I'm at it again - bringing to you only the best of the best when it comes to tips on shedding fat, building muscle and becoming less of a slovenly, disgusting sloth.
It's been a few weeks. I've had some time to really get LOONEY in the gym and try a bunch of crazy shit out so that I can see what works best. Some things didn't cut the mustard so to speak, like my caffeinated-nunchuck-session- after-weights idea.
Whatever. Onward.
Today we're going to be looking at some sample SET and REP routines that I have finely tweaked with YOU in mind. You, the average pH-er who, while perhaps being of higher intellect and literacy, might still need some definitions before we proceed:
1. REP - Repetition (fuckin' DUH). Basically, any single movement through an exercise at full range of motion. 'Partial reps' would involve only completing a certain section of an exercise's range of motion.
2. SET - Any amount of reps above 1. A set can be 2 reps, or 200.
Before you flip out and start spitting pop tart crumbs at me in a fit of rage, No, you do NOT have to DO 200 reps of anything. Not yet, at least. I'm just saying the option is out there for those who want to be a badass like me. *ahem*
Moving on.
When you work a muscle to exhaustion, you are destroying it. Literally. You are tearing down the fibers of your muscles as you push them to their limits, and interestingly, this is actually beneficial.
It's beneficial because when your body begins metabolizing more protein from the foods you eat (which happens immediately after muscle exhaustion), those torn-down fibers of muscle are rebuilt BIGGER, LEANER and STRONGER than they were before.
So the idea here is to work our muscles to the point of exhaustion - then give our bodies time to repair the damage we've done. The net result is more muscle, resulting in more fat burning via an elevated metabolic rate (remember the first post? http://pulsehead.com/263 ) and, better overall muscle tone and size which will prepare us for more rigorous and demanding workouts in the future. All good stuff.
How long does it take to rebuild a muscle fiber?
About a week, give or take depending on your age and existing physical condition.
So, then should I just exercise my whole body once every week?
HAHAHA
Fuck no. Could you imagine being sore all over, all the time, and spending 6 hours in the gym to do it? Besides, shocking your body with that kind of damage is unhealthy.
No. We need to stage our workouts so that each muscle GROUP we tear down has itself a chance to repair.
For our purposes, these are the muscle groups:
- Chest (pectoralis major/minor)
- Arms (to include triceps/biceps)
- Back (latissimus dorsi, spinal muscles and trapezius muscles)
- Shoulders (deltoids)
- Legs (quacriceps ['quads'], hamstrings and calves)
Some bodybuilders like to work their neck out, but nah. We're excluding 'neck' from our list, though there are some very exciting neck exercises here: http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/drobson21.htm .
With 5 muscle groups to hit in any given week and assuming we do 1 group per day, that leaves just 2 days out of the week for rest. That, for me, has proven ideal. There are other group classifications, but mine are the bestest. Remember that.
So, let's consider this sample regimen as a good starter:
Day 1 - Chest
Day 2 - Back
Day 3 - Legs
Day 4 - Rest
Day 5 - Delts
Day 6 - Arms
Day 7 - Rest
How many sets and reps of each muscle group should I complete?
Here is one variation (we'll get into strange permutations of these later in another post):
(5 sets of 12-15 reps) x at LEAST TWO different exercises per muscle group
That's a total of 10 sets - 120 - 150 reps for the entire workout. It's NOT THAT BAD! :D
An example of two exercises for the same muscle group would be doing decline bench presses and incline bench presses, each exercise working on a more specialized part of the chest (incline working the top, decline the bottom).
For arms, biceps get 2 exercises and triceps get 2. So you double up on set numbers for arm day. Good thing arms are small, relative to the other muscle groups listed. I mean, MY arms aren't small. Heh.
Give your body 30-90 seconds between sets. This allows for oxygenated blood to fuel the needs of your muscles, while not leaving TOO much time for recuperation just yet.
If you're doing this right, you should be sore at least SOMWHERE on your body at any given time in the week.
Keep in mind - this is TEMPORARY. You won't HAVE to keep this kind of workout routine up beyond a few weeks. What we're trying to do is BUILD muscle, then maintain it. And muscle maintenance is actually much less strenuous than muscle building.
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One note to the ladies: If you're sitting there thinking, "I don't want to be all big and muscley. Ew.", I have news for you: Your body will build muscle according to how you are genetically predisposed to build muscle. That means that if you were born with a vagina, you have less testosterone and other muscle growth-inducing hormones that would build you up to be as big as a man would be, doing similar exercises.
So don't worry about becoming huge and vascular. Unless you seriously modify your diet and get into hormone supplementation, you're going to trim down and tone up, for the most part (there are exceptions to every rule).
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Trust me. Your uncle Oathy won't steer you wrong, when I go over muscle maintenance and other exciting topics in Volume 4 - Caring for your new muscle with nutrition and stretching
GO GET EM!
(here's a puppy)
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