All you lifters out there, general discussion

[jakethebake]

Try this...

EXERCISE WHEELS

[xadrez]

I lift on M,W,F and do a simple workout each day where i pick from...

Deadlifts
Squats
Pullups
Bench Press
Dips
Rows

On T,Th I do cardio. One of the days it will be steady state and the other some kind of interval training, or sprints.

Ill alternate between dumbell and barbell for all the weight exercises. I also switch up the rep schemes. People tell me I should be on a set routine but I disagree. I think that variation is good for your body, which adjusts pretty fast. Of course, you need to be smart about balancing the workouts if you do it this way.

My problem is the same as the OP's, namely Diet. I used to be a lot more lean doing this routine but in the past year a combination of a crapload of work + grad classes have killed my will to eat healthy.

Also in agreement with Jake about keeping it simple with big, compound lifts. Curls and other simple isolation movements will only get you so far.

Another thing: Im usually flabbergasted when Im at the gym at how desolate the power rack is. There nothing funnier than seeing these jacked guys with shockingly skinny legs.

[Cyrus]

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You've got to give your body time to rest and repair itself.

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I'm not a lifter, not even in supermarkets. I got into a conversation with a female that works as a temp somewhere, early 20s, ex-champion weight lifter in her class for her country. Good looking gal, btw. Like all top athletes, she has a lot to say about championship level sports. Her absolute credo is, All top sportsmen, and especially lifters, are on dope. No matter who it is, he or she is on top, he or she is on dope.

The immediate need for dope comes from training itself, and not competition. These guys and gals train three (3) times a day! She tells me a human muscle needs about 48 hours to rest and get back its elasticity after a weightlifter's heavy training - but the trainers want to compress that 48-hour perod into two or three hours. Hence, the drugs.

She won her last-ever game, but only appeared after accepting to take the drugs that her (national team) trainer gave her, under the ultimatum 'either you take them and lift, or dress and leave'. He was very warm and pleased when she won and reminded her that without the good stuff she would not have made it. She threw at his face the unopened dope and left champion weight lifting for ever.

Kept the gold, though.

[jakethebake]

I used to train 2-3 times a day and never touched dope. I was nowhere near any kind of championship level. But I can tell it's doable IF you keep your training sessions very short. That's key. It's still probably not the ideal, but at that time I was probably in the best shape of my life. And I actually had a very good friend accuse me of "juicing".

Anyway, this kind of frequency is common for power lifters. Some even up to 5 times a day. They do like 2-3 sets of 2-3 reps and that's a whole workout. They can recover because the whole workout is like 15 minutes.

[Allan]

Here is mine, it's a basic no frills 3 day split with a rest day or 2 between sessions. No matter which rep scheme I use I look to improve by a rep or a few pounds over my previous session. While bulking I don't do all that much cardio since I have a hell of a time putting on weight. If cutting I'll usually put in cardio sessions the day after lifting then a rest day after that. It streaches the whole split over a week but it works best for me to do it that way rather than training everyday with no rest days before lifiting, especially for the leg movements. I also do yoga, now and then, for flexibility.

Push:

Incline DB press
Wide grip dips
DB shoulder press
Close grip barbell bench pres

Pull:
Dead lifts
Wide grip chins
DB rows
shrugs
(static holds if I can be bothered)


Legs:
Squats
Ham curls (I was doing Straight leg deads here for a while but it was hitting my back more than hams due to inflexibility)
Calf raises
Ab curls or ab rolls


Allan

[gamblore99]

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.

[The Truth]

[ QUOTE ]
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.

[/ QUOTE ]

could you elaborate?

[AZK]

How many of you do this before lifting? I'm talking about something like 5 minutes for full body stretching and then another 5 minutes jogging before hitting the weights...thoughts?

[swolfe]

i run on the treadmill for 20 minutes, stretch, then do the weights for the day (rotates between pushing and pulling). after weights, i run through some abs, and i'm done.

the whole thing takes between 45 minutes and an hour. i do this 2-3 times per week, and sometimes mix in sprints/plyometrics instead of run/weights.

pushing day:
bench
leg press
dips
calf raises

pulling day:
lat pulls
dead lifts
upright row

usually do 3 sets of 8-10, except calf raises, which get a lot more reps.

[theghost]

[ QUOTE ]
i thought you meant shoplift until at least 3 lines into your post?

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...saw "training routines" and thought of a shoplifting bootcamp of some sort [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]