Need opinions on lifting

[Guice]

How much much training do u guys think is too much??

I'm currently lifting for chest, back and shoulders 5 excersizes 4 sets each. With 1 warm up set at the very beginning and 2 burner sets at the very end. The 5 excersizes are heavy weight 6-8 reps each set. The warm up is 1 set at 60% of the heavy weight and the burner sets are 10 reps at half the heavy weight, drop 10lbs then another 10 reps, drop another 10 lbs then a final set of 10 (2 sets of 30 reps dropping 10lbs after each 10 reps).

With my arms it's pretty much the same but 4 excersizes for both tri's and bi's, and my legs is too except 6 excersizes (2 quads, 2 hams and 2 calfs).

I've been told to maybe drop the chest, back and shoulder workouts to just 4 excersizes each and the arm ones to just 3 to avoid over working muscles. What do u guys think?

 

[themondtster]

Do you do chest, back, and shoulders same day?

 

[Guice]

No all different days, I'm at the gym 6 days a week which sounds like a lot but it's one muscle a day, alternating between the bigger n smaller muscles so it's never the same muscle really bein worked back to back. It looks like this:

Monday-Chest
Tuesday-Biceps
Wednesday-Shoulders
Thursday-Legs
Friday-Triceps
Saturday-Back

 

[themondtster]

Does it work for you? Still making gains in size or Strength, weight progression? If so don't change a thing.

 

[TakedaShingen]

Does it work for you? Still making gains in size or Strength, weight progression? If so don't change a thing.

^^What he said.^^

The only thing I've found with devoting an entire day to bis or tris, is the fact that because my back and chest day are heavy and solid, I don't need as much isolation. I've been finding my arms getting bigger without really specifically shredding them. With all the pushes and pulls through the week, they get their time in. Just a thought in my own life.

 

[Guice]

I feel that training 6 days a week isolating a different muscle a day works fine for me, my concern is how much I'm doin for each muscle each day. I don't feel worn out or exhausted but eventually I have hit a plateau. But I noticed starting lighter on my first set n progressing in weight up through my fourth rather than maintaining weight through all four has helped to increase in weight every week.

 

[RickRock13]

Small muscle groups like biceps and triceps don't take much to train, and are very easy to overtrain. I would do more of a push pull routine and put your triceps work on chest day with your bi's on back day

 

[Guice]

Small muscle groups like biceps and triceps don't take much to train, and are very easy to overtrain. I would do more of a push pull routine and put your triceps work on chest day with your bi's on back day

So how about 4 excersizes for back n chest, with 3 for tri's n bi's?

 

[Keith1]

I like to do 2 or 3 sets for bis and tris depending on my week

 

[themondtster]

If you plattued change it up a bit. Different exercises for different rep ranges for a few weeks then go back and see if you progress. A lil rotation is good from time to time. Make sure you're getting plenty of rest and food.

 

[TakedaShingen]

On chest day, I'll do overhead tri extensions...3 sets, and dips to fail...3 sets.

On back day, I'll do preacher curls...3 sets, and standing curls...3 sets.

That's all I do for arms individually. They're pretty shredded after that. But like everyone has said, it's a personal thing. Everyone is different. But at the same time, some thing just work.

 

[Guice]

If you plattued change it up a bit. Different exercises for different rep ranges for a few weeks then go back and see if you progress. A lil rotation is good from time to time. Make sure you're getting plenty of rest and food.

Ya I switch my routine up every 4 weeks..all different excersizes, n every 12 weeks I switch to high reps at 60% of the weight, I sleep like 8 hours a night n eat around 6-7 meals a day. I'm really liking 6 days a week though cuz it fits my schedule better, easy to go an hour a day rather than 2 hours every other day. I think I'll jus drop the chest, back and shoulder days to 4 excersizes, the tri's and bi's days to 3 excersizes.

 

[joeblow12345]

Ya I switch my routine up every 4 weeks..all different excersizes, n every 12 weeks I switch to high reps at 60% of the weight, I sleep like 8 hours a night n eat around 6-7 meals a day. I'm really liking 6 days a week though cuz it fits my schedule better, easy to go an hour a day rather than 2 hours every other day. I think I'll jus drop the chest, back and shoulder days to 4 excersizes, the tri's and bi's days to 3 excersizes.

The reason why you dont feel tired is your not really training hard enough. It seems like your basically just isolating each muscle group, which isnt very intense. I wouldnt be tired if all I did was a few curls either. Compound movements have the greatest impact on growth and strength. There is no need to devote a training day to bis or tris, its simply a waste of recovery time. A 4 day split is plenty to challenge your body of you do it right. Every training day should begin with a big compound move like sq, dl, ohp, or bench. Then progress to a couple other compound moves and maybe throw 1-2 isolation moves at the end. And finish with abs every training day. Core strength, is often one of the most overlooked, and crucial elements to being big and strong. After one of these training session you will be limping out the gym.

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[Guice]

Some good points, thanks.

 

[themondtster]

The reason why you dont feel tired is your not really training hard enough. It seems like your basically just isolating each muscle group, which isnt very intense. I wouldnt be tired if all I did was a few curls either. Compound movements have the greatest impact on growth and strength. There is no need to devote a training day to bis or tris, its simply a waste of recovery time. A 4 day split is plenty to challenge your body of you do it right. Every training day should begin with a big compound move like sq, dl, ohp, or bench. Then progress to a couple other compound moves and maybe throw 1-2 isolation moves at the end. And finish with abs every training day. Core strength, is often one of the most overlooked, and crucial elements to being big and strong. After one of these training session you will be limping out the gym.

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Didn't think about it like that. I was going for overtraining with the volume but that makes since.

 

[joeblow12345]

Didn't think about it like that. I was going for overtraining with the volume but that makes since.

I dont believe that high volume causes overtraining. I feel that lack of proper recovery and nutrition cause overtraining. And being in the gym everyday isnt recovering. Your shoulders may not hurt after leg presses, but its still taxing your cns, which can hurt shoulder recovery. And if your not putting in work at the dinner table, you wont gain shit.

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[Guice]

The reason why you dont feel tired is your not really training hard enough. It seems like your basically just isolating each muscle group, which isnt very intense. I wouldnt be tired if all I did was a few curls either. Compound movements have the greatest impact on growth and strength. There is no need to devote a training day to bis or tris, its simply a waste of recovery time. A 4 day split is plenty to challenge your body of you do it right. Every training day should begin with a big compound move like sq, dl, ohp, or bench. Then progress to a couple other compound moves and maybe throw 1-2 isolation moves at the end. And finish with abs every training day. Core strength, is often one of the most overlooked, and crucial elements to being big and strong. After one of these training session you will be limping out the gym.

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So what u think bout this example for a chest/tri day:

Bench press
Incline bench
Pec deck
Low cable crossover
Tricep extension
Skull crushers

Same format for back/bi's, shoulders/traps and legs with a 4 day split week:

Monday-On
Tuesday-Rest
Wednesday-On
Thursday-On
Friday-Rest
Saturday-On
Sunday-Rest

(BTW the excersizes aren't specific, it's more the format I'm goin for)

 

[joeblow12345]

So what u think bout this example for a chest/tri day:

Bench press
Incline bench
Flys
Low cable crossover
Tricep extension
Skull crushers

Same format for back/bi's, shoulders/traps and legs with a 4 day split week:

Monday-On
Tuesday-Rest
Wednesday-On
Thursday-On
Friday-Rest
Saturday-On
Sunday-Rest

(BTW the excersizes aren't specific, it's more the format I'm goin for)

Your on the right track but remember compound moves first. So,

Bench press.
Incline bench.
Instead of tricep extention, do weighted dips.
Skull crushers.
DB flys, flat or incline Id rotate the two.
Cable cross over.
Finish with Weighted abs

A back/ bis day example,

Dead lift variation.
Pull UPS
Tbar row
DB pull overs
Ez bar curls
Hammer curls.
Weighted abs.

Do Something similar to this kind of template and change grips and exercises every 2-3 Weeks. Also change reps and sets every month or two to keep the body guessing.

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[Guice]

I do the abripperx from the p90x program 3 times a week for abs. Not good enough?

 

[oxymoron]

Three to five exercises and four sets per muscle group is plenty. It mainly comes down to time available and how crazy i go that day. Ive gone in planning to kill my back with 5-6 exercises but after 4 sets of pullups, 4 sets of bar rows and 4 sets of close grip pull downs I physically couldn't do anything else b/c my back was fucked. Intensity is a big factor.

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[zipzopzippity]

Push hard enough and your triceps are going to be pretty taxed and not benefit from an entire day dedicated to triceps

Same for biceps on pull days. After a chest workout or a back workout, ill do a few tricep/bicep isolations just because I like to feel the pump, not because I think I'm gaining anything out of it.

 

[joeblow12345]

I do the abripperx from the p90x program 3 times a week for abs. Not good enough?

You could do this in addition to weighted abs. If I trained 7 days a week, I would do abs everyday. Core strength is crucial to stabilizing heavy weights during training. When you see someone shaking like a leaf on a tree during squats, its because their core is weak. Its ok to hit abs twice in a day, they have a high threshold for torture and they heal fast. It will be rough at first, so start slow and gradually increase weight and reps. I go as low as 15 reps to as high as 100 in a set.

 

[Guice]

Ya that's true. I been doin abripperx a while now anyways, I think I'ma change it up n do a few different ab excersizes with weights 3 times a week.