Am I lifting enough to see a difference?

MinnesotaManimal
MinnesotaManimal Posts: 642 Member
edited October 2 in Fitness and Exercise
I don't know if Im lifting enough, for example, after my cardio on monday (running 3 miles), I did the following, all with 3 sets of 8-10 reps with enough weight that I could barely do 8 on the last set of each exercise

back flys
chest flys
leg press
weighted ab machine
straight bench
lat pull downs
seated row

and then a bunch of other weighted ab excercises, like 90 russian twists with medicine ball, crunches and planks ect.

is that gonna be enough to build muscle? or should a guy go back through and repeat everything with another 3 sets of each? it just seems odd in my brain that you can build muscle doing 30 reps total of each exercise every other day.

Also if I go every other day and for what ever reason say my arms are still sore and weak from the previous work out, is it ok to drop the weight down and just bench what ever I can lift to do my 3 sets of 8-10 reps? or should I hold off on that muscle group till the next time I work out? For instance, last week wednesday, I benched 150 lbs, and then Friday I could only do 130, but I did the 130 till I couldn't lift it once more, is that a bad choice?

thoughts?
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Replies

  • peteb79
    peteb79 Posts: 386
    I've read that If you want to build muscle you have to lift to the point of muscle failure. If you want to lose weight you have to do high reps.. 12-15.. and lift to fatigue..
  • AlsDonkBoxSquat
    AlsDonkBoxSquat Posts: 6,128 Member
    Looks right to me, just make sure your eating enough, especially protein.
  • AlsDonkBoxSquat
    AlsDonkBoxSquat Posts: 6,128 Member
    I've read that If you want to build muscle you have to lift to the point of muscle failure. If you want to lose weight you have to do high reps.. 12-15.. and lift to fatigue..

    This is actually not true. If you want to build muscle you lift heavy and eat more. If you want to lose weight you lift heavy and eat at a deficit.
  • NotGoddess
    NotGoddess Posts: 1,198 Member
    I'd only add to do your lifting prior to your cardio. That way you know you are lifting what you really can.
  • GorillaNJ
    GorillaNJ Posts: 4,024 Member
    Did you come up with this routine on your own? If I were you I would do some research on a program built to achieve the goals you want.

    I would suggest picking up a copy of The New Rules of Lifting....
  • Acg67
    Acg67 Posts: 12,142 Member
    are you eating at a deficit or surplus?
  • MinnesotaManimal
    MinnesotaManimal Posts: 642 Member
    so its ok to lift less weight some days if that is all I can lift? I just don't want to do something that will set me back. I am not aiming to be bulky, Id like to be lean and cut. I eat as much protein as I can, but its hard to get more than 70 grams a day and keep my calories in check.
  • MinnesotaManimal
    MinnesotaManimal Posts: 642 Member
    yes. I am new to lifting, and am trying to stay balanced between front and back exercises, but other than that no real plan?
  • IronSmasher
    IronSmasher Posts: 3,908 Member
    The sets and reps are great, but the order is all messed up. For starters, it's weights first, then cardio.

    As a general rule you want to start with compound exercises like the presses, and then do isolation moves for the muscles in the previous compound move, i.e. follow your flat bench press with chest flyes, follow your rows and pull downs with the back flyes.
    If you're going to do only one leg move, I'd make it a full body one such as squat or dead lifts if possible.

    You're obviously doing enough to build muscle, as you're causing fatigue. Make sure your nutrition's spot on, and your sleep. Not being able to repeat the same weights is an example of overtraining. You've not recovered, you could do some very light weights to improve circulation and recovery, but I think you'd be better off with a different training split. By turning your one workout into two, you could add some more exercises, but ultimately give each muscle group enough time to recover, without having to go to the gym less often.
  • snookumss
    snookumss Posts: 1,451 Member
    Well, if you REALLY want to see a difference in muscle gains, you should do focused weight sessions rather than all-over sessions. You need to spend time on half-third of your body... legs/abs for example one day and arms/back another. Split up those muscles so you can give them real attention. Then don't be afraid to challenge your muscles by doing 3-5 in a set here and there.

    Of course, you will see a difference initially starting your routine, but it won't help you reach very much in long term MUSCLE gain.
    If you really want to gain legit muscle, I'd suggest looking into powerlifting routines online. Those will help your strength, and increase overall muscle mass ;)
  • rileysowner
    rileysowner Posts: 8,330 Member
    While it should work, I see a lot of isolation exercises in that routine. I would suggest sticking with compound exercises like squat, bench press, overhead press, dead lift, and bent-over rows. The stronglifts 5x5 is a great routine to build strength using those exercises. Isolation exercises have their place, but you would be better served by building a strong foundation first. You can find the stronglifts report which will explain it more completely here http://stronglifts.com/free-stronglifts-5x5-report/

    I also suggest doing the weights before the cardio. You want to have as much energy as you can to do the weights, not to mention the mental clarity.
  • MinnesotaManimal
    MinnesotaManimal Posts: 642 Member
    are you eating at a deficit or surplus?

    on any day I work out, I eat back 50-75% of my work out calories (which I track with a polar ft-7) on days that I don't run or lift, I stay at the recommended 1290 and my weightloss has been good, and my running energy has been good.
  • snookumss
    snookumss Posts: 1,451 Member
    While it should work, I see a lot of isolation exercises in that routine. I would suggest sticking with compound exercises like squat, bench press, overhead press, dead lift, and bent-over rows. The stronglifts 5x5 is a great routine to build strength using those exercises. Isolation exercises have their place, but you would be better served by building a strong foundation first. You can find the stronglifts report which will explain it more completely here http://stronglifts.com/free-stronglifts-5x5-report/

    I love that routine! I may just have to try it out again, now that I am back in the gym!
  • topyule
    topyule Posts: 18 Member
    I split my body parts up thru the week.
    Day one: Chest and Back
    Day two sholders
    Day three rest
    Day four arms tris/bis
    Day five legs
    I do machine crunches and back extensions with each workout as well as at least 30 minutse of cardio
    The question is how much weight are you doing? Start with a weight that you can do 8-10 reps the first set and stay with
    that until you can do all three sets with that weight. Once you can increase the weigth and start again. You should start to
    see results in a couple of weeks. Continue to do the bady part split, but change up the exercises for each body part every month or so. It has worked for me and I am an old man.
  • AlsDonkBoxSquat
    AlsDonkBoxSquat Posts: 6,128 Member
    are you eating at a deficit or surplus?

    on any day I work out, I eat back 50-75% of my work out calories (which I track with a polar ft-7) on days that I don't run or lift, I stay at the recommended 1290 and my weightloss has been good, and my running energy has been good.

    When eating at a deficit you will see weight loss, but not muscle gain. You will continue to lose weight, by lifting you are just ensuring that a lesser %age of that loss will come from lean mass than without lifting. Also, 1290 seems like a really low calorie goal for a man, I rarely see men on this site with this low calorie goal.
  • AlsDonkBoxSquat
    AlsDonkBoxSquat Posts: 6,128 Member
    Oh, and egg whites, a good protein powder, fish, and 99% lean turkey products are all really effecient protein sources.
  • Gilbrod
    Gilbrod Posts: 1,216 Member
    Oh, and egg whites, a good protein powder, fish, and 99% lean turkey products are all really effecient protein sources.


    Agreed.
  • MinnesotaManimal
    MinnesotaManimal Posts: 642 Member
    The sets and reps are great, but the order is all messed up. For starters, it's weights first, then cardio.

    As a general rule you want to start with compound exercises like the presses, and then do isolation moves for the muscles in the previous compound move, i.e. follow your flat bench press with chest flyes, follow your rows and pull downs with the back flyes.
    If you're going to do only one leg move, I'd make it a full body one such as squat or dead lifts if possible.

    You're obviously doing enough to build muscle, as you're causing fatigue. Make sure your nutrition's spot on, and your sleep. Not being able to repeat the same weights is an example of overtraining. You've not recovered, you could do some very light weights to improve circulation and recovery, but I think you'd be better off with a different training split. By turning your one workout into two, you could add some more exercises, but ultimately give each muscle group enough time to recover, without having to go to the gym less often.

    so maybe lifting every other day is not enough recoverey at this time? just want to make sure I understand what you are saying.
  • MinnesotaManimal
    MinnesotaManimal Posts: 642 Member
    Oh, and egg whites, a good protein powder, fish, and 99% lean turkey products are all really effecient protein sources.

    5 out of 7 days my breakfast is a large can of Tuna packed in water :-) loads of lean protein to start the day. other days, Ill have some wheat toast with it or a bowl of oatmeal instead.
  • Acg67
    Acg67 Posts: 12,142 Member
    are you eating at a deficit or surplus?

    on any day I work out, I eat back 50-75% of my work out calories (which I track with a polar ft-7) on days that I don't run or lift, I stay at the recommended 1290 and my weightloss has been good, and my running energy has been good.

    since you're just starting out you can gain some muscle in a deficit, however for someone that is over 175, 1290 is a pretty low amount of cals
  • MinnesotaManimal
    MinnesotaManimal Posts: 642 Member
    are you eating at a deficit or surplus?

    on any day I work out, I eat back 50-75% of my work out calories (which I track with a polar ft-7) on days that I don't run or lift, I stay at the recommended 1290 and my weightloss has been good, and my running energy has been good.

    since you're just starting out you can gain some muscle in a deficit, however for someone that is over 175, 1290 is a pretty low amount of cals

    I just followed what the site told me when I put in my data, It has me Net 1290 to lose 2 lbs a week , and I always eat thatand I usualy lose 1.5-2.6 lbs a week, then if I work out, I eat back half or more of my burned calories, so on days I work out, I eat a total of 1700-2000 calories but still net the 1290 or less due to the burned calories. make sense? or am I still not eating enough??
  • MinnesotaManimal
    MinnesotaManimal Posts: 642 Member
    While it should work, I see a lot of isolation exercises in that routine. I would suggest sticking with compound exercises like squat, bench press, overhead press, dead lift, and bent-over rows. The stronglifts 5x5 is a great routine to build strength using those exercises. Isolation exercises have their place, but you would be better served by building a strong foundation first. You can find the stronglifts report which will explain it more completely here http://stronglifts.com/free-stronglifts-5x5-report/

    I also suggest doing the weights before the cardio. You want to have as much energy as you can to do the weights, not to mention the mental clarity.

    Is this really legit? it feels like a scam. http://stronglifts.com/free-stronglifts-5x5-report/

    I entered my email, and then I get a notice saying I need to follow another set of instructions in order to get my free report........

    it looks like a duck, walks like a duck and now I want to know.... does it quack like a duck.....
  • ninerbuff
    ninerbuff Posts: 48,990 Member
    I don't know if Im lifting enough, for example, after my cardio on monday (running 3 miles), I did the following, all with 3 sets of 8-10 reps with enough weight that I could barely do 8 on the last set of each exercise

    back flys
    chest flys
    leg press
    weighted ab machine
    straight bench
    lat pull downs
    seated row

    and then a bunch of other weighted ab excercises, like 90 russian twists with medicine ball, crunches and planks ect.

    is that gonna be enough to build muscle? or should a guy go back through and repeat everything with another 3 sets of each? it just seems odd in my brain that you can build muscle doing 30 reps total of each exercise every other day.

    Also if I go every other day and for what ever reason say my arms are still sore and weak from the previous work out, is it ok to drop the weight down and just bench what ever I can lift to do my 3 sets of 8-10 reps? or should I hold off on that muscle group till the next time I work out? For instance, last week wednesday, I benched 150 lbs, and then Friday I could only do 130, but I did the 130 till I couldn't lift it once more, is that a bad choice?

    thoughts?
    If your intention is to build muscle then you will gain weight. To gain muscle you need a surplus. That said you should do at the very least 1 exercise for each body part. If you're starting my recommendation would be:

    Leg press
    Leg curls
    Bent over rows
    Bench press
    Overhead press
    Barbell curls
    Lying tricep extensions
    Crunches
    Leg lifts

    This is a basic program with more compound exercise. You can do 3x8-10 till you need to change your program. Also LIFT FIRST! Don't waste your glycogen stores on cardio. You need glycogen for strength training.
  • ninerbuff
    ninerbuff Posts: 48,990 Member
    I've read that If you want to build muscle you have to lift to the point of muscle failure. If you want to lose weight you have to do high reps.. 12-15.. and lift to fatigue..
    Myth. You can lose weight lifting heavy weights and lose less lean muscle.
  • joejccva71
    joejccva71 Posts: 2,985 Member
    OP,

    What are your goals? Are you trying to gain muscle and bulk right now or are you trying to cut down bodyfat first while retaining as much lean mass as possible?

    Also when you are starting out with weight training, you should start by doing compound lifts moreso than isolation exercises. Niner and a few others in this thread have it correct.

    In my opinion, you would do well to start off with full body routines 3x a week (Mon, Wed, Fri) with these exercises:

    Barbell Flat Bench
    Overhead Military Press
    Barbell Curls
    Bent over Barbell Rows
    Full body Squats
    Deadlifts
    Calf Raises

    Done. You should probably do this kind of workout 3 times a week for ATLEAST 6 months to a year before you even start thinking about anything else.
  • ninerbuff
    ninerbuff Posts: 48,990 Member
    so its ok to lift less weight some days if that is all I can lift? I just don't want to do something that will set me back. I am not aiming to be bulky, Id like to be lean and cut. I eat as much protein as I can, but its hard to get more than 70 grams a day and keep my calories in check.
    You won't always be strong. And if you're losing weight your strength will go down in most cases unless you're new to lifting where you actually may increase in strength. Use protein shakes to help supplement your protein needs.
    And now that you want to lean and cut, building muscle won't be very probable. It's very hard to build muscle and lose weight at the same time even for the most seasoned lifters.
  • ninerbuff
    ninerbuff Posts: 48,990 Member
    OP,

    What are your goals? Are you trying to gain muscle and bulk right now or are you trying to cut down bodyfat first while retaining as much lean mass as possible?

    Also when you are starting out with weight training, you should start by doing compound lifts moreso than isolation exercises. Niner and a few others in this thread have it correct.

    In my opinion, you would do well to start off with full body routines 3x a week (Mon, Wed, Fri) with these exercises:

    Barbell Flat Bench
    Overhead Military Press
    Barbell Curls
    Bent over Barbell Rows
    Full body Squats
    Deadlifts
    Calf Raises

    Done. You should probably do this kind of workout 3 times a week for ATLEAST 6 months to a year before you even start thinking about anything else.
    Dude you're like my twin.
  • MinnesotaManimal
    MinnesotaManimal Posts: 642 Member
    OP,

    What are your goals? Are you trying to gain muscle and bulk right now or are you trying to cut down bodyfat first while retaining as much lean mass as possible?

    Also when you are starting out with weight training, you should start by doing compound lifts moreso than isolation exercises. Niner and a few others in this thread have it correct.

    In my opinion, you would do well to start off with full body routines 3x a week (Mon, Wed, Fri) with these exercises:

    Barbell Flat Bench
    Overhead Military Press
    Barbell Curls
    Bent over Barbell Rows
    Full body Squats
    Deadlifts
    Calf Raises

    Done. You should probably do this kind of workout 3 times a week for ATLEAST 6 months to a year before you even start thinking about anything else.

    I am nearing my weightloss goal, I am down to 180 from 230lbs and I want to be lean. I have no interest in being bulky, but Id love to have some serious muscle definition especially in my chest and abs. 6 ft tall 180 lbs and I still have serious man boobs and a gut. This is why Im learning to lift weights. I honestly don't care what my final weight is as long as Im not fat anymore.

    I have taken up Running, and absolutely love it. I Run 3 miles 3-4 times a week now and try to get in 6 miles worth of running at least once but usually twice a week. The running is what I attribute to losing 30 lbs since June ( along with eating less)

    I am intimidated by free weights because the gym I use is not very populated when I go, and I don't want to get hurt, I have been using the machines to lift for 2 weeks now.
  • BigDaddyRonnie
    BigDaddyRonnie Posts: 506 Member
    You have a combination of push and pull exercises listed. You don't really say exactly how much weight (heavy or light) on each you are using to fully exhaust your target muscles.

    From my experience, here is what I recommend:

    build a routine based on the number of days you lift. if you can seperate push from pull exercises, that will give you very good isolation. Bodybuilding.com is a site I use frequently for this advice, along with my gym fitness guy/gal.

    High reps (12-15, 20 max over 3 sets), low weight tends to tone. High weight, low reps (5-8, over 3+ sets) tend to build muscle. What do you want to do? Me, I want gains, not focused on my body weight but rather my endurance and strength so I push hard, low reps when needed.
  • MinnesotaManimal
    MinnesotaManimal Posts: 642 Member
    You have a combination of push and pull exercises listed. You don't really say exactly how much weight (heavy or light) on each you are using to fully exhaust your target muscles.

    From my experience, here is what I recommend:

    build a routine based on the number of days you lift. if you can seperate push from pull exercises, that will give you very good isolation. Bodybuilding.com is a site I use frequently for this advice, along with my gym fitness guy/gal.

    High reps (12-15, 20 max over 3 sets), low weight tends to tone. High weight, low reps (5-8, over 3+ sets) tend to build muscle. What do you want to do? Me, I want gains, not focused on my body weight but rather my endurance and strength so I push hard, low reps when needed.

    all in LBS and all in 3 sets of 8-10 and for all exercises I barely can complete 7-8 on the last set of reps.


    I bench 130-150 depending on how strong I feel,
    back flys 80
    chest flys 90
    seated row 100
    weighted ab isolator 100-120
    weighted back extension ( reverse crunch machine?) 160
    lat pull down 100
    leg press 230

    thats all I can recall at the moment.
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