Help with chest and arms please.

Hirgy03

Okay, here goes. Never in my life have I been "cut", but I was a pretty decent athlete through high school and one year of college. After that, I went to work in pretty labor-intensive jobs. I've never been a 'small guy', always had a little bit of a belly, but I also had some pretty good mass in my arms, chest, back, etc. Apparently, somewhere along the way I went directly from nothing to a full keg (skipping the 6-pack, LOL).

I do realize that by increasing my muscle mass, I will in turn burn more calories 24/7. As it currently sits, I've dropped 25-30 lbs (depending on the day), but my fiancee is concerned that I may lose too much of my chest/shoulder/arm mass. I have assured her that I won't, but then again, I've only been doing nominal weight-lifting. I'm naturally a big-framed guy, but I also want to be sure that during this weight loss/fitness journey, I don't lose (or at least forget to gain) muscle size and tone.

That being said, I really only have around 45 minutes to an hour a day that I can spend in a gym. Its a small town high school gym, so the equipment is pretty limited. I go in at 5 AM, and am the only person in there at that time for the most part, so I don't have anybody there that can spot me. Further, I have a weak sacro-iliac joing (that triangular bone at the base of your spine) due to having had a leg disease as a kid which has resulted in one of my legs being slightly longer than the other. Because of that, I have to take it fairly easy on any exercises that put added pressure on that part of my back (squats, for example, are something that I've done away with because of the injury that almost always follows them).

I am guessing that 2-3 days a week, hitting upper body for 30-45 minutes, if I do it with little rest between sets will help me with my desire to increase my arm and chest size. Here is what I'm thinking of doing, please help with suggestions (or even a hard slap to the face if I'm doing this wrong). I would love ANY input I can get on this. I am wanting to start my upgraded lifting routine this weekend in the gym, when I can spend a bit longer in there as I won't have work (hopefully).

3 sets of pushups
3 sets of dumbell curls (sets of 12)
3 sets of lat pulldowns (sets of 12)
3 sets of upright row (sets of 12)
3 sets of tricep extensions (sets of 12)
3 sets of chest crossover flies (sets of 12)
final burn set of curls with light weight until I can't do anymore curls

Bobby__Clerici

That looks great!
The key is to learn proper form, then just get to it, and stick with the program.
It's like the old proverb...."The wise man with 4 hours to chop down a tree spends 3 hours sharpening the saw".

ilovedeadlifts

Having a pressing dominated lifting schedule is going to lead to shoulder trouble.

I'd look into a push/pull split to do each week, since you can't squat.

SideSteel

3 sets of pushups
3 sets of dumbell curls (sets of 12)
3 sets of lat pulldowns (sets of 12)
3 sets of upright row (sets of 12)
3 sets of tricep extensions (sets of 12)
3 sets of chest crossover flies (sets of 12)
final burn set of curls with light weight until I can't do anymore curls

One hour is plenty of time.

Since I don't know your exact limitations it's difficult to assess what I think would be much better because I'd hate to recommend a movement that isn't going to work well with your limitations (due to leg issue).

That being said, if you have 3 days/week I would consider a full body routine unless you're lifting on back to back days in which case some sort of a rotating upper/lower split (ex: Workout A and Workout B and you just rotate every time).

But to give you some examples of what I think could be improved, I would choose to center your training around compound lifts and I'd focus your efforts first on chest/back (and of course legs) and you can then follow that up with some isolation work on arms.

Example:
A

Bench Press
Inc DB press or some sort of a chest fly if you prefer
Chin Ups
DB rows
Skullcrushers or overhead tricep extension.
BB curls

B
Whatever leg work you can do. I'd type exercises here but I really don't know your limitations. I have to assume that there are movement patterns you can do that do not aggravate your situation.



The point here isn't to say "do the above" as much as I'm just illustrating that in my example, you're hitting chest and back with two different exercises first, then you're following that up with some bicep/tricep work. The following day in the gym, do your leg work.


The alternative, and it's a good alternative if you can structure it properly, would be to do full body assuming you can rest in between.

Sarge516

I say lower the reps and increase the weight. Sets of 12 is more geared towards endurance. Low reps (4-8) with heavier weight is better for building muscle IMO.

ilovedeadlifts

SideSteel has a good point.
If you're able to do some leg lifts, a full body routine may be the way to go.

bpmartyr

I say lower the reps and increase the weight. Sets of 12 is more geared towards endurance. Low reps (4-8) with heavier weight is better for building muscle IMO.

False

jeremyw1977

I say lower the reps and increase the weight. Sets of 12 is more geared towards endurance. Low reps (4-8) with heavier weight is better for building muscle IMO.

False

You would probably be more helpful if you provided some supporting information to back your "False" statement.
Just bombing someone's thread isn't very constructive.

SideSteel

I say lower the reps and increase the weight. Sets of 12 is more geared towards endurance. Low reps (4-8) with heavier weight is better for building muscle IMO.

False

You would probably be more helpful if you provided some supporting information to back your "False" statement.
Just bombing someone's thread isn't very constructive.

ilovedeadlifts

I say lower the reps and increase the weight. Sets of 12 is more geared towards endurance. Low reps (4-8) with heavier weight is better for building muscle IMO.

False

You would probably be more helpful if you provided some supporting information to back your "False" statement.
Just bombing someone's thread isn't very constructive.

sets of 12 can build muscle. as can sets of 6. I'd say anything in the 3-15 range is just fine for hypertrophy. I'd say 20 reps and over is more endurance geared, but theres nothing wrong with higher reps at times.

bpmartyr

I say lower the reps and increase the weight. Sets of 12 is more geared towards endurance. Low reps (4-8) with heavier weight is better for building muscle IMO.

False

You would probably be more helpful if you provided some supporting information to back your "False" statement.
Just bombing someone's thread isn't very constructive.

Thought it was a true/false question?

If someone feels the need to post unscientific crap without any support, why should I have to offer any supporting evidence to hit the false button?

Hirgy03

Alright guys, settle down. Now, back to my own ignorance. Would people generally agree then that something along the lines of 3 sets, starting with one set of 12 (that I can hardly finish), then eventually not being able to complete 12 on the second set (maybe up to 9-10), and on the final set, maybe only be able to complete 6-8 reps.....would people generally agree that this is a good way to go, and when I could complete 3 sets of 12, time to bump up the weights?

Or at least could somebody show me a link to somewhere that explains hypertrophy, etc. in laymen's terms to a dummy like myself? Thanks in advance.

Hirgy03

I say lower the reps and increase the weight. Sets of 12 is more geared towards endurance. Low reps (4-8) with heavier weight is better for building muscle IMO.

False

You would probably be more helpful if you provided some supporting information to back your "False" statement.
Just bombing someone's thread isn't very constructive.

Not to be a nag, man, you've been a LOT of help on my posts. However, could you explain this chart to me? I'm sure it makes things simple for those familiar with these terms, etc. But I'm kind of at a loss as to what all that means. If you have better things to do with your time, I understand. Thanks.

SideSteel

I say lower the reps and increase the weight. Sets of 12 is more geared towards endurance. Low reps (4-8) with heavier weight is better for building muscle IMO.

False

You would probably be more helpful if you provided some supporting information to back your "False" statement.
Just bombing someone's thread isn't very constructive.

Not to be a nag, man, you've been a LOT of help on my posts. However, could you explain this chart to me? I'm sure it makes things simple for those familiar with these terms, etc. But I'm kind of at a loss as to what all that means. If you have better things to do with your time, I understand. Thanks.

The chart just shows a general continuum of what various aspects of training are being developed at each rep range. It's certainly not a cut-and-dry thing, but you'll see that generally, very low rep training builds power/strength/bone density and moderate rep training builds hypertrophy/etc.

Now as to your question of rep ranges, if you are able to increase weight over time (lift heavier) then you're going to make progress regardless. That being said I would expect differences between say, 3x20 and 3x5 in terms of the benefits you'll get.

If I had to choose a rep range and stick to it for long periods of time I would probably choose and recommend 6-8ish per set.

You also don't have to train to absolute failure but you should obviously use a heavy enough load such that the last few reps are challenging.

Set some form of progression such that if you get all your reps, you increase load the following session (or increase a rep/etc). Point being, you should be improving over time and getting stronger.

Hirgy03

Thank you, that helps.