Workout length

sunama said:
Hang on. Are you therefore suggesting that now that you have ditched those extra long workouts, you are now fitter/stronger?
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Somehow missed this post. It's more to do with me being able to ditch the longer sessions because I can. I still take as long as I need between sets but now my recovery is quicker because I'm fitter.
 
For example on Friday I aim to do:

Bench 3 X 8
Incline 3 X 8
Decline 3 x 8
Chest Fly 3 x 8

and then

Preacher curls
Hammer curls
"Standard" curls

with 2 and a half minutes rest in-between each set, and it takes me close to 1 hour 40 mins. Should I be looking to increase my intensity or looking to drop exercises?
 
Sukh said:
For example on Friday I aim to do:

Bench 3 X 8
Incline 3 X 8
Decline 3 x 8
Chest Fly 3 x 8

and then

Preacher curls
Hammer curls
"Standard" curls

with 2 and a half minutes rest in-between each set, and it takes me close to 1 hour 40 mins. Should I be looking to increase my intensity or looking to drop exercises?
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the bicep is one of the smallest muscles....unless you have a seperate day for arms, you dont need 3 curling exercises IMO
 
I often see youngsters (late teens/early twenties) spending a lot of time on their biceps and chest. Its almost as if thats the only muscle group in existence. Of course they have matchstick legs, but that doesnt worry them at all.

I prefer a more balances approach where all body parts get (roughly) equal attention.

Legs day is the most brutal of exercise routines though, as you are using the biggest muscles in your body and almost certainly lifting the biggest weights out of all the exercise days.

My own personal opinion is that a workout should be 40-55mins long. I also believe that youngsters should be allowed to make the mistakes (eg. not warming up and getting injured, working out for 3hrs straight 5 days a week and expecting to get huge, etc).
 
The worst thing is the adults you see. These are the people who've spent 10+ years in the gym doing chest and arms. Mostly you see them wearing tank tops and tracksuit bottoms, but recently I had the privilege of seeing one in shorts. They were quite long, obscuring the thighs, but I saw the most wonderfully thin calves you've EVER seen. They were 14 year old boy thin.
 
Efaws said:
5 x 5 x 5 = 125

Does that mean you need 1.5 minutes to do a rep if your doing a 3 hour session? Or do you take a lot of breaks? :confused:
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where did you get 5x5x5 from?
he is doing 5x5x4 :p

also, you realise that he does a set, then takes a small break, then 2nd set, break, 3rd set etc etc
 
LOL you guys are funny :D

To be fair to him, he did later say that he hasn't "done a workout that's taken more than two hours for nearly a year ".
 
sunama said:
That looks brutal, unless you are lifting well below your limits. If you are lifting close to your limits, then you would surely need a Wolverine-like recovery rate to recover fully from workout to workout. I wouldnt even think about doing something like that unless I was on anabolic steroids. My muscles would still be in pain from Monday's workout, come Wednesday and eventually the effects of overtraining would set in.

But, hey, if it works for you, keep at it.
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Dude I bust out this lot 3 times a week

1 x 20 squats
3 x 15 bench
3 x 15 rows
1 x 15 dead lift
3 x 12 behind shoulder press

not sure about recovery rate but i feel fine when I do the next set!
 
I do:

Monday: Back/Triceps

Wednesday: Legs/Shoulders

Friday: Chest/Biceps

Sunday:Forearm/Abs

I know the arm muscles aren't a bit muscle group and don't spend that much time on them, just asking whether I'm doing excessive sets/exercises and consequently having overly long gym sessions.
 
^^^ why have you got a day just for forearms and abs? Strikes me you should throw a few more deadlifts, bent rows, chins etc in there. That'll work your grip sufficiently. Abs you can throw in anywhere but theres not a lot of point doing them unless yous veryl low BF
 
Ultra_Extreme said:
^^^ why have you got a day just for forearms and abs? Strikes me you should throw a few more deadlifts, bent rows, chins etc in there. That'll work your grip sufficiently. Abs you can throw in anywhere but theres not a lot of point doing them unless yous veryl low BF
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I'd agree with that. I'd still train abs but not on a seperate day, you can add them in at the end of workouts.
 
So with a 4 day split what should I be looking at?
And I know its cliche to say I dont want a big back (deadlifts and the like) and I am aware that the body works on symmetry, thus cannot get growth in just one area without the reflection in the other (big chest without big back). But I dont want to get bulky as it were, and the gym I have access to doest have Barbells, just a smith machine
 
What's the reason behind not wanting a big back? I would consider a big back as one of the most appealing things to train for. And If my gym didn't have barbells I would look for another gym.
 
I think it starts to look odd when people get too broad, no offence to anyone, but i dont want to become one of those people constantly in a bulking phase, that can to big weight, but also carry a lot of weight and dont look like they are strong if you saw them in the street. ( you would think they were a fatty fat)
 
You can have a large back and be 'ripped' at the same time?

But if it's personal preference then that's what you want. So how large would you like to be and what would you like to emphasize(sp?)?
 
Sukh said:
I think it starts to look odd when people get too broad, no offence to anyone, but i dont want to become one of those people constantly in a bulking phase, that can to big weight, but also carry a lot of weight and dont look like they are strong if you saw them in the street. ( you would think they were a fatty fat)
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lol

the common misconception that if you start lifting weights and 'bodybuilding' and go on a 'bulk' you are suddenly going to become the next mr Olympia, or that you are going to end up like those Strongmen who are very big and heavy

well i can tell you now, fact, you wont, even if you wanted to

all 'bulking' is, is trying to build muscle. if you start putting more fat then you want, then you look at your diet

you say you dont want a big back, so what do you want? a big chest? and big biceps?
 
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