reps and sets

[bigpappaferg]

Yeh its workout A that seems to take the longest. I'm just approaching 1.3x body weight on squats.

As an aside, I'd agree with you there, it is a fantastic programme and I have made significant gains on my lifts.

I'd say try supersetting your squats and bench press if your gym setup is condusive. Or superset your bench and rowing, either way you'll cut down on rest time which should shorten the overall workout. If that doesn't work then maybe try dropping your reps.

[TheRuss]

In short, if your current combination of sets-reps-rest is still giving you benefit, you should probably stick with it. If time is an issue, I second the suggestion of interlacing unrelated exercises.

[new2bjj]

I'm sorry, I did not realize you were lifting to, well, lift. I thought it was martial arts related. I would not rush, as the above poster said, as you may over do it, and possibly hurt your joints, which will not get as strong as fast as your muscles do. I read somewhere, in the Science of Sports Training by Kurz, that you should do an exercise until you reached maximum benefit, then proceed to more complex or advanced ones.

BTW, if you said "I want to look like the guys in 300", that would be a legitimate answer as any, it's just that sometimes people do the wrong types of workouts for their sports. Example, a guy that boxes is not going to have the same strength needs as a guy that is a BJJ guy or a guy that plays soccer.

[Sakmongkol]

I don't know as much as the guys that BM mentioned but I was taught that 10 Reps is ideal for muscular size rather than strength.

From what I remember, you should be lifting 80-90% of you 1 rep max 6-8 times for strength gains.

Until when? Most people will do 5x5 until the sun explodes. Increased crossection of the muscle bellies will increase strength, therefore hypertrophy routines can lead to greater strength in the long run.

That said there are better ways to get bigger than 3x10. Maybe try the 20 rep squat routine? Make sure to drink your milk.

Edit: **** 90% 6 times!?!? Most people will struggle with a heavy triple at 90%. Going to 3x5 will be fine as well if you want to continue with pure strength training at this juncture. Be warned though not varying your reps or sets will eventually lead to you plateauing on all lifts.

[Teh El Macho]

Its the squats that are a killer. My next session (tomorrow night) will be at 291.5lbs. I start with a few warm up reps which take a few minutes, then takes about 30 minutes to do 5x5. Bench is less time intensive 181.5lbs took me 15 minutes (maybe 20...) yesterday. I've switched to inverted rows from the new programme and these take about 5 to 10 minutes, and dips with 28.6lbs takes again between 5 and 10 minutes. Finally prone bridges take about 5 minutes.

Rest between reps depends on the lift, but probably about 5 minutes between squats at the moment. All other lifts, more like 2 to 3 minutes.

Just started taking BCAA and creatine, along with glutamine and protein I was already taking.

I should say on all this my body weight is 230lbs.

Hmmm, I'm trying to understand why it would take you 30 minutes to complete your 5x5 squats. How much rest do you take between sets? If you are taking about 5 minutes of rest, then that certainly will take you 30 minutes. There is nothing wrong with taking 5 minutes of rest - specially if you use it for active rest .ie. walking, some jumping jacks, and not sitting your ass.

However, try to push it down to 2 minutes between sets. Get a chronometer and diligently set it to two minutes. Treat it just as you would treat a 10-second rest in a tabata set.

Then, a couple of things will happen:

1. you'll find that it's just mental and that you can perform all 5x5 with less than half the time for rest you are using now, or
2. you'll find that you'll have to decrease the load you are using, but just so slightly. The decrease can be for all sets or only for the last two or three.

All of that it's fine because, for any program, you will need to make some sort of adjustment every now and then.

You also need to look up at your warm ups. What exactly are you doing for warm ups? What exercises, what sets, what reps per set? How much time in total? I shouldn't take more than 5-10 minutes for a warm up (1 minute of jumping jacks, a couple of Samson stretches and 1 to 2 sets of squats, first at 10-15 reps, second at 7-8 reps, with little break in between.

If I were you, I'd rather decrease the load being used and/or the rest time between squat sets instead of going to a 3x10. I could be wrong, but sticking to 5 reps per set, even if it means doing only 3 sets of 5 reps when time is an issue. The reason for this is the following:

A 10-12 rep set is usually the target set range for hypertrophy, but you have to use more than 3 sets (or 30 reps) to see some benefit. 3x10 won't cut it. It will warm you up, but won't really give you much strength or size gains.