Suggestion about a workout Routine..

YasinH · Post by **YasinH** » Tue Apr 14, 2009 10:33 pm

So heres the deal..

IM currently at 135lbs and i FEEL like i've come to a plateu on bench press.. Currently im at 175lbs and i can bench that with proper form 6 times for one set. then comes the second set with 2 mins rest and i have trouble doing the same 175lbs for another 6reps so i get help after 4(spotter)...third set comes around after another 2 minutes and its even worse..175lbs 3 reps(had help 4th rep)..

Now i have been stuck on 170 8 reps/3 sets for 4-6 weeks now and i would love to atleast be able to elevate and get to 180lbs/6 reps,as being stuck and plateu is not the best feeling and gets ur morale down..

Im not trying to go for strength but more for muscle mass, but i was thinking if there was a way i can switch off every other week and alternate Hypertrophy 1 week, Strengh/power The next and so forth..

For example Waterbury method 10X3 and every other week just hypertrophy 6-8 reps.. Do u guys think this would be beneficial?..

Any advice and suggestion would be greatly appreciated

swanso5 · Post by **swanso5** » Wed Apr 15, 2009 1:55 am

train each movement twice a week (bench, row, dead, squat, shoulder press, chin up) with 1 session for strength and 1 session for hypertrophy

session 1 - work up to a comfortable 1 rep max then do 7 singles with 92% of that wt

hypertrophy - 10 x 3 with a 5 - 6 rep wt

mix it up too so you're not doing all strength in 1 day too

YasinH · Post by **YasinH** » Wed Apr 15, 2009 2:26 pm

swanso5 wrote:train each movement twice a week (bench, row, dead, squat, shoulder press, chin up) with 1 session for strength and 1 session for hypertrophy

session 1 - work up to a comfortable 1 rep max then do 7 singles with 92% of that wt

hypertrophy - 10 x 3 with a 5 - 6 rep wt

mix it up too so you're not doing all strength in 1 day too

Somehow i figured you'd be the only one that would be able to Advice me on routines Swanso and i appreciate you taking your time out and effort to be of guidance..

As for the Bold part, You're gonna have to be more specific.. I know that you said train each movement twice a week so id be working out full body twice a week ,correct? as oppose to me working out MON,WED,FRI...

so u wouldnt recommend 1 week hypertrophy,next week strength that way im still doing 3 days and separating the muscle parts and only int he gym for 45 mins-1 hour.. See what im saying?

YasinH · Post by **YasinH** » Wed Apr 15, 2009 4:34 pm

hypertrophy - 10 x 3 with a 5 - 6 rep wt

^^^^^
by the way, isnt that formula used mostly for strength? hypertrophy is basically in the 6-10 rep range , correct?..

swanso5 · Post by **swanso5** » Wed Apr 15, 2009 5:43 pm

1 - work up to a max 1 rep max but hopefully better then you've done before over about 6 sets then workout 92% of that 1 rep max and do 7 sets of 1 rep with it increasing the 1 rep max each week

2 - training both at the same time is probably a better option as each strength quality (strength/hypertrophy) gets trained more often...

you'd still train 3/week...just spread them out as suggested in last post

YasinH · Post by **YasinH** » Wed Apr 15, 2009 11:29 pm

you mean doing 1 rep everytime until i get to 1 rep i cant do, which would be max and do 90% of that for 6 sets/1 rep?..

ur plan sounds good, and im sure it would work..however do u feel like plan would not see any results?..switching every other week ?

YasinH · Post by **YasinH** » Wed Apr 15, 2009 11:41 pm

swanso5 wrote:1 - work up to a max 1 rep max but hopefully better then you've done before over about 6 sets then workout 92% of that 1 rep max and do 7 sets of 1 rep with it increasing the 1 rep max each week

2 - training both at the same time is probably a better option as each strength quality (strength/hypertrophy) gets trained more often...

you'd still train 3/week...just spread them out as suggested in last post

see what im trying to figure out is, if im doing total body workout twice a week. how will i be doing 3xweek?..sounds like overtraining..

i dont mind training both at the same time but it just would make me be at the gym for more then 1 hour or so.. trust me it already takes me 1hour and 5 mins and i try to do it as fast as possible!.. ive tried everything ,waterbury method as well so im trying to combine 2 of the main routines that worked for me..

Packard · Post by **Packard** » Thu Apr 16, 2009 4:37 pm

I favor one hard workout and one easy one per week. It allows for a fuller recovery and greater strength gains.

To get strong you need to fit in all four elements:

1. Exercise
2. Nutrition
3. Rest/recovery
4. Sleep

Of these four elements, #3 and #4 are the most widely ignored. Pay attention to those elements and I think you will make some additional gains rather easily.

swanso5 · Post by **swanso5** » Thu Apr 16, 2009 6:49 pm

put it this way, if you focus on strength them you can get bigger and stronger...if you focus on hypertrophy you can only get bigger and not stronger and what's the best way to get bigger? yep get stronger

YasinH · Post by **YasinH** » Fri Apr 17, 2009 12:16 am

Your absolutely right! with that said i have a few Ideas i can test out in the next couple of weeks..

swanso5 · Post by **swanso5** » Sun Apr 19, 2009 8:38 pm

like what?

CantGetBig · Post by **CantGetBig** » Tue Apr 21, 2009 8:37 am

What worked for me was always pushing max and yes i know many poeple don't recommend it.

I weigh 150 and I got max to 245. Took me a while to do 185 for 6 reps as well, but i kept pushing myself to do 2 plates for 1-3 reps until finally i could do it for 6-8 reps (first set only).
I think sets of 4-6 are great to get your strength up. Keep pushing to try 225, even if it's for 1 rep and u'll break through it. once you do, 185 will be much lighter. One word of advice, DON'T LOCK OUT!!!

YasinH · Post by **YasinH** » Wed Apr 22, 2009 12:04 am

MAN!!!, never in body building yrs have i EVER got injured , because ive always followed the perfect routine and etc.. But on monday i went to do start the total body workout and i forgot to do a warm up set for the shoulders/chest..or maybe should have stretched longer. the first set of dips i went to do, i felt a slight pain somewhere in shoulder!. I cant exactly pinpoint where but when i stretch arms back like in a "kickback" tricep motion i feel it paining!.. can u believe it?i might have injured something doing fricking DIPS! lol..

anyways, does this mean im out of gym for a week or 2?..Does this mean the Total body training has to be delayed?..i dont like the sound of that!

WISH I HAD INSURANCE!

Packard · Post by **Packard** » Wed Apr 22, 2009 8:09 am

Whenever I do dips for a few weeks shoulders ache. Skip the dips for a while.

Train around the injury. Work what you can and avoid the shoulder area.

Pick a body part that you can train extra hard without affecting the shoulder and focus on that for a few weeks. It will give you some motivation in the gym.