For those that hit a muscle 1x a week how do you decide how many sets/ reps to do? Do you follow any guidelines or just destroy the muscle figuring you have a week to recover?
I never had an opinion of him but I think I like him now. That’s fucking funny shit! My sister was doing leg extensions and she exploded!!! Bwahaha!!!
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Depending on the body part, anywhere from 12-18 working sets. For something like delts, typically 4 exercises, 3-4 sets each depending on the exercise. For back, usually 5 or 6 exercises, 3-4 sets depending on the exercise. Rep ranges also vary depending on your goals. Some exercises are heavier in the 5-8 range, others 8-10, or higher up to 12-15. 8-10 is usually the money zone but again it varies.
I would advise against “destroying” the muscle, depending on your definition of the word. I think after you’ve been training a while constantly going to failure and killing yourself is just going to make you feel like crap and hinder overall progress. You want to push with great intensity for sure, but I’ve found for the most part, I go as hard as possible, typically leave 1 or 2 in the tank, and rarely go to complete failure. This allows for for great growth and recovery, without constantly feeling like you’ve been hit by a bus. Going to complete failure is extremely taxing on the muscles and CNS, especially as a natural lifter it’s important to do as much as you can, without passing the point of diminishing returns. This can be hard to judge, just takes time. If you’ve been training a while, you can probably move weight for hours, but again, important to know what is the optimal volume for you.
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Wow. That dude has issues. If you are 16 years old and issuing physical threats and talking smack in writing… you’re an idiot who needs to grow up.
If you’re 40+ and doing it… you have psychological problems.
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But if you’re an internet fitness guru and someone talks smack, you shrug it off and act like a learned professional. You don’t engage trolls, it makes you look small… which by coincidence, he is.
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Funny you should mention that. McDonald has publicly stated (on his website) that he has been diagnosed with bipolar disorder, and issued a general apology for some of his outrageous comments over the years.
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This concept tripped me up a lot when I was a newbie. For example, what is considered a set in all that advice? Warm-ups? Working sets only? Every set you do?
For major muscle groups (chest, back, legs), I’ll write down 20-22 sets, but only 14-16 or so of those would be ‘working’ sets. The other sets are activation sets, ramp-up sets, or warm-up sets. For smaller muscle groups (calves, delts, bis, tris, etc), I’ll write down 14-16 sets, but only 10-12 of those are working sets.
I also think that food-intake plays a large role here. For example, if I am trying to gain weight and I’m eating A LOT, I usually add more volume into a workout. But if I’m leaning-out, I’ll bring the volume back down to normal.
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And this brings up another point that I’d love to get others’ input on: What constitutes a working set for you? For example, if you squat 315 for a top set of 8, and you’re going to pyramid up to it like this:
12@135, 12@185, 10@225, 10@275, 8@315
Where does the working set(s) begin and the warm-up set(s) end? Just curious what everyone else thinks…
Lol, ya, I don’t know much about him. I just happened to remember seeing that a while back.
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…crickets…chirp chirp…chirp chirp…
My bad for killing the thread, guys!
I’ve often thought that too about working sets. I think that anything over 6 RPE constitutes a work set. But in your example, would just the 315x8 be the only work set? What are your thoughts?
I don’t train for bodybuilding but for me, any set where there is 3 or less reps left in me is a working set.
So let’s say I can lift 100kg for 8. A set of 100kg for 5 I’d consider a working set but 90kg for 5 would be a warm up.
Just the way I look at it, a working set is more about the feel and intensity, and how closely you approach failure, and not the amount of reps. When I start warming up for heavy dumbbell presses or squats or something like that, the first warm up/activation sets are higher in reps and pretty light in weight. As I approach my working set, the reps get lower, but sometimes I’ll still have a warm up set for 3-5 reps, just to feel things out and see where I really want to start my working set. If my first working set of DB presses is 95’s x 10, my warm ups might look like this:
-30’s x 20
-40’s x 15
-55’s x 8-10
-70’s x 5-6
-80-85s x 3-5
If my first working set of squats are 275x10, warm ups would look something like this:
-Empty bar x 20
-135x 12
-185x 8
-225x 5
-250x 3-5
A lot of warm up sets, but this would be for the first exercise of the day. After that, when the next exercise arrives, I might do one or two feeler sets to pin point where I want to start my working weight, typically 5-8 reps, but not getting anywhere near failure.
I think of my work sets as the ones where I’m pushing with max intensity, and only have 1 or 2 left in the tank, or get to failure if that’s the goal, typically towards the end of a session.
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I think I am going to try that first split, I really like the set-up. Everything gets appropriate rest.
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I want to set myself up for success over the long term, so i want to ask the experienced bodybuilders on the preferred course of action. I am 5’10" and currently 185 lbs, ~19% bodyfat, ~148 lbs lean body mass, and 35" waist.
I’d like to get to around 165-170 lbs lean body mass and about 10% body fat. This isn’t a final goal, but a stepping stone. Would I be better off continuing to build muscle while trying to minimize fat, then do a cut or drop fat first.
I know the common advice is to build a consistent habit, and I’ve done that in both training and diet(not 100% there but inproving) but I still need a body composition direction to go in. “Just exercise consistently and eat right and let the fat take care of itself” doesn’t work because it’s vague and unmeasurable. I can measure performance (running, strength) easily and I can measure body composition changes but I still need a direction to go in.
Thanks.
There was a time when a question like this would bring everyone out of the woodwork saying things like “don;t chase two goals at once”, and other such sayings despite most people trying to be helpful were neither especially huge or especially ripped.
You don’t need a huge calorie surplus to build muscle. I’ve been preaching for years that you can’t force feed muscle synthesis. So ideally, you can meet all of your nutrient requirements, be eating enough to tear it up in the gym, and still have a slight WEEKLY deficit enough to slowly lose fat. This is where the term Recomposition fits the bill quite well.
My advice? Eat enough on training days, with maybe a slight surplus (SLIGHT!), and eat maintenance levels at the MOST on non-training days. Then just bank on your training to make the magic happen.
S
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If you are 19% body fat I would recommend a cut, hands down. You will only get sloppier from here. I’m assuming you are asking because you are not “moving in the right direction” (meaning, you arent getting bigger/leaner/more impressive as you are eating and training), which probably means your body fat is only going to get worse
I was in this exact position (several times) in my youth, and this is what I would tell my younger self to do. You can still makes gains even while cutting if you do it smart, so dont worry about shrinking away all your hard won gainz but cutting for 3-4 months.
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Have any of you guys ever tried waking up, drinking some BCAAs, doing semi-fasted cardio and then immediately chugged some plazma and going right into lifting while on a cut? My plazma is usually the first thing I put in my stomachs in the morning anyway since I train early
Several times I did just that, but had breakfast, not Plazma.
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Excellent, I figured there wouldn’t be any issues. Just thought I’d throw it out there
Same as Brick, I’ve done that before, using both Plazma and Finibars. I prefer the bars, especially after cardio, I feel better eating something. Finibars are ideal for me in a situation like that, or any situation where I need to get a quick meal in without feeling too full, they digest quickly, give great energy for training but don’t sit heavy in the stomach at all. They’re also delicious.
But, ultimately, whatever your preference is, Plazma or whole foods, is all good.