Confused?

Benbaz

Hi,

I just finished my third review in the Gym that I’m in last night and Oh My God! Am I confused!!!
Let me explain. I joined the Gym last August as a total newbie with the goal of bulking up a bit and of course raising my fitness levels but I wasn’t in any hurry as I know these things take time and commitment. The program that I was issued with was a one day program, i.e. covered weights and cardio all in one session, and I didn’t mind this routine as it suited me and I wasn’t looking to go all “Arnie” so to speak, straight from the off! Not that that’s possible!!
Now the weights routine consisted of all your basics for a newbie, no need to detail them here, and the amount of Reps and Sets were in the range of 8-10 and 3 respectively.

When I went for my second assessment I stated that my goals were to increase in size a bit. So the routine that I was given was a 3 day split that included a lot more compound movements, i.e. Squats and Bench Presses. I’ve listed the routine below. (please forgive any mistakes in incorrect terminology!!)


Day 1. – Back and Biceps.

Pronefly
Lat Pull Down
Seated Row

21’s
Bicep Curl
Hammer Curl


Day 2. – Shoulders and Triceps.

Seated Frontal Raise
Lateral Raise
Don’t know the name of this but it’s done on the Cable machine where you use one side with the two straps/pulley things and pull your hands towards your face with elbows out and high, and pinching shoulders.

Parallel Bar Dips – Reps to failure – 3 Sets
Tricep Push on Cable machine
Lying flat on bench with arm extended in air and bending arm (but only at elbow) back towards head and back to start position 6 times and then with same starting position bring arm down just like previous movement except that the finished position is where arm is perpendicular to bench.


Day 3. – Chest and Legs.

Bench Press on Smith Machine
Inclined Bench using Dumbbells
Cable crossover

Squats
Lunges with Dumbbells 8 Reps per leg - 3 Sets
Leg Extensions
Leg Curls.

I think the Rep/Set structure I was using was called the Pyramid Structure??? It consisted of 12,10,8,6 Reps while increasing the weights for each Set except on exercises that state otherwise.

I’d finish each routine with abs and about 20 mins cardio on the bike. But I’m taking the cardio out of the weights routine and doing it on a different day.

Now getting back to my point about being confused after the assessment last night. I told the instructor what my goals were but he just didn’t seem to listen to me. He was only interested in telling me about how great his “Bums and Tums” class was!!! And when I asked how many Reps and Sets I should be doing he just confused the hell about of me without giving me a clear answer!! He also gave me an “alternative” exercise that I could do for each area of the body that I was working on but I wasn’t really happy with his suggestions.

So can any body help me? The questions that I’d preferably like answered are the ones about Reps and Sets and additional/replacement exercises. I really want to start taking the working out seriously now and I’m trying to implement the correct measures to get the results that I want.

Thanks in advance.

B.

logic1

I don't see the prob, tbh I'd ignore your last session with the personal instructor.

At best these guys do a poor job for someone becoming more dedicated and advanced.

What you're currently doing looks fine, maybe move into free weights a bit more.

Mix things up like using an olympic bar for bent over rows instead of the cable machine, get a spotter and move onto barbell or dumbell benching.

Your reps and sets look fine. I usually stick to sub 10 reps per set and three work sets per movement not including warmup.

Some movements I add more sets like dumbell rowing and dumbell benching just to really exhaust the muscle group.

You could maybe look into pre-exhaustion aswell to really stimulate explosive growth. Start supersetting or drop setting exercises is also a more advanced approach.

.logic.

Benbaz

Cheers Logic.

Originally posted by logic1
You could maybe look into pre-exhaustion aswell to really stimulate explosive growth. Start supersetting or drop setting exercises is also a more advanced approach.

If you get a chance could you maybe explain please?!?!?

logic1

Originally posted by Benbaz
Cheers Logic.




If you get a chance could you maybe explain please?!?!?

Ok well let's start with pre-exhaustion:

Say you want to pre-exhaust chest then you need to carry out some exercise before your compound movement.

i.e. Do 3 or four sets of flys each set to failure then take your rest and then move onto your compound lift.. the bench press.

This means your already exhausted from the flys so your bench weight will be lower than usual but you'll be under alot more pressure.

Gives more development but also more pain.

Drop sets are where you do a set then without stopping drop the weight a bit and do another set.

Supersets are where you do a set of exercise 1 and without rest do a set on exercise two.

.logic.

Benbaz

Thanks again!!