Size, Size, Size

[Bast]

Yeah, if u didnt care especially about strength, what would be good reps and sets to train on? I now do avarage 9set/group and 4-6reps/set I have gained good size and great strength on this but now im wondering if i went 1 period (8-10 weeks) with highreps or something Purely fore size what would that be?
Im all natural.

And yeah, im hoping from answers from ppl who are competing or is close to contest. or anyone BIG(not fat)

 

[pullinbig]

strength = size. its not the other way around. focus on getting stronger and you will grow. 5lbs every other week on the bar is 130lbs per year. core movements and heavy back work are essential to strength/size gains. reps are not that important, if you wanna do high reps but you get stronger each week doing them then you wil grow. limit your worksets to 1 or 2 per exercise. good luck

 

[Bast]

pullinbig: I know that, but if u take for example Arnold, he did high reps and he was big as hell.. so i dont know where to go. I do around 3 worksets on every thing, sometimes less but never more. Thats why i was thinking about doing a new routine for 8 weeks where i do like 12-15sets/bodypart and maybe 4 sets per thing. and keep it around 12reps or something.
Any help on this would be very helpfull!

 

[Insane_Man]

Strength training and size training are quite different.

For strength, you want better fiber recruitment, for size you just want bigger fibers (hypertrophy), and maybe more of them (hyperplasia).

You should take a look at Hypertrophy-Specific Training

www.hypertrophy-specific.com

I do it myself and I have gotten both good size and strength gains. The big lifts are emphasized, as they have the most hypertrophic potential, and the standard HST workout is full body 3 times a week.

My first 8 weeks I gained about 15lbs. Obviously not all muscle, but my BF% went down quite a bit.

 

[Bast]

The thing is that i will still keep it as i always have, 5days/week
and mysplit goes like this:
Mon:Legs
Tue: Chest/Abs
Wed: Back/Traps
Thur: Shoulders/Triceps
Fri: Biceps/Abs
Sat,sun OFF
And i like it this way, the only thing that i wonder is are there any movements that are better then others? i have my whole program but its in sweish, I dont know all of the names in english, but ill try to work it out and...
Anyone else got any input?

 

[Insane_Man]

Big compound lifts are the best for size, just as they are for strength. You use more muscles and lift bigger weight. Of course there are certain muscles which are neglected by Deadlift, Squat and Bench.


The thing is, if you are going for hypertrophy, eventually a weight loses it's effectiveness. Your muscles toughen up. That's why taking a week off is beneficial. It resensitizes your body to lower weights.

This is the basic principle of HST, weights anywhere from your 1RM to your 20RM can produce growth, but over time you lose sensitivity. Hence the progressive load. You increase the load over time until it can not be increased any more. Then you take a week off and start all over again. The 3 times a week thing is just based on the idea that if your muscle are more consistently loaded, they will grow faster.

Applying the concept of progressive load to your existing split would work too.

 

[Bast]

U give me good thoughts! Thanks for the input, but im still wondering about going full out high reps for 8 weeks, then 1 week of and (if the results arnt great) go back to my original 4-6reps split.
I was thinking of 12-15sets/group and mybe 10-12 reps? Does this sound any good? Any groups that would need more?
Thanks alot bro!

 

[pullinbig]

Big compound lifts are the best for size, just as they are for strength. You use more muscles and lift bigger weight. Of course there are certain muscles which are neglected by Deadlift, Squat and Bench.


The thing is, if you are going for hypertrophy, eventually a weight loses it's effectiveness. Your muscles toughen up. That's why taking a week off is beneficial. It resensitizes your body to lower weights.

This is the basic principle of HST, weights anywhere from your 1RM to your 20RM can produce growth, but over time you lose sensitivity. Hence the progressive load. You increase the load over time until it can not be increased any more. Then you take a week off and start all over again. The 3 times a week thing is just based on the idea that if your muscle are more consistently loaded, they will grow faster.

Applying the concept of progressive load to your existing split would work too.

which muscles are neglected by the heavy core movements. in conjunction with heavy back work nothing is missed. people who believe strenght and size trainig are diifferent need to go to the gym and try some of these principals. I have trained both ways and i have grown lot more on the PLing routine. curent stats 6' 305. four years ago i weighed 210 when i started lifting. strength = size. everytime. whos the biggest BBer out there now? coleman, look how he trains. you guys are thinking way too much about this stuff. its simple, lift heavy, eat massive amounts of food and get plenty of sleep and you will grow. 5 times a week is too much in my opinion. I go three times per week and have had major gains off of a 2 day split.

 

[Bast]

Well, i´m guessing youre not a BBér? And Ronnie did do HIGH reps in his video... Arnold and most BB´s i have seen train. I have gone with 5days/week with HEAVY lifts. And sure ive gained pretty much. I sleep 6hours/night +2-3hours nap /weekdays and 8-10+hours on weekends (average) and i have a good diet and to what i think a good split and everything. I also was of that thought that big weights = big muscle , like skip lacour said. But then again you cant help wonder.

 

[pullinbig]

OK you train your 5 days a week with low weight and high reps and a year from now we'll compare stats and see who has made the most progress. BTW coleman does not do high reps. and if he does it is for 1 all out set. check out the clips i posted of him on the thread "huge lats". looks to me like he did a set of 4 then a set of 2. hmmmm..... Plus arnold had the genetics that most people cant even imagine. 99% of lifters cannot with stand that kind of volume. but hey its your body and you asked for advise. take it or leave it. heres a pic so that you know i aint no fat slob. stats at time of pic were 6' 295. i am 305 now as that pic is about a year old. thats 650 on the bar for reps.

 

[slobberknocker]

Give it a shot. I actually get better hypertrophy from higher rep work. I'm a powerlifter so obviously I need 1rm work, but for hypertrophy I prefer higher reps.

 

[Bast]

I am going to give this a shot starting next week, do so for 8weeks then 1 week off and then back to my original heavy training.
pullinbig: Sure, you are pretty big, but still u aint no BB, PL and then you aint going for muscle size as much as strength, personally my strength is getting bigger then me, or i´ve hit a plateu sizewise.

Anyways. Ill post my split as soon as i translate the movements. Then you guys can give me reps and sets help.

pullinbig: by the way, i aint no beginner myself, but i have never trained lightweight or highreps before (well maybe first year but i was smaller than a mouse). And you cant help it wonder....

 

[pullinbig]

Yeah, if u didnt care especially about strength, what would be good reps and sets to train on? I now do avarage 9set/group and 4-6reps/set I have gained good size and great strength on this but now im wondering if i went 1 period (8-10 weeks) with highreps or something Purely fore size what would that be?
Im all natural.

And yeah, im hoping from answers from ppl who are competing or is close to contest. or anyone BIG(not fat)

best thing to do is to try it and see what happens. then you'll know and wont have to take any bodies word for it. there is nothing wrong with high reps as long as they are done to failure. just use a lighter weight. I am a personal trainer as well and some of my clients respond better to higher reps but we only do 1 or 2 work sets per exercise and make sure all sets are done to failure.

 

[pullinbig]

Well, i´m guessing youre not a BBér? And Ronnie did do HIGH reps in his video... Arnold and most BB´s i have seen train. I have gone with 5days/week with HEAVY lifts. And sure ive gained pretty much. I sleep 6hours/night +2-3hours nap /weekdays and 8-10+hours on weekends (average) and i have a good diet and to what i think a good split and everything. I also was of that thought that big weights = big muscle , like skip lacour said. But then again you cant help wonder.

how old are you and what are your stats? if i may? oh and by the way i started out as a BBer but when learned that I had to shave my body and strut around in a thong in front of my parents and whoever else was there a said no way.

 

[string_bean00]

I've started to grow quickly in the past couple months when I began working in the 3-5 rep range.

However, after next week I'm taking a week off as my joints are starting to kill me.

 

[pullinbig]

make sure you warm up properly and stretch beyond what you normally do before even touching a weight. wheather i am benching 500+ or squattin over 7 I always start with the bar and add plates each successive warm up til i get to my work set/sets.

 

[string_bean00]

make sure you warm up properly and stretch beyond what you normally do before even touching a weight. wheather i am benching 500+ or squattin over 7 I always start with the bar and add plates each successive warm up til i get to my work set/sets.

I always make sure to warm up thoroughly.

I'm not blaming the heavy weight/low reps so much as the past 6 months of never missing a workout. I always thought if I got enough sleep I could do it, but the sore joints are telling me it's catching up to me.

 

[pullinbig]

how many days a week you training?

 

[string_bean00]

3 usually, 4 on occassion.

Then an ab/cardio day too.

So 3-5 days in the gym weekly.

 

[pullinbig]

3 usually, 4 on occassion.

Then an ab/cardio day too.

So 3-5 days in the gym weekly.

sounds good. take ya aweek off, eat some grub and catch on your sleep.