Strength Training question

I'm a personal trainer and if you are strength training, don't train a muscle group more than 2 times a week. When you train you should do 3 circuits of 3-4 sets of 3 exercises per muscle group. You would do 3 exercises for your quads, 3 for your hamstrings, & 3 for your calves. The first set should be 6 reps and add 2 reps to the next set never going above 12 reps. You should decrease the weight as your reps increase but remember that last rep should be a max out. Start by doing one quad exercise, then a hamstring and so on. By the 3rd week do 2 quads, then 2 hams, then 2 calves. Then the 4th week do all 3 exercises for one muscle group back to back. You want to get to the point where you are moving from one exercise to the other with minimal rest periods. You would rest at least 2 min when you complete a circuit. Hope this makes sense. Kind of a basic routine but it is a great strengthening regimen. Don't forget to breathe!!

I'm a personal trainer and if you are strength training, don't train a muscle group more than 2 times a week. When you train you should do 3 circuits of 3-4 sets of 3 exercises per muscle group. You would do 3 exercises for your quads, 3 for your hamstrings, & 3 for your calves. The first set should be 6 reps and add 2 reps to the next set never going above 12 reps. You should decrease the weight as your reps increase but remember that last rep should be a max out. Start by doing one quad exercise, then a hamstring and so on. By the 3rd week do 2 quads, then 2 hams, then 2 calves. Then the 4th week do all 3 exercises for one muscle group back to back. You want to get to the point where you are moving from one exercise to the other with minimal rest periods. You would rest at least 2 min when you complete a circuit. Hope this makes sense. Kind of a basic routine but it is a great strengthening regimen. Don't forget to breathe!!

You are a PT and recommending isolating muscles for strength gains? ODD.

In another thread he recommended that the poster do high reps and low weights to lose pounds.. again ODD.

To OP:
As long as you hit quads, hams, and calves you should be alright. Don't be afraid to lift heavy... You will not bulk up no matter what anyone says.

I do split body weight training and do one day of lower, one day of upper and either a full body or upper/lower focus when I'm with my trainer.

It depends on hard you're training. If the last rep of each set is very difficult to complete then you're training hard (and I hope you are). Hence, 3 days per week with a day of rest in between is ideal.

I'm a personal trainer and if you are strength training, don't train a muscle group more than 2 times a week. When you train you should do 3 circuits of 3-4 sets of 3 exercises per muscle group. You would do 3 exercises for your quads, 3 for your hamstrings, & 3 for your calves. The first set should be 6 reps and add 2 reps to the next set never going above 12 reps. You should decrease the weight as your reps increase but remember that last rep should be a max out. Start by doing one quad exercise, then a hamstring and so on. By the 3rd week do 2 quads, then 2 hams, then 2 calves. Then the 4th week do all 3 exercises for one muscle group back to back. You want to get to the point where you are moving from one exercise to the other with minimal rest periods. You would rest at least 2 min when you complete a circuit. Hope this makes sense. Kind of a basic routine but it is a great strengthening regimen. Don't forget to breathe!!

You are a PT and recommending isolating muscles for strength gains? ODD.

In another thread he recommended that the poster do high reps and low weights to lose pounds.. again ODD.

To OP:
As long as you hit quads, hams, and calves you should be alright. Don't be afraid to lift heavy... You will not bulk up no matter what anyone says.

I do split body weight training and do one day of lower, one day of upper and either a full body or upper/lower focus when I'm with my trainer.

What odd about it? It's a proven method and believe me in my experience I've seen girls get agitated because they were gaining bulk instead of leaning out. Doing higher reps increases motor recruitment, which in turn makes more muscle fibers fire. Thats where you want to begin and once you plateau that's when you know your routine needs an overhaul. When you jump in lifting heavy you will "damage" a higher % of muscle fibers instead of recruiting them neurologically(i.e. increase motor unit firing rate). It's still inconclusive in the strength and conditioning journals but this is what the basis of the soreness feeling you get may really be; not the muscle repair most believe it to be. The article basically states that soreness should be slightly painful during the beginning stages of your training, and then be almost non-existent going forward. You're suppose to use your level of soreness as a gauge on if you're training correctly or too vigourously, but starting with endurance strength training was a key. Why do you think your strength rapidly increases in the early stages of a proper resistance training program? Motor recruitment. This is more for guys, but if I said you would gain more strength by doing push-ups instead of the good ol' bench press you would probably say thats ODD too. Phsyiology would agree, those fitness mags that have ads every other page would say NO WAY!! Like I said in another post there's no one routine that works for everyone, I'm just offering my opinion from my experience in the years of training I've done.

I'm a personal trainer and if you are strength training, don't train a muscle group more than 2 times a week. When you train you should do 3 circuits of 3-4 sets of 3 exercises per muscle group. You would do 3 exercises for your quads, 3 for your hamstrings, & 3 for your calves. The first set should be 6 reps and add 2 reps to the next set never going above 12 reps. You should decrease the weight as your reps increase but remember that last rep should be a max out. Start by doing one quad exercise, then a hamstring and so on. By the 3rd week do 2 quads, then 2 hams, then 2 calves. Then the 4th week do all 3 exercises for one muscle group back to back. You want to get to the point where you are moving from one exercise to the other with minimal rest periods. You would rest at least 2 min when you complete a circuit. Hope this makes sense. Kind of a basic routine but it is a great strengthening regimen. Don't forget to breathe!!

You are a PT and recommending isolating muscles for strength gains? ODD.

In another thread he recommended that the poster do high reps and low weights to lose pounds.. again ODD.

To OP:
As long as you hit quads, hams, and calves you should be alright. Don't be afraid to lift heavy... You will not bulk up no matter what anyone says.

I do split body weight training and do one day of lower, one day of upper and either a full body or upper/lower focus when I'm with my trainer.

What odd about it? It's a proven method and believe me in my experience I've seen girls get agitated because they were gaining bulk instead of leaning out. Doing higher reps increases motor recruitment, which in turn makes more muscle fibers fire. Thats where you want to begin and once you plateau that's when you know your routine needs an overhaul. When you jump in lifting heavy you will "damage" a higher % of muscle fibers instead of recruiting them neurologically(i.e. increase motor unit firing rate). It's still inconclusive in the strength and conditioning journals but this is what the basis of the soreness feeling you get may really be; not the muscle repair most believe it to be. The article basically states that soreness should be slightly painful during the beginning stages of your training, and then be almost non-existent going forward. You're suppose to use your level of soreness as a gauge on if you're training correctly or too vigourously, but starting with endurance strength training was a key. Why do you think your strength rapidly increases in the early stages of a proper resistance training program? Motor recruitment. This is more for guys, but if I said you would gain more strength by doing push-ups instead of the good ol' bench press you would probably say thats ODD too. Phsyiology would agree, those fitness mags that have ads every other page would say NO WAY!! Like I said in another post there's no one routine that works for everyone, I'm just offering my opinion from my experience in the years of training I've done.

I'm not sure what girls you we're training but in my experience(and most everyone else's on the site) girls can't bulk.. esp if they are eating at a deficit.. it's impossible. Can they burn away the fat so the definition shows more? Yes.. but that's not bulking in the traditional sense.

9 times outta 10 when I leave my trainer.. I'm sore. are you saying that shouldn't be? To me, my soreness is a sign that he's challenging my body in new ways.. and I've been seeing 3 different trainers for a little over a year now.

Post that article if you don't mind.. I'd like to see it.

Impossible? If it was impossible there wouldn't be woman bodybuilders, powerlifters etc..I never said anything about girls I've trained, I said I've SEEN cases of built muscle mass. It's ridiculous to think muscle tone comes from burning fat only. I've taken the measurements and seen the upper leg, arm, shoulder width growth and this is with bodyfat comp decreases in women in my experience and research so tell me why you think the body isn't transformed by muscle growth?

Again, you misunderstood the soreness issue. It's still an INCONCLUSIVE report and still to this day soreness is not fully understood in the fitness and medical field. I never said anything about you should never be sore. Read the post again. As far as the article, it is in the Strength and Conditioning Journal I receive quarterly by mail for being a certified member of the NSCA. I don't believe these articles are posted online. If you want I can give you the issue, volume, researcher if need be but most of those volumes are in Austin and I'm working on the coast now. Your entitled to your opinion. Every trainer is different, but I offer my educational opinion being I work in the fitness field and the medical field as a rehab specialist as well and am required to continually educate myself further to keep my credentials up to date.