Hay Horace
-
My workout was getting stale, so I asked a guy I know who has been exceptionally successful at building muscle. He suggested doing three sets at 80% of 1 rep maximum, 6-8 reps each. I've started that this week and like it. Nice not to have to change weights between sets, but the recovery has to be longer. I'm also starting on creatine. We will see how that goes.
-
Sounds like it should work well. They could put creatine in the water and people would be healthier.
From what I've gathered, as far as hypertrophy stimulus, you should try to get 5 or more near-failure reps per workout per muscle. Near-failure meaning within 3 reps of true failure. It doesn't matter how many reps in a set it takes you to get there, but if you're failing at 25 reps then it'll hurt a lot more than if you fail at 10 reps. I'm not sure how close to failure 6-8 reps will get you, but I think counting reps back from failure is more important than counting reps forward from 0. The fact that he suggests 80% of max does imply something about the number of reps you'd get before failure, so maybe 6-8 reps is a sweet spot. I would steer clear of actually maxing out though. No sense in getting injured. That's catabolic.
-
The 5 sets idea is a good one, which I could do but I'd have to go to a split body routine - three-day push, pull and legs/abs/obliques. Worth considering.
@Mik said in Hay Horace:
The 5 sets idea is a good one, which I could do but I'd have to go to a split body routine - three-day push, pull and legs/abs/obliques. Worth considering.
It's actually reps, not sets. 5 or more reps near failure. That takes at least 2 sets, but could be more if you stay further from failure.
This guy Lyle Mcdonald is fun to listen to. One of the more informed humans in the universe about the science of weight training, and quite a disagreeable crank. He's an old school troll from way back in the beginning of the internet, and a wealth of knowledge these days.
Link to video -
Be careful - do make sure you've done your warm-up sets - AND remember these 20-40 year olds are gearing their workouts for 20-40 year olds. That's not to say it is bad counsel - just keep the grain of salt nearby. I do look at some of the work of Jeff Nippard who does some research into which exercises work which muscle groups most effectively. I don't lift for a max lift - and I use a levergym rather than free-weights since I'm working at home. I do also use dumbbells for biceps/triceps work.. I do upper body including biceps/triceps on Fridays. I start with Incline bench, then flat bench. Flat bench I work up to 275 lbs x 12 reps. That's pretty close to my max. With dumbbells I work up to 35 lb weights 3 sets of 12+ - slow and controlled.
-
This is my favorite piece of equipment. I have a preacher curl attachment that I use with it. It lets me do incline/flat/decline bench, lat pulldowns, rows, etc. All-in-all, it was a great investment. For most of my life, I worked with free weights, but they were helping to injure my thumb joints so...went to using Smith Machines and subsequently, to the Powertec Levergym. I like that I can use real weights, but I don't have to destroy my hands with gripping the barbell.
-
Not to be a h8ter, but I'm not 100% sure that weights on that machine translate to free weights pound for pound. The word "lever" and the holes I see that allows you to adjust the lever makes me wonder.
@Horace said in Hay Horace:
Not to be a h8ter, but I'm not 100% sure that weights on that machine translate to free weights pound for pound. The word "lever" and the holes I see that allows you to adjust the lever makes me wonder.
Yup, with good thumbs and true free weights,
it would likely be 30 lbs or so less -
@Mik said in Hay Horace:
Doesn't matter. Overloading your muscles counts. The weight is just a number.
I'm just saying it matters for communicating weights on the internet. I agree it doesn't matter for putting tension on muscles. The best reason to use good form is so you can lower the weight and hit the muscle most directly, with the least joint stress.
