R
retired_Gavin
Guest
Hey everyone. I've been working with weights light-to-moderate for the past few years. My mind is really scattered right now because there's just so much information out there that I'm trying to consume, but here are my current goals:
Bicep: 1-2 inches
Forearm: .5-1.5 inches
Calves: .5-1.5 inches
Here is my current abilities and questions on each one:
Bicep curls: 10 lbs, 5 - 10 sets of 10 - 12. So on a really good day I can do 120 repititions on 10 lbs, with about 10 - 20 seconds of rest inbetween. 20 lbs, 2 sets of 8 - 10. So on a good day I can do 20, and then my arms fail. This confuses me; if I can do 120 reps on 10 lbs, shouldn't I be able to do 60 reps on 20 lbs, or am I missing something? Or is it because the 20 lbs is on a preacher curl? What I'm really getting at is: How do you know when to increase weight? Am I "ready" to go on to something heavier than 10 lbs? Maybe 15? Will I be able to gain muscle mass by using the same 10 lb dumbells I have, but just doing more sets with them, or more reps per set? What should your "ability" be with any given weight before you've reached the point (minimal point) that you can safely move to a higher weight?
Shoulder press: 10 lbs, 2 sets of 10: fail. My shoulders are pretty big and strong, but have sucky indurance. I can lift over a hundred pounds with them at once, but probably only once or twice. I want to increase their indurance; can I do this by "building" a third set on? Like, do 2 sets of 10, rest, and then do a third set of, say, 2, and then when I get used to that, increase the third set to 4 until I have three third sets, and then build the fourth? Is that how people usually do it?
Fore-arms: 10 lbs, 2 sets of 10. If I use much less than 10 lbs, I don't get any effect unless I do a very high number of reps/sets. Should I "build" additional sets onto this until I can do more, and then increase the weight? Is this safe for my wrist/tendons?
Pushups: I think the most pushups I've ever been able to do at once was 25. Can pushups be done in sets and still give you results, or do you have to do it like all in one big set? Cuz you always hear people brag about how many pushups they can do... well, if I broke it up into sets of 10, I could probably do up to 50 pushups, but in one set just 25. Should I increase the number of reps each set and reduce my number of sets, or increase number of sets, or what? Will pushups help increase the size of my bicep/forearm? What if I do them on my knuckles, is there more benefit?
Hindu Pushups: I can do 20 of these, which is weird, because they're supposed to be much harder than normal pushups.
I know that in order to gain muscle mass, I need to increase my intake of protein, and lift heavier weights with smaller sets and a higher rest time...both between sets and between workouts: however, I don't just want to add on muscle fibers; I want to add on effective, strong muscle fibers that have endurance- which, as far as I can reason, means slowly increasing my weight until I've "mastered" each weight (like combining toning; low weight high reps with building; high weight low reps) Am I completely misunderstanding the world of bodybuilding? How would I go about this?
The only equipment I have is a pair of 10 lb dumbells, a preacher curl machine, a butterfly press machine (the only ones there I know how to use), two tennis balls, and my own body for isometrics/calisthenics. I could probably build some kind of bench press at home to do bench/butterfly with my dumbells... I'll probably want to get heavier weights for that, right?
I would appreciate any help you guys can give me (I'm not in a rush, so a weekly schedule isn't my top priority right now since I'm pretty consistent with my excersizes and give each muscle group 2 days off), but if all you can do is answer my questions (important ones in bold) it'd really give me the basics I need.
Thanks guys!
P.S. My diet is mostly vegan (I eat tons of goji berries, raw cocao, seaweed, nuts and seeds) but I have no qualms with including raw fish if I have to. Should I seriously consider that?
Bicep: 1-2 inches
Forearm: .5-1.5 inches
Calves: .5-1.5 inches
Here is my current abilities and questions on each one:
Bicep curls: 10 lbs, 5 - 10 sets of 10 - 12. So on a really good day I can do 120 repititions on 10 lbs, with about 10 - 20 seconds of rest inbetween. 20 lbs, 2 sets of 8 - 10. So on a good day I can do 20, and then my arms fail. This confuses me; if I can do 120 reps on 10 lbs, shouldn't I be able to do 60 reps on 20 lbs, or am I missing something? Or is it because the 20 lbs is on a preacher curl? What I'm really getting at is: How do you know when to increase weight? Am I "ready" to go on to something heavier than 10 lbs? Maybe 15? Will I be able to gain muscle mass by using the same 10 lb dumbells I have, but just doing more sets with them, or more reps per set? What should your "ability" be with any given weight before you've reached the point (minimal point) that you can safely move to a higher weight?
Shoulder press: 10 lbs, 2 sets of 10: fail. My shoulders are pretty big and strong, but have sucky indurance. I can lift over a hundred pounds with them at once, but probably only once or twice. I want to increase their indurance; can I do this by "building" a third set on? Like, do 2 sets of 10, rest, and then do a third set of, say, 2, and then when I get used to that, increase the third set to 4 until I have three third sets, and then build the fourth? Is that how people usually do it?
Fore-arms: 10 lbs, 2 sets of 10. If I use much less than 10 lbs, I don't get any effect unless I do a very high number of reps/sets. Should I "build" additional sets onto this until I can do more, and then increase the weight? Is this safe for my wrist/tendons?
Pushups: I think the most pushups I've ever been able to do at once was 25. Can pushups be done in sets and still give you results, or do you have to do it like all in one big set? Cuz you always hear people brag about how many pushups they can do... well, if I broke it up into sets of 10, I could probably do up to 50 pushups, but in one set just 25. Should I increase the number of reps each set and reduce my number of sets, or increase number of sets, or what? Will pushups help increase the size of my bicep/forearm? What if I do them on my knuckles, is there more benefit?
Hindu Pushups: I can do 20 of these, which is weird, because they're supposed to be much harder than normal pushups.
I know that in order to gain muscle mass, I need to increase my intake of protein, and lift heavier weights with smaller sets and a higher rest time...both between sets and between workouts: however, I don't just want to add on muscle fibers; I want to add on effective, strong muscle fibers that have endurance- which, as far as I can reason, means slowly increasing my weight until I've "mastered" each weight (like combining toning; low weight high reps with building; high weight low reps) Am I completely misunderstanding the world of bodybuilding? How would I go about this?
The only equipment I have is a pair of 10 lb dumbells, a preacher curl machine, a butterfly press machine (the only ones there I know how to use), two tennis balls, and my own body for isometrics/calisthenics. I could probably build some kind of bench press at home to do bench/butterfly with my dumbells... I'll probably want to get heavier weights for that, right?
I would appreciate any help you guys can give me (I'm not in a rush, so a weekly schedule isn't my top priority right now since I'm pretty consistent with my excersizes and give each muscle group 2 days off), but if all you can do is answer my questions (important ones in bold) it'd really give me the basics I need.
Thanks guys!
P.S. My diet is mostly vegan (I eat tons of goji berries, raw cocao, seaweed, nuts and seeds) but I have no qualms with including raw fish if I have to. Should I seriously consider that?
