How many reps/sets do you do?

I do 3 sets of 10 or 15 for each muscle group. Now I understand that it's better not to do sets at all. It's better to keep going until the muscle is fatigued. You won't bulk up by accident. That takes hours and hours of heavy weight training and other vitamens.

About the carbs and protiens, you really need to experiment because everyone's body is different. my body responds better to cardio and I lose weight better by eating later. The next person might gain by eating later. You have to experiment with your body!


Best wishes!!!

I have been doing upper body lifting 2x a week for about 6 weeks and am seeing some nice results in my arms and shoulders. I do 3 sets of 10 or lift to failure, whichever comes first. If I can complete three full sets, I up the weight the following week.

So for example, this week I did bench press with 30 lb dumbbells, did one set of 10 and two sets of 6. I'll stay at the 30lbs next week (and try to do at least 7 reps in the later sets). On the shoulder press, I did three full sets of 10 with 20 lb dumbbells - so I'll lift with 25 lb dumbbells next week.

Depending on the muscle group I tend to do twelve reps and either two or three sets, on occasion when I've just raised the weight I will do between eight and twelve.

I have found that even at a light weight doing fifteen reps feels much harder than twelve at a heavier weight and I'm certain that is all mental...fifteen just seems like a huge number in my hear whereas twelve is only two more than ten and I can totally handle that.

If you are just starting, you need to give yourself a period of adaptation. That means lighter weights and gradually increasing volume. Your muscle strength will increase faster that the ability of your soft tissues and joints to handle the load, another reason for doing an initial period of "preconditioning".

In the beginning 1-2 sets of 12-15 reps is sufficient. You don't even have to work to failure. A 40% intensity level will begin the process of improvement and adaptation. Use this time to work on your form and to begin to develop a "feel" for what muscles are supposed to work during each exercise.

Over a period of 2-4 weeks, gradually increase your volume to three sets. Stay at the 12 -15 rep range, but increase the weights and your effort so that you are reaching "failure" (or 1 rep away from it) at the end of each set.

After another couple of weeks, you can try to push the intensity. Move up to 8-12 reps and then even try 6-8. Once you have gotten used to the different intensities you can get into a more structured pattern.

A lot of strength coaches feel that the 8-12 rep range is non productive in the long run--too hard for an "easy" workout, too easy for a hard one. They recommend either 6-9RM or 12-15+ as alternatives.

It is important to vary the training intensity but too much "variety" can also be counterproductive. Don't just change exercises at random because of some misguided idea about "muscle confusion". Implement different exercises and different cycles gradually and as part of an overall plan.