doing only 12 sets just doesn't feel like a real workout.. I feel i'm going allout

BigSwoleP said:
Damn, this thread got hijacked like a 1980's flight on PanAM


OP: You said you gained 15 lbs in 9 weeks but aren't growing. I'm confused. If you think that you are going to keep up those gains all of the time, you are mistaken. If it were that easy, bodybuilders would 1000lbs. Everyone is different but I have been in the game for 20+ years and I can't name a single person that I know who makes great gains only working a bodypart once per week. Legs may possibly be an exception if you are doing balls to wall 20-30sets of squats, deads, hack etc. I have had times over the years where life got busy and I tried this. It was better than nothing but I never saw the gains that I wanted and quickly went back to training them 2-3 times per week.
You said yourself that you don't feel like you are working your muscles hard enough. Judging by your post, I would recommend changing your routine. Try high reps sets. I guarantee that if you change up and do you 12-16 sets for 15-20 reps, you wont leave the gym feeling unfulfilled. I have no idea what your daily routine is or how many calories you need for your lifestyle but 4000 calories at 190 lbs should be plenty. The problem that i see is that on a good day you are only getting 800-1000 calories(15-20%) of your diet from protein. If you are going to eat that many calories, Id shoot to add more protein. I just wonder how much fat you are taking in and how accurate your "calorie count" is.

Change your routine and push through it. If you are not growing, you need more calories but honestly, I have a hard time believing that 4000 calories at 190lbs with a hard core workout program isn't going to work for a guy on test.
Click to expand...

Hey, I'm just curious if you meant, natty bbers or those that hop on a gear.
Assuming I'm natty, working each body part once a week, 13 sets ea and still see progress, should I keep the same volume when I hop on a gear?
 
mike, i'm by no means an "expert" do however had over 20 years lifting and over 6 years juicing.. my best advice? learn your body! everyone is different.
i've found that after years of lifting heavy my body builds muscle better doing sets of 15's with as much weight as i can. u know that feeling you got when u first worked out? muscles hurting for days? i STILL get that most times. less prone to injury too. doing sets of 15 gives me GREAT pumps and i can also control the weight and FEEL the muscle i'm working on. lastly.. what are your goals? that's what i had to figure out? do i want to be a power lifter? why am i training like one? strength training? or body building? i train to build muscle .

same to be said on gear.. to each their own. found test doesn't do much for me other than putting on water. also hit a brick wall on tren where i'd just start to loose strength , tired ect.. found i love masteron tho! keep my test low (about 150/175 wk) and doing 900mg wk mast now.
 
I think this whole issue is much simpler than everyone is making it out to be. Your body can handle as much volume as you can throw at it as long as your dose of anabolics is high enough to saturate your androgen receptors and your calorie intake is sufficient. You can train for 4 hours a day seven days a week and hit every body part HARD every day and will make amazing gains if you have enough hormones and calories to support the workload.
 
A Veteran member, I forgot his name god damnit but his thread is probably stickied, made a thread about optimal number of sets and reps per bodypart with references included. I'm sure where in the same thread he discusses frequency. I don't know too many people training the same bodypart multiple times a week besides mass monsters, powerlifters and crossfitters. Most of the aesthestic (I hate that term now) guys I know all do one body part a week.

I myself am 235lbs at about 14-15% bf and I train my whole body in only 3 days once a week. Back & shoulders, legs and chest. I do arms every other week, but then again I'm just trying to maintain
 
RustySword said:
Hey, I'm just curious if you meant, natty bbers or those that hop on a gear.
Assuming I'm natty, working each body part once a week, 13 sets ea and still see progress, should I keep the same volume when I hop on a gear?
Click to expand...

Natural and being on cycle are two different things totally. Again, I'm not going to say that you won't make any gains but you will definitely make better gains by training muscles more frequently. Its almost a waste not to take advantage of the recovery and protein synthesis while on cycle IMO
 
RustySword said:
I went through the whole thread, can't speak for everybody, but personally working my chest 2x a week led me to no-where.
I work it once a week, 13 sets total, and I progress alright (still natty).
I actually wonder if I should keep the same workout routine and volume even when I step on a gear.
Click to expand...

Really? So how long did you test this theory for?
 
BigSwoleP said:
Natural and being on cycle are two different things totally. Again, I'm not going to say that you won't make any gains but you will definitely make better gains by training muscles more frequently. Its almost a waste not to take advantage of the recovery and protein synthesis while on cycle IMO
Click to expand...

Alright, cool, thanks for the reply! Was really hoping to hear from you.
What split / frequency would you recommend a natty guy to maximize his gains?
I stopped gaining muscles at 75kgs, I can easily gain weight, but not muscles, I made it to 80 and even 85 a couple of times, but it was mostly fat.
Then I cut back to 75kgs and always find myself at 75kgs eventually.

I've done 3/4/5 days splits over the years, tried 1x/2x and even 3x a week per body part.
Nothing really worked after reaching 75kgs, I do eat healthy everyday, sleep 8 hours and train hard.
I began around 54ish kgs, also my muscles look really thin, not thick like mesomorphes or endomorphes, I'm narrow as a stick.

(why does a mod need to approve my posts? when does this stop?)
 
Dirkmcgirk said:
A Veteran member, I forgot his name god damnit but his thread is probably stickied, made a thread about optimal number of sets and reps per bodypart with references included. I'm sure where in the same thread he discusses frequency. I don't know too many people training the same bodypart multiple times a week besides mass monsters, powerlifters and crossfitters. Most of the aesthestic (I hate that term now) guys I know all do one body part a week.

I myself am 235lbs at about 14-15% bf and I train my whole body in only 3 days once a week. Back & shoulders, legs and chest. I do arms every other week, but then again I'm just trying to maintain
Click to expand...

How dare you forget my name :)
 
RustySword said:
Hey, I'm just curious if you meant, natty bbers or those that hop on a gear.
Assuming I'm natty, working each body part once a week, 13 sets ea and still see progress, should I keep the same volume when I hop on a gear?
Click to expand...

13 sets total per week for chest ? thats really low volume unless those 13 sets are pushing a shit ton of weight.

when your on gear your MRV (maximum recoverable volume) goes up . so you'll want to adjust your training to take advantage of this
 
Roush said:
1 body part per week is not sufficient enough frequency or volume for hypertrophy. its as simple as that, your chest for example is spending the whole week recovering from one workout ? you don't need that much recovery unless your benching 500 pounds for reps. hit your chest 3+ times a week and every other body part. you can't grow with that little of workload.

if your a 200 pound dude that benches say 225 pounds for reps , then you don't create near enough overload of the muscle to warrant a weeks worth of rest . if your a 300 pound monster, then you may need a whole week to recover because benching 500 pounds for reps is a huge amount of volume
Click to expand...

Im going to have to disagree as well. I always was the guy that worked all pushing movements one day pulling the next then leg day. 6 days a week. Did it for years. When I started working out again after a loooong time off I used the same routine. it worked as usual. Then I got a new workout partner. he did one body part a day. I really didn't like it but I went along for the ride and honestly made better gains that way.

I still do one body part a day 3-4 exercises and 4 sets per exercise usually with a rep range of 8-12. I also have become a fan of muscle confusion. I change rep ranges and speed of reps every few weeks
 
RustySword said:
Alright, cool, thanks for the reply! Was really hoping to hear from you.
What split / frequency would you recommend a natty guy to maximize his gains?
I stopped gaining muscles at 75kgs, I can easily gain weight, but not muscles, I made it to 80 and even 85 a couple of times, but it was mostly fat.
Then I cut back to 75kgs and always find myself at 75kgs eventually.

I've done 3/4/5 days splits over the years, tried 1x/2x and even 3x a week per body part.
Nothing really worked after reaching 75kgs, I do eat healthy everyday, sleep 8 hours and train hard.
I began around 54ish kgs, also my muscles look really thin, not thick like mesomorphes or endomorphes, I'm narrow as a stick.

(why does a mod need to approve my posts? when does this stop?)
Click to expand...

Man, I wish that there was a real answer to your question. I would sell the secret and be a millionaire. Your body has different needs then someone elses body. I train 6 days per week usually but my body tells me when to take a day off. I don't have a split really. I always train 2 muscle groups per session. Typically something like this. Chest/tri, Back Bi, Bi/tri, legs(quad/ham/calves) Repeat. I don't have a shoulder day or a trap day but work them in my chest and back days. For example, I do shoulder press immediately after incline bench and I do shrugs immediately after row movements. I have naturally overpowering traps shoulders and calves and barely have to do anything for them to grow...I know what a curse right.
I honestly believe that it all comes down to changing up your exercises and rep ranges and dialing in your diet. Personally, I do at least 12 sets per body part(usually more) but I push them hard. By hard I mean that my muscles hurt when I leave. If I can't get a pump or pain, I do an exercise with light weight and push until failure for 3 more sets after I'm done. I don't use training partners because they hold me back and I do what my body tells me to do in the gym not what someone came up with for themselves.
 
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