Doom878

6 sets of squats.

gavriil

Oh no, no. I was referring mostly to the bike you have stated you usually do before hand. Unless if it was someone else.

In other words, a treadmil or bike warm up is not necessary for preventing injuries before lifting.

gavriil

I always do 6 sets of the first most compound exercise of any muscle group. Five would be the minimum which happens when I dont feel like having a second overload set.

Doom878

Can I get some details on that and how it helps. I've always wondered about that.

Adam_Schwartz

I don't count the first 3 as "real" sets though, so I am in reality doing 3 heavy sets.

Adam_Schwartz

That was me - I sometimes will do 3-5 min on a bike beforehand just to get my heart rate up and my legs warm. It is more of a mental thing than anything - my bike time is not really supported by any research, just something I do time to time.

gavriil

Every set counts. In my book at least. There is reason not only for every set, but for every rep!

gavriil

That's what I used to do in the beginning, but then I stopped it. I dont do treadmill or bike warmups at all. What I do is slightly different.

Doom878

Anyone?

Adam_Schwartz

c'mon, you know what I am talking about. I am not directly adding any mass with those first 2-3 sets, although they are important in the grand scheme of things. By "real", I mean really pushing my body HARD, which those first 2 sets are not supposed to do.

Adam_Schwartz

Last night was leg night and I did not do any bike work beforehand and just went straight into lifting. I admit that my squats felt really good and I did not notice any drop in performance by NOT putting in some bike time. So that was really cool.

Adam_Schwartz

What specifically are you asking? About doing 5-6 sets for the complex lifts? There is not a written rule that doing 5-6 sets of squats vs 3 sets is always better, but if gaining strength/mass is your goal, then 5-6 sets is probably going to give you more results. Notice I am not suggesting that each of your 5-6 sets goes to failure or be an overload set, but perhaps the last 2-3. There are all kinds of set/rep schemes to follow, so you just about have to start somewhere and tweek it as you go along. That is the fun and hard part about lifting...learning what works best for YOU.

Doom878

Yeah that was the explanation I was looking for. Just wanted to see the point of doing the 5-6. Thanks.

Adam_Schwartz

Cool - basically, the whole idea of adding mass is working your muscles more than they are typically used to, which is the idea behind doing enough sets to injure your muscles so they can heal and ultimately become bigger/stronger, which is the whole idea of eating enough calories of the right foods and resting properly. Sounds simple enough...

Doom878

Speaking of adding mass, I found a post at bodybuilding.com that I can't find anymore. It listed the excercises that should always be done on that particular muscle. It had something like:

Chest: flat press, incline press, and chest dips
Shoulders: military press
Back: Lat pull
Legs: Front squat and some others
Arms: can't remember neither

Anyone remember seeing that. Basically the other exercises weren't as efficient as these.

Adam_Schwartz

I tend to disagree with always doing the same lifts on a constant basis, even if you switch up other supplemetal lifts in your regimen. The only exception to that rule is doing squats, deadlifts, some type of bench press and pullups. Although I will try and take a break from even these lifts.

But my personal favorite lifts would be:

Chest: flat and incline bench (BB or DB)
Delts: BB or DB press, side lateral raises
Back: Deadlift, pullups, shrugs...lat pulldowns not even close to these lifts IMO
Legs: Squats and stiff leg deadlifts
Calves: Donkey raises (if I only had 1 to choose from)
Triceps: Dips, skull crushers, push/pull downs
Biceps: Straight BB curls, concentration DB curls, hammer curls
Abs: swiss ball crunches (again, if I only had 1 to choose)

Again, these are just my personal favorites. As long as you do some type of lifting, then you'll be fine.

gavriil

On the contrary, you should be able to do slightly more weight, or an extra rep on your overload. Glad to heat it worked.

Adam_Schwartz

Actually, I am able to squat slightly more weight now. It is pretty cool actually, I don't feel like I am losing anything by NOT stretching beforehand. I was a little skeptical at first, but I feel 100% fine with this. I am applying it to my lifting in general, not just squats.

gavriil

You're making me a happy man sir

RaptorCLS

awesome work

Adam_Schwartz

You gotta admit, most folks have been "brainwashed" into stretching before doing ANY exercise, so people like me need to be re-trained. Stretching is not bad, just to make that clear.

I see lots of people stretching before they lift now and want to tell them to this new method, but I don't butt into their business. It's not like they are doing something horrible, other than wasting energy that could be used to lift.

gavriil

It's not so much brainwashing as much as being misinformed.

I also find it difficult to keep my mouth shut when I see a billion things done wrong in the gym, but 99% of the time, I dont say anything. Just to people I know.

Doom878

I still stretch beforehand. However I don't do a whole session. All I do is like a 10 second stretch for each arm if I'm like doing biceps and then start lifting. I do it to kind of stay loose.

Adam_Schwartz

Right, that's why I put brainwashing in quotes

But this info about stretching before lifting is relatively new. I know my body well enough to recommend this new technique to anyone. If it was harming my form or performance, then I would know it pretty quickly.