boardn10

After reading through Clarence Bass's book, Challenge Yourself, I decided to periodize a bit better. I like his idea od doing 4-5 weeks of reps staying at about 20 reps per exercise, then 4-5 weeks of 12-15 and then 4-5 weeks of 6-8 reps. However, I forget if he goes to his max weight during all phases, hence 20 reps would be 100% max at that rep range. He may have said to stay in the 65-75% of max for that rep range when doing 20 reps and a little higher percentage wehn doing 12-15 and closer to 100% when working in the 6-8 range. Of course I have trouble leaving my ego at the door when I enter the gym so I go all out always and go with my max for any range, hence I probably am not giving myself a break. What I should probably do is maybe go with lighter weights early in tyhe 4-5 cycle and then peak the last week so that I might do 60-70% of my 15-20 rep max early on and then hitting 100% for 15 reps by ther last week....then move onto the lower rep range the next week and so on..... So here I am going all out..... Last night at the gym it was very crowded and I wanted to get throgh my workout fast. I only did 20 pushups and then a 15 rep warmup with a light to medium weight on the flat dumbbell bench press. I then went right into my main work set where I did 15 reps of the maximum weight I could do for that rep range and made a new personal best so I went all out and had to really grunt through the last few reps. Then before the next set, while I was resting, I noticed pain in my right shoulder/pec area. I was able to continue the sowrkout but I did have some pain, I worked through it. Bad move. The pain is right in the pocket between the pec and deltoid below the clavical. It is pretty sore today, was hurting while trying to get dressing this morning. Of course, today is back day and am wondering if I should skip even though the injury seems to be more impacted by pushing movements. Maybe I should take a week or two off from upper body? Just do legs and cardio? What do you guys think? Should I go see my favorite sports medicine orthopedic specialist as well? Thanks

Did you tell those so called veterans they don't what they are talking about? Ask them why? What is sooooo magical about animal protein as compared to plant protein? Protein is protein and calories are calories. The animals people eat, get their protein from the source...why not do the same?

I also have people say, vegetarians are vegans are always so frail and skinny, sick. They are always shocked when they hear how I eat!

....unnatural??? When I tell people I am into body building. They often tell me they just want to be healthy and are not interested in an unhealthy lifestyle of consuming above average calories and protein and adding unnatural amounts of weight and muscle. I hear this quite often and it is frustrating. Are we misunderstood or are we missing the big picture?

One thing I am really concerned about is since I only hit each exercise or try to hit each body part once a week....shoudl I be going all out each workout. For example I am in a high rep phase right now so I was doing chest exercises today at 15-20 reps. Should I be doing maybe 60-80% of my 15 rep max or should I do about as many as I could do for 15 reps. Then when I go into the next phase in 4 weeks, I will be looking at hitting about 12 reps. 3rd phase will be about 6-8 reps. In each of these do you all think I should be going for the max for that rep range or should I stay at about 60-70% till I get to the heavier weights and lower reps. I have also read that as one approaches the heavier/lower reps portion of the system you could lose size since volume is lower. What if I keep volume high, meaning I will still do the same amount of sets, but my rest between sets may increase. I workout right now 4 days a week, an hour at a time.

Nothing tastes better than whey pro pwd to me but as vegans we can go rice, soy, hemp, pea, etc. I am not a fan of any of these but I do what I have to and rotate them. LOL

There has been research that shows there is no difference from doing one hard work set vs multiple sets in terms of strength and size gains. For me I find I put on too much fat if I do only one work set per exercise because I don't have a lot of time to do a lot of cardio during the week so my weight workouts are it.

I tend to like to do workouts that appeal to me and that I enjoy. Periodized workouts that incorporate sets where I use about 50-65% of max for 10-12 reps bores me, because I am not pushing myself and it is an easy workout so I feel i am wasting my time. I like to go hard but instead vary the exercises, the rep range, set range, rest interval, etc. In light of this and the fact that my previous year of workouts have served me well, I might do the following: I read in Clarence Bass's book how he does one workout a week...but he periodizes by doing 4 weeks of 20 rep sets going all out, followed by 4 weeks of 12 reps all out and then 4 weeks of 8 reps all out. Instead, since I enjoy working out and I find I get a lot out of a 4 day split I want to try doing 4 weeks of 12-15 reps or 15-20 where I am using 80-90% of my max for that range. Then over the next 4 weeks do 10-12, followed by 4 weeks of 6-8 with maybe the last set hitting really heavy weights and 3-6 reps. Then I would take one week off and start over. With this system i am not sure how hard I should go on each set in terms of a % of my max for that rep range. Finally, I would like to incorporate deadlifts and squats but I find them too demanding to do in one workout so I just do legs one day a week and choose squats. Maybe I will find a way to add in deadlifts. Clarence Bass alternates his exercises so he does squats one week and deadlifts the next week, etc. Might try that!

Hey all, I am looking for a spark, something new so I am curious what you all have found for a good periodized system to gain mass and strength. I am not looking to overtrain, LOL. I made some nice gains this last year but it is time to make some changes to keep things going. I was reading through some of Clarence Bass's books to get his thoughts and was reading Bodybuilding.com. Both have some good ideas, some I have tried and some have not. I was reading this article. But the guy contradicts himself. He starts out by saying the Hypertrophy phase is fine but would be lost in later strength phases if volume is increased. Then later talks about a strength program of lower reps and set with heavier weights that build the most long term muscle. Hmmm http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/keats2.htm To add to this, he doesn't really give a solid example of his idea of a good periodized system. He mentions a few systems but doesn't mention if those sets and reps are per exercise of workout. Odd. *** I was wrong. There is a part two linked at the bottom of the page. Looks like an interesting program and I may try it. It can be tough super setting in our gym however if it is crowded because you might not have the bench when you come back from the second part of your set, LOL. I am also not sure I can do stiff legged deads after heavy squats and step ups! Too fatigued for good form! He still doesn't really get into periodizing the workouts. He doesn't say how he would cycle the reps and sets, etc. Should one start the next 4-6 week cycle with higher reps and sets, less of a rest interval, etc? Anyway, open to what you all found.

Great pioints on getting out there and witnessing some contests first hand. How tough is it to find entry-level contests on a small scale for natural bodybuilders. I have been natural since day one. I am also 41 years old so that comes into play. This would be for an all-natural contest!

I will have to get some decent photos of myself but I guess I was wondering if there are some general guidelines as to size and weight, etc.

I think the best way to go is pure......nothing except good food, protein and hard workouts. Only thing I use is pro powder and sometimes some creatine.

It seems anytime I try to get back into BB rows, I end up tweaking my back so I stay away...but maybe I should give them another try. I have done different type of BB rows, with a standard olymipic bar perpendicular to my body and also have done a lot with the bar parallel and using a handle around the bar, similar to how you see Schwarzeneger doing bent rows in Pumping Iron. I think the best I have found for least amount of strain is having the bar close to the body and using an underhand grip.

Hi, Do you feel you must do barbell rows for back? Over the years I have found I get great results with dumbells rows and many other forms of back work, using cables and some free weights.

Whey? You won't get many recommendations for whey on this forum.... It takes a lot of hard training, not necessarilly high volume and high frequency....but when you do train, it needs to be intense, lots of free weights, compoune movements. I am 205 lbs so believe me, it takes a lot of calories and protein. I struggle sometimes to get over 4,000 calories and over 300 grams of protein....but you will find you need to in order to gain solid muscle. You also need to make sure you get good sleep. I get 8 or more hours a night.

Maybe about 205 is my weight ceiling? Maybe I hit my muscular limit? Funny, I keep getting stronger, but not much bigger! If I eat more, I seem to add fat to my mid section. Do many of you carry extra mid secton weight during a mass building phase?

PdevC, The infections I had have left me with a lot of shoulder, elbow and forearm muscle pain, but it doesn;t seem to get in the way of my workouts now, I feel better when working out for sure. I also have mid/thorasic back pain a lot of the time. That concerns me with squating. I believe in the wound healing theory when it comes to bodybuilding. So, if my muscles are still sore days after a workout, i believe they are still recovering. Hard to say at what stage of recovery....but I lean more toward the Clarence Bass or Mike Mentzer side of things when it comes to recovery. One of my rules has always been to not work the same muslce if still sore. I usually wait a day or two after all soreness is gone.

Since I started this thread I have gained some weight. It is tough trying to gain muscle without fat. Right now I am at 205 lbs, but I am almost 6'3" so still rather thin. I am training 4 days a week but might drop it to 3 again.

I feel much better today and my fever is gone so maybe I will either go light or do light cardio. Thanks.

I have been feeling sick all day, just light headed, achey, headache and now have a 100.8 fever. I also have chills. Today I trained shoulders, calves and low back. Tomorrow is legs! Should I take the day off? Rich

Been reading a lot of research on Clarence Bass's site and the research is saying it doesn't matter for most people, you should be able to gain as much either way. I am finding I am making just as good, if not better gains by focusing on higher reps. I have been working with a weight that allows me to get to 12 reps and then I bump it up. Then when I do go to lift heavier, it is amazing what I am capable of. I worked with 10-12 reps today on chest and triceps and the results were just great! I am liking this. I find it is less stress on my joints as well.

First I should say that I like to periodize my workouts to keep things moving.... But lately I have been experimenting more with higher reps with lighter weight. One thing I like about this is I find I need less sptting during sets. For example, I am trying to build size so for chest I was doing heavier dumbell presses. I would do 100 lb dumbells for about 4-6 reps. This is tough and I need a spotter sometimes to help get the weight in position. Lately I have been switching to lighter weight and higher reps - lets say 80 lb Dbs for 12-15 reps in the DB benchpress. I must say I am having just as good results! When I hit a certain weight for 12-15 I then bump up to a higher weight...so now I am going for 12-15 reps with 85 lbs. Anyone experiment with this? Research is showing that both methods are capable of building the same amount of muscle. I am just finding with something like dumbells it is easier to work with during a workout than pulling the heavy weights off the rack and getting a spotter. I still from time to time....maybe once a month I will do the heavies. Thoughts?

Great book, I have it along with about 30-40 other bodybuilding books. I was just referring to how much harder it is to us natural athletes and we will still never be the size of the Pros that compete in the Universe, Olympia, etc.

Thanks, I used to roll my back every day but never noticed a difference. I also only squat once a week. I hit each body part hard, once a week and then allow time for recovery.

True, but I have a goal of entering a bodybuilding competition, so i need some size. Hehe