was getting a little bored and irritated with working out so....

[Backlash]

Typically, your average person trains like this. As far as gains and progress go, it is a one way ticket to the shitter.

But, just going to the gym to blindly pump away with no rhyme and reason, in my opinion, is the worst thing you could do.

I totally agree. I did that for years and it wasn't until I started writing everything down and using more structure that I saw real gains.

 

[Forge]

Just as always, what works for one person will not always work for another. I'd say try it out and see how it works for you. If you like it and see gains then keep at it, if not then go back to a structured program. The only way to find out is to try it yourself.

That being said, I log everything and follow a very structured schedule, but once every month or so I'll do something like what you are suggesting to test one rep maxes, usually before a long rest period.

 

[bran987]

eeek please take this with a grain of salt, but if you are a natural bodybuilder please be careful going into the gym thinking you'll just do whatever feels right instinctually, not keeping track progressively and expect to grow, that is for people who have other help growing

 

[BigBadBootyDaddy29]

eeek please take this with a grain of salt, but if you are a natural bodybuilder please be careful going into the gym thinking you'll just do whatever feels right instinctually, not keeping track progressively and expect to grow, that is for people who have other help growing

I'm glad somebody brought this up. Alot of guys I know who use AAS train with the lets just get a pump and do whatever mindset. With AAS, they more or less hold the pump from workout to workout and think they are getting big, these are the guys who lose 5,000lbs when they come off of their cycle. People always post on how to keep gains after a cycle, the answer is train correctly for 5-10 years before you do a cycle, train correctly during the cycle, and train correctly after the cycle, and you won't lose much at all. I have cycled before, last time was this past May through July, it was Testosterone Enanthate, I only lost 8lbs in the months afterwards. I laugh when I see guys lose enormous amounts of weight post-cycle and go into a depression, it is totally unnecessary if training is in order.

 

[BigBadBootyDaddy29]

Re: Re: was getting a little bored and irritated with working out so....

I do that most of time. Instinctive training. The muscle group splits dont change much, but the sets, reps and exercises can be all over the place. Has worked well for me.

Don't shortchange the methods to your madness, man. Just look at your sig. You obviously keep track of your numbers and progress, and have very clearly established goals. While you may be more instinctive and less anal about your training, I don't think you just do whatver, get pumped, and leave. Your style differs from mine, but you definitely value progress and consistency.

A little off-topic, but I was reading your sig. is a beast lift the same thing as an old-school hack squat? If it is, then I know exactly what they are, and that is a hell of a number.

 

[Dorian'sDisciple]

i think the danger of overtraining looms even larger when employing this kind of workout, i used to feel like superman somedays: 'hell yeah,my bis feel ready to explode but they can take another ten drop sets to failure on the preacher machine. needless to say i paid a heavy price soon after

 

[majutsu]

eeek please take this with a grain of salt, but if you are a natural bodybuilder please be careful going into the gym thinking you'll just do whatever feels right instinctually, not keeping track progressively and expect to grow, that is for people who have other help growing

Oh yes!!! Indeed. Cut and paste this to my earlier comment about instinctive training. I use anabolics, and I too believe that instinctive training is only likely to work for the steroid crowd. Although BigBadBootyDaddy29 is a shade misguided as to why. Keeping gains has nothing to do with training, it has to do with PCT. Proof? Gains can be kept on AIDS patients who don't even train with proper therapy. The gains come from the roids hitting the androgen receptor in the muscle in creating more RNA synthesis. If you avoid a post cycle catabolysis, gains are kept -- period. The reason why instinctive training works better for anabolics is multi-fold:
1)AAS increases red blood cell volume. This means that when a muscle is activated, and blood flow increases, ultimately to provide energy to the working muscle, more blood flows to the working muscle. In functional imaging studies of both the brain and body, increased regional blood flow correlates with functional activation. With steroids, and the increased blood volume, you can actually feel these shifts -- "the pump". So it's like having a functional MRI or EMG of your muscle while you work out -- valid instant feedback. Naturally, you cannot "feel" the difference between a properly worked muscle and not. You only see progression or not.
2)With anabolics and protein, you'll get more muscle mass doing nothing. With working out, more growth. So it doesn't matter too much how efficient your training is, as dietary or biochemical factors are more likely to be rate-limiting than small differences in training quality. So there is value to just putting in small efforts. And if keeping anal track starts to encourage absenteeism, then there is a balance between instinctive training and daily growth, and structured stagnation. You can get more growth going and having fun, but without anabolics, you are likely to waste time, so if getting stagnant, better to rest, then restart your structured program.
3)Overtraining is a big risk with instinctive training. It's hard to overtrain when your protein synthesis is septupled.

 

[WalkingBeast]

Re: Re: Re: was getting a little bored and irritated with working out so....

Don't shortchange the methods to your madness, man. Just look at your sig. You obviously keep track of your numbers and progress, and have very clearly established goals. While you may be more instinctive and less anal about your training, I don't think you just do whatver, get pumped, and leave. Your style differs from mine, but you definitely value progress and consistency.

A little off-topic, but I was reading your sig. is a beast lift the same thing as an old-school hack squat? If it is, then I know exactly what they are, and that is a hell of a number.

ThanX brother!! My training definately isnt all instinctual. I do have numbers calculated and lifts recorded and progressive resistance is a huge part of my training. So that all factors in, not to mention alot of other things that I could write for a while about. Now that Im training around an injury I have to train in more of a light BB style, and can only train arms heavy. So injury changes the way I train also. When training biceps for example, I go for a minimum of 12 sets, usually more but Im all over the place, as you can see in my journal. But I get all the work in. Other bodyparts are more regimented but no where near how regimented I used to be. Alot more flexibility in my routines. The basic principles remain though, progressive resistance, High volume/ High intensity. The Beast lift appears just like a hack squat at first. Its a deadlift with the bar behind the legs instead of in front. Difference is there isnt much squatting involved at all, mostly lower back, traps. I hit an easy 585 a few months ago, then went for 600 off the floor , but used bad form, and thats when I hurt myself. I should be back doing them again eventually. ThanX again!!

 

[variation]

keeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee...........................

like for example my new training partner, he sorta trains this way, except he just pretty much remembers his bench press and tries to beat his old PR every once and a while, everything else is on instinct

He's got some decent size, no Mr.O but he's pretty decent, he does no steroids.. just creatine and protein, and he's one of the bigger guys in the gym.. the past few workouts have been a blast, we just say ok let's do these bodyparts.. and we decide on some crank out a bunch of sets till we got a nice sweat and pump going, then go for like 2 quick kilometers around the track, come back and hit some more weights..

he trains every single day, and he'll even train his back again the next day after he already trained it, even if he says it's sore.. lol

I was like dude, don't you think you could rest it a little and get some recovery?

and he told me 'no, if I just take my protein and creatine I always add muscle'


Maybe he's a bit crazy, but he's a real nice guy, really cool and he makes pretty good progress, so I'll probably have a lot of fun training with him over the next month:

BigBadBootyDaddy29: once a while back I took like a week off weights, it made me feel like shit, I won't do it again. if I ever get frustrated I'll just switch to this for a while.. because this is the fun of lifting, the part that elevated my mood all day and makes me just happy as hell to be alive, though I do like running as well, lifting still has to be there.

Thank you everyone for replying.