Rest time

[Slippery Sam]

k, so i have been lifting fairly consistently since the eighth grade( im a senior in hs now) and the only supplement i've ever used was basically protein shakes, and multi vitamins. i used no-xplode once because my cousin gave it to me, and i liked it but its too damn expensive for me. i just bought some amino acid supps because i was reading about the benefits of them. the serving size is 4 pills, at each meal. obviously im not gonna follow those instructions, because that's just way too much. i took two pills before a workout and after a workout 3 days in a row and my muscles just don't get tired. im almost afraid to keep working out like this because i think im gonna hurt myself by lifting too much weight because of the lack of fatigue. i've seen too many injuries in the gym and i don't want to get one. my questions is that on these new supplements, how much rest time do i need before and after a workout. before i took them, i would die out after an 1.5 hours of weight training, but now i just leave after that much time, because i don't want to do too much. also, before i got sore and stayed sore for 3-4 days after a workout, but i just worked out 3 days in a row, and not only have not been sore, but actually went up in every single exercise that i did. i didn't even take a protein shake, and my diet is terrible compared to the suggestions on this website.

 

[CarlitosWay]

I'm curious as to what your routine is. What size you are and how serious you're training in the gym. Either you're an animal genetically or you could be pushing yourself harder in the gym. Most people have now idea what OVERTRAINING is and never reallly come close to it ever!

Also the max I work out is an hour and 15 to 1/2 hour. Yet I'm pretty drained by the end.

I had to take these last 3 days off I just felt so beat up (I eat a decent amount to). Yet monday it's on

 

[Slippery Sam]

im 17, 205 lbs, almost 6' (just under), and probly like 12-15% body fat.

my routine for chest is incline dumbbell press, flat dumbbell press, flyes, and repeat. each exercise is 3 sets of 10, with the max amount of weight i can do with good form. similar style for each other muscle group (shoulders, back, quads, hamstrings, and calves). i usually do sprints after weight training or some type of high intensity stuff.

i have been constantly doing exercise since freshmen year, i have been on the wrestling, swimming, and track team, all because i used to be really fat and got sick of the way i looked. so i kind of built up to where i am now over the time of four and a half years. my old coach told me that at my age, the male body is so full of natural growth hormones, its basically steroids and it would be stupid not to hit the gym. also i just stopped jerkin the monkey (been 3 days, and there are a lot of changes) i used to do it 3-5 times a day and then come 2-3 times with my gf, so there's a lot of energy.

 

[CaptainJ]

Do Rippetoe's Starting Strength program. You'll get much better results.

 

[CarlitosWay]

im 17, 205 lbs, almost 6' (just under), and probly like 12-15% body fat.

my routine for chest is incline dumbbell press, flat dumbbell press, flyes, and repeat. each exercise is 3 sets of 10, with the max amount of weight i can do with good form. similar style for each other muscle group (shoulders, back, quads, hamstrings, and calves). i usually do sprints after weight training or some type of high intensity stuff.

i have been constantly doing exercise since freshmen year, i have been on the wrestling, swimming, and track team, all because i used to be really fat and got sick of the way i looked. so i kind of built up to where i am now over the time of four and a half years. my old coach told me that at my age, the male body is so full of natural growth hormones, its basically steroids and it would be stupid not to hit the gym. also i just stopped jerkin the monkey (been 3 days, and there are a lot of changes) i used to do it 3-5 times a day and then come 2-3 times with my gf, so there's a lot of energy.

Now you sound like a good sized boy. A lot bigger then me when I was your age. So I advise you to keep doing what you're doing cause it's obviously working . I imagine you're body got used to being at a heavy weight when you were bigger and since you started lifting weights and all that. You're back up in weight but leaner I bet.

I hope you're ramping up your sets. (going progressively heavier on each set like Bar X10, 135X10,225X6,260X9)

IMO you should do your tris on chest or shoulder day. Do bis on back or chest day also. At your age doing body part pairings is a lot better as you'll hit muscle groups more in a week (at least 2 every 8 days). More frequency within reason means more growth expected every year. Sounds like you have great recovery also. So take advantage of that **** and find your limit/work capacity and acknowledge it when training to figure out frequency..

so like (Dorian Yates 93' routine I believe) or something similar

chest/tris/bis
legs
off
shoulders/back
off

Then when you get real advanced you can split up your training even more

Also ignore the starting strength recommendation (nothing against rippetoe, smart man). Go ahead and do it if you feel like developing imbalances. You sound like you're way past rank beginner stage. I'd still put a rank beginner on a bodybuilder or an upper/lower body split with compound movements/isolation exercises and machines any day over a full body split.

 

[CaptainJ]

Well it depends how much he can squat. If he can't squat 1.5xbw then he should do Rippetoe's.

And explain to me how rippetoe's program will give you imbalances? The whole nature of full body exercises is that it exercises everything to make sure you are balanced.

 

[CarlitosWay]

Well it depends how much he can squat. If he can't squat 1.5xbw then he should do Rippetoe's.

And explain to me how rippetoe's program will give you imbalances? The whole nature of full body exercises is that it exercises everything to make sure you are balanced.

It's meant mostly for strength. Every one is going to have individually unique strengths and weaknesses cause of different body mechanics/leverages/muscle insertions . When doing a compound exercise your bodys is going to use the strongest link in the chain to do most of the work. Which leaves the weaker links, just that STILL weak. If you don't know jack about training or have a mentor. Guess what you'll keep training and end up with having to fix imbalances later down the road.

This is why I advocate for athletes an upper/lower body split (defranco). You can set it up so much easier/convenient. Then for those who just want to get big as **** while remaining balanced/aesthetic. One of the many great bodybuilding splits you can find(Yates being one of my favorites to learn from)

 

[Slippery Sam]

yea, i am not really a beginner when it comes to lifting, my question is still about rest time because i've had some kind of workout every day since i bought those amino pills. between lifting and being on the swim team right now, i want to know if im overdoing it.

and btw i was squatting 225 for 3 sets of 10 with good form over the summer. i haven't squatted in a while cuz of swimming but the season is over in 2 days, so i'll be getting that going again.

 

[CarlitosWay]

yea, i am not really a beginner when it comes to lifting, my question is still about rest time because i've had some kind of workout every day since i bought those amino pills. between lifting and being on the swim team right now, i want to know if im overdoing it.

and btw i was squatting 225 for 3 sets of 10 with good form over the summer. i haven't squatted in a while cuz of swimming but the season is over in 2 days, so i'll be getting that going again.

Why use the exact weight every set?

Why not do
BarX10
135X10
225X10
255X10

Of course you know your body well so you can gauge how big the jumps are...Every set should be progressively heavier until your last set has you straining very good at the end.

for instance last time I did some real heavy squats I did
90X8
180X8
230X8
270X6
290X6(my main working set)

 

[Slippery Sam]

is there a benefit to changing the weight up every set like that? ive gotten progressively stronger doing it with a constant, and increasing it when its gotten easier.