Questions for ACCOMPLISHED bodybuilders only

[[R]eality]

So whomever's good here, I dunno, Alex, others:

This Body for Life program says to do 12-10-8-6 reps per exercise and do 5 different ones per day. On the first exercise, I understand, but on the subsequent ones? My muscles are warmed up; what benefit is there in doing 12-rep weights again?

 

[Charm&Style]

..ive personaly have heard that pyramid workouts are total crap.

but the best person to ask this question is prbly

warboss & skilla


werd up

 

[edmond]

Questions for ACCOMPLISHED bodybuilders only
Asking a bodybuilder about weights is like asking a porn star about making love to a women.
They haven't a clue.

 

[BudLight85]

Generally once you start to get into the 12-15 rep range and above, it starts to become an endurance exercise more than anything. Needless to say I do do high rep work here and there, and with my ab work is generally high rep. Not that its necessarily a bad thing, just don't expect to get much hypertrophy from it since the weight isn't heavy enough to really stimulate the muscle fibers into growth. You'll get some sure, because something is better than nothing, but optimal is generally around 6-8 reps, some people can also go up to 10 for hypertrophy. People are different though, they respond to different stimulus and different rep ranges, so I say find what works for you. Nothing is really set in stone, so go out and experiment and find whats best for you.

As for the Body-For-Life program, haven't really heard too much about it to really give an opinion, but the pyramid down, IMO, can be better done by pyramiding up, then down. For example. Say bench, do like 165 for 5, 185 for 5, 200 for 5, 200 for 5, 185 for 5...etc. You're peaking around the middle of the work sets, instead of pyramiding all the way up in the weight, where you're too tired to perform efficiently.

Good luck with the program man, or whatever it is you may do. Hit the weights hard!

Jay

 

[Throttle]

This Body for Life program says to do 12-10-8-6 reps per exercise and do 5 different ones per day. On the first exercise, I understand, but on the subsequent ones? My muscles are warmed up

I think you're on the right track here. Any program that calls for such a pyramid and doesn't otherwise mention warming up is using those early high rep sets in place of more explicit warm-ups.

If you want to check out a 5x5 that might give you better results than Phillips', check out Mr. Ruckus' progress on the madcow 5x5:

http://www.sosuave.net/forum/showthread.php?t=105516

caveat: i would not claim to be an Accomplished Bodybuilder, so feel free to ignore my advice, since I ignored the title of this thread in order to post. I think Edmond has a good point, if a bit exaggerated for effect.

 

[[R]eality]

Different Question

Oh and I have a different question.
People say (I didn't read 5x5 yet so I dunno if it's different, etc) that you should do 3-4 sets of 3-4 exercises per muscle group per session.

I don't think that's right. Why not do only two exercises, but good, compound ones, and do them hard? Like today for legs, I did squats, and I kind of understimated so I did do two sets of 12's to warm up with pretty low weights for me, but then I did things where 6-8 reps were hard to do, but I did a total of 6-7 sets on it. And then I finished up with 3-4 sets of quad extentions and then did my abs (unrelated obviously).

Isn't THAT better? To do only a few exercises but hard and for more sets?

 

[Throttle]

Sounds good to me. 2 x 5 on 2 exercise per muscle group is a very productive approach, post-warm-ups. But high-quality warm-ups require a lot of patience. You'll probably end up with something like 6 or 7 sets (or more) of the first exercise if you warm up properly.

Say you're squatting/benching/deadlifting around 200 lbs. or so. Try:

Bar x 12
75 x 6
105 x 4
135 x 2
165 x 1
185 x 1

followed by 200 x 5-8 x 2

There's no set formula, and it looks like a lot of changing weights, but it's mostly just throwing another 10 & 5 on each side, or switching out for a 45 every 3rd set. This forces you to take your time and focus on form before lifting the big weights.

In this example that's 6 warm up sets (or if you prefer, 3 warm up sets & 3 weight acclimation sets) plus 2 workout sets, and you're not exactly talking about killer weight. But three of those sets are just one or two reps. And those help you gauge whether you're really ready for the weight you're aiming for today.

 

[Skilla_Staz]

I do a variation of that, except my "warmup" sets range from 5-8 reps. Once I start getting into heavier weight, I drop the reps down to three. My assitance exercises are generally all between the 6-8 rep range, with the exception of my calves hitting 12s.

As for 12-10-8 etc. I figure why not just load the bar with something heavy, and pump out lower reps anyways. Of course I'm more concerned with my strength rather than size, but of course, I'm expecting to get both.

 

[Warboss Alex]

*yawn*

Doing 12-10-8-6.. okay. You do 12 reps at a light weight. Then 10 with a slightly heavier weight. Then 8 with a slightly heavier weight. Then your 6RM, right?

Not only are you taxing yourself with the 'pre-sets' you're also limiting the load of the heaviest set, which is the real growth inducer. This is also dangerous as you'll be fatigued as the weight gets heavier. Hence why I don't like this scheme.

Pyramiding for strength like 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 yes, I agree with - but for strength gains, not bodybuilding. If you're looking for pure power then do something like this, or just progressively heavier singles.

Pyramid your warmups, yes. But your worksets? No.