Never really hit failure?!?!?!

Here is my basic lay out of my routine 3 sets of 3 exercises per bodypart except large muscles (chest, back, Sometimes qauds) any how i don't ever really hit failure on a workout....myabe on a set but not on a workout...whats wrong ive done this same routine for a while and im ready to change it up any suggestions oh and each body part once a week
MON:Chest
Tues:bis&tris
WED:Legs
Thurs:back& shoulders
friday: (sometimes i do back and shoulders seperate in which case i do shoulders on this day)
sat sun rest

Seems like you never get to failure becuase you aren't lifting enough. I know they say there is a point of overtraining, but everyone is different. I'm not the swolest dude out there (not even close), but when I lift, I go by feel as to how hard I've worked out - not just what's written down on paper.

Try throwing a few more sets into each exercise and see if that fatigues your muscles any. You've got to tear them down in order to build them up.

i will actually i was hoping someone would right that. thanx keymastur youve always been a great help to me

What's your layout of exercises on each day of lifting ??

ok here it goes
MONDAY: flat bench 1xwarmup 1xworking set 3xheavy sets
incline (db or bb) 3xheavy sets
flat DB press 3x heavy sets
Then some cable sets (just go off feel)
On monday i stay in the 6-10 rep range

TUESDAY: Tricep pushdowns 2xwarmups 3xheavy sets
Head smashers 3xheavy sets
one arm ext or dips. failure for 3sets
BIs Cable curls w/curl bar 1xwarm up 1x working 3x heavy sets
preacher curls 3xheavy
hammer curls superset w/ concentration cable curls 3xheavy
still 6-10 range

WEDNESDAY: Squats (this is the only exercise i just go until im done sometimes 3 sets sometimes 6)
Leg ext 3x controlled weight sets
ham curls 5x heavy
calves 3or4 heavy sets
THURSDAY: lat pulldowns 1xwarmup 1x working set 3xheavy
DB rows 3xheavy
Pulleys 3xheavy
shrugs 4xheavy
FRIDAY: military press 1x warm up 1x working 3x heavy
side laterals 3x heavy
bent over cables (to hit the posterior) 3x controlled

Is this to basic? let me know if it is. Because i need to do something

Have you tried supersetting anything yet ??? Here's what my superset workout looked like when I changed to it :

Arms :
- skull krusher / seated dumbbell curls
- rope extension / rope hammer curls
- isolated dumbbell curl (using preacher bench backwards) / overhead dumbbell
- reverse barbell / dips

Legs :
- squat / hack squat
- extension / walking lunges
- curls / straight leg dead lift
- calf raises

Shoulders :
- dumbbell press
- shrug / upright row
- lateral raise / frontal raise
- rear delt / scap pinch

Chest :
- incline dumbbell press
- incline dumbbell flys
- hammer strength wide grip
- cable flys

Back :
- wide grip pull ups / straight bar pull down
- low cable row / bent over barbell row (palm facing you)
- one more exercise, i can't remember right now.

i was getting ready to try some supersets. i know the purpose of supersetting is to get as much blood into the muscle as possible but what about reps am i supposed to go heavy on the first and light on the second exercise or am i supposed to be able to go heavy on both

also what about rest in between sets how long should they be? also what is a scap pinch im not familar with that exercise

With your arms, I usually go with the max weight - it's 2 different muscles you're working. But be sure you're not going to blow it out on the very first set of the very first exercise. You'd like to make it through the entire workout.

If you are supersetting the same muscle, then I would do enough weight to feel a burn and enough weight so that on your next exercise you're not too fatigued to complete the same amount of reps.

As far as scap pinch, you can do it on a row machine, or with some dumbbells. I prefer some sort of row machine so you don't have to bend over. Basically how the movement works is it's kind of like a row, but you don't bend your arms - squeeze your scapulas (shoulder blade) togeter. If you need pictures, let me know.

Time in between sets. Whatever you need. I do whatever it takes to catch my breath. Legs seem like a damn cardio workout, so I might take a little longer break in between sets.

thanx actually now that you described tthe movement i know exactly what you are talking about im going to try this for a while. I don't know if ill do it on chest because i kinda like to have a powerful bench just because of my ego.

I'm not much into the barbell flat bench press. Like you just said - it's an ego lift. Plus, I'm always trying to make my chest bigger, so I concentrate on the incline. As you can see I don't superset my chest day for some reason.

Quote:

---

Originally posted by KeyMastur
I'm not much into the barbell flat bench press. Like you just said - it's an ego lift. Plus, I'm always trying to make my chest bigger, so I concentrate on the incline. As you can see I don't superset my chest day for some reason.

---

:eek: I can't beleive my eyes. Sure Incline is important, but i wouldn't call it a better mass exercise than flat. Usually the problem is that ppl don't ever do incline or they give it lil importance.

I also can't beleive you want your chest bigger but you don't ever use supersets, drop sets, etc on chest day. If your main goal is size or hypertrophy, than these principles would help tremendously.

Using DB's on Flat bench hit the outer pec more, Using a BB on flat bench hits more overall mass of the pec than DBs can. I'm not saying don't ever use DBs but i wouldn't let them dominate my workouts.

For the outer pec / definition, that's why I used the Hammer Strength Wide Grip.

Besides, when using dumbbells, you're activating more stabilizer muscles.

How are you going to say that flat bench is better for mass ??? Where are most of your pectoral muscles located and to which degree to they get worked the most for mass ??? All flat barbell does for me is sharpen up around the edges.

Quote:

---

Originally posted by KeyMastur
For the outer pec / definition, that's why I used the Hammer Strength Wide Grip.

Besides, when using dumbbells, you're activating more stabilizer muscles.

How are you going to say that flat bench is better for mass ??? Where are most of your pectoral muscles located and to which degree to they get worked the most for mass ??? All flat barbell does for me is sharpen up around the edges.

---

Typically, i usually use some type of flies for outer pec, but i forgot about the wide grip hammer strength cuz i didn't have one at my gym at MSU,so i might throw a wide grip in my chest workout every now and then. I don't think i would really use a wide grip though to really etch those grooves and striations into your chest, gotta go with flies for that.

As far as DBs, i can't argue with activating more stabilizer muscles. Doing DB Press on a swiss ball really activates them, definitely the best exercise for developing the stabilizers.

For me it seems the opposite for chest presses, DB seems to hit much more outer pec and BB seems to hit more overall pec mass, i really didn't think it was just me, but i'd like to hear what other ppl think. I don't know, maybe you should try possibly narrowing your grip a bit next time when doing BB press.

If your goal is hypertrophy though, i'm still not sure why you wouldn't want to incorporate dropsets,supersets, etc into your chest workouts.

I don't know about this. I would agree that the incline builds your chest more because of the literature and people that i have talked to but it kills my ego because i can't lift as heavy. If i could get over this barrier im sure that my chest development would take off. I get more of a squeeze from the flat db presses than any other exercise i use. i can drop my arms lower to get a really good stretch when i do them. sometimes i do lower cable pulls for my chest where i bring them in kinda like cable crosses only from the floor up and those really kill my chest but i can only do like 40lbs at a controlled rate so im not really lifting alot of weight.

ok here was my "get to failure" chest day today
Flat bench 12x135 10x185 6x195 5x200
Incline DB press 3x8 w/55lbs
Incline bench 3x8,6,5 135lbs 140lbs 155lbs.
Wide flat flys DB 25lbs.
cable crosses 2x from top 1x middle 3x bottom

thats what it fucking took for for to not be able do do anymore the cable crosses i did really fast for instance on the bottom i would do 5 reps with 40lbs and then immediately drop to 30lbs and do 5 more and then dropped to 20lbs and did five more. i am hurting. but its a good feeling is this too much?

Quote:

---

Originally posted by Endurance
sometimes i do lower cable pulls for my chest where i bring them in kinda like cable crosses only from the floor up and those really kill my chest but i can only do like 40lbs at a controlled rate so im not really lifting alot of weight.

---

these seem to be more of a front delt workout for me than anything.

what about my last post is that too much am i burning to many calories or what? from all the sets? i mean it was 14 sets of heavy

your problem sounds familiar to me, here was how i solved it.
started on bench ( i agree that it is somewhat of an ego exercise, but also believe that when done properly, it is one of the basic building blocks of a decent chest routine). anyhow, begining on chest with 1-2 warm up sets. then 3-4 heavy benches. moving directly into incline db. i'm somewhat fatigued by this time from only resting 30-90 sec. between sets. 3-4 heavy drop sets of incline keeping rep range under 10 but above 5, then moving into decline db using the same method as incline. drop sets- heavy, with 30-90 sec of rest..
then back on flat bench for 3 strict sets of db flies..
i've nearly cried after this routine and has dramatically changed my chest in just under 1 1/2 months

i agreee i am a big fan of dropsets on chest since i can't really superset. Anyway keymastur i did your exact arms routine that you wrote and it is the next morning and i still feel like i have blood pumping. Supersets were just what the vet ordered hehe. thanks

I was thinking superset, but keymastur got to it first. When I superset exercises I could almost cry after each combination. for instance when I do biceps I'll put 20lbs on each side of the french curl bar, and do it 10x, put it down and pick it up reverse curl it for 10x, then do alternate dumb curls with the 30lbs in each hand for 10x. each set I change which one comes first and last. As Keymastur probably knows, this type of exercise is not for everyone because of absolute pump you get in that muscle can be painful(painful in a good way). Some of us like to be carried out of the gym each day. Good luck Endurance.

thanks bro ive been doing supersets all week and they are awesome.