I work out almost everyday, 100 reps on 4 machines at least, and around an hour of hard core racketball. my problem is the weight im useing, i enjoy my workouts very much, ( once i get started anyway ). but if i add five or ten more pounds to the machine it wont be as much fun. more like work, so i am conpensating with more reps. is this a good idea? how will my results change? please keep in mind that I do alot of sports and do not want to get all swarzneger and not be able to do them, i do like the attention i get but my main goal is to stay strong. thanks
More wieght builds more muscle, while more reps builds more endurance (and probably tones, too). At least, that's what people have told me...and it makes since.
Yeah if you keep the same weight then you will just maintain the way you are now, increasing weight will build more muscle..
Yes generally speaking if you're just looking for stamina and fat burning you're in a good range. One thing though. Be sure to change up exercises each workout due to the risk of repetitive stress syndrome on your joints.
my trainer told me that to tone it's 15-20 of light weight and to build muscle it's 10-12 of heavier weight, 2-3 sets for both. I think this is for women though...I am really clueless lol so I don't know how this applies to you I just know he had me doing the heavier-less reps and now that I have the muscle I want he has me doing lighter but more just to mantain and then still has me doing heavier on my ass, hip flexers and thinghs to get them bigger. like I said though I might be totally wrong
Ive been told that doing more than 25 reps. per set is just a waste of time. I would shoot for 6-8 sets of each exercise, 2 exercises for every muscle group. Let 2 of those sets be of 15-25 reps. The rest of the sets I would realy be pushing adding as much weight as possible. I get my best workouts in when I do a couple of sets of only 4 or so reps.
that the same answers i get from everybody, see why im confused what also confuses me is somedays im stronger than others,and then theres that last rep, IT feels so freaken heavy sometimes i can't lift it, wouldnt my body consider this a need for more muscle?
ok. I'm a personal trainer so I'm going to give you my professional opinion and you can take it or leave it. First of all, I suggest hiring a personal trainer. I'm not kidding, nor am I trying to plug myself as I'm moving to NC and I'm no where near you. The reason I suggest it is because you will continue to get false/conflicting information. You mentioned that your workouts are not fun and you have been doing the same thing for a long time. This is where a personal trainer can help. First of all, they know what they are doing (BTW, look for a nationally certified trainer not some bum off the street who has muscles) second of all they can make a program specifically taylor made for you and your goals, third, they are there and hold you accountable, you probably won't blow off a work out when you have paid up front and you know someone is there waiting for you and they will push you to go further than you would push yourself normally and last, they know a lot of different exercises so they can not only keep it interesting for you, keep you from getting hurt but they can also help you progress, because from the sounds of it, you are going no where and wasting a lot of time and energy. Now, on to your original question. The cardio aspect of your workout is excellent, keep that up. However, there is absolutely no reason at all what so ever that you should be doing any where near 100 reps of anything. EVER. If you are doing 100 reps of one exercise you are 1) doing it WRONG, or 2) you are not challenging yourself in the least bit. If your goal is like you say to gain/maintain strength then you should be doing about 2 or 3 exercises per large muscle group (lats, pecs, quads, hams and delts) and only about 1 or 2 for small muscle groups (bis, tris, calves). Do the large ones first, but not all on the same day or you will not be able to get out of bed the next day. Maybe do a front/back split, or an upper lower. Those are the two basic splits. As far as weight goes, you should be doing between 8-12 reps (some will say 6-10, but that is more like competitive training for an event) of a weight that when you do get to the last rep of each set you can't go any further. Not the last one all together, for Christ's sake I could be benching the damn bar all night long. So set one: say you start benching at 60lbs or so, by the time you are at rep #12, it should be a struggle to get it up, if you can get it up at all. Then you rest. For building muscle you would want to take a little longer rest than one who just wants hypertrophy. So rest for at least a minute, maybe two. Then do your next set. Do 2 sets to start and work your way up to 3 sets (unless you already feel comfortable doing 3, but if you are using the right weight, you should be sore the next day after 2 sets, plus until you are used to it, time might be an issue). Now, after you are used to the routine (like 2 weeks, maybe 3) then you need to start increasing weight by about 5% or so, per week, or every other workout depending on how long it takes you to adapt. I have a client that goes up 2.5-5lbs every week. So if we go with that 60lbs (I never count the weight of the bar) you would add on 3lbs. By this point you should be able to do that. Most gyms go up in 2.5lb increments, so you could do that as well. Trust me I know you can do it, and it really will accomplish what you are looking for. This routine doesn't give you the silly pop of the muscles some fools are looking for this is strictly for strength. It is the program I use. Now, being as I don't want to put personal trainers out of work, I'm not going to design a program for you, and because I don't feel it is safe for me to do so legally. However, Iron Goth is very knowledgeable on this subject and I'm sure he would be willing to help you out with which exercises to do (though, really there are only a basic few you need to start with). Plus, he seems to be around more than I am. So, Iron, I'll let you take it from here. Otherwise you can find many many exercises and programs on the internet. Also, one more piece of advice... It is a work out it is not supposed to be all fun and games, at times it is supposed to be HARD WORK. Suck it up! Trust me the results will be worth it. Good luck!
