Weights, sets, reps and so on how to work out how much of each?

[MrNiceGuy]

Hi, I've been reading the guide to bulking up (for the past 4-5 years I've been 6'4, 140lbs, time to change!) and I'm not entirely sure about what weights to be lifting in my workout.

I understand to lift weight that I can do in the 4-8 rep range but how does this translate into 10 sets?
Lets say I've found a weight X that I can just manage 8 reps of and 9 is struggling. Then should I do 8-7-6-5-4 sets of X and then increase weight for my next 4 sets, or 8 of X, then 7 of X+5, 6 of X+10, etc. etc. What sort of warmups should I do and so on? It would be handy if someone could post an example of a session to do say 10 sets of bench presses. including the warmups and stuff.
What should the final weight in the final set be? Should it be the heaviest that I can manage 4 reps of? or the heaviest I can manage 8 reps of?

Also how long should I rest between sets? If I'm going to be doing say 10 bench press sets in a session I'm going to have to have some pretty long breaks or else start decreasing the weight I lift towards the end I think (which I dont think is the best way to do things)

I hope you understand what I'm trying to ask,
cheers

 

[livin large]

10 sets per muscle group, not per exercise. For chest, you might do 4 sets of flat bench, 3 sets of incline bench, and 3 sets of decline bench. That would be 10 sets.

 

[KiLLer]

Originally posted by livin large
10 sets per muscle group, not per exercise. For chest, you might do 4 sets of flat bench, 3 sets of incline bench, and 3 sets of decline bench. That would be 10 sets.

Wtf? You don't need to do that many.
Just do what fit you. Meaning whatever floats your boat.
---

Ask yourself this:

Is your chest the strongest muscle? Mediocre?
Does your chest need fire on it? (more rep?)
Does your chest need emphasize? (more excercise?)
Can you last that long?
Is it necessary to do that many when it's already burning on the 4-5th set?

There is no such schedule, log, or whatever you want to call it that works universally. Because by then, we would all be big and powerful and sexy. No, doesn't work that way. 3 set of whatever sounds too easy and fun.

 

[KiLLer]

I have a nice bicep peak (um... high bicep peak, I think it's called "Bicep Variation One" from Arnold's book... where there is a gap between my elbow and my bicep because of it's high peak...).

And know something? On Wednesday, I only do 2 set of bicep curl with 3-4 repetition. That's the only excercise I do on that day.
Don't believe me? Ask flyguy... to come over my house. He's the only one that lives near me unless he doesn't want to meet me...

(or just think of Bruce Lee but 2x smaller)

 

[MrNiceGuy]

ok, as many sets as I can manage, gotacha. But still the key questions

1. How long should I rest between sets, 1 min, 5mins? untill I feel recovered? what?
2. What should my starting/final weight be?
3. Should I increase the weight AND decrease the reps between each set, or do just one or the other?
   [/list=1]
   
   I'm hoping if I stick with it I should get a pretty cool Bruce Lee style physique, I've never had much body fat on me at all, and untill now not much muscle either
   Which reminds me, is there any way to measure body fat ratio other than buying one of those electronic machines? can you just measure the thickness of your excess flab on your belly or something?

 

[KiLLer]

1- Until you feel you are ready... for me, as long as I'm burned, I won't stop until my set is over.
2- Uh... you're 140 so I can assume you can go for 145. The weight is up to you, we can tell you to get to 200 and you look like a fat bastard which I doubt you would like. So if you look good in 190, then stay there (even if someone told you to go for 210).
3- It doesn't matter, as long as it work, get Arnold's Bible of Bodybuilding.

You can get a Bruce Lee physique but you need to start out good. He's known to have extremely low body fat. If you want the Great Lee, then work out a lot more.

The fat percentage measuring thing aren't accurate. They are used to compare my body fat with yours basically.

 

[livin large]

Originally posted by KiLLer
Wtf? You don't need to do that many.
Just do what fit you. Meaning whatever floats your boat.

Dumbass, we were both refering to Diesel's Guide to Bulking, which says to do up to 10 sets on chest. Unless you think D's wrong and you're the sh*t. Instead of just jumping up to attack me, how about you try to answer the guys questions?

By the way, for #2 he is talking about the weight he is lifting, not his body weight.

MrNiceGuy -
#1 - just a few minutes, like Killer said, whenever you're ready. 5 minutes is probably too long. 2 minutes sounds about right for me. You may need a little more or less.

#2 - On your first exercise, do maybe 50-60% of your max to warm up. It doesn't matter how many times you lift it, just make sure you're warm. I usually do a set of about 5 concentrating on form and going slowly. A lot of people do 8 or 10 - it doesn't really matter. The warmup does not count as one of your sets. Then, for you, I would start out with a weight you can lift about 8 times. Do a set of about 8 reps. If you think you can get the same weight up at least 4 times, do the same weight for your second set. Same for the third. If not, take a little weight off so you can do between 4 and 8 reps. If you're doing a 4th set of the same exercise, do the same thing again.

#3 - Like killer said, it doesn't really matter. Shoot for doing 4-8 reps on each set. If you can do more than 8, you didn't have enough weight on (remember that for the next time you lift). If you can't get 4, you had too much weight on.

Look, if you lift a weight 9 times instead of 8, you're not going to shrivel up. If you lift a weight 3 times instead of 4 you're not going to break your arm. 4-8 reps is a target zone for building muscle. As long as you're getting results, don't worry about the little stuff. Keep a log of your workouts, that way you can switch things around to see what works best for you.

 

[Drug_L0rd]

i have only read the replies brieftly and i haven't read through diesel's bulking up guide, i wont need to because this is pretty much common weight-lifting sense:


first off, it's not 10 sets per exercise but it's 10 sets per body part, however, for some body parts it is required to do more sets, but then again that depends on 1) the person, 2) what he/she is trying to achieve.

pick 2 or maximum three exercises per body part and do them.

let's say you wanted to work out your chest and triceps on monday, this might be what you would do:

Flat bench 3X8-10
Incline bench 3X8-10
Flys 3X8-10
cable pushdowns 4X8-10
close-grip bench 4X8-10

now for the bench you would be picking a weight that you can just finish lifting on the last rep of the last set, or a better measurement would be to take about 50-70% of you 1RM. that normally works out.

as for the resting between sets, i'm guessing you want to focuse on adding hypertrophy and not strength so i'd say anywhere from 45 seconds to 2 minutes.

and as for your final question. there you are reffering to what is called a pyramiding system. you can try it out if you want but read up on it and research it to find out more about how it works first and the purpose of it before trying it.

 

[MrNiceGuy]

cheers for the advice guys. Now, time to start working out!

 

[Soshyopathe]

DON'T FORGET TO SQUAT!