Take care of yourself

Re: Take care of yourself (LiveSTRONG)

In case you want to hit them as hard as you do the other body parts and you want to build them?

 

Re: Take care of yourself (LiveSTRONG)

What part of the previous posts were you not understanding?

Here ... I'll type really slowly this time:

The arms are engaged in any upper-body exercise.

There.

Further to the point, Italian Stallion has different goals than you do, pretty boy. My guess -- from the way he's been posting -- is he's more concerned with overall strength and fitness than with making his beach muscles big so girls will ooh and aah.

That means that he requires a different style of program.

 

Re: Take care of yourself (LiveSTRONG)

Flash, I know what you are saying, and yes, in working arms you are going to work on overall fitness and such. I agree that arms are engaged in any upper-body workout, but if he wants to lift five times a week, should he really be hitting something hard twice in the same week? I used to but I found better gains, not just size but strength and ability to lift more by breaking it up.

 

Re: Take care of yourself (LiveSTRONG)

Whatever exercises you do, make sure you change the whole routine after a month or so. You have to shock the body every 4-6 weeks or the muscle memory anticipates the exercise and you don't get as much out of it. Just change the order, the intensity, the reps, something. Gotta keep the body interested.

 

Re: Take care of yourself (LiveSTRONG)

Italian_Stallion,
If you'd like, PM what you're doing now and we can discuss it further that way.
The offer is there.

And 21 is right ... unless you're doing an undulating periodization ... then you can stretch it to eight weeks.

 

Re: Take care of yourself (LiveSTRONG)

Absolutely.

My two cents: I work two body parts at a time. Not sure why I picked two, but it works for me -- though I'm actually about to scrap that completely and get into a more full body program because I've been doing this for a while and I feel like my muscles will benefit from the shock of a new program. When I started, I was doing the same two things together, i.e. back with bis every time, chest with tris every time, etc. I stopped doing it that way because you're working your bis when you do back and you're working your tris when you're doing chest so I felt like I was fatiguing quicker. By doing those muscles on different days than I did chest or back I found that I had better stamina and got a better workout.

Either way, I never do the same two groups together anymore. Sometimes I might do shoulders and tris two weeks in a row together but it's usually just a coincidence. So instead one week it'll be shoulders and tris the next will be shoulders and back, etc. I feel like that helps because I'm not doing the same thing every week, and I don't do the same exercises every week.

And if you're going to seriously target one muscle group like chest on Mondays, I wouldn't do it again a few days later. A big part of getting your muscles to grow is giving them proper time to repair themselves. There is such a thing as over-training. If you're working hard enough on the first go round you won't need/want to do it again in a few days anyways.

 

Re: Take care of yourself (LiveSTRONG)

If you're looking for a leg workout, here's what I did today:

Full squats, sets of five at 95, 115, 135, 175 and 185. Imagine pulling yourself down with your hamstrings and pushing yourself up with your quads. Stick your butt out and keep the weight on your heels. I used a spotter on the last set. And I probably should have started at 135 and went up from there.

Wall squats, five minutes running clock.

One-leg holds, five minutes running clock each leg. Stand on your right leg and make a straight line from that leg all the way to your shoulder. Pull up your left leg and stick it out so that your calf is not at 90 degrees from your thigh -- more like 130 degrees. Resist the temptation to lean back; stand straight or lean a little forward. It will work your hip flexors like a bitch, and it's great for the rest of your standing leg and leg you're holding up. Don't do like I found myself doing and curl your toes on the leg you're standing on, and keep that knee locked.

Joe

 

Re: Take care of yourself (LiveSTRONG)

Flash is right about one thing. The only girl I expect to ooh and ahh doesn't care whether I'm buff. She just wants me to be able to open the spaghetti jar, even if its contents are loaded with sodium. My girlfriend, on the other hand, already thinks I'm perfect. Of course, she just kisses up so she can get some chocolate milk in her Dora cup.

I was just throwing arms on Fridays as an alternative to taking the whole day off. After hearing more dialog, it seems more logical, I suppose, to give my back its own day. Since that works the biceps, I'll just throw in a few sets of hammer curls on Fridays. And I'll continue doing my close-grip bench with chest to isolate the triceps a little more.

That should do it.

So, the routine, at the moment, is:

Monday: Chest and a little triceps
Tuesday: Legs and Abs
Wednesday: 2-hour stationary bike ride
Thursday: Shoulders
Friday: Back and a little biceps

I'm taking off Saturdays and Sundays. But I try to get the kids to the park for a little baseball or soccer. I'm also trying to fit in a weekend hike, but it's not been easy with spring sports.

Thanks a bunch for the insight. I really appreciate it. I might have more questions in the future, but I think you've hit most of the key points.

 

Re: Take care of yourself (LiveSTRONG)

If that's what you want, great. But don't allow yourself to get talked off of arms. Everyone who says they aren't as important as chest, back, legs and core are certainly correct. But damn it feels good to fill up a short sleeve shirt. There's nothing wrong with building big arms -- the problem is when guys are doing the beach body workout and focuses on arms and neglecting other things. You want to do everything in balance. There's nothing wrong with arm workouts in the mix at all. One small tip that is probably widely known around here: if you want bigger arms target the tris not the bis.

 

Re: Take care of yourself (LiveSTRONG)

Now you've got it. Don't be afraid to take a rest on Day 3 either. Your body needs the rest as much as it needs the work. And don't be afraid to do a little ab work every day. I have lots of those exercises I can recommend, on the ball or otherwise.

www.exrx.net is a great resource. Stop by and take a look at the run of exercises posted there. Pretty much everything you need.

 

Re: Take care of yourself (LiveSTRONG)

I can now make multiple trips to the bar without being winded. And my calves get rave reviews. It'll do.

 

Re: Take care of yourself (LiveSTRONG)

Today, a good workout I hadn't done before: weighted pullups, one rep. Not knowing what I could do, I started with the 5-pound dumbell. Way too light, so I tried the 10. Then 15, 20, 25, 30 and 35. I tried and missed twice at 40 pounds. I did two and missed one at 25 pounds, and I finished with three without rest at 15 pounds. Next time this comes up, I'm starting at at least 20.
And I didn't even think about using the belt and weight plates, so I held the dumbells with my feet. I'm thinking the belt might be a little easier.

Dips: 10, 10, 7, 6, 6, 6, 5 equals 50.

A short day, but a good one.

Joe