building muscle

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specialk12

0
if I want to build muscle, should I start my workouts lifting heavy weights with less reps. Say 6-8 reps for heavy weights. Or should I start out light and end heavy??

I am starting to see some change. I've been lifting light at the beginning and end up with heavy. I try to hit 10 reps everytime, no matter if its heavy or light.
 
another note..I usually rest for 1min betweeen sets. Is that good or should I rest more/less???
 
i do it for 1 min.. but from what i hear you should rest the same time you took to do the sets....

also if oyur just starting out... start with light weights... and after like 2 weeks start to build up..


to gain mucle you lift alot correct me if im wrong.. so try to push new limits even if its only 5 to 10 pounds every week or 2..

light weights will just carve/tone your mucels :)
 
Light weights will NOT carve or tone your muscles. Typically to build mass you would want to start somewhere between 6-12 repetitions.

Your total sets per workout should be no more than 20-25 sets. Rest intervals can be between 60 - 120 seconds. Depending on how heavy you go (6RM, 120 seconds, 12RM, 60 seconds)

Post your program if you want more advice/recommendations.
 
I do 10 reps for every workout. I switch to heavier weight when I hit all 10 reps for the 4 sets that I do for each muscle. Thats how i do my workouts.

I usually do 4 sets and 10 reps for each muscle group, adding a little more wieght as I move to the next set. At the 4th set, I usually am able to do 7 or 8 reps. I'll keep doing the same thing untill I hit 10 reps for the every set. Once i do that, I will move to the next level and add more weight from the beginning set to the 4th set untill I hit 10 reps for every set. I'll keep doing this.

thats how I do my "program"

any adivce/reccomendation
 
Just going up in weight will not increase your strength. If you want to optimize your strength and size gains you must change the intensity also. Be more explosive during sets. Add a little more weight and do 3 reps for 7-8 sets and do them as fast as possible. This will increase your explosiveness. Have 30 second rest times between the sets. Increasing strength is not only about adding more weight. If that were the case we'd all be lifting cars. This is why a lot of people peak. They do not change the intensity at all.

As jason stated above to maximize muscle gains stick between 5-8 reps (a little less than jason suggested). With lower reps you'll gain strength but muscla gain is not optimal because the overall time under tention is not there. If the reps are to high the load level isn't high enough to build strength. So to get the best of both worlds stick to the mid rep ranges. You'll see strength gains and LBM gains. Then after 2-4 weeks change it up. Go to low rep schemes 1-3. Then after 2-4 weeks of that go into more timed sets 15-30 seconds and rip out as many reps you can fror that tome period as explosive as you can go. Then after 2-4 weeks change it up again. This is a general guidline and it can get way more individual than this i.e. if you're getting ready for a paticular sport, body composition etc.
 
i want muscle gain, not overall strength. So you you think thta I should lift the first 3 sets as I normally do and the last 3 sets with explosiveness(5-8 reps) with more weight??

by timed sets, you mean do as many sets in 15-30 sec as possible?? What about the weights?? Do I add more weights for each set while doing as many sets in 15-30 secs or do I keep the same weight??
 
Go with a 4 set 6 rep scheme. Lift what you can so that you struggle to get the last rep of the 2nd set up. And use that same weight for all 4 sets. I say the second set beacuse right now you don't know what weight you will fail on so the first set might not even count.

How many days a week can you lift depends on when and if you can do explosive training during the same 4 week cycle?
 
I worders the last paragraph like a three year old sorry about that. What I meant to say was.....

If you're able or should incorporate explosiveness into a 4 week routine depends on how often you're able to lift during the week.
 
but, when being 'explosive' be careful to stay in-form. I've seen a lot of kids at the gym (mostly hockey players trying to get big) that do explosive training and their bodies are flying everywhere. Also, to build the muscle mass, make sure that you rotate exercises to get an even build and stimulate growth.
 
AllCdnBoy, true. I always forget to mention that because I think thats one of the things people should know beforehand. And a lot of the people on here are pretty young so I should mention it more often.
 
ill give you my routine later on today, I'm going to the gym now. But I would appreciate some input into my routine. You know, add what you think is best for me to do for my routines. I haven't done explosiveness training, but plan on doing that. If you feel that I should add it on a particlular day(after you see my schedule) then by all means, do it. Add what you can when you can so I can get an idea of what your talking about when you mention explosive training. I want to build muscle mass and get definition at the same time.

thanks
 
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