Some Questions for anyone...

[SGrande]

Hello Ladies (and guys, too!) - I am new here, and looking for some advice. I've been lifting consistently for about 6-7 mos. now, and am looking to step up my routine to achieve mass gains esp. for my upper body. is it better to do a 3 day split routine, or might i have better luck doing a total body routine 3x/week.

Thanks!!

[midgetcop]

I'm pretty sure most people are going to tell you that either routine can work for you. Personally, I favour a 3-day split routine, but I know many others have found success with full-body workouts.

You say that you want to step up your routine - what has been your routine thus far? Have you made gains with it?

[SGrande]

Hi - Thanks for your response. I had been doing a total body routine 2x/wk, then upper body only on a 3rd day. After about 6 months, i thought it would be time for a change, so iI started a 3 day split program yesterday, doing chest/back, then weds will be legs/shoulders, and fri. will be arms/abs. A friend of mine wrote up the workouts for me. She suggested I do 4 sets of 12 reps to start, then lower the reps each week to 10, 8, then 5, then bring the reps back up. What have you had success with?

Thanks again.

[Lady C]

I've never tried that kind of pryamiding with my reps (high-low-high).

That is an unconventional split. I think you are doing too much isolation with an arm day and not enough core work with the back/chest/legs, IMHO. I would try more of a back/triceps, chest shoulder, legs/biceps and do ab work with your cardio.

[midgetcop]

4 sets of 12 reps sounds like a bit much - I'd scale it back to 3 sets. Any particular reason why your friend suggested to lower the reps each week? Maybe someone else on here is familiar with that training style....But progress would be far easier to track if you pick a rep-range that you want to work in and then progressively increase the weight.

For my routine I stick roughly within a 5-10 rep-range....it's a pretty wide range, and when I feel that I'm hitting around 10-9-9 for my sets I up the weight (sometimes even sooner than that, depending on the lift). I train purely for strength, but of course I'm putting on some mass by default.

Other than that rep-range plan, it sounds good. What particular lifts will you be doing?

[SGrande]

Hi ladies - thanx for your replies. Lady C- good point - I will rearrange to do a more evenly distributed split like you suggested. Maybe 4 sets is a bit much - it was killer yesterday!

midgetcop - the lifts include Back: cable row, lat pulldowns, hyperextentions
Chest: chest press (cybex or DB), butterflies Legs: squat, walking lunges, leg ext., leg curls, Shoulders: DB press, Lateral raises, Bent over raises for rear delts, Tris - cable pushdowns, kickbacks or dips, Bi's - hammer curls, barbell curls, and machine curls, and then calves, abs, i think i hit everything.

[CF-OC_gal]

If you want mass I'd work on compound heavy exercises like squats, deadlift and bench press. Reps in the 6-8 range to failure but not every workout. When you reach 3 sets of 8 reps be sure to up your weight.

Eat well, rest even more and no more than 2-3 exercises that stress each muscle group as a primary target.

Consistency is more important than volume (adding more reps and sets) when it comes to mass.

When you feel yourself getting stale, or adapting, (usually within 6-10 weeks) to the routine then change up the exercises.

Target each muscle group no more than 1-2 x per week depending on the intensity of what you can handle in one workout. If you are going all out with volume per session, don't be afraid to rest.