Weekly Question Thread - Week of 8/5/2019

paparazi257

New member
In the hopes of reducing the amount of low quality, simple, and beginner posts on the sub we are going to try a weekly question thread. It would help if users keep it sorted by new and check in every few days to help people out.
 
@paparazi257 Anything wrong with this training plan? I missed Wednesday's thread. I might also add lateral raises to A and maybe incline db press to B. The reason to allow for a range up to 8 reps before upping the weight is to allow for some more volume.

Workout A

Squat 3x5-8

Bench 3x5-8

Pendlay Rows 3x8

Face Pulls 3x10

Calf raises 2x15/Tricep pressdowns 2x10 Superset

Workout B

Front Squat 3x5-8

Overhead Press 3x5-8

Romanian Deadlift 3x8

Pullups 3x8 (any grip)

Ab work 2x15/Bicep curls 2x10 Superset

Edit: I find that I prefer front squats and romanian deadlifts over conventional deadlifts and back squats. Though I might just include back squats anyway
 
@racheline
Include things like age, weight, height, gender, training history, current goals, calorie/macro goals, etc

This is greatly needed to critique any routine.

The reason to allow for a range up to 8 reps before upping the weight is to allow for some more volume.

Often beginners think that they need to lift heavy and in the 5 rep range. You should be lifting somewhere around the 6-15 or 8-12 range on compound movements with a few reps away from failure.

How many times a week are you doing this routine? 6 sets per muscle a week is very low even for beginners. Beginners should be doing 10 sets per muscle a week. So the squat by example would become 5 sets per workout if this is 2x a week.

There's a lot more issues with this routine though and would need the additional information.
 
@redwolf6 I’m 27 years old. 5’9 and at 160. I’ve been recovering from a pretty gnarly car accident but I’m in good condition to lift weights again. I’ve just been re-learning the lifts. I lifted rather inconsistently for about a year and a half before the wreck.

With this routine I’ve only been at it for almost a month, three times a week. It is interesting what you said about the 5 reps as almost every novice routine has the compounds in that range
 
@racheline
almost every novice routine has the compounds in that range

Novice lifting/strength focused routines. Not novice bodybuilding focused routines. A Novice bodybuilding routine should have a variety of rep ranges and strength/hypertrophy focused days.

I would recommend a science based routine instead of making your own.

This one is very good

Meanwhile, I would learn about what makes a good hypertrophy routine. You'll learn just about everything you need to know about hypertrophy training from The Muscle & Strength Pyramid book.
 
@redwolf6 Thanks for the recommendation, friend! Unfortunately I do workout at home and I don't have access to machines, so finding an equivalent to leg press and extensions will be difficult. Other than that, I can pretty much do everything else.
 
@paparazi257 TL:dr Have any of you reading this, switched from a strength sport to bodybuilding?

I know there are already a bazillion threads on 'how to switch from powerlifting/strongman/competitive sharting' threads but they're all old enough to be archived.

I'm a powerlifter with strongman tendencies, 2 Novembers ago I partially tore my meniscus in my right knee. Probably 85% of the time the last week of a training cycle will leave my knee in mild discomfort for 2-3 weeks after, like right now. After a lot of thought I'm mostly at the decision that it is time to quit squatting heavy. I also sleep for shit nights after deadlifting heavy and those heaviest sets towards the end of a cycle, combined with having had pneumonia multiple times as a child, can leave me unable to get back to normal breathing for tens of minutes after on weeks like this one where there have been air quality alerts

My gym time is my me time, it's that time where no one is demanding my attention and I can just zone out. I love being the strongest person at work, at Church, most places I go that aren't competitions/gyms. I do NOT love that my blood pressure is in stroke territory, that I'm always hungry and morbidly obese by any measurement, that I can't see my dick standing up.

Have any of you reading this, switched from a strength sport to bodybuilding? I'm not interested in a competitive level, I'm never going to be anywhere near that, but I think transitioning is going to be better for my overall health and lower my injury risk rate some.

If so, I'd love to ask some general questions, I can only take so much from hit and run answers on locked threads.
 
@griffinwriter Not a bodybuilder, powerlfiter here but I plan a whole cycle out and print it out, mechanical pencil and accordion folder in my gym back and I check stuff off as I do it, if I fail something I write down some notes that seem relevant (maybe I slept poorly, maybe the heat index is 104F with 80% humidity grumble) and then when I do the next cycle I scan over any fails/notes and adjust numbers accordingly.
 
@tebbett the answer is no

currently we know that the last (about 5) reps of a given set are most stimulating since they trigger high-treshold motor units which have the most potential to grow, we also know that it's quite hard to gauge your repetitions in reserve the farther you end from failure, however going to failure is extremely fatiguing and might reduce your overall performance when done too ofen (what would be worse, in every set)

so what's the middle ground is that you should aim for sets that are performed from 4 to 1 reps shy of failure, with stopping 1-2 RIR mostly, so you might start your meso with 4RIR then 3, then most of the time 2 (since it's much easier to gauge and has a good stimulus:to:fatigue ratio, probably the best to be honest) and 1 at the tail end of your meso and right before your deload

stopping 1-2 RIR (or 3, or 4 for some time) in your sets isn't going to hurt your hypertrophy, even if you're cutting out a few hypertrophic reps in a set. Also, stopping 1-2 RIR will likely allow you to do more weight/reps on subsequent sets, which will keep your hypertrophic reps and volume load elevated over multiple sets. Your aim is to accumulate as many stimulating reps as possible overall, not per set, hope it sounds reasonable
 
@paparazi257 I train to failure way too much. It’s unreal the difference between reps in the tank and going to absolute failure for fatigue management. Anyone have some remedies for me to not train with my ego and actually follow RPE guidelines (besides not being idiotic)?
 
@caradke Just think of it in terms of accumulation:deload paradigm. If you go too hard, you will need to deload more often. Thus, you will give your muscles way less chance to grow. And going to failure shows little to no benefit compared to leaving few reps in tank. Be humble but not timid
 
@pzero39 What really matters is your weekly average calories & tracking your intake accurately by weighing and counting.

That said, skipping breakfast is shown to not have an effect in recent research.

However, depending on how much running you are doing, if your goal is bodybuilding/hypertrophy you should instead opt for LISS over HIIT. Or greatly limit your HIIT cardio.

HIIT is more impactful to resistance training than LISS. This because of the forces placed on the muscles pushing them to work harder at a higher contraction rate that makes it similar to the stresses of resistance training and can lead to you accumulating fatigue that bleeds over into your hypertrophy workouts.

Unless you are a runner with bodybuilding as a side hobby, you should limit your HIIT sessions to 1-2x a week with no more than an hour a week.

The recommendation for cardio is LISS as it is shown to not be impactful to bodybuilding goals is used in moderation. You can do LISS for half the time you spend lifting in the gym. So 6hrs lifting = 3hrs LISS.
 
@paparazi257 Hi, I’m a big fan of Musclepharm and have been usong their combat as a source of protein ever since. But I’m wondering what’s the difference of MP’s 100% Whey and their Protein Powder? I’m on my 8th month of working out and I’m trying to cut right now from being overweight. Which one should I choose?
 
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