Few questions answered...

[dannnn123]

Hey, this is just a few questions answered from research i have done, and personal experience. I hope this helps people, I know it has helped me

Should i warm up?
Many people do not warm up, but you should definitely warm up without a doubt to help prevent injuries. Warm up could include light stretches, 5 mins cardio and warm up sets before you do your lifts. You should only stretch between the warm up set and main lifts, not between main sets otherwise you could burn out the muscle before you even work-out.

How many reps should i do?
Depending on your goals, 2-6 reps for strength and power, 8-12 reps for muscle and size and 15 - 20 reps for endurance. If your goal is to gain strength for example the weight should be heavy enough to only allow 6 reps, so you can not lift one more. Infact you should only be able to get 4, then have an absoulute struggle getting the last two, to make sure you go to absoulute failure. (make sure you have a partner). Then when the 6 reps seems to be getting easier, increase weight a little.

How many times should i workout a week?
Around 2-4 times a week should be sufficient, otherwise you will not recover fully and grow. It usually takes 24-48 hours for a muscle to fully recover. Even if it is your chest that is sore and you work out your back, your overall body system has not recovered yet. You could ignore it and go but you would be wasting time as your muscles do not grow as much if your body is not fully recovered So a every other day routine should be fine.

How much rest should i have in-between sets?
You need to let your body recover and breathing return to normal after a set, so take as long as you need. Usually 1-2 minutes is fine.

What supplements should i take?
First of all, you need a good diet for supplements to work fully, but stick to the basics, like whey protein, creatine, multivits/minerals and maybe a pre-workout could be beneficial to your routine.

Should i wear weight lifting equipment?
Weight lifting equipment such as belts and gloves should be used to help prevent injury, especially when lifting heavy weights on exercises such as dead-lifts, squars etc.

How fast should i lift weights?
I reccomend a 2-1-2, 2 seconds for the push/pull, hold for once second, then 2 seconds to get it back to starting position.

How many body parts should i workout in one session?
2 body parts in a session is ideal. If you did 3-4, the session would drag and you would become bored a lot easier and lose motivation, so stick to 2 at most.

When should i increase the weight?
For example, in muscle building when you get 12 reps out easy, with a weight you struggled on before, increase it until you struggle again.

How much protein is needed?
I reccomend 1 gram for every pound you weigh.

Creatine: good or bad?
Very good. Creatine increases energy production in muscle cells so you lift heavier and longer! It pulls water into your muscle cells making you look bigger (just drink a substantial amount of water through the day)

Free weights or resistance machines?
Both have their uses, but free weights are far superior for body mass and strength as more muscles are involved and you have a full range of motion. I tend to do use resistance machines before free weights so the muscles i work out are warmed up and ready to go!

Sleep: How much do i need?
IT has been said that for optimum muscle growth about 8-10 hours a night, at least 8. Studies show that sleep is best in spaces of 3 hours, so 9 hours sleep would be the best I would say.

Do not be a 'half rep hero'
You will see people in the gym stacking on loads of weight, and only actually doing half a rep as they have put too much to do a proper one, while this is better than doing nothing, going a bit lighter and doing a full rep is much more beneficial. For example, if a man bench presses 100kg and only did half reps for one session, then benched 70kg the next session properly he will feel much more pumped and bigger doing this as it involves the whole muscle you are working out.

I want strenght, but not to get big?
Do compound lifts such as basic presses, squats, dead-lifts, bent-over rows with a rep range of 2-6. Remember to go to failure and increase weight when it starts getting easy. Make sure you have a spotter with you!

Keeping motivation?
Music! Take your own player and listen to motivational music, helps me alot. Also, get your spotter to push you on when you are struggling. And log your progress and change your routine every so ofter, nothing motivates me more than seeing how much progress i make. And changing my routine shocks my muscles into growth as they grow accustomed to the same workout and wont grow as quick.

That is all. This information is from my own research, own experience and gaining knowledge from a local bodybuilder.

Thanks!

[Dolphinski]

I tend to do 7 reps for every exercise. Does this mean I'll have strength and muscle or neither?

[Elvis]

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I tend to do 7 reps for every exercise. Does this mean I'll have strength and muscle or neither?

"He's not the messiah, he's a very naughty boy!"

[MJ.23]

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I tend to do 7 reps for every exercise. Does this mean I'll have strength and muscle or neither?

I have always modelled my reps system of that of an asymptote. Using a graph of y= (1/x) and the correct translational limits a singularity is found to occur at 7 reps. So if someone were to do 7 reps, their rep would extend to infinity and they would no longer exist in the universe. Not worth it if you ask me.

[JC82]

I always wear gloves to prevent injuries. Especially while I'm doing EZ curls in the squat rack. Around the 13-14 rep range. After burning out doing single arm cable curls.

[Dolphinski]

Wish I could do 14 reps, unfortunately due to a head injury sustained while squatting heavy I can only do reps that are prime numbers now.

[Elvis]

I believe the optimal number of reps for upper body exercises is number of limbs mulitiplied by pi, so for barbbell curls I do roughly 6.283 reps, this is because the arm moves in a rotary manner. For lower body exercises I use number of limbs mulitiplied by e or 5.437 roughly, but am not sure why.

This mostly explains why crossfitters have to flap about like uncoordinated fools.

[ben 21]

sleep in spaces of 3 hours? i got to admit i feel better sleeping 6 hours than 7 i feel terrible after 8 but great after 9. must be to do with the sleep cycle. i feel better not going to sleep at all hence why im here at 5 in the morning while you lazy pepole sleep lol comfortable in your little beds? a? im going to blast my quads before you little dweebs have even had your bowl of lucky charms and watched icarly.



tounge firmly in cheek, im not that much of a jerk ;-P