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work-out philosophy

Xphobicas Posts: 98 Joined: 2002/09/19	2002/11/12, 11:20 AM Since the first of August i have been working out and seeing o.k. gains.My father use to work out when he was 20-35 years of age and believes that my rep scheme is all wrong.I have always used the 6-8 reps/3sets routine but my father was told differently when he first started working out at a Gold's gym.At the time my father was skinny and the big muscular guys asked him if he liked the size of their biceps and ofcourse he said yes and then they told him"ok this is how we did it".The way my father and the guys at the gym got so big was the first set of an exercize they would use heavy weights so that they could only do 2-3 reps and they would do this to really rip the muscles and then after they would do the last one or two sets of the exercise using the 6-8 reps scheme.I was wondering if this reps scheme is better to increase muscle mass than the 6-8 reps/3sets one.very confused and any opinions would be appreciated.
bb1fit Posts: 11,105 Joined: 2001/06/30	2002/11/12, 01:07 PM Well, as you may guess, this is very individualistic and you will get many trains of thought. I personally agree with doing your "heavy" set first. Makes so much sense, while you are at your very strongest, to use that strength. The more sets you do, the more wore down you are. That is why the pyramid up scheme does not appeal to me. You wear yourself out on the way up, and deprive yourself of the very thing you are trying to achieve, overload. Overload is what induces a muscle to grow, or at the very least adapt. Some reknowned strength gurus such as Charles Poliquin advocate 4-6 reps for strength gains, 8-12reps for mass gains, and 6-8 reps for mass and strength. You may apply these schemes for yourself, but in the end, it is what works for you.
mackfactor Posts: 766 Joined: 2002/10/17	2002/11/13, 04:39 PM Going heavy early also has a great psychological effect. When you do a set of 3 at your 5RM (rep max - meaning a weight you can only lift 5 times) then your muscles (and your mind!) acclimate to the heavier weight. Your next set at a lower weight will feel much lighter!
lewdog_55 Posts: 383 Joined: 2002/01/23	2002/11/13, 06:31 PM Well geez...I have always done the light stuff first and worked up to the heavy weight last. but it does make so much more sense to go heavy first. So like on bench could i do a warm up set then go 4,6,8???? or something like that
bb1fit Posts: 11,105 Joined: 2001/06/30	2002/11/13, 06:42 PM By all means, warmup first. this is a must, and I guess I assumed this was common knowledge. Here is what I do for example, you can structure this to fit your needs. Today I did biceps, so I warmed up with 12 really tight reps with just a 10 on each side of the E-Z curl bar. Then, another warmup set with 2 10's on each side for just 8. Then I put a 35 on each side, and did 3 for an acclimation set(getting the muscle ready for heavy weight.) Then I put a 45 and 5 on each side and did 2 sets of 6. This weight is right around my max without having tosway my back. Some days I can add a 10. Anyway, then I dropped off the 45's, and with just 35's, did 2 sets of 10. Burning pretty good, great pump. This is kind of a combination thing I use to achieve heavy overload, and also get in the good reps with a still fairly heavy weight. As mackfactor states a good point, after doing the heavy sets, the sets of 10 with the lighter weight were much easier to accomplish. Good luck. You can apply this scheme to most major body parts if you like it.
Kasper Posts: 153 Joined: 2002/08/30	2002/11/16, 07:51 PM i too think going heavy first is a good idea. Two days ago i was workin out my chest,i decided to go with 60lbs doing 10-15reps for 4 sets (incline) then went to 50lbs for the next 4 sets of just regular bench presses..it felt a lot easier..and i'm wondering if I should do the same for curls?
Kasper Posts: 153 Joined: 2002/08/30	2002/11/16, 07:54 PM I've only been workin out for 2 months now and whew do i feel good!!lol
bb1fit Posts: 11,105 Joined: 2001/06/30	2002/11/16, 09:12 PM For sure...you may want to read my post just above yours. It is exactly what you asked...good luck. Overload and a great pump.
Kasper Posts: 153 Joined: 2002/08/30	2002/11/16, 10:02 PM what did u mean by tight reps?