# Is this weight lifting routine safe?



## Poggy (Jul 15, 2005)

Hi all!

Oh dear, haven't posted on here for a while :-/ but have been reading posts 

Anyway, i'd like to know if working on each muscle group each gym session is 'safe'?

I go Monday, Wednesday & Friday so there are days in between for the muscles to grow (whatever the term is).

Muscle groups i'll be doing, are: Abs, Triceps, Biceps, Shoulders, Chest, Back, Legs each muscle group has two different exercises (or i could do just one exercise per muscle group...if it means i can do each muscle group at each gym session - if ya get me?).

Cheers,
Dan


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## Bammx2 (Jul 15, 2005)

If you haven't trained for some time,then go a head and work everything faifly lightly for about 2 week.

  Then,try doing breaking it up a bit.
  Example:

 Monday: Abs,chest and tri and side lateral raises for mid-delt head.The front delt will get a good enough workout with just the chest moves,then after a few months,you might want to add an overhead press.

  Wednesday: Abs,back and biceps.Maybe a light side lateral excersise again.
  The pulling movements for the back will hit the rear delts as well.

 Friday: Abs and Legs. If you get in a good overall leg workout,you shouldn't do much else.The legs being a major muscle group and used more than anything else,require a slight bit more of a push(specially calves) to work.
 So Then,they take more blood for recovery than the smaller groups would and you should take the whole weekend to recover completely.


 This isn't gospel...just a suggestion or maybe a guide,but thats it.
  I hope it helps in some way....


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## MJS (Jul 15, 2005)

Poggy said:
			
		

> Hi all!
> 
> Oh dear, haven't posted on here for a while :-/ but have been reading posts
> 
> ...



This looks more like circut training.  If this is the routine you're going to do, make sure that you keep the wieght light enough, as you don't want to burn yourself out considering you'll be repeating the same thing again in 2 days.  

My routine is along the same lines as Bammx2 posted:

Mon- Chest/triceps

Wed- Back/Biceps

Fri- Shoulders/legs

Each of those days also consists of ab and cardio work.

Mike


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## 7starmantis (Jul 15, 2005)

I agree. With a full body circuit style workout, your hitting the same muscles more than you think. Its ok for lighter weight if your looking for a tone/strength workout, but I wouldn't advise heavy building or stacking type workouts with that style.

7sm


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## Poggy (Jul 16, 2005)

7starmantis said:
			
		

> I agree. With a full body circuit style workout, your hitting the same muscles more than you think. Its ok for lighter weight if your looking for a tone/strength workout, but I wouldn't advise heavy building or stacking type workouts with that style.
> 
> 7sm



This is what i'm after ... been toned & stronger.

What about sets & reps? 2 - 4 sets, 8 - 12 reps?


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## MJS (Jul 16, 2005)

Poggy said:
			
		

> This is what i'm after ... been toned & stronger.
> 
> What about sets & reps? 2 - 4 sets, 8 - 12 reps?




Keep in mind that you don't have to do circut training to acheive this goal if you didn't want to.  If you choose to do the split routine:  3 days/2 body parts, you could adjust the workout accordingly.  For example:  Instead of doing 3 sets/6-8 reps, you could increase the sets as well as the reps, again, keeping the weight light.

If you choose to do the circut training, as an example, you could do 1 set at a moderate weight until failure.  

As always, don't forget the cardio work.  You'll get a good workout going from station to station, but that added cardio will help.


Mike


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## searcher (Jul 16, 2005)

Poggy said:
			
		

> This is what i'm after ... been toned & stronger.
> 
> What about sets & reps? 2 - 4 sets, 8 - 12 reps?


Just to give a little help along the getting leaner and toned.   Your diet is more important than your workout.   You will be wasting your time if you don't have the proper nutrition.   Circuit training is good but don't do more than 2 sets for the first 3 or 4 weeks then you can go to 3 sets.   Remember that muscle burns fat, so if you switch to a different split and give your muscles time to recover they will grow and burn off more fat.    Muscle recovery from rest will get you further along than pushing yourself to the breaking point.    Go buy some protein mix and drink one before and one after you workout.   It will get keep your metabolism up and help you get the results you want.


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## Tgace (Jul 16, 2005)

Another way to look at it is the "push/pull" split. In one workout do all "push" exercises like presses, squats etc. And in the next do "pulls" like pulldowns, curls, rows etc. It helps prevent hitting the same muscle groups to many times in succession.


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## 7starmantis (Jul 16, 2005)

There are many different schools of thought as you can see. I personally wouldn't advise pushing a certain weight until failure, but completing each full set. You want light enough weight to complete each set with maximum control and you want to push yourself but stop before "dropping" halfway through a set. Light weight with 12 -15 reps is a good strength/tone set, however its all relative to what your wanting and what your body is like.


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## Tgace (Jul 16, 2005)

I think a good starting point is defining what you are looking for. General athletic conditioning, appearance, endurance, power, sport specific training. 

For combat arts I would suggest combining cycles of "power lifting" movements  with muscular endurance training and some general aerobic training for cardiovascular health. Im beginning to appreciate "combination exercises" like doing a squat with dumbells, shooting out into a squat thrust, doing a push-up, returning to the squat and powering up into an overhead dumbell press. It smokes me pretty fast but its a good, fast overall body conditioning exercise for when you only have a short ammount of time to work-out.


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## Kalicombat (Jul 19, 2005)

If you are looking for muscle endurance and reduction in body fat, then circuit training is fine. Or, you could do sets of 15 to 20 reps.

For size gains, the optimum set rep scheme is 4 sets of 7 to 10 reps.

For strength gains, the optimimum set/ rep scheme is 4  sets of  3 to 6 reps, 

For power gains, the optimum set/rep scheme is 5 sets of no more then three reps. 

Nothing is set in stone, but as a general approach these are good guidelines. 

Also, regardless of your goal, it is always best to start your workout with the largest muscles first, working down to the smallest; Legs, Back, Shoulders, Chest, Triceps, Biceps, etc... not including abs and forearms. Abs and forearms get worked with most other excercises, and it is very hard to overwork both as they are very resiliant and both should be added to the end of your workouts. 

Gary C.


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## MJS (Jul 19, 2005)

7starmantis said:
			
		

> There are many different schools of thought as you can see. I personally wouldn't advise pushing a certain weight until failure, but completing each full set. You want light enough weight to complete each set with maximum control and you want to push yourself but stop before "dropping" halfway through a set. Light weight with 12 -15 reps is a good strength/tone set, however its all relative to what your wanting and what your body is like.



Just for clarification...when I was talking about going until failure, I think I gave the impression of lifting a heavy weight.  This is not the case.  I did a workout like this for a while, and it was with light weight.  Once I got to the point of failure I'd stop.  If I got to 15 and didn't think that I could get to 16, that would be it.  As you said, I didn't want to start a rep I couldnt finish.

Mike


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## Mace (Jul 21, 2005)

If you are intent on doing the full body workout, then keep the number of sets per body part to 3 and the reps between 8-12. I've used this a few times to switch things up and it'll work. Try and keep your resting time to under 90 seconds. 
Sean


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## 7starmantis (Jul 21, 2005)

MJS said:
			
		

> Just for clarification...when I was talking about going until failure, I think I gave the impression of lifting a heavy weight. This is not the case. I did a workout like this for a while, and it was with light weight. Once I got to the point of failure I'd stop. If I got to 15 and didn't think that I could get to 16, that would be it. As you said, I didn't want to start a rep I couldnt finish.
> 
> Mike


 Ah, gotcha. I was thinking you were talkin about starting a rep you couldn't finish. That is what I was saying is not a good practice to get into. Yes, I agree with you, working out with light weight to that point is the way to go.

 7sm


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## hemi (Jul 21, 2005)

As long as we are talking about working out I have question. I just got a bow flex its an X2 so far I have worked out 4 times on this equipment. I dont have a book to show me any routines just the page that came with the equipment that shows all the exercises that can be done. So I do every exercise that can be done minus the exercises that work the same muscles. My week looks like this Monday Kenpo class, Tue full body work out, Wed Kenpo class, Thurs full body work out, Friday Sparring, Sat full body work out.  But I also do about 30 min of working out with my Wave master heavy bag on Tue Thurs and Sunday.  Am I overdoing it a little I want to get bigger but not like Arnold. If this helps any I am 32 about 6 foot tall and around 160lbs. my goal it to get closer to 200lbs and bulk up. I also notice that since I have started working out I am not as limber as I was before?


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## Bammx2 (Jul 21, 2005)

yea...you're overdoing it just a tad if you're aiming to bulk up.
  Back off on the aerobics a bit.
 If you're pourin sweat during the kenpo class,thats an aerobic.
  The body starts to canabalise on itself when you hit the aerobics too much and it goes for the most nutritious part of the bady...the muscles.
  ever seen a fat marathon runner?
 The 30 min session is fine,just cut it back to 3-4 days a week.the kenpo+sparring and maybe one more.
  You may want to try dropping the full body work out 3 times a week and start going to a split routine.
  Example: chest and tri's on monday,back and bi's on wednesday,Legs on friday.
  If you want to bulk,you need to take off time for your muscles to recover between workouts.Hence the reason for stopping the full body,because you are going to need to up your poundage and drop the reps a bit.
 Also,whatch your diet.
  You will have to up the protien intake a bit as well.
 It's not as bad as it sounds...just a little tweeking here and there.
  I can go into more detail tomorrow if no one beats me to it,but iut's late and the screen is getting fuzzy;-)
  Feel free to pm if you want.


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