Daily Discussion Thread: 11/23/2017

okay, I'm going to genuinely help you here because its clear you are willing to put the effort in. Let me make this so fucking clear, the information I am going to link you is dead on, the most accurate, most reliable, most up to date information currently available and is the answer to what the fuck you should be doing.

Here is me, lifting two years, 1 year spent figuring out exercise selection/volume/frequency that works best for me, and a final year actually getting fantastic results: https://i.imgur.com/bK1iAwF.jpg

Source 1: Eric Helms in his Muscle and Strength Pyramids book, outlines exactly what research currently shoes is the best volume/frequency/intensity that science currently points to. GET HIS BOOK (torrent it). READ HIS BOOK. Before you do that, here is a screenshot of the conclusions :https://imgur.com/BPTwNC3

volume: 40-70 reps per muscle group

Frequency: 2-3x per week

Intensity: 1-15 rep range, 3/4ths in the 6-12 rep range, 1/4th in the 1-5 or 13-15 rep range.

Source 2: Lyle Macdonald, in his article "Categories of Weight Training". He outlines all the basic information you need to know about hypertrophy training through apges 1-6, I recommend you check out his strength training discussion afterwards because that applies to any natty wanting to get big but hypertrophy is obviously the focus. https://www.bodyrecomposition.com/training/categories-of-weight-training-part-1.html/ . READ THE WHOLE FUCKING THING. KNOW THE "WHY' BEHIND WHAT YOU ARE DOING. But once more, lets speed this up and just show you his conclusions/summary on page 6.

Volume: 30-60 reps per muscle group

Frequency: 2x per week or once every 5th day (just under 2x per week)

Intensity: 60%-85% of your 1rm aka 5-20 rep range.

rest: 1-3 minutes, scaled up based on intensity of the lift. (goes to 5 minute rest time in his strength training category so keep that in mind for your 4x5 lifts)

Are you seeing the fucking pattern here? I could do this over and over I collect a fuckload of research on strength/hypertrophy training but I think for a beginner learner its good to have these books and articles that put it all together. Continue looking at actual, intelligent research/books/articles from men who have science back their shit up and you are going to find ALL OF THEM come to the conclusions within the ranges I just described, with subtle unimportant variations in their recommendations.

My personal guidelines I've created, I basically have a word doc where i save everything I find and compile it into one comprehensive guideline to base my routine off of:

Weight Training:

Causes of muscle growth:

By inflicting microtrauma on muscles, resistance-based exercise signals muscle protein synthesis during the recovery period in order to rebuild and prepare for the next time trauma occurs.

progressive tension overload(mechanical tension): As weight is increased, the body adds muscle to adapt to the increased stress on the muscle. muscle damage: The mild microscopic damage that occurs from weight training stimulates repair and add additional muscle, the goal is to damage muscle just enough to maximise repair and growth.

metabolic stress (muscle fatigue): Deplete the muscle of glycogen and energy causing it to adapt and store more. Hypertrophy Training:

Frequency and volume are set to balance the positive (size,strength,health) and negative (fatigue, stress) effects of weight training. Hypertrophy is the same no matter the rep range or frequency as long as volume is kept equal, so keeping most lifts in a moderate rep range is likely optimal for health, safety, and efficiency but some lower work for improving strength quicker can possibly help further (research grey area).

Frequency: Hit each muscle group 2-3x per week

Total Volume: 30-70 reps per muscle group, per session ( pay attention to overlap). Break into 4-8 total sets per session

Rep Range: 3/4ths of your training 6-15 repetitions, 1/4th in the 5 or below range

Rest: 1 minute isolations, 1-2 minutes accessories, 2-3 minutes compounds, 3-5 heavy compounds

Strength Training:

Intensity: (%1RM): 85-100% (with some variety)

Exercises per muscle group: 1-2 primary movements per workout heavy, everything else moderate or light

Total volume per workout: Variable but 9-25 repetitions per exercise per workout seems to be a decent range. Break into 4-8 sets. Frequency: Heavy twice/week, higher frequencies with submaximal loads if appropriate.

Rep Range: 1-5 reps/set

Rest: up to 5 minutes based on lift intensity

Training Guidelines:

Use going to failure sparingly, stop with “one in the tank”.

The focus is working the target muscle group, NOT moving the weight

Do reps as fast as possible without momentum helping the lift or form, control, or tempo breaking

Focus on maximising range of motion as long as joints are not compromised

If it hurts anything other than muscle, stop immediately.

Put in effort and enthusiasm into every workout, you need to enjoy the process and be motivated to progress!

My Personal Adaptations:

I do not think I should count “overlap” repetitions, where a muscle is hit secondary in a lift.

Adapt exercises and rep ranges based on WHAT WORKS FOR ME. Log your progress, if you are not progressing on an exercise modify it until you are. Trial and error.

/r/bodybuilding Thread Parent