Try putting 1 broken up cookie in it.

 

How do you define a "normal set?" I have just started strength training with weights for the first time in my life and you seem to have found success so I am genuinely curious.

 

Depending on your goals, it could mean anything between 4 and 20 reps... but generally I'd say a "normal set" is one that is part of your regular workout. So for example if you are into bulk and strength and you do 8 then 7 then 6 reps at a given weight to failure (with 45 second rest periods between sets), those would be normal workout sets.

Or if you're into muscle endurance, it might be 20, 18, 16 reps.

 

Normal set, 6-8 reps.

Commonly theres the 1 rep max, the normal set for heavy which is 6-8, normal set for medium weight which is 8-10, normal set for endurance which is 12-15, and at last a burn set which is above 15 until you cant lift even light any more.

 

Sorry, I was specifically asking Atanas how he was defining the normal set for his 275lb bench press as a measure of progress.

Said another way - is it just walking over to the bench on leg days and doing a warm up set, then 6 reps of 275lbs and calling it a day? Or is it 3 (or 4 or 5 or ?) sets of 6 reps with 275lbs on his chest/arms/every third workout day?

 

My work out is pretty funky and quite a bit of volume but thats how i like it. That said i do my bench on chest day and chest day only. I mean i can "walk over to the bench and lift the 275lb" but theres no point to that. I've found a pretty good workout that does not interfier with the next 2 days of stuff so theres plenty of time to recover before pushing again. That said i'm doing 6 days at the gym with 1 optional day. If during the optional day i feel good, i just start over. If i feel like **** i take the day off and then start over.

 

I think he and I are on the same page and I pulled my knowledge from various sources. But honestly, someone benching 275-315 lb is not going to be doing a lot of reps and they will likely be doing 6-8 x3 or x4 to failure. That's pretty universal.

one rep max is pretty much only for scoring points in a contest of either some organized entity or bro-fist-land.

generally, you want to do no less than 3 sets. Brainy and I like to do 3 and sometimes a no-weight set after (just bar or maybe slightly more so we don't sit there forever) but lately we have decided that we want to be hans and franz so we are adding a fourth set at about 80% of the weight.

 

T-Nation posted a good article today about how to structure sets.

T NATION | The Magic of Cluster Sets

 

Hmm my workout it split into 6 days... one major muscle group per day till fucked up.

Chest day. Focusing flat bench

Flat bench
warm ups with 135 2 sets of 12.
1 set of 185 of 8ish reps
2 sets of 275 of 7-8
1 set of 255 of 7-8
1 set of 245 of 7-8

5 sets of 12 with 185ish on incline

3 sets of 12 on flat with dumb bells

2 sets of 12-15 on the hammer strength.

3 sets of decline cable flys of 15 (good weight to feel burnt but not high weight where you're all bending like a bitch)
2 sets of incline cable flys of 15 (same as above)

At last 2-3 sets of pushups with all you got.

I weigh in at 173lb bodyweight as of this morning.

 

Yeah. No. I am not working out 6 days a week with my work schedule. I am also probably going to sacrifice some results by not eating enough because I can't be bothered to cook a bunch of chicken breasts to bring as mid-morning and mid-afternoon snacks.

I'm already a couple of weeks in to the current program and am committed to the full schedule (initially, 12-weeks). I'm keeping pretty meticulous notes and had been lifting weights for about 6 months previously - but just kind of making it up as I went along - so I will have a documented "before and after" of results.

My primary goal is to gain strength without losing significant athleticism (i.e. flexibility, 5K time, etc). If I can add relatively lean size and aesthetics, that's a bonus. Depending on the accuracy of my calipers, I'm already around 11-13% body fat (they lack enough precision for me to be confident in a more specific figure). I'm not willing to make the dietary sacrifices and/or don't have the time for enough workouts to drop below 10%.


Speaking of, what if anything are you guys using for body fat percentage measurement? Mark mentioned a scale. Any particular brand considered to be close enough to be useful? I understand all are less than ideal vs a more complicated setup like a tank-based one.

 

Honestly the only thing i trust is the pinch scale method.

Get a base estimate with allot of pinches and then from there on measure only the main ones.

 

I have little confidence that my Tanita body fat scale is accurately measuring my body fat percentage. It normally reads 12% or 13% -- but I absolutely believe my actual body fat percentage could be anywhere from 10% to 15%

My hope is that, if I control enough of the variables, it is precise enough to give me useful comparison numbers. That is, I always measure in the morning, after a ****, before drinking or eating anything, wearing boxer shorts (seriously, people have noted measurement changes based on what they were wearing or even what they were holding in their hands).

Given that I see my body fat percentage consistently bounces back and forth between 12% and 13% using this method, I feel somewhat confident that I will see that number drop as I cut body fat.

 

Seriously?

Ill fitting pants is the reason you dont lift legs?

I have heard some crazy gym banter in my time, but this takes the cake.

 

Legs are for the weak.

 

What? I already have bigger legs than most guys hitting the squat rack at the gym. I normally do throw calfs in on whatever my short work out day ends up being. And I've tried pretty much any combo of workouts you can think out for them, they balloon and start to get cut. If I could stop the ballooning, keep these tree stumps the size they are, and get cut in the thigh region I'd think about it.

 

I don't get why so many people want to be bodybuilders, or just big.

 

First time i attempted 315. Once go heavy you just want to go heavier.

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v...91913093399252

 

I'm trying really, really hard not to rip up that video.

I know, I know "it's not a competition, bro!!!" but, come on...partials don't count. Ditch the safety bars and just ask someone to spot you so can do complete repetitions.

 

Hey you make a goal, you reach it. You have a little victory dance and you make another goal. Simple as that.

 

But dude...partials. That's like 3/4 squats, counting rack pulls as dead lifts, etc..

Hell, it's been 6 years and I still do a count off in my head before I press weight for a PR.