Hi ,can anyone explain why you have to do 3+ sets to build muscle?,and does that mean 3+ sets per exercise, ie if i do
3x10 dumbell curls
3x10 preacher curls
3x10 hammer curls,
would i be overworking my biceps?,would i be better opting for just one of the above for my biceps, or would it be better to do
1x10 of each exercise for my biceps?
Any film or anybody ive watched always do at least what ive listed above for biceps, but ive also been told to choose one of the list for my biceps as im overtraining them.
Son is all these big guys in the gym overtraining their biceps then?,any help would be appreciated.
By doing those three different exercises you’re going to hit your bicep differently. Hammer curls will hit your bicep a little differently than regular DB curls, same with preacher curls. It’s all an angle game. Hit the muscle group from different angles with different exercises to get better overall muscle growth and strength. 3-4 exercises per muscle group really isn’t going to cause overtraining especially if you give adequate rest time between the days that you hit those muscle groups.
[quote]football061 wrote:
By doing those three different exercises you’re going to hit your bicep differently. Hammer curls will hit your bicep a little differently than regular DB curls, same with preacher curls. It’s all an angle game. Hit the muscle group from different angles with different exercises to get better overall muscle growth and strength. 3-4 exercises per muscle group really isn’t going to cause overtraining especially if you give adequate rest time between the days that you hit those muscle groups.[/quote]
Football is right, but there are also some other factors that need to be taken into consideration.
Intensity (or “intensiveness” if you prefer). If you are training with mind blowing intensity (to failure) then you probably don’t want to be doing 9 sets for biceps (unless you’ve got incredibly good recovery/work capacity). In that case you’d be much better off doing 1-3 total work sets.
Frequency. If you do 9 work sets per body part you are only going to be able train each body part once every 7 days (once again unless you’ve got inhuman recovery abilities). If on the other hand you either decrease “intensity” or volume you can train more frequently.
Also, if you watch most pros/big guys train and you watch closely they are usually only doing 1 work set per exercise. Sure, they do lots of warm-up sets and often times count those as sets, but in all honesty they’re probably only growing from that last heavy work set.
When i watch the big guys lifting they almost always do 1 warm up set,usually with no weight on the bar,then pile the weight on where theyre doing 3 heavy hard sets,about 5-6 reps per set per exercise.
And another thing i would like to know is ,what is the best rep range?,i was told by someone to aim for between 24-36 reps per exercise for the best gains ,so would i be better doing lighter weights and and less sets or heavier weights and more sets,ie 3x12 or 5x7?,what would be best for 3 exercises per muscle group.
THANX
The set that pushes that limit and forces you to progress is the one that is going to cause muscle growth.
Most people can only really hope to do this once or twice for an exercise, which is why it is usually recommended that you pyramid or ramp your sets to get to your working weight for only one or two sets.
It is pointless to try and figure out your muscle gains numerically like this. One set or twenty sets, it doesn’t matter. What makes the difference is the intensity you put into those exercises in order to add weight and reps to it.
There is a certain balance you learn for your own body between failure and fatigue, but a guy that does 20 sets for legs and squats 405 for 10 isn’t going to have thighs that are miles ahead of a guy at the same weight that does 3 sets for legs and squats 405 for 10.
Ive always been told the same to do 3+ sets and between 8-12 reps to build muscle(i dont know why the same numbers keep getting preached)when you can have nearly the same gains by only doing 1 heavy set with 8-12 reps.
it’s not as simple as that although bodybuilders would have you believe it…whichever curl you do, you’ll hit all the “angles”, you can’t train one side and not the other…if you want you can do 1 set of 3 different variations in one sessiopn or 3 sets of 1 variation each sessiop…either way you’ll always end up doing 3 x 10 for 3 exercises just like you do now…oh and just a heads up, curls don’t build big arms.Is this right its what i was told on SHAPEFIT.COM forum and its the opposite of what im being told on here.
Whats right and whats wrong,or are both right?.
Neither do I, it seems to be one of those things that just gets regurgitated over and over.
[quote]bondie wrote:
it’s not as simple as that although bodybuilders would have you believe it…whichever curl you do, you’ll hit all the “angles”, you can’t train one side and not the other…if you want you can do 1 set of 3 different variations in one sessiopn or 3 sets of 1 variation each sessiop…either way you’ll always end up doing 3 x 10 for 3 exercises just like you do now…oh and just a heads up, curls don’t build big arms.Is this right its what i was told on SHAPEFIT.COM forum and its the opposite of what im being told on here.
Whats right and whats wrong,or are both right?.[/quote]
It is simple. Whether you do 1 work set(after warmups) of several exercises or one exercise and hammer away at it with several sets, bottom line is if a year down the road you are using double the weight you are now with approximately the same reps your biceps will be much bigger. Pick which avenue you feel will allow you to progress in the quickest and most consistent fashion long term and go with that. It really is that simple.
Show me a guy who does strict dumbbell curls with the 100s for sets of 10 and I’ll show you a guy with big biceps every time. You will get people saying direct arm work isn’t necessary and while they have a point about working the “basics” and not worrying about foo foo stuff, for a bodybuilder curls ARE basics.
[quote]bondie wrote:
Hi ,can anyone explain why you have to do 3+ sets to build muscle?,and does that mean 3+ sets per exercise, ie if i do
3x10 dumbell curls
3x10 preacher curls
3x10 hammer curls,
would i be overworking my biceps?,would i be better opting for just one of the above for my biceps, or would it be better to do
1x10 of each exercise for my biceps?
Any film or anybody ive watched always do at least what ive listed above for biceps, but ive also been told to choose one of the list for my biceps as im overtraining them.
Son is all these big guys in the gym overtraining their biceps then?,any help would be appreciated.
THANKS[/quote]
First, Scott M’s right about needing direct arm work. Many back exercises like chins are great for biceps…but biceps exercises are also great for biceps.
Second, you dont always need to do 3x10 for growth. While that is a tried a true method, Chad Waterbury popularized on this site 10x3 for hypertrophy. Showing that there is more than one set/rep range that can contribute to growth. Total load i.e. Sets x reps x load plays a part. So does how intensive your workout meaning that drop sets, res pause, forced reps, all affect muscle stimulation.
Finally, while its true you can’t contract one head of the biceps without the other I dont think any of us are only using one biceps exercise. I think there are some objectively better exercises out there than others so I don’t use every exercise ever created but I’m certainly using a good amount.