My silly body building question...

forJupiter
forJupiter Posts: 45
edited September 27 in Fitness and Exercise
Hello everyone,

Okay so excuse me if this is a silly question but I was wondering about it with my girlfriend today... If when people are trying to build muscle bulk (like a body builder) and you're suppose to work 2-3 muscle groups a day, do lower reps like 8-12 on a high weight and do little cardio (like 20-30 minutes) then how come people are able to spend hours at the gym?

Thanks!

Replies

  • ruststar
    ruststar Posts: 489 Member
    My friend does 4 sets of 10-12 reps and takes a one minute break between each set - that stretches the whole thing out. But...from observing the guys in my gym, there seems to be a lot of chatter going on. They're as chatty as my grandma's coffee circle.
  • Jonesie1984
    Jonesie1984 Posts: 612 Member
    I've seen people start with a 5 minute or so cardio warm up and if they work 2-3 muscle groups and do 3 exercises (usually) per group. Recovery between sets is betwen 30-90 seconds.. the time adds up, a typical lifting session is about an hour if they go to fail and have adequate rest between reps. Also it's probably follwed by a cardio session.. 2-3 hrs quite a long time for anyone to be the the gym. At that length of time you're gettng pretty unproductive and there is an increased risk of muscle wasting opposed to building.
  • Christie81
    Christie81 Posts: 88 Member
    Easy, I spent 50 minutes just working my shoulders today and then I followed it with a 20 min HIIT session....and I did not talk to anyone at the gym today. I typically do three sets of any given exercise and my "breaks" vary. I rest 30 seconds to 1 minute depending on what I'm doing :)
  • Christie81
    Christie81 Posts: 88 Member
    :happy:
  • Christie81
    Christie81 Posts: 88 Member
    I've seen people start with a 5 minute or so cardio warm up and if they work 2-3 muscle groups and do 3 exercises (usually) per group. Recovery between sets is betwen 30-90 seconds.. the time adds up, a typical lifting session is about an hour if they go to fail and have adequate rest between reps. Also it's probably follwed by a cardio session.. 2-3 hrs quite a long time for anyone to be the the gym. At that length of time you're gettng pretty unproductive and there is an increased risk of muscle wasting opposed to building.

    Great reply :)
  • mrmarius
    mrmarius Posts: 1,802 Member
    back when i was going to the gym id see guys in there all day what they'd do is workout for an hour then shoot the breeze and check out women.. you dont need to spend alot of time in the gym at all just go for quality over quantity
  • taso42_DELETED
    taso42_DELETED Posts: 3,394 Member
    I think a lot of people have a tendency to overtrain. An hour of weight training is totally sufficient for a given day. More does not necessarily mean better. If you tack on some cardio, that extends the time a bit, but in general, I think those people who are spending hours and hours are sort of wasting their effort.
  • Jonesie1984
    Jonesie1984 Posts: 612 Member
    I've seen people start with a 5 minute or so cardio warm up and if they work 2-3 muscle groups and do 3 exercises (usually) per group. Recovery between sets is betwen 30-90 seconds.. the time adds up, a typical lifting session is about an hour if they go to fail and have adequate rest between reps. Also it's probably follwed by a cardio session.. 2-3 hrs quite a long time for anyone to be the the gym. At that length of time you're gettng pretty unproductive and there is an increased risk of muscle wasting opposed to building.

    Great reply :)

    Thanks! Love to know there's other women lifting!
  • DebiP10
    DebiP10 Posts: 275 Member
    I lift daily. I usually start with a 5 min warm up on the rower then do a 5 day split which means working a different muscle group every day. Yesterday i did my shoulders which consisted on 4 different exercises of 3 sets with an average of 10 reps, i usually up my weights once a month so i still get a burn. I follow this by 20 mins cardio either on treadmill or cross trainer and my workout is roughly 1 hour.
  • forJupiter
    forJupiter Posts: 45
    Awesome thanks you guys! We've been averaging about 40-50 minutes doing 2-3 parts and doing the minute rest (usually we just switch and the other jumps in to do their set). Then usually a 30 minute attempted HIIT cardio session (its awkward for me because I'm completely new to this so I feel all over the place) as well or some steep incline walks. We're pretty new to the whole thing and we both didn't understand if we were missing something in our workouts because we've heard of people spending many hours at the gym. Thanks again everyone!
  • outersoul
    outersoul Posts: 711
    I try to stay at the gym for 45 minutes or less when lifting only. Anything over that I know I'm not pushing hard enough or my rest between sets is just too long. I like my lifting sessions to be fast and intense.
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