Push/Pull/Legs Question

[Sophie]

So, I've decided to start a push/pull/legs routine next week and have a question.

Push - chest, triceps, shoulders
Pull - back, biceps, traps
Legs
(planned to do a little ab on each day, focusing more on the obliques on leg day, and splitting the rectus into two days)

Should I just pick a 2 or 3 exercies per body part and do 3-4 sets
(ex. chest-bench flyes and do each for 3-4 sets)
or should I do multiple exercses for less sets
(ex. chest-incline, decline, flat, flyes each for 2 sets)?

Does it matter?

Right now for upper body (including abs) I'm doing about 32 sets in 45-50 minutes resting 1-1.5 minutes doing 4-6 reps each set. I was going to increase the reps to 6-8 and rest for 1 minute when I do push/pull.

Edit: I should also add, while I've had strength gains using both 8-10 reps and 4-6 reps per set, I have seen little to no growth in my upper body. I was hoping that by hitting each muscle with more sets (currently each upper body muscle gets 5 sets, would be bumping it to 8 or 9) I'd grow some.

[Lady C]

Growth (inches) is gained by eating more too. I would focus on the diet and routine as a whole for growth.

[LiftGirl]

Originally Posted by Sophie

Should I just pick a 2 or 3 exercies per body part and do 3-4 sets
(ex. chest-bench flyes and do each for 3-4 sets)
or should I do multiple exercses for less sets
(ex. chest-incline, decline, flat, flyes each for 2 sets)?

Does it matter?

Sophie, I think you could go either way. You can do it whichever way you prefer.

[maverick]

What are your goals?

[Sophie]

to gain size in my upper body.

[bodyshop20]

Sophie, high rep will shape (10rep and above) 6-8 will make growth if diet is correct.
If you wanna gain upper body size try real heavy as poss core moves on 5x5 pers

[westside24]

Originally Posted by LiftGirl

Sophie, I think you could go either way. You can do it whichever way you prefer.

Ditto, There is no wrong way to train... I notice better immediate results when I do less sets, like incline, flat, fly 6 sets total for chest, pullup, row, pullover 7 sets for back, 2 sets for traps

much upper chest feels much nicer in the past month, from doing so much less, it was pretty noticeable after just a few workouts.

[Sophie]

thanks all. today was my first day and it went pretty well. my shoulders are dead. not sure about the pecs yet. my triceps hardly ever get sore though.

[hellpup]

Your routine sounds good to me. I'm currently doing the same split and it works well for me.

Generally you should try to keep your weight workouts to 45 minutes to an hour, sounds like you're there. To gain size, it's important to keep your intensity high. Do each rep with slow controlled form. You should be doing each exercise to failure. Failure happens when you can no longer lift or lower the weight on your own with good form.

If you're working solo, you can go to positive failure -- where you can't lift the weight on your own with good form. If you have a good spotter, you can do "negative" reps: once you reach positive failure, your spotter helps you lift the weight and you lower it in a slow controlled motion with good form. When you reach negative failure, you're done. You can probably do two or three more reps after positive failure this way.

I think it's not so important whether you do fewer sets of more exercises or more sets of fewer exercises.