Would you post your workout routine, sets/reps and frequency of training per week? What do you weigh in this photo?
What's your background and education Atticus? Don't know what the hell you've been saying but it's most interesting, carry on
I am 5' 10" and I weigh about 188 in that photo. My ultimate goal is to get to a lean 200 lbs. Actually, most people that see me in person think I'm already over 200 but the scale says something different. My workout splits are different that what you may have seen before. Monday - Upper Body Tuesday - Lower Body Wednesday - Cardio and Abs Thursday - Upper Body Friday - Lower Body Saturday - Cardio and Abs Sunday - Nothing. In terms of sets and reps, I have lightened things up recently because I don't feel very comfortable pushing up super heavy weight for low reps any more. I just feel like an injury is inevitably going to happen if I were to keep that up. So these days, each set I do is in the 10 - 15 rep range. I go to failure on all sets. The number of sets I do changes depending on how I feel. One thing I've learned is that most days I feel "average", and some days I either feel like shit or feel extra good for some reason. If I feel bad, I do two sets per exercise. An average day would be three sets, and a day that I feel awesome would mean I would go for four sets. This way, instead of not working out at all on a day I feel like crap, I just do a lighter workout that I can get through quickly. Doing it that way keeps me in the routine which helps me stay motivated. I should also mention that the two upper body workouts I do each week hit all the same body parts (chest, back, arms, shoulders), but the actual exercises change from one workout to another just to keep things from getting boring. Same logic applies to the lower body workouts.
Just curious, how many total sets per muscle group per week do you typically do during a normal week? And do you focus more on compound or isolation exercises? I ask the latter question because the only isolation exercises I do is for calves, and only because I am not aware of any compound exercises for that muscle group.
Thanks. What's your volume like? For instance when you feel "average" and do 3 sets, how many different exercises would you do for upper and lower body?
6 sets to failure per week per body part. I wouldn't say I really focus on either. I incorporate both when possible. But you're right, your exercise choices are pretty limited on body parts like calves and forearms.
That seems a bit light, at least for the larger muscle groups. I do about twice that for the larger muscle groups, but I'm always open to the idea of doing less for the same outcome or better. Have you done more or less in the past, and, if so, how would you compare the outcome, if you had either increased or decreased the set volume to your present level from your previous set volume level? If you're looking to lose weight and gain muscle, may I ask why you bother with isolation exercises at all? As I understand it, they're just tweaking exercises -- finishing touches, that sort of thing. Surely you agree that the best bang for the buck is pure compound movement. As an aside, how long do you normally rest between sets?
As an example, my upper body workout go something like this. Chest - 3 sets of dumbbell presses on flat bench Back - 3 sets of lat pulldowns (for back width) and 3 sets of rows (for back thickness) Triceps - 3 sets of dips Biceps - 3 sets of dumbbell curls Shoulders - 3 sets of lateral raises That's it. I used to be a trim carpenter back in my 20's and I would often get paired up with this other guy who was a maniac at work. This guy would get more work done in two and a half hours than anybody else would do all day. When everybody else was taking a lunch break, he would pack his shit up and go home for the day. Eventually, I asked him "Why in the hell do you work so fast?" And his reply was, "Because I really don't like to work. There are so many other things that I would rather be doing than working. So I just get my work done as fast as I can so I can do the things I really enjoy doing." I learned a lot from that guy, and I apply the same approach to working out. The above workout should take no longer than 35 - 40 minutes, not 1 - 2 hours. I don't carry on conversations or bullshit around between sets. I don't think there's anything particularly fun about working out, so I get in and get it over with.