Q and A with Brad (I’m getting weaker!)
Question:Good afternoon Brad
iv been going to the gym now for about 5 years but iv only starting to get good results in the last 6 months iv been doing a bit of study on hypertrophy training and my program is 4 set 10-12 rep with 01.15min rest i do chest and tricept on monday and Thursday back and bicept on tuesday and Friday legs and shoulders Wednesday and Saturday 4 activity on the bigger muscle and 3 on the smaller ones. Why am i going backward in lifting weights im getting one or two less reps out than i was lifting two weeks ago? I’m eating heaps and good food. I’m 102kg and 189cm what is a good weight for me aswell?
Answer: Hi Cheyne….Thanks for writing in.
I am wondering why you are training your large muscle groups twice in one week? Is that something some one gave you, or did you read it in a magazine? It sounds like the kind of routine body builders who use steroids follow and unless you are using anabolics, I would not recommend the same for you.
The muscle can only gain size and strength if it is able to completely recover from the trauma of your workouts. Studies published by the journal of applied physiology have shown that there is still muscle damage 5 days after intense overload exercise.(1) So if you are training your chest on Monday, there is still loads of muscles all torn apart by Thursday when you are trying to overload them again. Unless you are taking anabolic steroids, which speed up the recovery process 10 fold, this is not the best way to do it.
When in doubt, follow what the Sports Medicine Journals recommend. That is what I do and with consistent results every year. Train one major muscle group per day using basic compound movments for a total of 6 - 9 sets. Use a weight that allows you no more than 6 reps. If you can get 7, go up. Then train one minor muscle group using basic isolation movements for a total of 2 - 4 sets in the same 6 rep range. Then let these muscles rest for 5 - 7 days and train your other body parts. So a good chest and triceps day would look like this.
Incline Barbell Press - 3 sets, 4 - 6 reps or to failure.
Flat Dumbbell Press - 3 sets, 4 - 6 reps or to failure.
Decline barbell press - 3 sets, 4 - 6 reps or to failure.
Tricep Cable Press downs - 2 sets, 4 - 6 reps or to failure.
Suping Tricep Presses - 2 sets, 4 - 6 reps or to failure.
I got all this information from the American College of Sports Medicine Position Stand on resistance training(2) I would say the reason you are lifting less and less weight and less reps is you are overtraining. It is hard for your body to recruit the maximum amount of muscle when much of the muscle is still damaged from the prior workout.
As far as what is a good weight for you, who cares. Focus instead on what is a good look for you. Perhaps even more on body fat. I don’t care what my weight is as long as I am 12% body fat or less. In my case, since I am a body builder, the heavier the better, but not at the cost of greater than 12% body fat.
Hope that helps Cheyne. Let me know if I can help you further.
(1) J Appl Physiol, Oct 2002; 93: 1280 ¨C 1286
(2) MS-SE, 2002 Position Stand
