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2002/09/09, 11:06 PM
My chest and shoulder routines seem to be building strength for me but not too much mass. A friend of mine told me that I might be doing too much and thus making my workout more aerobic than anaerobic. Here it is:
Chest: Flat bench 14,12,10,8,6,4,2 Incline Dumbell 12,10,8,6,4 Decline 12,10,8,6,4 Cables 5 sets of 12
Shoulders: Military 12,10,8,6,4,2 Arnold Presses 5 sets of 10 Front raises 14,12,10,8,6,4 and side raises the same Rear delts 5 sets 10
Is this too much of a workload to build mass and what would you recommend? For the past 8 weeks I have taken my bench from 225 to 315, which I am amazed and excited at but my measurements are EXACTLY the same!!
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2002/09/10, 08:29 AM
We need more info to make an opinion. If you're not on ft's mass program, I'd recommend it. For me, what you're doing would be more of an endurance/strength workout plus you don't mention how often you work out and what you do for other muscle groups.
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2002/09/10, 10:46 AM
And how's your diet? This is the key...
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**_Robert_**
Pain is temporary; glory is forever!
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2002/09/10, 12:56 PM
I work out Monday through Saturday. Day 1 chest/upper back Day 2 Shoulders, Bis, Tris Day 3 Legs, Calves, Lower Back. I got this from Arnold's book. I do each twice a week.
Back I do shurgs, lat pull downs wide and narrow, t-bar rows very heavy, Legs I do Squats, hack squats, extensions, stiff leg deadlifts, calf raises. Bis I do heavy straight bar curls, preacher curls, forearm curls for flexor/extensor, Tris I do overhead raises, kick backs, extensions, heavy weighted dips, and skull crushers.
My diet is mainly chicken breasts, rice, and green vegetables and a boat load of water. I use slim fast to supplement breakfast because I am always running late and usually miss brekafast. I also use it to add anotehr meal to my diet throughout the day. I also eat a lot of fruit.
I also use 1-AD andro and creatine.
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2002/09/10, 01:19 PM
You may try just doing 3 light warmup sets, then go to sets of 6 for sets max. If you can do more than 6 after your warmups, the weight is too light. And do not exhaust your self in any way on warmups. This means just a light set of 10, the same weight for 8, then move up to about 75% of your "working" weight for only 3. Then put on 10 lbs. more than you normally do, and watch your strength go up. I think you will be amazed at not only the strength gain, which will be the first day, but your size gains. Do no more than 9-10 sets total for each body part and move on. And you do not have warm up for each exercise. If you say do flat benches first, no need to warm up for inclines too. You already are. You will be wasting valuable strength. 9-10 sets could be this...3 flat bench, 3 incline, and 3 decline. Stop and move on. These sets will of course be with max weight. Best of luck.....
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2002/09/10, 01:33 PM
And total calories? Are you consuming more than 3,500 per day? You're never going to gain mass if you are "maintaining" (eating just about enough calories that you burn).
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**_Robert_**
Pain is temporary; glory is forever!
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2002/09/10, 07:27 PM
One more crucial thing I forgot in my post...rest. Usually about 6-7 days is pretty optimal for muscles to recouperate and grow. Anything sooner may result in overtraining, thus, slowing down your growth.
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2002/09/12, 11:39 AM
I think that from the list of exercise you gave that you might be over doing it. I think that a bench moving from 225to 315 is awesome but if you are trying to gain mass you need to drop a few sets from the over all work out. I count 22 sets for one muscle! That is way to much to bulid mass.
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Life comes by only once....Live it to the fullest!
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2002/09/12, 12:08 PM
I do agree... I also think that you are way over doing it. I used to train 7 days a week and go nuts on the reps. I got good muscle definition, but not much for mass. I started getting good gains when I finally got around to fixing my diet (I now eat 5-6 meals a day...), then when that stoped helping... I started cutting back to 5 workouts a week and each body part only once a week. I also brought my sets down to 4 set per excercise (plus a warm up set if I'm going real heavy).
I've read a few places that show how to bring your bench press up by working the hell out of it twice a week, but you need to tone it down every once in a while to let your muscle fibres catch up and grow.
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