Im dead after 90 mins

ausilio

New member
42 male. Very slim, 9 - 9.5 stone at 5' 8"

Trying to work on shoulders, chest and arms. Im not sure how long I should be doing dumbells and resistance machines in the gym for?

I started on dumbells, not going heavy to begin with. I went for 2 7kg bells and did a variety of routines with those. Moved over to resistance machines. But after 1hr I was struggling with many repitions of anything, and after 90 mins I barely had the strength to do 5 reps on any machine.

How long should I be going for? Or will I just improve over time and be able to last 2hrs in the gym?
 
@slow Yeah! 90 minutes SHOULD leave you dead! Are you training to go back in time to the Medieval period to fight people on the battlefield with a mace?!

I always used to do 30 mins when I was gyming (too much axe usage to need it currently) and saw plenty of results from that. If you add cardio (as you should!) then you will be there longer at times, but 90 mins aint required unless you are becoming a Spartan.

Careful with injuries Spartan!
 
@gospelofgracetv Numbers, as in how much I can lift? 190 lbs bench (pretty much BW), 250 squat, 300 deadlift, 145 OHP. These are ballpark-ish; 10 lbs less here or 10 more there. I only train for strength and never close to my actual 1RM, have not tested them in a while. Started lifting well into my 30s and don't have that much time to spare after wife, kids, and work :)
 
@gospelofgracetv I don't see how lifting for longer would change anything. I can already rest for 1-2 minutes between main lift sets and I can handle progression, as the routine calls for it. Got the work capacity to superset all supplemental and accessory work I do
 
@gospelofgracetv Like I said, I'm getting through all my sets just fine and can progress as prescribed. I do believe you should rest for as long as you need to, but a minute or two seems to be the sweet spot right now. I'm sure I'm using closer to 3 minutes at the heaviest top sets
 
@ausilio Think in "number of sets" and not number of hours.

Start with what you can do, try 8-10 sets per week with each muscle group. Divide it up across multiple gym days. Lower the weight to push out more sets near the end of each session... gradually improve your number of sets per week as you get stronger

You shouldn't be in the gym for really more than an hour doing this. Maybe 90 minutes when you've gotten a lot stronger and are doing more sets each day
 
@skilletgirlepic Thats good advise. I was told by some of my gym bros when I started to target for a minimum of 12 sets, and a maximum of 20. I didn't start using the gym until mid 20's, but was always quite strong from my work (manual labour at the time) so I didn't really 'know the routine'. I found 12-14 sets depending on energy level to get me to a good level of tired, and I was able to do this in around 30 - 40 mins (depending on weights, machine usage, etc.)
 
@ausilio Find an actual routine somewhere. 90 minutes is overkill, especially for a beginner. 3-4 sets each of 5-6 exercises is completely appropriate and shouldn't take more than 45 minutes to an hour if you're choosing weights that adequately challenge you.

90 minutes is how long you spend there if you're changing on the front and back end and showering in the locker room after.
 
@ausilio When I started working out I could hardly do the workouts, knee push ups and assisted pull ups half dips with my legs touching the ground, take it slow while the muscle builds.
 
@ausilio I only lift about 45-60 minutes each time I lift, and I've been lifting continuously for a few years now.

I would try and find ways to cut down on the intensity and volume of your lifts, at least until you get past a beginner stage.

I personally recommend looking into full-body splits for beginners. It's a workout design that is the best bang for your buck in terms of required frequency for muscle growth for the lowest frequency of work. I also like it because they're usually shorter lifts, and they incorporate a lot of compound movements so you get as much output as possible on lifts. I'm currently training for a 5k time, so my lifting routine has been slimmed down to 2x a week, but recent studies show that for muscle growth to occur/muscle loss to be repelled, you need to hit a muscle group at least twice a week in the gym, so it's a great way to start easy without going 5+ days a week to the gym. I also really like it because I don't have to worry about missing an entire body part because I skipped one day in the week, so if I do push/pull/legs, I don't have to worry about missing all of my pull muscles one day because I needed to rest or something.

My current routine isn't perfect, but it's working for fat loss and I'm still able to lift the same or more weight on a lot of the lifts relative to where I started, I took the full-body split from Hevy and modified it for personal goals and preferences (all lifts are 3 sets, 8 reps):

Day 1: Pull-up negatives (transitioning to full pull-ups as I progress), barbell back squats, incline dumbbell bench press, Seated leg curl (machine), single arm lateral raise (cable), triceps rope pushdown supersetted with a barbell bicep curl.

Day 2: Deadlift, cable fly crossover, single arm lat pulldown, leg extension, dumbbell shoulder press, dumbbell hammer curl and supersetted with a triceps kickback (cable).

When I'm lifting three days a week, I go back closer to the template that Hevy has (it's a three day split): 3 Day Split Workout - Complete Guide (2024) - Hevy #1 Workout Tracker (hevyapp.com)

Ultimately, is it the most perfect lifting routine? No, probably not. But it gets me the minimum frequency each week for my entire body, I've lost weight but retained strength, and it doesn't interfere too much with my soccer/running recovery and performance.
 
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