More wieght …Go Heavy…
Wednesday: Legs
Standing calf raise machine
Me:
11(stacks)x15
12(stacks)x15
13(stacks)x15
16(stacks)x15
Friend:
11(stacks)x15
12(stacks)x15
12(stacks)x15
16(stacks)x15
lying leg curl machine
Me:
3(stacks)x15
4(stacks)x15
8(stacks)x13
Friend:
4(stacks)x15
5(stacks)x15
8(stacks)x15
BB Back Squats
Me:
65x8
95x8
105x8
135x8
Friend:
95x8
135x8
185x8
275x8 (ZING!)
Widow Maker BB Back Squats
Me:
105x12(pause)
105x8 (pause)
Total 20 reps
Friend:
185x12(pause)
185x8 (pause)
Total 20 reps
Hey Matthaeus, I’m only trying to help here. You need to go to about the middle of the first page here and look at a post Cephalic_Carnage made about warm-up sets. You should really start doing that in your routine rather than your current set-up. You’re really kind of eliminating the point of the lift when you use as many reps as you do on non-intense lifts.
[quote]SSC wrote:
Hey Matthaeus, I’m only trying to help here. You need to go to about the middle of the first page here and look at a post Cephalic_Carnage made about warm-up sets. You should really start doing that in your routine rather than your current set-up. You’re really kind of eliminating the point of the lift when you use as many reps as you do on non-intense lifts.[/quote]
I thought the point was to warm up but not to go so heavy that you compromise making progress on your top set. We tried it both ways and just feel we warm up better with higher reps. It also gives us more of a chance to kinda set up our technique and get more in the zone for the top set.
Is there another reason for doing less reps on warm ups that were missing?
[quote]Matthaeus wrote:
SSC wrote:
Hey Matthaeus, I’m only trying to help here. You need to go to about the middle of the first page here and look at a post Cephalic_Carnage made about warm-up sets. You should really start doing that in your routine rather than your current set-up. You’re really kind of eliminating the point of the lift when you use as many reps as you do on non-intense lifts.
I thought the point was to warm up but not to go so heavy that you compromise making progress on your top set. We tried it both ways and just feel we warm up better with higher reps. It also gives us more of a chance to kinda set up our technique and get more in the zone for the top set.
Is there another reason for doing less reps on warm ups that were missing?[/quote]
Kind of, let me try to type this out so it makes sense…
So your main goal for each exercise is to “beat” your numers on the top set each time, in terms of either reps or weight lifted, right?
At the same time, you do want to warm your body up for the lift, especially get your joints/tendons ready for heavy lifting. I noticed a HUGE difference between when I was using warm-ups like yours, and ones like Cephalic_Carnage’s because you’ll, in theory, have much more energy reserved to smash that “big” weight, you know?
So, if on the first exercise for a muscle group, if you really feel you need the extra warm-up (but with weights you’re using, shouldn’t be too big of a deal,) it seems something like this on your BB squats might be alright (I’m only using these as an example, as your first exercise of the day only,)
55 x 10-12
75 x 6-8
95 x 4-6
135 x AMAP
So you would technically be doing a few more reps, but nothing that would diminish your energy.
On later exercises, though, especially for muscle groups you’ve already hit, I would definitely recommend lowering the reps a bit on warm-ups. At some point, they’re kind of unnecessary. Let me show you an example from mine,
Incline Smith (First exercise of the day for me)
85 x 10
115 x 5-6
165 x 3
230 x AMAP
Then on flat dumbbell bench, I’ll do
65 x 5
90 x AMAP
See? Once your body is actually warmed up, it’s still good to ramp up a little bit, again, so your joints and tendoms are acclimated for the “heavy” lift. That’s really the true point of ‘warming up.’
I hope some of this makes sense. C_C actually turned me on to this as well, and I’ve never looked back.
Anyway, hope this can be of some help. 
[quote]SSC wrote:
Matthaeus wrote:
SSC wrote:
Hey Matthaeus, I’m only trying to help here. You need to go to about the middle of the first page here and look at a post Cephalic_Carnage made about warm-up sets. You should really start doing that in your routine rather than your current set-up. You’re really kind of eliminating the point of the lift when you use as many reps as you do on non-intense lifts.
I thought the point was to warm up but not to go so heavy that you compromise making progress on your top set. We tried it both ways and just feel we warm up better with higher reps. It also gives us more of a chance to kinda set up our technique and get more in the zone for the top set.
Is there another reason for doing less reps on warm ups that were missing?
Kind of, let me try to type this out so it makes sense…
So your main goal for each exercise is to “beat” your numers on the top set each time, in terms of either reps or weight lifted, right?
At the same time, you do want to warm your body up for the lift, especially get your joints/tendons ready for heavy lifting. I noticed a HUGE difference between when I was using warm-ups like yours, and ones like Cephalic_Carnage’s because you’ll, in theory, have much more energy reserved to smash that “big” weight, you know?
So, if on the first exercise for a muscle group, if you really feel you need the extra warm-up (but with weights you’re using, shouldn’t be too big of a deal,) it seems something like this on your BB squats might be alright (I’m only using these as an example, as your first exercise of the day only,)
55 x 10-12
75 x 6-8
95 x 4-6
135 x AMAP
So you would technically be doing a few more reps, but nothing that would diminish your energy.
On later exercises, though, especially for muscle groups you’ve already hit, I would definitely recommend lowering the reps a bit on warm-ups. At some point, they’re kind of unnecessary. Let me show you an example from mine,
Incline Smith (First exercise of the day for me)
85 x 10
115 x 5-6
165 x 3
230 x AMAP
Then on flat dumbbell bench, I’ll do
65 x 5
90 x AMAP
See? Once your body is actually warmed up, it’s still good to ramp up a little bit, again, so your joints and tendoms are acclimated for the “heavy” lift. That’s really the true point of ‘warming up.’
I hope some of this makes sense. C_C actually turned me on to this as well, and I’ve never looked back.
Anyway, hope this can be of some help.
[/quote]
OK well finish off this week with our regular warm ups and start these kind of warm ups next week, and see if it makes a difference. We just didn’t want to cut reps and make it look like we lack intensity in the gym. Also i figured doing low reps would compromise our main goal of size gain.
Thanks again SSC your a good dude.
Thursday: Delts,Traps
Smith High incline presses
Me:
65x12
75x12
110x12
Friend:
75x12
95x12
135x12
DB Lateral raise
Me:
5x15
10x15
17.5x12 (gonna move back down to 15)
Friend:
5x15
10x15
20x15 (gonna move up to 22.5)
Reverse pecs deck
Me:
3(stacks)x15
5(stacks)x15
7(stacks)x15
Friend:
4(stacks)x15
6(stacks)x15
8(stacks)x15
Shrugs Machine
Me:
8(stacks)x15
9(stacks)x15
10(stacks)x15
13(stacks)x15
Friend:
8(stacks)x15
10(stacks)x15
12stacks)x15
14(stacks)x15
Weighted crunch machine
Me:
60x12
75x12
90x12
Friend:
75x12
90x12
110x12
Friday: Arms
in-human smith presses
Me:
65x10
75x10
95x10
120x10
Friend:
75x10
95x10
115x10
165x10 (finally feels really heavy)
PJR’s
Me:
35x12
45x12
45x12
65x6
Friend:
50x12
60x12
70x12
80x12
pushdowns
Me:
40x15
60x15
80x15
Friend:
60x15
80x15
100x15
BB EZ curls
Me:
35x12
45x12
55x9
Friend:
45x12
55x12
75x12
one-arm DB preachers
Me:
10x12
15x12
20x12
35x12
Friend:
10x12
15x12
20x12
35x12
pinwheels
Me:
10x12
15x12
25x11 (Fuck me!)
Friend:
10x12
15x12
27.5x12
Last week of doing the same reps on all sets, gonna go 12,8,4,AMAP starting next week see how it goes.
[quote]Matthaeus wrote:
OK well finish off this week with our regular warm ups and start these kind of warm ups next week, and see if it makes a difference. We just didn’t want to cut reps and make it look like we lack intensity in the gym. Also i figured doing low reps would compromise our main goal of size gain.
Thanks again SSC your a good dude.[/quote]
Two things:
-
Why not make up for the “loss in intensity” during the warm up sets by pushing it even harder on the work sets? And who the fuck cares about how you look in the gym?
-
You gain size by lifting heavy. By leaving more gas in the tank for your work sets, you’ll be lifting the heavier weights for more reps, which will contribute to your goal of getting bigger.
Bottom line: The warm-ups are exactly what they sound like – they are simply meant to warm up your muscles for the real deal. Lift heavy, and you’ll be good to go.
[quote]jo3 wrote:
2) You gain size by lifting heavy. By leaving more gas in the tank for your work sets, you’ll be lifting the heavier weights for more reps, which will contribute to your goal of getting bigger.
[/quote]
DING DING DING DING DING! WE HAVE A WINNER!!!
Exactly what Joe said. You said your main goal is muscle gain right?
Well;
You gain muscle by lifting heavy weight.
The better warmed up you are, the more weight you’ll be able to lift.
The heavier you lift, the bigger your muscles will get!
If you also incorporate some sort of strength training (1-5 rep range with very heavy weight) into your workouts as well, you’ll get some transference to your hypertrophy workouts.
You are learning quickly though, I’m sure you’ll have great results.
LR
[quote]Matthaeus wrote:
OK well finish off this week with our regular warm ups and start these kind of warm ups next week, and see if it makes a difference. We just didn’t want to cut reps and make it look like we lack intensity in the gym. Also i figured doing low reps would compromise our main goal of size gain.
Thanks again SSC your a good dude.[/quote]
Sounds like a good plan. Give the new method at least a few weeks to adjust. You may find it significantly easier to move bigger weights on your heavy sets this way.
What Jo3 and LR said is good stuff too - Except maybe LR’s 1-5 advice. It’s not the number to focus on, just try to find the “sweet spot” for each exercise, in terms of what rep range allows you to move weight up consistantly. Typically, I operate in a 5-10 range, but everyone’s different. 1-5 can be a great tool for strength gains, but those should be coming no matter what your approach is.
I’m rooting for you man, you seem like you’re open to advice and actually have pursuit for knowledge rather than “How does this one thing affect me?” like a lot of newer lifters, when most of them should realize that big eating and heavy lifting (as stereotypical as it sounds) really are the key to success.
And, like Jo3 said, don’t worry about looking like a pussy when warming up. Keep moving those weights up, and eventually you won’t have to worry about trying to impress others - your physique will speak for itself.
Monday: chest/back
BB incline bench
Me:
45x12
65x8
85x4
100x10
Friend:
65x12
85x8
105x4
130x10
BB flat bench
Me:
65x12
75x8
85x4
110x4 (Epic fail)
Friend:
75x12
85x8
95x4
165x7
Lat pull-down machine
Me:
45x12
60x8
75x4
120x11
Friend:
60x12
75x8
90x4
135x12
T bar rows
Me:
45x12
70x8
90x12
Friend:
70x12
90x8
110x12
Reverse pecs Dec
Me:
3(stacks)x12
4(stacks)x8
5(stacks)x4
8(stacks)x12
Friend:
4(stacks)x12
5(stacks)x8
6(stacks)x4
8(stacks)x12
Well me and my friend made our first “enemy” in the gym today. It is this middle aged guy who spends like 3 hrs in the gym per workout and 2 hrs of it is spent flirting with girls half his age or talking to other people or on his cell.
Today the gym was busy and all the bench’s were taken. One bench is empty with a towel on it we figure the guy went to get water or something So my friend and I decide to just go do our sets of lat pull downs. Meanwhile the guy were talking about if half way across the gym chatting it up not near the bench’s. 10 minutes pass by and we finish our lat pull downs, we go back to the bench’s and see the towel still on the bench and no one there. After talking about it for a minute we decide to just hang the towel up next to us and get our sets in.
We get about one set each in then the guy comes up to the bench while I’m setting up for my next set and says what the hell are you doing. My friend says the bench has been empty for 15 minutes, the guy says he doesn’t give a shit because his towel was there and takes the weight off our bar and throws it on the floor. My friend says well you can’t just walk away and talk for 15 minutes about how you saved a bunch of money on your car insurance while switching to Geico and expect to be able to reserve the bench indefinitely. Then he says it was only 5 minutes however my friend retorts with explaining to him we had enough time to do 8 sets of lat pull downs and a set each on the bench. Of course the guy says we must be doing it really fast (ya maybe cause we don’t take 10 minute rests between sets and talk to everybody.) He then tells us how he noticed us doing inclines next to him earlier, and that we should be more aware of our surrounding. My friend told him that he asked near by lifters if anyone was using the bench and even they thought somebody forgot their towel there. In the end he basically didn’t give a shit and thought he was completely justified.
So my friend and I go to the front desk and report this guy, the person working there asks us to point him out and we do, then the desk man says on his wait out he will give the guy a warning about how long you can reserve a bench between sets. I’m sure he will know it was us who complained but i honestly don’t give a shit this guy is a fucking clown and a waste of space in the gym.
In the end this is just more motivation to become huge so little pecker woods like this guy won’t have the balls to come up and throw the weight on our bar onto the floor.
There are dickheads everywhere! You’ll come across a lot of those on your journey.
LR
[quote]SSC wrote:
What Jo3 and LR said is good stuff too - Except maybe LR’s 1-5 advice. It’s not the number to focus on, just try to find the “sweet spot” for each exercise, in terms of what rep range allows you to move weight up consistantly. Typically, I operate in a 5-10 range, but everyone’s different. 1-5 can be a great tool for strength gains, but those should be coming no matter what your approach is.
[/quote]
Your right. With him being a total newbie, no matter what he does he should be getting stronger every week. But it doesn’t hurt to throw in some strength and speed work from time to time, even when your new.
LR
[quote]London Runner wrote:
SSC wrote:
What Jo3 and LR said is good stuff too - Except maybe LR’s 1-5 advice. It’s not the number to focus on, just try to find the “sweet spot” for each exercise, in terms of what rep range allows you to move weight up consistantly. Typically, I operate in a 5-10 range, but everyone’s different. 1-5 can be a great tool for strength gains, but those should be coming no matter what your approach is.
Your right. With him being a total newbie, no matter what he does he should be getting stronger every week. But it doesn’t hurt to throw in some strength and speed work from time to time, even when your new.
LR[/quote]
I’m more worried about them learning the ins and outs of technique first… And by the time their newbie gains stop, they are likely able to make some of these decisions by themselves.
Maybe we’ll have them doing a heavy and a light set for bench, squats, deadlifts or so, or rest-pause some stuff… We’ll see.
[quote]Cephalic_Carnage wrote:
I’m more worried about them learning the ins and outs of technique first… And by the time their newbie gains stop, they are likely able to make some of these decisions by themselves.
Maybe we’ll have them doing a heavy and a light set for bench, squats, deadlifts or so, or rest-pause some stuff… We’ll see.
[/quote]
Yep, you’re very right. Are you taking them on as students/protoge’s?
LR
[quote]Cephalic_Carnage wrote:
London Runner wrote:
SSC wrote:
What Jo3 and LR said is good stuff too - Except maybe LR’s 1-5 advice. It’s not the number to focus on, just try to find the “sweet spot” for each exercise, in terms of what rep range allows you to move weight up consistantly. Typically, I operate in a 5-10 range, but everyone’s different. 1-5 can be a great tool for strength gains, but those should be coming no matter what your approach is.
Your right. With him being a total newbie, no matter what he does he should be getting stronger every week. But it doesn’t hurt to throw in some strength and speed work from time to time, even when your new.
LR
I’m more worried about them learning the ins and outs of technique first… And by the time their newbie gains stop, they are likely able to make some of these decisions by themselves.
Maybe we’ll have them doing a heavy and a light set for bench, squats, deadlifts or so, or rest-pause some stuff… We’ll see.
[/quote]
My friend attests his recent gains on the bench to Dave Tate new instructional video. I will have to try and incorporate that to because I’m falling behind.
Also some guy told us to try the reverse Pecs Dec with palms facing out. We tried it and were able to handle more weight. Should we continue with the palms out technique or does that take the focus off the rear delts?
[quote]Matthaeus wrote:
Cephalic_Carnage wrote:
London Runner wrote:
SSC wrote:
What Jo3 and LR said is good stuff too - Except maybe LR’s 1-5 advice. It’s not the number to focus on, just try to find the “sweet spot” for each exercise, in terms of what rep range allows you to move weight up consistantly. Typically, I operate in a 5-10 range, but everyone’s different. 1-5 can be a great tool for strength gains, but those should be coming no matter what your approach is.
Your right. With him being a total newbie, no matter what he does he should be getting stronger every week. But it doesn’t hurt to throw in some strength and speed work from time to time, even when your new.
LR
I’m more worried about them learning the ins and outs of technique first… And by the time their newbie gains stop, they are likely able to make some of these decisions by themselves.
Maybe we’ll have them doing a heavy and a light set for bench, squats, deadlifts or so, or rest-pause some stuff… We’ll see.
My friend attests his recent gains on the bench to Dave Tate new instructional video. I will have to try and incorporate that to because I’m falling behind.
Also some guy told us to try the reverse Pecs Dec with palms facing out. We tried it and were able to handle more weight. Should we continue with the palms out technique or does that take the focus off the rear delts? [/quote]
Never tried it that way. If it doesn’t feel odd on the shoulders/wrists/elbows, then you could keep doing it.
And yes, definitely check the Dave Tate article.
Same setup as for the Close-Grip press, just that on CGP’s you tuck your elbows all the way in and use a narrower grip than on the regular bench (around shoulder width or so, maybe even a bit outside still).
[quote]London Runner wrote:
Yep, your very right. Are you taking them on as students/protoge’s?
LR[/quote]
Sort of. Unfortunately, my pm’s have been disabled… (weird going from having to read a ton of pm’s practically every hour… Straight to zero lol)
Anyway, I’ll be checking their log every now and again and render assistance, see if progress is what it should be…
It’s the exercise technique one can’t teach all that well over the net though…