First Post

Whats up everybody, first post, just joined and I have 2 questions. I've been lifting for about 5 years, I'm 5'10 188, and I'm benching in the low 3's. Anyway, I don't want to get any bigger (actually I want to lose 5 pounds), just really sculpt what I have. The last couple of times I've been to the gym, I just do sets of like 20 with just the 45's on (when I'm doing bench) and lift light and do A LOT of reps. Any advice on how to attain my goals??? (supplements, workout routine etc.)

Also, my boy that I lift with can't gain weight to save his life. He's 28 and taking creatine, protein shakes, etc. and everytime he lifts, he lifts heavy (for him at least) mainly doing sets of 8,6,4 on all his workouts as he goes up in weight. Any advice for him??? All help/words of wisdom are invited. I know that there is no substitute for time and dedication but he's been lifting for about 3 months and can't really see any difference in size. He's getting stronger but not that much bigger.
 
You are doing just about the opposite of what you should be doing. A clean diet with a calorie deficit, coupled with low reps with heavy weights to maintain as much muscle and strength as possible while loosing body fat will best meet your goals. Some HIIT might also help.

Your pal probably needs a calorie surplus, and reps in the 8-12 range are most likely to produce muscle hypertrophy (size increase) in most individuals. And as you noted 3 months is not long, most people take 1-2 years to learn to workout properly and tune their CNS (central nervous system) to generate maximum effort. So most of his "strength" gains to this point are mostly from learning proper form and how to direct the muscles than from actual gain in muscle size or mass.
 
When I was doing low reps of heavy weights, thats when I got the biggest:confused:... I definitely have reduced my calorie intake and increased the cardio and ab stuff, but now I'm really confused. I thought heavy weights "tore" the muscles even more hence getting them to grow faster.

On the converse, my boy was lifting lighter with the 12 rep stuff and wasn't seeing any gains at first, but now that he has dropped it to 8,6,4, he's seeing a little something. I'm not trying to be a jerk and argue as I clearly don't know everything, I guess now I'm just really lost.
 
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You--> cardio, HIIT, diet manipulation (eat cleaner, better foods)

Your buddy --> diet manipulation (add calories from proper sources)
 
You are doing just about the opposite of what you should be doing. A clean diet with a calorie deficit, coupled with low reps with heavy weights to maintain as much muscle and strength as possible while loosing body fat will best meet your goals. Some HIIT might also help.

Your pal probably needs a calorie surplus, and reps in the 8-12 range are most likely to produce muscle hypertrophy (size increase) in most individuals. And as you noted 3 months is not long, most people take 1-2 years to learn to workout properly and tune their CNS (central nervous system) to generate maximum effort. So most of his "strength" gains to this point are mostly from learning proper form and how to direct the muscles than from actual gain in muscle size or mass.
Excellent post - I couldn't say it any better than that :cool:
 
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