Hey guys. Once upon a time I did simple low intensity with a set number of reps type lifting like 3 days a week for about year or so and I never saw any gains from it. So I started reading up on the problem more on the subject and in the end I decided to go with this HIT weightlifting where you do the exercise till you cannot any more then rest then do another exercise. And do that for the whole body. I do that once a week like the interwebs suggests. Since I started doing that about a month and a half ago I have gained more muscle and lose more fat than I did that whole year the other way and I am not even doing cardio. I am typically sore for like three days or so (only really sore for one) depending on some factors. But yeah once a week.
My question is, should I start doing it twice a week since i am only sore for three days or would that hurt me more than help me? since my previous method of three low intensity days a week did nothing.
most people start with the 5x5 program and do things like
monday-chest
tuesday-delts, calves
wednesday-back
thursday-arms
friday-legs
then rest the weekend and do it over again the next week. that's a good beginner program and you can always change days around depending on your schedule, IE if you actually need use of your legs on the weekend you can do legs another day.
really if you're looking to build muscle it's not all that complicated, make sure you're taking in the right nutrients, make sure you have a decent caloric surplus, lift heavy and push yourself. you can go into the 6-8 rep range for most exercises if you think 5x5 isn't working and do 3-4 sets of each exercise, or you can do what you're doing now and go to failure, which should be in the 10-12 rep range. if you're failing at 20 reps for bench or something, increase the weight.
i'm not entirely sure what you mean by doing the exercise until you can't anymore? are you just doing a single set and then moving on to a new exercise or what?
what i do is stick to the 6-8 rep range when i'm either failing or within 1-2 reps of failing. i usually stick to the schedule i listed above, but if i feel like one body part needs more work than the other, for example arms, i might do arms again on the weekend but at least giving myself 2-3 days to rest before working out that body part again. really as long as you give yourself 2-3 days to rest you can usually do the same workout twice in a week. i wouldn't do any more than that though or you won't give your muscles the time to rest and repair and end up injuring yourself and not making any gains
[editline]23rd October 2012[/editline]
you'll need to elaborate more on exactly what you're doing in terms of sets / reps and if you're only doing that one DAY a week, i'm confused a little
well I used to do that but it just didn't work for me. Doing a whole body work out all at once just seems to work better.
As for reps and such. iI just do that whole 3 seconds up, hold for a second, 4 seconds down thing. And just do that till you cannot do it again. Setp down in weigh (drop set) and do that till failure again. Then wrest for 2 minutes then move to next exercise. Like i said it is working pretty well for me in comparison to anything i did before.
I am just wondering if anyone else does HIT lifting and knows if doing it twice a week is any better or worse than once a week. i sort of view soreness as progress. any other program i tried before never made me sore.
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whole body workout once a week is really inefficient and doing drop sets for every single exercise isn't the best idea either. if the other programs you've tried weren't working that well then you're doing something wrong, but with that said just because you're not sore doesn't mean it didn't work.
i personally workout most muscle groups (chest, legs, back, etc.) twice a week, for 2 hours at a time. every single workout i do, i increase my previous weight unless i had serious troubles the previous week. even if i feel like shit, if i could push 300 x 6-8 for BP, i'm going to increase it by at least 5 pounds the next workout.
you need to have self discipline and dedication, if the other programs didn't work it's because you weren't pushing yourself hard enough. i'd say do anywhere from 4-6 exercises for one muscle group, for example chest, and about 20-25 sets overall with reps varying from 5-10 depending on what exercise you're doing. do that on say a monday, and the next day do a different muscle group while shooting for the same number of exercises, sets, and reps. always make sure that the number of reps you're doing isn't far less than what you can do. if you can do 8 reps like it's nothing, don't do more reps. increase the weight on the next set until you find that perfect weight where you're hitting that rep range.
that's what i'd suggest. a full body workout is something i only ever do if i'm traveling and don't have time to dedicate 2 hours a day to the gym, it's not something i'd suggest doing to gain muscle. it's something i personally do to maintain / minimize muscle loss while out and about.
What's with your insane volume recommendations? While it may be manageable for you, it's not usually something I would personally recommend to everyone.
I mean, working out 5 days straight, 20-25 sets is hardly something a beginner should waste his time on.
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