[quote]usmccds423 wrote:
[quote]Ecchastang wrote:
As strong as you are, never do bodyweight dips. Either add weight or don’t do them.
[/quote]
Why?[/quote]
Because he would have to do a shit ton of them to get any benefit, so would more likely just work muscular endurance, rather than strength or hypertrophy, and would probably get elbow or shoulder tendenitis from such high reps. The OP, like myself could probably do 20-30 BW dips in a fatigued state without even thinking about it. Just add some weight so the reps don’t have to be that high.
[quote]The Mighty Stu wrote:
I developed strength way quicker than I accumulated size. You have to remember that there’s a lot more to being “strong” than the size of your muscles. Yes, I know, some people will disagree, and I will concede that most of the time, a bigger muscle is a stronger muscle, BUT, I 100% believe that this statement applies only in terms of addressing one individual at a time.
My best muscular gains were when I stopped logging my strength levels in training journals. The “chasing #s” approach works when you’re a serious beginner simply because there aren’t enough variables you can visually track yet. You mentioned Volume, and Diet, both things that are incredibly important in making serious long term gains. Also, realize that TIME, is a big issue that many people overlook. You can do everything “correctly”, but, your body can only adapt and improve so quickly.
My best bench when I was about 190 lbs was 385 for a couple, BUT, my pecs looked nothing like they did when I won my pro card years later. When I started focusing more on the actual muscle moving the weight (using the weight to stress a muscle, not just “lifting” it), regulating fatigue, volume and accumulating intensity, and the best approach with diet and rest to optimizing recovery, that’s when I really stepped things up in terms of physique progress.
S[/quote]
Thanks for that Stu! I’ve noticed a lot of workouts that the bigger guys are saying that they do are based on large volume. I think a lot of people forget progression from 3x10 by not adding another set or even another exercise to their existing program. I would go as far as saying calculate your volumes sets x weight x reps = volume and progress from there.
A lot of people forget that lighter guys that have great strength is often associated with leavers, limb lengths and a efficient central nervous system. With a little bit of “I love bench (has large bench numbers) but hate squats (small squat number)” You gravitate your training to what you love to do/good at. Difference between sprinters and endurance runners.
[quote]Ecchastang wrote:
[quote]usmccds423 wrote:
[quote]Ecchastang wrote:
As strong as you are, never do bodyweight dips. Either add weight or don’t do them.
[/quote]
Why?[/quote]
Because he would have to do a shit ton of them to get any benefit, so would more likely just work muscular endurance, rather than strength or hypertrophy, and would probably get elbow or shoulder tendenitis from such high reps. The OP, like myself could probably do 20-30 BW dips in a fatigued state without even thinking about it. Just add some weight so the reps don’t have to be that high. [/quote]
I don’t think I’ve ever done a weighted dip in my life. However, one of my mainstays has always been plenty of BW dips as my last exercise, with limited ROM to avoid locking out, really milking the negative portions and exploding through the concentrics. Worked just fine for packing on size without having to worry about setting myself up properly to start each set.
S
[quote]complete_fraud wrote:
The Mighty Stu- once you focused more on hypertrophy did you acheive these results with a similar diet or did you change that around as well. What’s your favorite rep range/rest between sets for size?
[/quote]
I made decent progress without really changing my diet. Of course eventually I got really serious with my diet, and that helped me progress even more.
Rep range, I always liked staying 6-8, even doing sets of 5 for a lot of compound movements where I would do anywhere from 5-10 sets. For some movements where I just didn’t “feel it”, I’d creep up to 10-12. This helped me really feel my biceps a lot better than I had previously.
Rest periods were really done by feel. Going way back, I got caught up in the 2-3 mins theories people were throwing around, but eventually, I just took as much time as I needed to truly know that I’d be able to give 100% to my next set. If I felt I needed another minute, I’d take it with no guilty conscience 
S
[quote]The Mighty Stu wrote:
I don’t think I’ve ever done a weighted dip in my life. However, one of my mainstays has always been plenty of BW dips as my last exercise, with limited ROM to avoid locking out, really milking the negative portions and exploding through the concentrics. Worked just fine for packing on size without having to worry about setting myself up properly to start each set.
S[/quote]
Where did you notice the size increases?