Weight Lifting Myths

I've always been told 6 days a week working different muscle group a day/alternating days. and also been told that eating 6 smaller/healthy meals a day helps to increase your metabolism, which then helps you lose some weight.
you also have to be careful when lifting, don't do too much because, yes, you can horribly tear muscles. start small with more reps and build up to heavy with fewer reps.

I'm not an expert but this is what i've always been told and have never heard anything otherwise.

good luck!

Alex

Depends on what you are trying to accomplish. If you are trying to build bulk, I would say dedicate one day to two muscle groups. Chest/Tri day, Back/Bi day, Legs/Abs (which is really like 3 groups...). I would say if you can, work out 6 days a week, so you hit each pair twice a week. Don't eat a TON, unless, again, youre trying to gain, and then you can't go crazy even still. If you are lifting for bulk, lift heavy weight, low reps. Like 3 sets of 6 or 8. You should be at failure at the last set, maybe able to finish 4 or 6 of the reps.

If you are lifting for tone and cardio, I would say a circut is the best way to go, so you hit all the groups maybe 3-4 times a week. Less weight, higher reps (3 or 4 sets of 15 or so reps). There are tons of circuit sets available out there.

It is falso that more than 10 reps messes up the fibers. That is just not functional. If that were the case, imagine how messed up people who lift things for a living would be?

When lifting, you jsut have to figure what works for you. Try different methods, see which one you like the best. If you are lifting just for fitness, and not necessarily for bulk or tone, mix it up. Do a heavy weight, low rep week, and then a light weight high rep week. Keep your body guessing. Also, mix up the lifts that you do. Don't do the same lift on the same machine week after week, you'll get stagnant.

How long a day should I work out? 30min? an hour? two hours?

I would say an hour of actual lifting should be good. Plus stretching (PLEASE stretch!), and then if you add cardio, you'll probably be at the gym 2 hours...

So the six day workout program actually works too? Wouldn't that kill the recovery time of the muscle? I want to know which one fits my genes. I'm not really a hard gainer but when I lift 5 more pounds than I'm used to (usually with 8 reps/ 4sets) I feel the pain I used to feel when I first worked out (which usually stays for at least 2 days). But now, I don't feel that anymore. Is that bad or is it normal since I'm getting used to it?

Nutrition stores sell Muscle Recovery shakes. they work great and they're an extra bit of protein that's needed to build healthy muscle. they have all kinds of different shakes... Pre-Workout, Post-Workout/Muscle Recovery are both very good and do help.

but like everyone else says, it is really dependant on what you're wanting to achieve. If you're wanting to lose WEIGHT and gain some muscle then smaller weight with more reps would be ideal. if you're wanting to get "bigger" then more weight, fewer reps at a time would be ideal. just depends on what you're wanting to get out of weight lifting.

not feeling the pain anymore is normal. it does mean you're muscles are used to whatever it is you're doing. Probably up the ante a little bit with the weights. either more reps or a little more weight. either way.

the alternating days and muscle areas is muscle confusion (it's what P90X does) it has you working out different areas every time you work out and doing different things with each set of muscles so that your body doesn't really every "get used to" whatever you're doing and so your muscles are constantly working. you don't really need to get P90X but i recommend watching their info-mercial when it's on because it's a GREAT motivator and they let you see some of the workouts that are on the DVDs..so you can get a relative idea about what you want/need to do.

As a minor (or close to it), I would then recommend to not do HEAVY lifting. Lift to where you can complete 3 sets of 10, or somewhere around there. Be VERY careful if you are doing squats, make sure you are watchign yourself in a mirror, you stay above a 90 degree bend with your knees, and your knees stay behind your toes. If you start to have knee or back pain, stop lifting, you are onyl going to hurt yourself for the long term.

Certain aspects of those three examples you've given, are not what I'd recommend. Let's forget for a moment extremely advanced body building and think something more realistic for a typical person.

You mention for example "...focusing on one muscle part (i.e. bicep day, tricep day)". Devoting whole days to just biceps or just triceps is total overkill.

Think of muscle groups by size and power, in descending order are Legs - Back - Chest - Shoulders - Arms. I'll leave abs since I think they can be fitted in at the end of almost any day.

Your biggest emphasis should be on the bigger muscle groups, and NEVER get obsessed by one to the exclusion of the corresponding "antagonistic" group. If you want a big chest, you must devote equal time to lats. Typical legs exercises emphasise quads, so you must also do hamstring exercises. If you're proud of your guns, watch that your triceps are getting equal time. Etc etc.

Looking again at those groups in descending order of size/power, there are certain givens...
(1) If you're doing more than one body part in a day, work from biggest group to smallest. Exercising the bigger groups tends to pre-exhaust the smaller ones. You don't want to exhaust small groups (say biceps on your back day) early in a way that compromises performing the heavier exercises.
(2) Because (related to that point) your smaller muscle groups are worked by exercsising the larger ones, the smaller groups require relatively less time.

There's tons of different ways of making up splits... I like push/pull where Back/Chest are done in one day possibly with alternating supersets such as Bench Press/Lat Pulldown. Or a Back day alone and a chest day alone is fine. Or other people do Back/Biceps and Chest/Triceps days, the idea being that the relevant pre-exhausted small muscle is finished off that day. But back to those smaller muscle groups, I can guranteee that an intense 45-60 minute Shoulders/Biceps/Triceps workout done properly will give you awesome results. I currently do that and several people have remarked in the gym at the way my shoulders are developing (not blowing my trumpet, but just saying I am definitely getting very good results), and a guy remarked yesterday (slightly exagerating I think, and I do tend to get a pump for an hour or two that makes me look twice as big as usual) "jeeez, they're the biggest arms in the gym". It does NOT take hours on each individual muscle to do that.

Likewise you mentioned a program that requires doing each body part only once every two weeks for recovery. Just my opinion, that would be total overkill. Unless someone is at a very very advanced stage of body building and spending hours in the gym, you should easily be able to cover every body part in a week and some possibly twice. Just my opinion, those smaller groups definitely do not require whole days devoted to them.

Listen to Summerblunden, she has good advice and knows what she's talking about. Also David1956 has some good points. If you're tryng to gain bulk, work on the biggest muscle groups- legs, back, chest, shoulders. All of the smaller muscles will come into work assisting in these lifts. Every guy wants Popeye arms, but believe me, they will get a good workout assisting in your other lifting. Also lots of guys tend to skimp on leg workouts, don't do this. You're body will become unbalanced and more succeptable to injury; also your legs are your body's biggest muscles and working them works everything!
For bulking up, I recommend heavy weights, low reps.Stressing the muscle in this manner causes miniscule tears in the muscle fiber forcing your body to repair and make it stronger for the next time it experiences this stress; making rest equally as important as training. 48-72 hours is a good recovery time typically. Training a single muscle too often will continually tear down the muscle and lead to injury. Muscles do one of three things, they grow and get bigger, they shrink and get smaller or they stay the same. The idea of "toning" a muscle by high reps- low weights is a myth. You "tone" your muscles by shedding the layer of fat between the muscle and the skin, thus making them more "toned" or visible. If you were trying to lose weight, and consuming low calories this would be an option because by lifting high reps at low weight you are using the muscle enough to keep the body from using your own muscle protein for its amino acid needs. Which leads me to my next point- dietary needs.
Yes, you need lots of protein to build muscle, but your body uses a lot of energy from carbs to build that muscle too, and you need sufficient (good) fats in your diet for your hormones to function properly to help build muscle. If your main goal is to bulk up and not lose weight, do some research and find out your current calorie needs and increase that by 300 or so calories. You need a surplus to gain muscle, but much more than that will simply be stored as fat. Overweight people can gain muscle without this surplus because their body seeks out energy sources from stored fat. Leaner people can do this too, but the result is much slower because of homeostasis, the body is very adaptable but is very reluctant to certain changes that is sees as threatening to its survival. The thing about protein is that is doesn't stay as protein for long, your body uses it for muscle repair, but it can only do so at a set rate making any excess be converted to energy to burn or fat for later use, and meat, protein bars and shakes are too expensive for that. You should eat some form of protein every 2 1/2 -3 hours, this makes sure that your muscle tissue always has protein available for muscle building repairs. Eating often like this also revs up the metabolism, making it easier to ward off excess fat storage if your eating quality food, also keeps you from tryng to get enough calories at two or three meals which would certainly be partially stored as fat.
To sum it all up...
1 work the big muscle groups (focus on bench press, military press (for shoulders), lat pull downs, rows, squats and
deadlifts<yes, watch your form on squats and deadlifts! start lighter weight, then go heavier when you have technique down>)
2 lift as heavy as you can do 6-8 reps, 2-3 sets, resting 1 1/2 - 2 minutes between sets (I've found that longer is wasted time
at the gym (increase sets from 2 to 3 as your body can handle the weight easier, then increase weight; remember, more is
not necessarily better, you're just trying to stress the muscle enough to grow)
3 rest AT LEAST 48 hours ( I prefer 72 hours or twice a week) between working the same muscle, sleep at least 8 hours if possible
4 eat sufficient quality food (not donuts) to grow your muscles
5 eat often
6 remember, you're not only taxing your muscle to grow, you're taxing all your body systems- circulatory, nervous, endocrine, immune systems- muscles actually grow when you're resting, not at the gym. Get plenty of sleep.

Hope this helps!

I will agree 100% with summerblunden. I could advise but I'd only end up repeating most of what she already posted. She's obviously well-educated on this. Good luck in choosing the right program for your individual goals.

To the OP, I've not yet read it but I've heard great things about Mark Rippetoe's book Starting Strength (2nd Edition). It's on my list of books to buy, but it might be worth you checking out.

I was looking for some other stuff today and came across this article by Alwyn Cosgrove. It addresses some of the issues we've discussed here directly (squatting past 90 degrees, keeping knees behind toes, etc.).

Take a look.

http://alwyncosgrove.com/2000/01/leg-training-myths/

Our bodies tend to "hang on" to a certain percent of fat. This percentage is slightly different for everyone, but you can thank your ancestors, evolution, whatever for this, because food was not always readily available to them, and it's the body's way of survival, in case this ever happens. Your body needs 3 different types of calories to stay healthy, carbs, protein, and fats. When you are in a state of calorie deficiency your body breaks down stored fat for energy, but it can also break down hard earned muscle tissue for energy because it wants to retain this "extra fat reserve". When very overweight people go on a diet they can lose a lot of weight initially, because they are losing fat, water AND MUSCLE. Then when they return to eating normally they gain a LOT of weight back because they don't have the muscle to burn the calories any more. Which is why anyone trying to lose weight should at least do some moderate weight training, so they don't lose the muscle. Most body builders train in phases, the bulk up phase and the fat shedding phase. (calorie surplus, then calorie deficit phase) Depending on the individuals goals, these phases can be seasonal or every other month or even week. Not the answer most people really want to hear, is it?
I'm not saying you can't build muscle without a calorie surplus. You CAN actually build a modest muscle amount while in a slight calorie deficit (and lose fat), but you have to make sure that your body isn't breaking down muscle for energy. Keep lifting those weights and stressing the muscle, eat plenty of protein throughout the day, and focus a good portion of carb intake right before and after workouts to make sure you have energy for them. Just keep in mind that your body may also recover from weight workouts a little slower too this way. In a calorie deficit state your body's cells are continuously looking for an energy source, and less worried about building muscle.
You indicated that you wanted to bulk up fast and having a slight calorie surplus is the best way to do that. Keep your eye on the mirror, it'll tell you if you're gaining muscle or fat, most likely a bit of both (unfortunately). That's what makes this website great! Keep track of your calories, (every calorie), check the mirror, not the scales, if your not gaining fast enough increase calories, gaining too much fat- decrease. You may have to tweak it several times to get it right for you.
Another word of advice: Keep a log of exactly how much weight you're lifting for every exercise. It sounds geeky and stupid, I know, but how else do you know if you're making gains. And if you continually (we all have off days) have a difficult time doing the same workout you did last time and resort to using less weight, then you are overtraining and need extra rest between your workouts. Listen to your body, it'll tell you what's going on.
Let me know if you have more questions. Hope this clears thing up a little and helps.