I don’t think he has a very good understanding of adjusting parameters to induce hypertrophy such as volume/load. I mean look at this calf raises…35 reps?
I don’t think he has a very good understanding of adjusting parameters to avoid overtraining either. Find a total-body program from this site.
[quote]Serd wrote:
I don’t think he has a very good understanding of adjusting parameters to induce hypertrophy such as volume/load. I mean look at this calf raises…35 reps?[/quote]
[quote]Serd wrote:
I don’t think he has a very good understanding of adjusting parameters to induce hypertrophy such as volume/load. I mean look at this calf raises…35 reps?[/quote]
Hell forget that look at all the shit for the upper body and then the choice of the three lower body exercises.
Bro. rethink this.
Id go to the beginner thread and read all of it and the articles start getting a basic foundation of info, take that to the gym and back here for ?'s
ya, if your shooting for a mass phase don’t forget to keep track of the total volume of your workout. I mean literally add up the total poundage of each workout and compare that to any adjustments you are making. If it is less total weight than it might not be right for you goals.
A specific example of what i am suggesting is easy to illustrate with your chest workout. Why do incline barbell bench press and then go do incline dumbbell right after. Why not stay with the incline barbell and double the number of sets. you can easily lift more total weight doing barbell incline rather than dumbbell. not that dumbbell is always less valuable than barbell but if mass is your goal then…
my suggestion is to cut out all or most of your isolation exercises and hit the meat and potato exercises like flat bench, pull ups, dead lifts, squats. then instead of doing 3-4 sets of 4-6 reps. Do 6-8 sets of 3-4 without all the fluff. trust me you wont need all that isolation for a mass phase at least. Then again maybe you need to reexamine your goals. What is the main reason you are lifting weights?
[quote]mr popular wrote:
If he wants overall mass why would he only be doing very basic, compound exercises for his chest, back, and legs?
who wouldn’t want mass on their biceps, triceps, or different parts of bigger muscle groups?[/quote]
well, surprisingly the opposite of what you stated is true. to maximize your efforts and gain total mass compound exercises are the best. The difference between a pull up and a dumbbell curl is that the pull up is recruiting biceps, as well as an assortment of back muscles while a dumbbell curl is an isolation exercise and mainly hits the bicep. Which would be better if you want to get bigger? that is why he really doesn’t need to have 15 different exercises.
[quote]
And if this routine was split up well enough I don’t see how it could lead to “overtraining”… [/quote]
right, overtraining is a overused word.
[quote]
aside from the obvious neglect of lower body, I don’t see much that is wrong with it.[/quote]
the big problem is that with these isolation exercises he is not going to be able to lift as much weight as he could doing the foundational compound lifts. go right ahead and compare 3 sets of dumbbell curls to pull ups or tricep extensions to lockouts or dumbbell lat pulls to deadlifts or leg extensions to squats.
again i suggest just sticking to the basics and increasing the sets beyond the zombie like sets of 3-4. why not 6-8 sets but less exercise.
[quote]
but what do i know? This is just my first-reaction and my opinion.~Brian [/quote]
we’re all trying to learn and grow and pass some stuff on if we can.
ya, if your shooting for a mass phase don’t forget to keep track of the total volume of your workout. I mean literally add up the total poundage of each workout and compare that to any adjustments you are making. If it is less total weight than it might not be right for you goals.
A specific example of what i am suggesting is easy to illustrate with your chest workout. Why do incline barbell bench press and then go do incline dumbbell right after. Why not stay with the incline barbell and double the number of sets. you can easily lift more total weight doing barbell incline rather than dumbbell. not that dumbbell is always less valuable than barbell but if mass is your goal then…
my suggestion is to cut out all or most of your isolation exercises and hit the meat and potato exercises like flat bench, pull ups, dead lifts, squats. then instead of doing 3-4 sets of 4-6 reps. Do 6-8 sets of 3-4 without all the fluff. trust me you wont need all that isolation for a mass phase at least. Then again maybe you need to reexamine your goals. What is the main reason you are lifting weights?
[/quote]
I just want to get bigger. More mass on my muscles
I just want to get bigger. More mass on my muscles[/quote]
Well, one mistake I think a lot of newbies make is that they separate a goal of getting bigger from getting stronger. If you get stronger you will inevitably get bigger. Try to change your focus to training for strength rather than size and it will be easier to track your progress as well as give you a better understanding of weight training.
I’m in total agreement with bonzi50. Focus on your strength, if you need convincing here’s an example. Do you think your muscle is making more adaptation when you curl 30 lbs or 130 lbs. The answer is obvious.
Focus on clean eating, tons of it and get on a good strength program. Westside for skinny bastards is one of my favorites. If you have questions pm me.
[quote]bonzi50 wrote:
well, surprisingly the opposite of what you stated is true. to maximize your efforts and gain total mass compound exercises are the best. The difference between a pull up and a dumbbell curl is that the pull up is recruiting biceps, as well as an assortment of back muscles while a dumbbell curl is an isolation exercise and mainly hits the bicep. Which would be better if you want to get bigger? that is why he really doesn’t need to have 15 different exercises. [/quote]
Why not do both? Pullups and chinups are back exercises. I wasn’t saying do only single-joint exercises, i was saying don’t neglect biceps exercises in favor of doing JUST compound exercises when your goal is to get bigger.
And the problem with doing only compound exercises for bodybuilding is you develop imbalances, and you will neglect smaller–but significant–muscles like the biceps, triceps, etc. etc…
compare ONLY doing leg extensions, and ONLY doing squats… to doing squats and then post-fatiguing with leg extensions. Which do you think would be a more complete workout for someone who wants to get bigger?
do both!
exactly, and just to clear it up i was not suggesting relying on only isolation exercises… if you truly want to maximize your efforts, you would use BOTH. The OP is obviously a beginner so recommending heavy squats and deadlifts could be dangerous… but, it would help if he gave us more information haha
To have so little devoted to your legs is a common mistake many beginner and “intermediate” lifters make. We have all seen “those guys” in the gym who have huge arms and scrawny little legs that look ridiculous. I assume that you don’t want to be one of those guys??? You need to add some squats (box squats I would suggest, since I will assume that you are like 90% of people in the gym, myself included for many years, whose squat technique is downright terrible).
Also, I would suggest reading Dave Tate on this site to help you on that front.
[quote]mr popular wrote:
Why not do both? Pullups and chinups are back exercises. I wasn’t saying do only single-joint exercises, i was saying don’t neglect biceps exercises in favor of doing JUST compound exercises when your goal is to get bigger.[/quote]
well the whole point is that you don’t NEED to do both if your doing compound lifts.
[quote]
And the problem with doing only compound exercises for bodybuilding is you develop imbalances, and you will neglect smaller–but significant–muscles like the biceps, triceps, etc. etc…[/quote]
imbalances??? more like perfect athletic symmetrical physical harmony.
I didn’t notice him refer to himself as a “bodybuilder.”
[quote]
compare ONLY doing leg extensions, and ONLY doing squats… to doing squats and then post-fatiguing with leg extensions. Which do you think would be a more complete workout for someone who wants to get bigger?[/quote]
sure, but efficiency of time and energy is important. besides the fact that Mr. Cressey suggests that no one do leg extensions.
[quote]
The OP is obviously a beginner so recommending heavy squats and deadlifts could be dangerous… but, it would help if he gave us more information haha
~Brian[/quote]
I never suggested “heavy” squats and deadlifts. I just suggested the exercise. the weight of course is up to him.