Gym and stuff

[Syegfried]

I have some quick questions for you guys!

1)how many exercises you do per muscle?
2)how long do you take inbetween sets? 2 minutes?
3)Is it a bad thing taking a shower about 10 minutes or so after working out?

And just for curiosity:

how much you lift in bench/squads/curls, your height and weight and how long it took you to be able to lift that 300 pounds in bench.

I bench about 100, 140 on squads and about 50 on the EZ bar(i know i am a weak bastard but i am just 16 and i am 160 lbs and 5"6" (172cms)

[veldrinal]

1) I find 3 exercises per muscle works best when trying to put on bulk and raw power.
2) 2 minutes is pretty standard. Doing it faster will increase your heart rate and take care of some cardio however, and if you use creatine you're muscles should be able to handle 1 min between each set easy.
3) Doesn't really matter.

Took me about 3 months to go from 70->80 ez curls, 185->200 squats, and 140->160 bench. 12 reps each, 3 exercises per muscle. Two upper body, two lower body gym sessions per week with creatine loading. 6'3" 190lbs.

[Raunchy]

it took me from 8th grade to senior year of high school to get to 280lbs on the bench, 425 on the squat and can now curl 115 for 10 reps. strength and size 8ish reps, purely power/strength 1-6 reps. most importantly is proper diet and DETERMINATION.

forgot to add weight and height. 6ft 190

and dont forget to work your abs or legsss!!!!! i used to do crunches freshman year and such but then later end of junior year i dsicovered this magical thing called an ab roller. i remember it was a bitch to do back then but now i have to put 70lbs on my back to feel anything.

[Syegfried]

lol, nice...I dont consume creatine nor amino acids, and yeah, i do about 5 execises of legs and of course i workout my abs even tho i will try to use the AB roller, didnt know it was that good

[Warum]

1) Usually 3 exercises per muscle group
2) Maybe 30 seconds between sets
3) Most of the time I shower <10 minutes after I work out

315 bench, 455 squat. Don't know about curls, I haven't tried to max in a while. I had never touched a weight when I was a freshman 3 years ago, couldn't even bench 70lbs. Back then I was 6'4, 240lbs, proceeded to drop to 210 in under a month from football/weightlifting, now I'm 6'6, 270lbs. I'm gonna be a senior next year, currently 16 years old (17 in a week).

If you want to know what's really key, do heavy weight, low rep sets, with short breaks. Also your workout should include at least 5, preferably 7 or more, exercises with 3-4 sets of each.
Another key is nutrition. I play offensive line in football so it is an absolute necessity for me to stay heavy; hence I have to eat at least 4500 calories a day while training to even maintain weight. Of course it would be vastly less for someone with more 'average' dimensions, but make sure that you intake more calories (at least 20% more) per day, and protein is the absolute key.
It's not easy.

Oh and as for creatine, I would suggest against it, but definetly get a whey protein supplement and drink it post workout + 1/2 a serving the day after.

[Raunchy]

its very difficult to do at first, if u cant do one fully just go down half way if you need to.

[Syegfried]

I know, the nutrition part is what is killing me, since i dont live in USA and the diet over here is differente from the diet you guys have (you know, latin people, rice and beans etc :P) thats why i will try to get a protein shake, and also ive been in the gym for about 6 months and i dont really want to get super bulky either, i just want it for the looks pretty much but i still invest about 1:30 hours per day in lifting and about 30 minutes on cardio.

[Raunchy]

if you want looks(toned) do higher reps, 12-15, but if you want strength to go with that 8-12ish.

[backseattaxi]

I'd say 30% of how your body is, is based on fitness and the rest of the 70% is built in the kitchen. Need to be eating your appropriate values of carbs, fat and protein or really, your efforts just pretty much go to waste.
I honestly think resting for 2 minutes in between each set is too long.
As for the shower ... that doesn't effect anything at all. Hell, can go without a shower for as long as you like .. lol

[Jaarh]

Should put this in sports/fitness, you'll get better answers there. Typically, for compound motions, I'll do 4 sets in a pyramid (1 set at 12 reps, each new set drop reps by 2 and increase weight to compensate), but for isolation exercises (triceps, for example) I'll generally do 3 sets at 10,8,6 reps. Experiment and find what works for you. Exception to this rule is if i'm doing.. leg extensions, or something. I'll still do 4 sets of that. smaller muscle groups get 3 sets. yea.

Also, make sure you get your form first, then work on increasing weight. Doing it wrong at a heavier weight will get you nowhere.

[Lotharion]

1) 3 sets of 8-12, depending on which day. eg, on a back day: pull ups, rows, lats
2) Depending on how I feel, 1-3 minutes. Any more than 1 is meant to be wasted, but eh.
3) Doesn't matter when you take a shower, lol

I can probably bench around 160-180, and squats are just about the only compound lift I don't do, as I don't want to build my legs at all.

6'1", 171 lbs, trying to cut to 13% body fat or lower before I focus on building. If I were to build to 300lb benches, it would probably take me 1-3 months depending on how good I was with my macro's.

[Nameraca]

Except getting bulky for looks like alot of teens and young adults, what's are the everyday uses for the muscles you get from your gym workouts?

[Jaarh]

An increase in strength is always good for anything in general.. you have to move a TV, for example. Stronger = easier. /shrug, best I could come up with.

[Buttfear]

Here's my favorite workout plan, great results and you don't waste your life in the gym.

http://www.projectswole.com/weight-t...ngth-training/

[Lotharion]

Except getting bulky for looks like alot of teens and young adults, what's are the everyday uses for the muscles you get from your gym workouts?

I enjoy working out. Bodybuilding is probably one of the most healthy lifestyles you can have.

That said, the practicality depends entirely upon your occupation. It's fantastic if you're going to University/College and do a lifting job on the side, like boxes. It's also good if you're a tradesman. As I said, it's just really healthy in general.

[Kritheo]

For me I got my first taste of weight lifting in the 6th grade, by 7th grade I was working out regularly usually sticking to one day for arms one day for legs doing basics 3x10 sets on about any machine or free weights I could find. by 8th grade I had a real workout schedule and this was mostly during school hours so there was no excuse for me not to be working out and learning. I then took up powerlifting in the 9th grade. and done well from there.

at 18 years old so to give you a better reference age as im now 27 and stronger than before Ill list what I could do then.
Weight - 229lbs
Height - 5ft10in
Max on bench 375 lbs
Max on Squat 690 lbs
Max on Deadlift 740 lbs
I have always been a bulky guy and never looked like a body builder. I have a pretty standard build for powerlifting <belly included>.
It took me about 3 years to build up to this performance without any protein or createin shakes. I used no external body enhancement outside of hard work.
Keep in mind for building strength you want to do less reps of heavier weight so that around 4th or 5th rep you are already struggling.
For building nice cut muscle and having a lean look you want faster and lighter reps usually more reps also.
Always practice good form and STRETCH
Stretch more
Stretch.. you get the point by now Im sure. F
Give yourself rest time if you wish to build strength as your muscles needs to take a break to heal after you work them.

[Kaptiva]

1)i do 3-4 per muscle but i do antagonistic sets (if your thinking of exhausting the muscle its more about the intensity anyway you should be able to do this within 3 lots)
2)1 minute generally though this depends highly on the training you intend on doing (Hypertrophy & Endurance - 30 secs - 1 min, Absolute Strength 3 mins - 5mins)
3)Showering is beneficial for your Hygenic Health lol so you should shower. Benefitiing your workout wise .. its pretty minimal and more for comfort

EDIT: Also im 175 cm and 98 kg and i think hovering at 12-13 % Body fat (havent bothered to test in a while)

[Lotharion]

EDIT: Also im 175 cm and 98 kg and i think hovering at 12-13 % Body fat (havent bothered to test in a while)

That sounds impressive.

[Kaptiva]

That sounds impressive.

It's not really im 26 and ive been gyming it pretty consistently since i was 17 with the odd month off here and there when im lazy or go to bali :P

Body builders sit at 3-5% when competing so if i dropped to that i would only just scrape into the light heavyweights :S

[Lotharion]

Well yeah, but as the average gym dude goes that's still pretty good.