hicurrently i do 10 sets of 10 curls and ten dips for my arms a dayshould i do the same amount of sets for my shoulders? i really feel a strain after 4
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D bell shoulder presses
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ah, thanks. well if im doing such a complex shoulder routine, shouldnt i be doing the same for my arms? and forearms?
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Africa -I really hope that is a mis-print and that you are not doing 10x10 of arms and dips EACH day - but rather you mean each day that you work out - that is, with 2,3 or even more days between workouts to allow your muscles to recuperate and grow - you see, muscles don't grow when you are working out - they grow when you are resting and recuperating. The object is to just stress the muscles enough to stimulate them to come back stronger at the next workout - if you are tired after 4 sets then probably 3 sets of 10 reps would be about right. If you are currently dipping with bodyweight for 10x10 it is time to strap some weight around your waist and drop down in sets/reps.If you are indeed growing and benefitting from 10x10 as your current routine (be honest with yourself) and making improvements in strength and size then that is good and you can tell me to p*ss-off, if you are not improving, then you are overtraining.I ask you this - who is going to have larger arms - a bloke who curls 25kg for 10 sets of 10 reps or the one who curls 50kg for 3 sets of 10 reps? There are many experienced trainers that say you really only need ONE set of any exercise provided it is performed in good form, with a challenging weight that just causes you to miss on the last rep - there you have it - muscle stimulated - now get out of the gym and let it grow.I know HelmsmaN is quite advanced and extremely strong from what I have read and probably he has worked up this over many many years and I would take his advice as pertains to an advanced lifter. Not knowing your level I can't speak to it but I would ask this - how much can you overhead press with a barbell? If it is not something around 75% of your bodyweight for 6 reps or so then I would forget about isolation exercises like laterals, etc. Shoulders get big from hoisting heavy poundages overhead - sure you can use dbs if you like - but I would suggest going heavier for less sets (2-3) and less reps (6-8) in order to build size - more sets, more reps for definition after you have already attained some size.If you want big arms you must get big all over. When is the last time you saw a bloke with impressive arms and little skinny legs and back? Get big all over by doing the basic full body exercises like Squats, BenchPress, Overhead Presses, Deadlifts, and Rows and seeking to increase the poundages in these exercises. Believe it or not all these exercises also stimulate the arms! How big do you think your tri's will be if you can put up say 125kg for 6 reps in the bench press?If you already know all this then my apologies.
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so, my arms wont get bigger unless i exercise my stomach, back, legs, glutes, etc?
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so, i focus on my whole body? hm. cool.
well then, how do i go about organizing the best possible workout for me?
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Mate, stop asking for the spoon. Do a forum search, a google search, read a few articles, check out other peoples routines, do some research of your own, and then if you're still confused come back and ask some questions.
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Africa - KM is right to some extent - that is you really have to develop a good routine for yourself by doing the research and trying different things - and even when you find the "perfect" scheme - it will soon be outdated. As the muscles grow and the body gets stronger you have to make adjustments to coax more and more growth, depending on your goals. Most trainees find that they improve quite tremendously for the first 6 months to a year and then the gains become much more difficult.The golden rules of creating a good weight training program:KISS - keep it simpleBASIC - stick with the basic full body type exercisesIF IN DOUBT - do LESS not more, lift LESS poundage, for LESS reps and LESS sets - although it sounds counter-intuitive you will actually see much better gains because you will not be burining out your nervous system. Put another way MAKE HASTE SLOWLY!STAY AWAY from advice AND DON'T IMITATE gym rats who have been doing the same useless programs for years and never improve.WORKOUT then GET OUT OF THE GYM, REST, EAT and GROW - a very good workout can be had in 30 minutes or less per session.When you formulate a routine run it by us and I'll be glad to make suggestions if necessary.Good luck!