Am I doing enough sets?

[flexgolf]

Hello all. I have been reading a lot of old posts pertaining to overtraining. Over the last year I have tried to reduce my workout volume to help get over some long-lived plateaus. I am wondering If my current workouts have enough volume. I would consider myself to be an intermediate lifter; which in my eyes implies that I know how to correctly perform exercises, I have worked out for 4 years and I have made decent strides (but much lower than I think I am capable of). Below I have jotted down my back/bis and chest/tris/shoulders workout which I do once a week each. Let me know what you think about these workout routines. All these sets are "balls to the wall" and I will neglect to write down my warm up sets.

Back/Bis
lat pulls- 3 sets (6-8 reps)
Low rows (cable rows)- 3 sets (6-8 reps)
Dead-lifts- 2 sets (6-8)
Barbell Curls- 3 sets (6-8 reps)
Hammer curls-3 sets (6-8 reps)

Chest/Tris/Shoulders
Bench press (or flat bench dumbell press) -3 sets (6-8 reps)
Incline press (or with dumbells) - 2 sets (6-8 reps)
Shoulder press (with dumbells, barbell, or some other machine)-2 sets (6-8)
Tricep pushdowns- 3 sets (6-8 reps)
Skulls - 3 sets (6-8 reps)

I have left out legs because that particular workout is not worth analyzing at the moment....save that scenario for another thread

[ReX357]

Looking good to me.

Now, the real question, which is maybe what is hindering your gains:

Is your diet in check?

[flexgolf]

Looking good to me.

Now, the real question, which is maybe what is hindering your gains:

Is your diet in check?

good question....honestly I don't think I know enough to tell ya if my diet is in check. I basically only eat whole grain/wheat carb sources, I eat zero sweets or other junk, I eat a lot of lean meats, probably not enough vegetables and fruits. So In general I eat a lot of good foods, but probably not everything I need. Do you know of any good food guides to follow?

[El Jugo Buen0]

seems a bit too low mann.... 2 sets for incline you said? why not 4 sets for each exercise, 3 exercises per body part except bi's and legs ofcourse.

[ReX357]

good question....honestly I don't think I know enough to tell ya if my diet is in check. I basically only eat whole grain/wheat carb sources, I eat zero sweets or other junk, I eat a lot of lean meats, probably not enough vegetables and fruits. So In general I eat a lot of good foods, but probably not everything I need. Do you know of any good food guides to follow?

Yes!!! Hit the diet forum now!!! It is lower in the forums listing pages, just above "The Lounge"

Go there and check the stickies at the top. You are looking for a "Gain lean mass" kind of diet

Good luck bro!

[AnabolicBoy1981]

i find that one excersise per bodypart for one set works best for me, not counting warm ups. Usually on chest i do two excersises and pre-exhaust with the first one. But do whatever works for ya.
Peace.

[yerg]

everyone is different, but I can tell you I have more sets in my routine. I would throw in another exercise (3 sets of it) on each muscle group you listed. Especially bis....

[yerg]

remember intensity...

[HOLLYWOOD]

what does the layout for that routine look like throughout the week?

[flexgolf]

what does the layout for that routine look like throughout the week?

Monday-Chest/tris
tues-off
wednesday-off
thurs-back/bis
friday-legs
sat-off
sun-off

[flexgolf]

remember intensity...

All the sets listed above are of the highest intensity

[flexgolf]

everyone is different, but I can tell you I have more sets in my routine. I would throw in another exercise (3 sets of it) on each muscle group you listed. Especially bis....

why should I especially add to bis? Can you jot down your routine on this thread for me?

[flexgolf]

Yes!!! Hit the diet forum now!!! It is lower in the forums listing pages, just above "The Lounge"

Go there and check the stickies at the top. You are looking for a "Gain lean mass" kind of diet

Good luck bro!

much appreciated, i have some reading to do

[flexgolf]

seems a bit too low mann.... 2 sets for incline you said? why not 4 sets for each exercise, 3 exercises per body part except bi's and legs ofcourse.

Well if I do 3 sets for a flat press, and 3 sets for incline press, shouldnt 6 sets for the chest be enough? I realize that pecs can generally be divided into 2 regions, but incline still hits a large majority of the pec region. Strangely enough, my pecs have grown better than any other region of my upper body.

should I do more than 6 sets for triceps too??? I have read otherwise. Take into account that all of these sets are "hardcore"

[El Jugo Buen0]

well i mean you should always try to switch up your routine. you may find that while you can grow with your current workout, maybe a few more sets here and there would be even more beneficial. try it out.

[HOLLYWOOD]

if you're hitting each muscle 1x/week you should add more sets in there and spread your routine out more. 12 sets for bigger groups and 6-8 smaller would be suffice. you wont overtrain with this if your diet and sleep is in check. too hard to maintain intensity when doing 3 bodyparts/day

[flexgolf]

if you're hitting each muscle 1x/week you should add more sets in there and spread your routine out more. 12 sets for bigger groups and 6-8 smaller would be suffice. you wont overtrain with this if your diet and sleep is in check. too hard to maintain intensity when doing 3 bodyparts/day

Thanks for the advice. How would you spread my week out better? I prefer working chest and tris together, along with back and bis together because i think they compliment eachother well, but i may be able to change it up if i think you or someone else can propose a better split. any reccomendations would be useful.

[flexgolf]

well i mean you should always try to switch up your routine. you may find that while you can grow with your current workout, maybe a few more sets here and there would be even more beneficial. try it out.

point taken, thanks for your input

[taiboxa]

Hello all. I have been reading a lot of old posts pertaining to overtraining. Over the last year I have tried to reduce my workout volume to help get over some long-lived plateaus. I am wondering If my current workouts have enough volume. I would consider myself to be an intermediate lifter; which in my eyes implies that I know how to correctly perform exercises, I have worked out for 4 years and I have made decent strides (but much lower than I think I am capable of). Below I have jotted down my back/bis and chest/tris/shoulders workout which I do once a week each. Let me know what you think about these workout routines. All these sets are "balls to the wall" and I will neglect to write down my warm up sets.

Back/Bis
lat pulls- 3 sets (6-8 reps)
Low rows (cable rows)- 3 sets (6-8 reps)
Dead-lifts- 2 sets (6-8)
Barbell Curls- 3 sets (6-8 reps)
Hammer curls-3 sets (6-8 reps)

Chest/Tris/Shoulders
Bench press (or flat bench dumbell press) -3 sets (6-8 reps)
Incline press (or with dumbells) - 2 sets (6-8 reps)
Shoulder press (with dumbells, barbell, or some other machine)-2 sets (6-8)
Tricep pushdowns- 3 sets (6-8 reps)
Skulls - 3 sets (6-8 reps)

I have left out legs because that particular workout is not worth analyzing at the moment....save that scenario for another thread

i think its perfect very similar to min but i would do one more set of incline and one more set of shoulder press

Hey did you get ur avatar from one of saluus pics? ?

[juicyr6]

your volume is just fine, and you frequency is very fine too bro...i grow better with lees volume than you and the same frequency (3times a week)...what is your problem now? are u gaining at what u think a slow rate? did u hit a plateau?
i think the 2 biggest mistakes bodybuilders do is overtraining and undereating, and i def. dont think undertraining either...i think ur diet might needs to be re-evaluated.
you could however try to increase your rep scheme to maybe 8-12 reps.
oh and dont forget progressive overloading either...a lot of people tend to forget that...they go to the gym year in year out and bench 225lbs year in year out, and then they wonder why they still look the same.

[HOLLYWOOD]

if you like chest/tris,back bis then do something like this

chest/tri
off
back/bi
off
shoulder/traps
legs
off

[El Jugo Buen0]

also I feel once you add in those new sets you wont be able to have days like chest/tri's, back/bi's, so you might want to just put bi's/tri's one day, back/shoulders another, chest by itself, and then legs.

[HOLLYWOOD]

i dont now about back/shoudler the same day ....

[flexgolf]

i think its perfect very similar to min but i would do one more set of incline and one more set of shoulder press

Hey did you get ur avatar from one of saluus pics? ?

i dont know who or what saluus is, but no thats an original from my old web cam (take about 2 years ago), i have others too and plan to take some more after a month or so!

[flexgolf]

also I feel once you add in those new sets you wont be able to have days like chest/tri's, back/bi's, so you might want to just put bi's/tri's one day, back/shoulders another, chest by itself, and then legs.

give me a 7 day split to think about

[flexgolf]

if you like chest/tris,back bis then do something like this

chest/tri
off
back/bi
off
shoulder/traps
legs
off

Seems like a good split, my only beef would be that my chest workouts really work my shoulders hard. by doing shoulders/traps on 5th day, I doubt my shoulders will be recovered before my chest workout on the first day of the next week. any other reccomendations?

[flexgolf]

your volume is just fine, and you frequency is very fine too bro...i grow better with lees volume than you and the same frequency (3times a week)...what is your problem now? are u gaining at what u think a slow rate? did u hit a plateau?
i think the 2 biggest mistakes bodybuilders do is overtraining and undereating, and i def. dont think undertraining either...i think ur diet might needs to be re-evaluated.
you could however try to increase your rep scheme to maybe 8-12 reps.
oh and dont forget progressive overloading either...a lot of people tend to forget that...they go to the gym year in year out and bench 225lbs year in year out, and then they wonder why they still look the same.

Thanks for the informative reply. Can you further describe this concept about progressive overloading.....to be honest, I am unfamiliar with it. The term is almost self explanatory, but I dont know of any techniques or methods pertaining to this theory.

[RJstrong]

that would be no where near enough sets for me, but then again I devote a whole workout just for deadlifts. how would you rate your level of fitness..... beginner, intermediate, advanced. i think you will need to increase your volume eventually to take it to the next level, if that is what you want... and you must get your leg training up to par. good luck... trial and error is all part of the process!

[flexgolf]

that would be no where near enough sets for me, but then again I devote a whole workout just for deadlifts. how would you rate your level of fitness..... beginner, intermediate, advanced. i think you will need to increase your volume eventually to take it to the next level, if that is what you want... and you must get your leg training up to par. good luck... trial and error is all part of the process!

I would say I am at a high fitness level (advanced). I used to train harder, much more volume, but I didnt see gains....could have been other factors like sleep and diet (i was in college...). So much experimenting to do! But i dont wanna waste any training time.

[RJstrong]

I would say I am at a high fitness level (advanced). I used to train harder, much more volume, but I didnt see gains....could have been other factors like sleep and diet (i was in college...). So much experimenting to do! But i dont wanna waste any training time.

It's not easy putting it all together is it! most critical is diet then proper rest and training. I do a high volume of training, but I train for powerlifting so our goals may be different. I like a high volume on the basics bench, squats, deads, and change my assistance work each week trying to tackle the weak points using much less volume. I really like a split that allows me 3 days of rest each week. hey man I wish you luck and I understand the feeling of not wanting to waste time. stay determined and if you feel that a change is needed i say come to the darkside and train like a powerlifter! i am really shameless in my attempt in trying to create converts.......

[flexgolf]

It's not easy putting it all together is it! most critical is diet then proper rest and training. I do a high volume of training, but I train for powerlifting so our goals may be different. I like a high volume on the basics bench, squats, deads, and change my assistance work each week trying to tackle the weak points using much less volume. I really like a split that allows me 3 days of rest each week. hey man I wish you luck and I understand the feeling of not wanting to waste time. stay determined and if you feel that a change is needed i say come to the darkside and train like a powerlifter! i am really shameless in my attempt in trying to create converts.......

I have considered it, but I really dont even know where to start....

[YVR]

I'd also have to say the timing of meals and diet is important. The routine looks good. You could try:

Monday: Chest
Tuesday: Legs
Wednesday:Shoulders
Thursday:Bicepts & tricepts
Friday: Back
Saturday: Cardio
Sunday: Off

Eat right after you work out. Try 2 chicken breasts or a shake.

[juicyr6]

you are right progressive overload is self explanatory ...just aim to getting stronger every time u do that same exercise...in a nutshell, just try to put 5 or 10 more pounds or do 2 more reps with the same weight.

[flexgolf]

you are right progressive overload is self explanatory ...just aim to getting stronger every time u do that same exercise...in a nutshell, just try to put 5 or 10 more pounds or do 2 more reps with the same weight.

oh ok, go big or go home

[juicyr6]

yeah kinda like that

[stayinstacked]

the workout looks solid, but I would change it up every 6-8 weeks, either the rep scheme or number of sets, keep the body guessing

[flexgolf]

the workout looks solid, but I would change it up every 6-8 weeks, either the rep scheme or number of sets, keep the body guessing

thanks for the advice....i must admit i have been on this split for a longer than 2 months, can u reccomend a specific change (or changes) to my current routine

[HOLLYWOOD]

Seems like a good split, my only beef would be that my chest workouts really work my shoulders hard. by doing shoulders/traps on 5th day, I doubt my shoulders will be recovered before my chest workout on the first day of the next week. any other reccomendations?

chest/tri
back/bis
off
shoulder/traps
legs
off
off

[flexgolf]

chest/tri
back/bis
off
shoulder/traps
legs
off
off

thanks for the reply, i think this may be my next split

[taiboxa]

chest/tri
back/bis
off
shoulder/traps
legs
off
off

i like
back/bis
chest/tri
rest
legs
shoulders
rest
rest
FOR ONE REASON... Chest on MONDAYS = NO BENCHS available.