Whats best for "pretty boy" muscles?

C

CrowTR

0
Ok, I've got the strength I want for now, and have kinda shifted my goals from getting stronger to looking better. I want to start gaining size and definition moreso than strength. I understand the concept of the less weight more reps, but is that all there is to it? Anything else I should know? and what is the ideal number of reps for that sorta thing? Someone fill me in!?

Any info is appreciated!!! Thanks!
 
If you mean hypertrophy then that would be like 8-12 reps for like 3-4 sets or something.

Hypertrophy=pretty boyishness? Lol
 
If you're already a beast from all your strength and you just want to lean up, you're in the wrong forum... You need to be in the nutrition area. You know what they say about abs... They're made in the kitchen.

8-12 is the ideal rep range for hypertrophy. Don't know about the 3-4 sets thing. I guess it depends on how neurally efficient you are. If you're not hitting a form drop-off, maybe you have 8 sets in you. Or if you hit your first drop-off in 2 sets, any more is overtraining.

Find your absolute 8RM for a given exercise, drop the weight by 10%, and do as many sets of 8 as you can until you have your first break in form, then stop. You should be adequately recovered to hit that muscle again in 4 days. Good luck, pretty boy! :)
 
Hypertrophy is an expansion of the cells, which makes you look bigger. If you have little fat, hypertrophic gains will make you look ripped. That's the jist of it, much more on this site.
 
hypertrophy is basically muscle growth.

Crow, i would shoot for 80-100reps/muscle group/week if your an easy gainer or 120reps/muscle group/week if your a hard gainer.
 
Hypertrophy is just an adaptive response to a particular kind of stress to the muscle cell. When you train in an 8-12 rep range (with your last reps being difficult) you are in the optimal range (for whatever muscle you are working) to achieve hypertrophy. Along with that rep scheme, growth occurs from the negative (or eccentric) portion of the motion. When you contract your muscle (like in a curl, when you raise the weight), you have uniform contraction of all the muscles involved. When you are lowering the weight, you are both lengthening and contracting simultaneously (or non-uniform contraction), which threatens the structural integrity of the cell. Your body's response is to try to repair that microscopic damage, which is where the actual growth part takes place.

Try working your full body when you train. Pick 5 or 6 exercises that hit every major group in your body (avoiding isolating exercises or machines), use the formula that I described above, and you will grow.
 
CrowTR said:
you mean like?..If I go to the gym 3 days a week do like 30 reps of curls a day?
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If hypertrophy is your goal i would include some curls but no more then %15 of your total volume. Rows, pullups will build nice biceps so they should makeup the majority of your bicep volume.
 
It's funny because people often do different exercises than the standard lifts because they want to develop a more attractive body.

If you squat, your legs will grow to their full potention. If you bench, your chest, tri's and shoulders will fill out quickly, deadlift will fill out ur hammies, ass and back and tactical chin ups will bulk your back and bi's. These exercises will develop those areas faster than any other. I say do each exercise twice a week for 3-5 sets of 6 reps with 30 seconds to a minutes rest in between. Do this for 6 weeks and I'm sure you will be sporting better muscle than if you did cable cross overs and high rep dumbell curls.

also, everything about high rep toning is false.

good luck you ****ing pansy pretty boy...kidding.
 
holabuster said:
I heard hypertrophy gains are only temporary. Is this at all correct? Like the size increase only last for a few hours.
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NO. Don't confuse "hypertrophy" (the primary goal for resistance training) for being "pumped up" (which has no actual value to your workout).
 
The ranges go like this with goal/rep range: Strength/3-6, str and hypertrophy/6-8, hypertrophy specific/8-12, hyp and endurance/ 12-15, and lastly endurance/15+.

Although 8-12 is considered to be the optimal for size gain, there are many good mass routines based on rep schemes like 5X5 or 10X3. The main thing you have to know about getting big though is that you have to lift heavy weight, period.
 
In my opinion, don't confuse the situation by concerning yourseft at this point with terms like hypertrophy. It's good to know these things over time when you're an expert because the more you understand your body the more you will get out of your workouts, but at this point in the game it sounds like you need to lose bodyfat. You say you're strong which means you have muscle. I'm assuming "pretty boy" muscles means getting ripped or being able too see the muscles you've built that are hidden under fat. Adding cardio to your workout and eating right is going to get you there. Do not stop lifting heavy and hard in the meantime. You still want to build muscle. Upping your reps is not going to help. You're just going to build less muscle.

When all else fails, listen to jpfitness........he knows what he's talking about.
 
jpfitness said:
The ranges go like this with goal/rep range: Strength/3-6, str and hypertrophy/6-8, hypertrophy specific/8-12, hyp and endurance/ 12-15, and lastly endurance/15+.
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can you hypertrophize (verb?) specific muscles without hypertrophizing other muscles?

a common example: my buddy is thin and wants bigger pecs, but is satisfied with his arm size. Can he do hypertrophy to his pecs, lets say, 9 reps per set for benchpress, then he does 3-6 reps per set on tricep extensions to get his arms strong?
 
By what was mentioned before, he can certainly hypertrophy his pecs and strengthen his arms.

And btw, thanks jpfitness for the advice.
 
Wolfie,
They all get worked. Can YOU do a chest press and leave your shoulders and triceps out? And that's okay. If he lays off of focused arm work for a while his proportions will even out, but he can't keep them from getting worked. In other words, drop the triceps extensions.
 
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