3 Questions about working out

[BlackPyramid]

Hey there. I'm doing a bit of strength exercises, 40 minutes 4 times a week, my equipment is my body, some furniture and a pair of dumbbells, I try to eat well ...

My goal is to put on some more visible muscle and gain strength, however I'm not in a hurry with the muscle-thing, so if I get some strength - and the muscle in the long run - I'll be happy. My problems/questions are:

1. Should I do my exercises as fast as possible (still in a good form) or should I take my time? Does it depend on the exercise? (i.e. doing pushups with 2 seconds down, 1 second hold, 2 seconds up should be better for me, but is this also true for biceps curls?)

2. How long should I rest between sets?

3. I do 15 reps/3 sets for most of the exercises, are there muscle groups I should train with a different number of sets/reps?

[vizzle]

These are really general questions that can change depending on your overall goals/type of exercise, but to answer them as best as I can with the info provided...

1) Generally, don't do it too fast. You don't want to start swinging it and just lifting with the swing. Hold it in place for a second or so.

2) Whatever feels right. A minute, two minutes? No longer than five minutes I'd say.

3) It really depends what your overall goal is. "More reps+smaller weights" will give you a different end product from "Less reps+bigger weights". What exercises are you doing? Does it feel like you should be doing more reps? If you're not pushing yourself hard enough then increase the weight so that 15 reps exhausts you.

But honestly I hate posting any tips about bodybuilding because everyone has a different opinion on what works and everyone has their own myths and truths. Just do what feels right, push yourself. (Saying this because of this argument I found on google about reps: http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showth...2714463&page=1)

[BlackPyramid]

Thank you for the input, I know that in the end it depends on your preferences and approach, but I don't always know if the things I could change are changes for the better and it's not like I would get immediate feedback, so I ask instead. :x

I'm 1,90m (6'2") and 81kg (178,5 lbs) with ~15% bodyfat atm and I wouldn't like to gain more than 5kg of muscle (which would be my absolute limit).

I'm doing push-ups, "bicycle crunches", leg raises, dumbbell bench press/flyes, standing dumbbell press, biceps curls, stuff like this.

I'm rarely sore after working out, but I reach my limit with most exercises at 15 reps for each side. Is this a bad sign?

[durrtygoodz]

5 sets of 5 = strength
3 sets of 8 = hypertrophy

If you want to get big and strong eat lots and lift heavy. As for rest, 2-3 usually. Depends on what muscle your doing though. Some muscles recover quicker than others.

[NightZero88]

If you want to get fat and strong eat lots and lift heavy. As for rest, 2-3 usually. Depends on what muscle your doing though. Some muscles recover quicker than others.

Corrected this for you. The eat big to get big myth is just that, a myth. All it ends up doing is making you fat.

To answer your questions it really depends. From my standpoint I'd answer like this..

1. You want to maintain good form regardless of speed but you don't want to go to fast. I go slow as it really works your muscles more than going fast. Raising a weight is harder the slower you go.

2. Between reps I have no rest, as soon as you go down with 1 rep you start rep 2. I rest 45 seconds in between each set and I rest 1-2 minutes in between each exercise. The goal is to keep your heart rate up throughout your entire workout and this is done by not resting too much. Not being sore as you said is a good thing but you want to fatigue your muscles which it sounds like you are.

3. I don't believe there is any difference in terms of how many sets/reps you should do. The only difference is that you can lift heavier weights with different/stronger muscle groups. For example, lateral raises (shoulder exercise) I can only do about 15 pounds at 5*5. But bicep curls I can do 40 pounds at 8*5. So really just vary the weight and reps as opposed to the number of sets. You could do that too, really it amounts to the same thing. If you do 15 reps for 5 sets with 10 pounds or 15 reps for 3 sets at 20 pounds it is fairly similar.

[BlackPyramid]

-snip-

Thank you, that helped me a lot. :x

One last question. What about exercises where my only option to make them more challenging is doing them slower or with more reps? (like this) Do I still gain strength and some volume from it or only stamina and should I do another exercise? I know that I inevitably have to change the exercises at some point. :x

[shamozzle]

dont eat more or less, eat smarter and/or healthier
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[NightZero88]

Thank you, that helped me a lot. :x

One last question. What about exercises where my only option to make them more challenging is doing them slower or with more reps? (like this) Do I still gain strength and some volume from it or only stamina and should I do another exercise? I know that I inevitably have to change the exercises at some point. :x

With an exercise like a superman all you can do is add reps and sets to it. Those are more toning then strengthening. For example, push-ups, they do build muscle but they're not as good as lifting. If you want to add weight to a superman you could try holding a light dumbbell in your arms and adding weights to your legs. I'm not sure if I'd advise this though as it could put strain on your body so I'd recommend just using more reps/sets.

If you want to build muscle you will really need to start going to a gym where you can use a machine/weights. Doing push-ups/supermans/etc will only take you so far. I just re-read your original post and saw that you have dumbbells which is good but you'll need more equipment sooner or later. I am personally running into this issue because I just use the fitness center in my apartment but it's not very good. I like the convenience of it being close enough to walk to though.