thread and I know you want to add inches on yourself. You want much bigger arms, legs etc so basically that means everything needs to grow.

Within a small amount of time you won't even ache the next day after this, it really isn't enough. You will have very odd looking shoulders as you're only working the front? There is nothing there for the rear delts or your sides.

I am not explicitly having a dig at you buddy I'm just saying it NEEDS to be balanced else you'll come out looking like an experiment, or with tiny gains and that's it.

Why such a rushed routine? Sorry I haven't got time to read through the entire thread right now I just don't understand why there isn't more.

Thanks anyway mate, like i said I'm not criticizing you I'm just trying to help

red11 · 4 Oct 2006 at 18:17

Admiral Huddy said:
The key to Muscle growth is intensity .. By the time you are on your 6th set, your muscle are starting to fatigue if you are working the muscle hard.. 9 sets is enough..

i do 4 to 5 training sessions a week.

session 1 - Chest and Abs
Session 2 - Biceps and Triceps
Session 3 - Shoulders
Session 4 - Back and Abs
Session 5 - Biceps and Triceps

No leg work?

edit: Just noticed S7yl3s asked the same question.

alexakasloth · 4 Oct 2006 at 18:31

S7yl3s said:
I am not explicitly having a dig at you buddy I'm just saying it NEEDS to be balanced else you'll come out looking like an experiment, or with tiny gains and that's it.

I understand

It's why i'm posting here, i'm open to any ideas

I understand that each area is made up of different fibres, but i'm not sure which ones would do that.

With the bech and flyes, I think that would work my chest, but i'll see tommorow. For my shoulders, would doing lateral raises and a rear delt row make my shoulders bigger?

I'm open to suggestions

red11 · 4 Oct 2006 at 18:43

Try Arnold dumbbell presses for your shoulders as well.

You should basically do what I did and make up a list of exercises for each muscle group and give them all a try at some stage. You may find some feel better than others. If your doing flyes, then I'd recommend incline dumbbell flyes instead of using the machine, try and keep the exercises to as many free weights as possible.

alexakasloth · 4 Oct 2006 at 18:58

Linoge said:
Try Arnold dumbbell presses for your shoulders as well.

You should basically do what I did and make up a list of exercises for each muscle group and give them all a try at some stage. You may find some feel better than others. If your doing flyes, then I'd recommend incline dumbbell flyes instead of using the machine, try and keep the exercises to as many free weights as possible.

I'll give that a try

And yes, I try and use the free weights as much as possible

I guess the problem i'm having right now with some exercises for my shoulders is that there are 3 different muscles, and 3 exercises seems one too many :S

Deadly Ferret · 4 Oct 2006 at 19:25

Linoge said:
Are you the same person who does hundreds of situps as cardio?

Yes and no. Same person you're thinking of, and they do provide some cardiovascular benefit, but it isn't the reason I do it, which is to build a strong core. My main cardio is burpees.

My point about weightlifting being bad for the heart wasn't regarding weightlifers' diets or drug-taking. It's about the activity itself. Building muscle that way puts strain on the heart. Look at Arnie. Look at retired wrestlers and bodybuilders.

egt · 4 Oct 2006 at 22:58

S7yl3s said:
Would it be possible to post your leg routine including weights plz mate?

Pretty basic and my poundages aren't too fantastic, but at my level of training, i'm happy for now.

Today i did, after warmup (weight in kilo's)

Full squats: 80x16, 90x12, 100x10, 110x8.

Half squats: (thighs parallel to floor) 130x10, 140x8, 155x6.

Then one more set of full squats 90x10.

Occasionally i throw in leg extensions and leg curls.

My thighs are always numb after a session and i have trouble climbing the stairs from the gym! Not complaining though, i love pushing myself to the limit

Styles · 5 Oct 2006 at 03:05

egt said:
Pretty basic and my poundages aren't too fantastic, but at my level of training, i'm happy for now.

Today i did, after warmup (weight in kilo's)

Full squats: 80x16, 90x12, 100x10, 110x8.

Half squats: (thighs parallel to floor) 130x10, 140x8, 155x6.

Then one more set of full squats 90x10.

Occasionally i throw in leg extensions and leg curls.

My thighs are always numb after a session and i have trouble climbing the stairs from the gym! Not complaining though, i love pushing myself to the limit

That's excellent stuff, what about ** hammys though!? You gotta hit them too with some SLDL or some hamstring curls

Also, how come you have 16 reps at 80K? Cheers mate

Styles · 5 Oct 2006 at 03:08

$loth said:
I understand For my shoulders, would doing lateral raises and a rear delt row make my shoulders bigger?

Shoulders is hard one to be honest becuase it is a real pain. Obvioulsy you don't want to go developing one side of your shoulders more than the rest cos it'll look stupid, but I understand where you're coming from that you don't want to spend ages in the gym.

You could hit all areas of your shoulders with:

Rear Lats (Reverse fly bent over if you didn't already know)
Side Lats
Military Press
DB Press at 20 reps weight range just to pump the muscles off.

egt · 5 Oct 2006 at 07:13

S7yl3s said:
That's excellent stuff, what about ** hammys though!? You gotta hit them too with some SLDL or some hamstring curls

Also, how come you have 16 reps at 80K? Cheers mate

Like i said in my previous post, i do leg curls but didn't do them yesterday. SLDL get done after deadlifts on back/shoulder day. I should do more of these

Admiral Huddy · 5 Oct 2006 at 11:36

S7yl3s said:
The key to muscle growth is intensity but it also involves breaking all the different types of muscle fibres. For general weight-lifting yes 9 sets is fine but for a bodybuilder that's no where near enough. How many body builders do you see go to train and push out 3 sets on bench, 3 sets on incline, 3 sets on flies and then go home? If you want to look good 9 sets by all means, but if you want to look BIG then it's just childs play.

What about the wheels?

Hmm quite a lot actually..

It's not child play when you are training hard dude.. what's the point? After your 9th set your muscle are fatigued.. Get the maximum out of them in the 9 sets you have.. Hit 'em hard and good.. I don't pussy foot around in a gym. I do what i'm there to do and I give it 100% every time. I've trained with some top BBs in the past and I know they'd agree with me.

Sorry the 5th session is legs!

#remembers why I hate threads like these#

Styles · 5 Oct 2006 at 12:31

egt said:
Like i said in my previous post, i do leg curls but didn't do them yesterday. SLDL get done after deadlifts on back/shoulder day. I should do more of these

Sorry bud must have been tired and missed this

Admiral Huddy said:
Hmm quite a lot actually..

It's not child play when you are training hard dude.. what's the point? After your 9th set your muscle are fatigued.. Get the maximum out of them in the 9 sets you have.. Hit 'em hard and good.. I don't pussy foot around in a gym. I do what i'm there to do and I give it 100% every time. I've trained with some top BBs in the past and I know they'd agree with me.

Sorry the 5th session is legs!

#remembers why I hate threads like these#

Who am I to criticize what you're doing. If it's working for you then that's all that matters

You obviously go into the gym with the correct mind set and give it some BEEF and gain well so well done mate. Glad to hear someone else gives it beans and doesn't mess about in the gym!

A2Z · 5 Oct 2006 at 13:27

just a question to the OP - how long have you been working out?

alexakasloth · 5 Oct 2006 at 13:34

I've been going to the gym for about 1 and a half years, I tried weight lifting at the start of the year, but a new job took up a lot of my time so I stopped.

Styles · 5 Oct 2006 at 15:22

$loth said:
I've been going to the gym for about 1 and a half years, I tried weight lifting at the start of the year, but a new job took up a lot of my time so I stopped.

What have the gains been like in those years?

alexakasloth · 5 Oct 2006 at 17:11

S7yl3s said:
What have the gains been like in those years?

I only did it for about 4 months, then exam's/work started and it kinda disintegrated. I saw my chest and tricep develop a bit but that was it. The rest of the time it was cardio.

Admiral Huddy · 6 Oct 2006 at 09:24

I've been going to the Gym for 20 years.. with a 5 year break in my mid 20's..

I was fortunate enough to be training along side some great body builders who taught me a great deal. I've also been lucky enough to have some very good training partners too. Unfortunately, the gym I trainned in for years closed a few years back to make way for pouncy "iPod" gyms (as I call 'em)..

I used to train 15 sets per body group (so around 30 a session).. One particular chap ( a french body building champ) always used to say to me "Paul, you are the fitest bloke in the Gym.. without a doubt.. but you'll never gain any mass training the way you do..".

I trained with him for about 3 months and it totally changed me and the way I've trained ever since.. It's difficult to get out of the thinking that "more sets is best for bulking".. when in fact, the old saying that "less is more" is more accurate.

Happy training