Building Muscle..What do you do?

[RADAR]

I do 10 -14 sets when i'm on starting with the bar 30reps adding weight 5-10lbs until i reach my peak then its 10 lbs off repping to failure, and then the same again until the last set i can't move!
eery so often i do Need size 5x5 routine, gotta switch it around sometimes, then sometimes i go the superset routine.
RADAR

 

[Tatyana]

Everything.

Even when I am going heavy (starting DC training today), I am doing a few warm up sets, and a few straight rep sets of 15-20.

 

[the small soldier]

always done heavy with light reps but as I continue to age (mid 30s) my joints hurt more, I may try the moderate weight angle. I have actually had to stay out of the gym for a week or so due to such heavy weight. I have naturally small joints anyway so maybe its just me......

It's not just you. I have tiny joints and destructive nature of heavy lifting is taking a toll even at my age. I invested in heavyduty Wrist wraps, Elbow sleeves, knee wraps, and lifting belt. for squats over 315 I use a belt and for squats over 400 I use wraps. For bench I use wrist wraps for weight over 250 and sleeves ONLY if my right elbow starts to bother me. The accessories do help to take a lot of the heavy strain off the joints. If it's your shoulder bothering you I suggest you watch your form on all upper body pressing movements, do light stretches and exercises for rotator cuff and DO NOT over-work them.

 

[drsketch]

i do both, i also eat food

 

[RobertFontaine]

I'm on Starting Strength right now.
I'm finding it quite a bit faster than 5x5 as a novice-intermediate.
I will likely movie to a Bill Starr or a Texas method next.
The "squats and milk" has a certain appeal but S.S. is so productive right now that it's hard to imagine putting on muscle/strength faster.

That said I'm pretty sure my recovery is still being limited by my food intake.
I'm trying to eat over 5k calories at the moment but I'm finding it pretty tough.
I'm always eating, always full and though I'm gaining weight, I still seem to be dropping some bodyfat so I'm pretty sure I should eat more.


So my vote is C) heavy weight, medium reps.... // high intensity, low volume with as many workouts as often as my recovery can handle.

 

[jwo02]

I like to do the heavy thing. Doing lots of reps makes me bored and I'll end up wanting to skip the gym every now and then.


For example my last bench max was 275 and I go into the gym, put 225 on the bar and do 4 sets of it till failure.

 

[Bigpimpin10]

i do a heavy weight that i can only do up to 4-5x..and do 3-5 sets of it..

 

[lilj888]

i usually start out on my first set at 8x then go down to 2-4 reps by my 3rd or 4th set, but i want to switch to light weight high reps(12-20) for shape, tho i will miss feeling like a beast when i am not moving heavy weight anymore.

 

[Big_Joe]

I use heavy weights and multi-joint exercises. The clean and press is one of my all time favorite exercises. Another thing I love to do is volume training. I will drop about five or ten pounds off of the bar when I do this but I will do a set of eight to ten reps then rest until my breathing is normal. Then do another set, rest until breathing is normal and keep this up for one hour. I did this with heavy squats. The next morning I couldn't get off the toilet. I had to drop onto my knees and crawl until I got somewhere that I could get a hand hold to help myself up. That kind of training and a good diet puts meat on you fast.

 

[Bigpimpin10]

I use heavy weights and multi-joint exercises. The clean and press is one of my all time favorite exercises. Another thing I love to do is volume training. I will drop about five or ten pounds off of the bar when I do this but I will do a set of eight to ten reps then rest until my breathing is normal. Then do another set, rest until breathing is normal and keep this up for one hour. I did this with heavy squats. The next morning I couldn't get off the toilet. I had to drop onto my knees and crawl until I got somewhere that I could get a hand hold to help myself up. That kind of training and a good diet puts meat on you fast.

have you over-trained?im always worried about overtraining