I am new to the wonderful world of weight training. I’d appreciate if you guys could please help me out. I was reading Mr. King’s articles “Train Right for Your Type” and “How many sets should I do per exercise?” I am a bit confused, maybe I am a Dufus, but I don’t seem to get what he says about how many reps I should be doing per set. I know the concept is if you want to gain weight, go for low reps per set etc., but what does he mean by low reps? I want to gain muscle mass, so I am assuming I should work on low reps and high weight ranges. What will be the correct rep range fo rlow reps and how many sets should I focus on? That is for example for squats how many reps and how many sets should I do for maximum gain? same with bench presses, lunges, clean and jerk, etc. Also does the sets and rep ranges change for smaller muscle groups like the deltoids etc or If I am using dumbells? Sorry if I sound confused, that is because I AM! Please help me out. Sincerely,
Cray Jones.
PS I am 24 yers old, 5’10 160 lbs and very skinny. lot;s baby fat looking.
PSS I was wondering does Mr. King explain these in detail in his book? or is too advance for beginner like me? Thanks…
Ian King said in a recent Heavy Metal (which you should check out) that 10-15 reps is generally the best rep range for mass gains for someone who has trained less than 2 years. The question then is how many sets and days. I like a four day split (rolling or otherwise) and Id try 2-3 working sets, 3-4 exercises per muscle for a month, 5 sets of 5 reps for a month 2 exercises for each musclegroup for a month, german volume training as per poliquin, and then some HIT (1 set to failure per bodypart). Provided you eat enough throughout, and are consistent but have 1 week active rest every 4-6 weeks, you should have a better feel for what works best for you (not to mention 10-20 pounds extra lean mass).
Can you give an example of a typical workout that you are doing at the moment?
Ron J