Hey everyone im real new to this and im just wondering if the advice my school gym teacher is right. I’m 17 and go to school in Brisbane so im just guessing the advice i’ve been given may be a lot different to what works.
For hypertrophy (what im interested in)
: -3 sets of 8 reps at 80% of 1 rep max
-3 min rets in between each set ( of same exercise)
6-9 total sets for smaller muscle groups
9-12 total sets for larger ones
Any advice would be awesome.
Cheers
Your teacher is correct in recommending sets of 8 reps for hypertrophy. In general:
1-6 reps = strength gains
6-12 reps = mass gains
12+ = muscle endurance
The number of sets/reps you do should depend on your goals and your ability to recover. These parameters should change up over time (periodization) to keep the stimulus on your muscles fresh. I would also suggest that you drop any small muscle group (isolation) exersizes in favor of more compound work. There’s nothing wrong with finishing your workouts with some curls, pressdowns, cable work, etc. but make sure you have done your squats, deadlifts, chins, dips, presses, etc. first! That plus rest and a healthy diet of natural foods (and maybe a post workout protein/carb drink) and you’re on your way.
For a straight-up beginner I’d actually recommend a full-body workout 3 times a week focusing on compound exercises so you could learn the movements. The rep scheme outlined is pretty good for learning the exercises.
You might go:
*Where there are multiple exercises listed on the same row, just pick ONE, not all
Day 1
Squat
Bent-over Row
Dips/Close-grip Bench
BB Curls/Preacher Curls
Day 2->Off
Day 3
Bench/DB Bench/Incline Bench
Pullups/Lat Pulldowns/Seated Rows
Lunges/Step-Ups
Lat Raises/Upright Rows
Day 4->Off
Day 5
Deadlift
Military Press/DB Shoulder Press/Push Press
Hammer Curls/DB Curls/Incline Curls
Calf Raises
That’s just an outline, read up and make your own choices on exercise selection…the most important thing to remember when starting out is to focus on form.form.form. so that later on you will have learned the movements properly. And, squat.squat.squat. all the time, and eventually heavy.
Decent advice… i think the weight is a bit heavy (at least for me) and don’t see any reason to rest that long. if your performance really suffers without resting for 3 minutes I would try to slowly reduce the rest periods to increase your conditioning.
forgot to add a couple helpful links:
http://www.T-Nation.com/findArticle.do?article=05-099-training
http://www.T-Nation.com/findArticle.do?article=05-091-training
Yah im not sure if im actually doing 80% i just do it as heavy as i can while completing the sets and not struggling too much with form.
That routine looks good as well. It makes sense to get as many compund exercises in as i can and thats probably the main area i can improve on.
Thanks everyone on the advice and i’ll post after 4 and 8 with my results so i’ll see how it goes.
Hey man, good luck with your training. I just read an article today which is very relevant to ur question, called ‘Reps You’ve Never Tried’ by the editors of T-Nation. basically saying how those rep peramteres u were referring to are maybe a bit ancient/ imperfect. Check it out
Not bad advice - search for the set/rep bible on this site, it’ll answer your question pretty completely.
-Dan