Am I undertraining? Please critique.

**kaptainkeezy04** · 08-11-2005, 01:14 PM

I would like to know if the number of sets I'm doing for my chest, delts and arms is sufficient...I havent been seeing much growth in those areas, but then again I know bodybuilding is about patience and hard work...I know my diet is not responsible for this because i eat 6-7 meals a day. So here is what I currently do for each of the bodyparts mentioned...and of course each time i workout a bodypart i do two warmup sets so i will not include that here. I know to switch up the routine everynow and then so I will just list what I did last week...arms and delts have their own day, and chest and abs have their own day. I workout each bodypart once every 6 days. The split is legs and abs, next day arms and delts, rest next day, then next day chest and abs, then next day back and traps, then rest day, then start over.

Arm and Delt day (I would like to make a not that when I workout I take a minute MAXIMUM for rest between each set and the rep range for each set is 6-8 and is done slowly and always with strict form)
Delts-3 sets of lateral raises, 3 sets of dumbell presses, 3 sets of rear lateral raises...
Bis and Tris- I always superset these two and start off with 3 sets of skullcrushers and superset it with barbell curls, then i do rope extensions for 3 sets and superset it hammercurls.

Is this enough sets? Part of me wants to throw in 3 more sets of dumbell kickbacks and preacher curls...is this a good idea or would 9 sets be overtraining?

For my chest yesterday I did 3 sets of benchpressing, 3 sets of dumbell flyes, 3 sets of incline dumbell presses, and 3 sets of decline benchpressing...i usually do 9 sets but I wanted to do 12 just to experiment...once again my question is...Is this overtraining or a good number of sets. I dont know if this matters but I am current 19 years old, weighing 197, and 15-18% bodyfat (bulking right now) and have only cycled once when I was 18 (yes i know i was stupid for doing that).

Now one reason I think I am currently undertraining is because I have noticed my stomach is gaining some excess fat around the waistline so what I think is that my muscles are recovering at a fast rate and then the food starts to go to my stomach because the muscles are fully repaired...I dont know if that makes any sense but I have always been a very lean person and now my stomach is gaining some excess fat. Any help would be appreciated.

**Dally** · 08-11-2005, 01:26 PM

you look like you may be yes.... but MAYBE NOT...TOTALLY hard to say

you didnt mention at least as far as I could see how long you have been lifting for in total.

I would say that from the looks of it you are doing 9 total working sets for shoulders at a range of 6 to 8 strict form.

if thats the case..then I wouldnt say that you are undertraing.. BUT, it(fat) could be building up simply because your body is ready for more....

I train instinctively, I have for over 13 years naturally ... with that said I have a pretty good inner voice shall we say as to when I can or should not do one more set... I listen to it.

I do however go to extreme pain failure sets never over 20 reps and always use a different range of reps....

I used to have a notepad and write down what I did and the reps right down to half reps and rate how I felt the next day and comment on the workout in the book the next day thereafter to see what I was responding to and not to...

I suggest you get a book, blast yourself...see what you respond to.. try new things...test yourself.

use some higher reps, mass is not built solely on reps, imo its built on stimulation...and sometimes muscle can be better stimulated at a higher rep range before nervous or tendon exhaustion.

good luck fella