I started doing shoulder presses and biceps curls with the same amount of weight,training the same days,with the same methods.
But now,a year later,I’m curling 14Kg (8x3) while with shoulder press I still use 12Kg (8x3) dumbbelss.
Is it because shoulders are smaller than biceps ??
I was wondering why biceps grow faster than the rest.
(I always had plenty of rest between workouts and food so there’s no way I’ve been overtraining the shoulders)
If after a year you are only pressing 12kg and curling 14kg, you have been undertraining and undereating, big time.
Agree with rsg. Shouldn’t the fact that you’ve been using the same weight for a whole year have been a sign?
To answer your question, your shoulders should move A LOT more weight than your biceps.
[quote]Horazio wrote:
Is it because shoulders are smaller than biceps ??
I was wondering why biceps grow faster than the rest.
[/quote]
They shouldn’t be.
[quote]
(I always had plenty of rest between workouts and food so there’s no way I’ve been overtraining the shoulders)[/quote]
I don’t think that is anyone’s concern. You are worried about overtraining but I think you forgot to train hard. Keep the biceps movement the same if you still are progressing but get a new should pressing motion and work on adding kilos to it.
[quote]rsg wrote:
If after a year you are only pressing 12kg and curling 14kg, you have been undertraining and undereating, big time.[/quote]
Agreed as well. To be perfectly honest, how in the heck is it even possible for someone to be using the same weight after a year of lifting as they did when they started?
Horazio, no offense bro but you seem to have completely missed one of the single most crucial components to building muscle and strength. And that component is progressive overload.
I don’t care what program you’re doing (Waterbury, Poliquin, Thib, Tate, Westside, HIT, DC, one of those “Flex” magazine programs, etc…), if you’re not lifting either more weight or the same weight for more repetitions each and every workout (de-loading/rest weeks excluded), then you’re pretty much just wasting your time and energy in the gym.
This leads me to believe that you’re either:
A. Not eating enough (sorry but if the body isn’t repairing and supercompensating by the next workout you probably haven’t given it enough fuel/food to do so)
B. Not Training hard enough
C. Not resting long enough (I personally don’t like “dual factor theory” programs for bodybuilding, some may disagree. If you’re doing an extremely high frequency, perhaps try switching to a lower frequency that will allow your body enough time to recover and improve itself, an upper/lower split or push/pull/legs split would be good choices)
D. Completely clueless about what builds muscle and therefore have been just sort of “going through the motions” (honestly hope this doesn’t apply to you, so no offense intended).
My advice would honestly be to get off of whatever program you’ve been doing for the past year (whatever it is that’s had you doing 8x3). You’ve been doing this for a year and it’s given you jack shit for results; time to switch.
If you want my advice on a program to try, I’d honestly suggest you try either an Upper/Lower or a Push/Pull/Legs split. Both of those should give your body more (and hopefully enough) time to recover and make improvements. Combine either with enough food and you’ll see results, especially at your current level of development.
Here are a couple of options for how to organize the programs:
Upper/Lower-
Mon- Upper
Tues- Lower
Wed- Rest
Thurs- Upper
Fri- Lower
Sat & Sun- Rest
or,
Mon- Upper
Tues- Off
Wed- Lower
Thurs- Upper
Fri- Lower
Sat & Sun- Off
The following week you’d end up doing Lower twice and Upper once.
Push/Pull/Legs-
Mon- Push
Tues- Off
Wed- Pull
Thurs-Off
Fri- Legs
Sat & Sun- Off
There may be other ways of organizing this split, but I personally like the above method of organization the best.
As far as exercises, set/rep schemes, etc… I’d honestly suggest using at least one compound for each body part (more if you’d prefer) and a couple of isolations (depending on which split you choose). As for set/rep schemes, I’d suggest using rep ranges rather than exact rep schemes. So, since you’ve been doing lower reps, 8-12 would probably be a good range for you to use.
Hope this helps.
Good training,
Sentoguy
Do you all agree that with dumbbell shoulder press you should lift more than biceps curls (dumbbells) ?
ATTENTION : I didn’t mean to say that I’m stuck for a year with the same weights! “Same weight” I was referring to the fact that when I begun,shoulders and biceps (both the same load of kilos) not same weight in the timeline…I know it was confusing.
[quote]Horazio wrote:
Do you all agree that with dumbbell shoulder press you should lift more than biceps curls (dumbbells) ?
[/quote]
I do.
[quote]Horazio wrote:
Do you all agree that with dumbbell shoulder press you should lift more than biceps curls (dumbbells) ?
[/quote]
Yes, I have very weak shoulders and still will always be able to press more than I can curl.
BTW , I just posted my workout in the beginners section :
http://www.T-Nation.com/tmagnum/readTopic.do?id=1794910
I wish my biceps grew faster. I hardly need to work my delts but I have to train my biceps like a SOB.