All you lifters out there, general discussion

[Blarg]

Most people I've known due extremely little or even no stretching. A high percentage of people I've known also injure themselves. I've always stretched thoroughly before work-outs and usually after them, too, and I've never hurt myself working out or exercising in any way, even though I at least used to be a pretty hard core work-out fanatic.

I'd say five minutes is too little time to stretch. Such a short time period might even encourage pushing yourself through stretches too quickly and actually straining yourself, making you more injury prone rather than less. Take a while to relax into your stretches, and to feel yourself really loosen up. Don't begrudge the time it takes; it's health insurance and very good for your body even if you don't work out! Go by feel, not by the clock. Don't bounce or strain, and try to feel comfortable moving in a wide range of motion, not just in line with the lifts or specific exercises you intend to do.

[Subfallen]

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Try this...

EXERCISE WHEELS

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This is great advice...I would suggest if anyone is going to invest serious use in one of these, get the Power Wheel, it's the best model though a touch pricy at $59.95.

[gamblore99]

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I just browsed this thread. But if any of you guys are seriously trying to get bigger/stronger/more cut, a periodization plan is the way to go.

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could you elaborate?

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In a periodization plan, you train with a specific goal for several months and your full program is a 6 months to a year, and possibly longer. It is broken down into
anatomical adaptation, hypertrophy, mixed, max strength, definition, and transition (transition is in between phases)

Anatomical adaptation -this phase is to prepare the body for heavier loads. The body's tendons do not grow as fast as the muscles, and this phase aims at strengthing them as well as the nervous system and a bunch of other things (I don't have my very credible book on me at the moment) It uses loads of about (65%?) max strength, and is done in circuits with (8-12?) reps. Usually the circuit is done 2-3 times per workout wiht about 7 excercises. For beginners about 3 times a week, and for people who have trained before, up to 5 times a week. I think the breathing time is supposed to be 30 seconds between excercises, and about 1-2 minutes after the workout.

The next phase is hypertrophy- this phase is where muscle mass is gained. Muscles are trained 3-4 sets using 6-12 reps with breathing time about 1 1/2 minutes. Depending on the experience and fitness, it should be done 3-6 times a week.

there is a 2-3 transition time for the body to recover some of the accumilated fatigue

Next phase is mixed training
this is a mixture of hypertrophy and max strenght training. I forget the details of this. But its something in between the two.

transition period

Max strengthing training - This phase aims to increase the maximum strength. 4-5 sets of 1-6 reps. Breathing time of about 4 minutes in between. 3-6? times per week.

transition

definition- this phase is where you get really cut. I forget the sets, but i think the reps are something ridiculous like 30-150, with short rest times. (Ya I know the reps sound ridiculous, I'm not there yet, but the book is very scientific and seems very credible)

This is all from the book serious weight training, as well as my trainer (he's a good trainer, head of university gym, degree in medical sciences and working on his PhD.) its very scientific. There is also a ton in there about training schedules (this is a large part of the book), as well as diet, most effective excercies, and stuff. It also explains things in more detail. I don't have it on me at the moment, some of my numbers may be wrong, and inaccurate. This is just an idea of the periodization stuff. I would look into it yourself if you decide to get into it.

Here is a link with a bit of info. book

[thabadguy]

I am pretty serious lifter , i havent read all the posts on this thread yet, but AZK alerted my attention to this thread and I thought i might give my 2 cents.
Depending upon your goal(endurance, strength, muscle size)though these are not mutually exclusive,they each have a workout style to optimize one,hence you would need to tailor your workout and diet accordingly.
A) Endurance :-
For endurance your workout needs to consist of a lot of high rep medium weight sets, with a shortish rest span between sets with the intake of mroe carbs as compared to the other 2.
For example, a Chest endurance workout for a beginner would normally consist of
3 set of flat bench presses, each set comprising 15-20 reps(to failure)
3 set of incline dumbell/barbell(i would recommend dumbell to add variety) presses again 15-20 reps each done to failure
3 Sets of cable crossovers with over 25 reps in each set
3 sets of flat/incline flyes(alternating on each workout) of about 20 reps each set.
3 sets of chest pullovers of 20-25 reps to failure.
B) Strength
3 sets of Flat bench presses with 3-6 reps to failure
3 sets of Incline presses( i would recommend barbell over dumbells here) 3-6 reps to failure
3 sets of decline presses 3-6 reps to failure
3 sets on incline/flat flyes 6-10 reps to failure
C) Muscle Mass
4 sets of Flat bench presses 8-12 reps to failure
4 sets of Incline press 8-12 reps to failure
4 sets of Decline flyes 8-12 reps to failure
4 sets of either incline flyes or cable crossovers 10-12 reps to failure.
Building muscle mass and strength have mroe in common that endurance and the other 2, endurance will give you a more "toned" look, the kind you find sexy on girls.
If any1 is interested in asking more questions about this, feel free to pm me.

[jakethebake]

This whole post is pretty much absurd. AZK, please do not alert him to any more threads.

[Biloxi]

I stopped lifting about a year ago cuz, like most of my friends, I wasnt getting much results besides strength.
Almost all my friends starting using "the goods" to get larger and ripped, but I cant stand needles so I didnt start.
I mostly do push ups, pull ups, swim, run, bike, etc.. Triathlon style training. I may finally get the guts to do the good stuff, but till then Ill still be the same size.

[thabadguy]

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This whole post is pretty much absurd. AZK, please do not alert him to any more threads.

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What exactly do u find absurd about it?

[Blarg]

Better to be healthy, anyway. Some guys use steroids for years and never suffer ill effects, and some guys get ruined livers or cancer in under a year. Ya never know.

[jakethebake]

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What exactly do u find absurd about it?

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O.k. I'll just pick your strength workout as an example.

I assume this is part of some kind of split routine. One problem with these routines is that people assume their back gets rested between back workouts. Their chest gets rested between back days, etc. So they spend five days a week, working each bodypart once or twice. They do way too many sets per workout. The bodyparts get rest between days. But because of the total amount of work being done. There's no rest for the system as a whole.

Systemic overwork is what leaves people overtrained. If you want to do a split routine, that's fine, but you can't use it as an excuse to do three times as many sets per bodypart. Aside from that:

- No one working on strength needs to be doing flyes.
- No one except maybe some juiced up Mr. Olympia contender needs or should do three different kinds of bench press in a single workout.
- No one except maybe some juiced up Mr. Olympia contender needs or should do 12 sets for a single bodypart to failure.

Granted that's just my opinion, but I'll stick to it.

[vulturesrow]

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This whole post is pretty much absurd. AZK, please do not alert him to any more threads.

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