How do you tell when you've had enough?

B

bhindibhagee

0
When in the gym, how do you tell when to stop?
I mean the first few times i went my muscles would get really sore, but that doesn't seem to happen anymore, i guess my body's used to working out more. So yeah, when you're in the gym at what point do you stop?
Oh...i'm talking about weight lifting by the way, not cardio.
 
In my experience, THe first week or 2 of working out, you get EXTREMELY sore. So sore that it hurts to move. After your muscles get used to the movement, the amount and severity of soreness will diminish. DOMS (delayed onset muscle soreness) should begin 24-48 hours after a workout and last up to 72 hours after. Depending on the intensity of your workout, you should be mildly sore. It should be noticeable, but not debilitating.

What are your goals? Are you training for muscle endurance and/or definintion, strength, or bodybuilding ?

If your goal is bodybuilding, you have to work to failure. Failure doesn't mean absolute failure to lift the weight, it means failure to lift the weight in good form. Increase the weight on each exercise until you can only do 8-12 reps per exercise (this is for muscle growth, or hypertrophy). Do 3 sets of reps per exercise.

If I may ask, whats your program like? Maybe it needs a bit of tweaking.
 
aevans410 said:
In my experience, THe first week or 2 of working out, you get EXTREMELY sore. So sore that it hurts to move. After your muscles get used to the movement, the amount and severity of soreness will diminish. DOMS (delayed onset muscle soreness) should begin 24-48 hours after a workout and last up to 72 hours after. Depending on the intensity of your workout, you should be mildly sore. It should be noticeable, but not debilitating.

What are your goals? Are you training for muscle endurance and/or definintion, strength, or bodybuilding ?

If your goal is bodybuilding, you have to work to failure. Failure doesn't mean absolute failure to lift the weight, it means failure to lift the weight in good form. Increase the weight on each exercise until you can only do 8-12 reps per exercise (this is for muscle growth, or hypertrophy). Do 3 sets of reps per exercise.

If I may ask, whats your program like? Maybe it needs a bit of tweaking.
Click to expand...

At the moment my program (if it can even be called that) is very simple. Sat, Sun, Wed, Fri i go to the gym.

When there i normally just get warm by doing a 3-4 km run on the treadmill at 16km/h.
Then i do bicep curls using a bar-bell set at 30kg for 5 reps (most i can do). Then i go and do some lat-pull downs at a weight where i can do 15 reps. Then peck-deck for 5 reps on max weight.
Then 25 ab crunches on an inclined slope.
Then as many dips as i can manage.
Then we're back to the bicep curls

and i just go round and round that loop of exercises until i have to go...(usually after about an hour and a half)

Oh and i'm doing it to build muscle mass and definition.
 
try upping your reps to 8-12 per set
use 3 sets per muscle group


try using a split workout, like so

Day 1, chest and triceps
day 2, Back and biceps
day 3, shoulders legs
day 4 rest, repeat.

do 3 exercises on the major body part, (chest or lats)
2 exercises the minor body part (tris and bis)

for example

Chest -
Bench press
pec deck or flyes
dips

Triceps
Pushdowns
extensions

day 2
back
Chin ups (if possible)
Lat pull downs
seated rows
(If you cant do chin ups, or dont have an assisted chin up machine handy, T-Bar rows or dumbell rows work well)

biceps
Standing barbell curl
preacher curl

day 3
shoulders
Military press
Front delt raises
side delt raises
rear delt raises.

Try something like that, take it easy at first though , its intense.
since your not doing all the body parts on the same day, you can up the intensity per body part.
 
Thanks, i'll give that a try...

One curiosity though...what i was doing before...is that actually bad/not going to build muscle mass or is it just the case that the routine you've suggested is better?
 
Muscle gains are made by your muscles breaking down and rebuilding themselves. You have to exert enough resistance on the muscles to break them down. The workout you were doing wasn't necessarily bad, but it could be more efficient. You were basically working your pecs, lats, and biceps. No tricep work, no shoulder work, no leg work. If you want to bodybuild, all your muscles need love. By concentrating on one body part and the supplimental body parts (chest/tris, back/bis), you can pump up the intensity of your workout and keep it up. Your workouts are shorter, yes, but theyre more frequent. I do legs with my shoulders. Thats just my preference though.
 
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