Correct sets & reps?

[Cinnakiss]

I weight train 3 to 4 times a week, apart from my cardio sessions...
I feel a lil stumped cause I have stayed w/ the same routine for a while....

Almost all machines I do are 3 sets of 20 reps.... more reps? I have vaied with the weight, and found a good weight where I fatigue the muscle yet I am able to finish all of the exercises. Ideas???

[Lift2Live]

20 is getting up there. If you were to drop it to 15 with a little bit of added weight would probably help a little more so than 20's for muscle definition.

[Cinnakiss]

I am a little unclear on your reply, 20 is for muscle definition or 15?

[gymrat]

Originally Posted by Cinnakiss

I weight train 3 to 4 times a week, apart from my cardio sessions...
I feel a lil stumped cause I have stayed w/ the same routine for a while....

Almost all machines I do are 3 sets of 20 reps.... more reps? I have vaied with the weight, and found a good weight where I fatigue the muscle yet I am able to finish all of the exercises. Ideas???

Lifting preferences tend to be pretty personal and everybody's got their own idea of what works. I'm a personal trainer and I'll tell what you works for me and also my clients. I never have any client do more than 15 reps of any exercise and I usually save the 15 reps for my seriously deconditioned clients. With clients that are more fit, we stick to two sets of 12 reps. They need to either fail before 12 or really be fighting to keep form for the last couple of reps. I encourage you to increase your weights but do NOT sacrifice form for heavier weights. Always always always keep proper form.

[CF-OC_gal]

I am assuming that this is your goal from a previous post

I want good cardiovascular shape and have a lean physique

To me that means you want to condition your heart muscle (great goal BTW) and show some muscle definition but not necessarily size.

In that case increasing muscle mass and endurance when weight training are not on your agenda. Sorry if I assume too much here but this would be my recommendation.

1. If you haven't already got a solid base built from working with weights in the 10-15 rep range do that first for 3-6 months going to failure on the last rep and upping your weight as you get stronger.

2. Do mostly free weight exercises and save the machines until later. That way you will condition your joint stabilisers.

3. Once you've done 1&2 move into the 6-10 rep range for working out. Work at a weight where you go to failure on the last rep of every set. Do one set per muscle group and make it the best effort you can do. Include some core work (aka pilates style transverse abdominus training)

4. Change up your exercises every 8-12 weeks to avoid adaptation. If your muscle development is not enough then ad 1-2 more sets or exercises per muscle group.


5. If you notice yourself "growing" too big workout less. You can go anywhere from 1-3 weeks without doing an exercise without losing strength with this type of training. You'll have to try it to find out what works for you.

6. Be sure to journal and pay close attention to your diet making sure that you eat enough. Eating too few calories to stay lean will end up backfiring in the long run and you will have to "feed up" to reset your metabolism. If you are not as lean as you would like to look then the problem is likely with your diet.

7. Make sure that "the vision" of what you want to achieve is possible for your body type. Try not to judge your progress too soon until you really get to know yourself and how your body reacts to exercise. Re-evaluate your goals and training from time to time.

Hope that that helps.

( I agree with gymrat too who posted while I was writing this)