Strength / Weight Training

Thanks. I had looked at DIY vids to build one but struggled to work out the reasons for having them. I will stick with rubber mats on the garage floor for now. Thanks.

Took an unintentional 4 week break over xmas/new year, initially due to illness and then All The Other Stuff. Got my first strongman comp coming up in April so need to get back on it properly now if I have any hope of doing ok.

Thanks - missed this reply. I’m ~85kg and benching ~100 I think I’ve accepted that I’m going to need something more sturdy and accept the space it takes up.

You got this.

kinda wild how encouragement from a stranger online can mean a lot but it does. thank you.

Take some from me too. It’s all you bro!!!

Yeah - lift the fuck out of those weights!

I would be interested to see this if you're willing to share, but no pressure.

No Probs, I'll send you a DM.. It's not fantastic, but def gave me a good start and I did notice a difference doing it..

Thanks folks. I'll be sure to do the forum proud. Only real concern is the overhead for reps event. ATM the weight for it is higher than my 1rm, but operation eat ice cream til I can push press the sun is in full effect.

Newbie question if I may;

Since early October I've been doing a 3 day/week split (usually) of push, pull and core/legs. Originally I based this off a plan I found online and added in a few exercises to target the muscles I felt were underrepresented in the plan. Having done that for a few months, I've found some definite gains and have not yet started to plateau as far as I can tell.

The plan I started on was 3x 8-12 of each exercise with a few specific movements maxing at 6-8 reps. I quite quickly changed this to be 4 sets instead of 3 and found that was more bang for my buck.

I'm not so fussed about outright strength or competing etc, but am keen to build some more muscle as I've always been 'skinny'. My plan for the next few months is to drop the sets and reps to 3x 6-8, and lift commensurately heavier, all using the same exercises.

I understand that form is crucial when substantially jumping in weight, but what else should I be looking out for or doing to avoid injury/burnout?

What's your goal ? Strength, size , or some of both ?

I'm sure you've already read up on this, workouts that stimulate hypertrophy will be better for increasing size. So 10-12 rep range per set. 3-6 reps per set will get you stronger, but not necessarily big / swole.

A good mid point, i.e. some size and some strength would be a powerbuilding routine. Mike Matthews has some good ones, I had good success with his programs . Its also a good fit for your plan in terms of rep ranges

If you're skinny, eat more ! In terms of avoiding burnout, eat well and enough, get your macros about right. Rest and recover properly. Get enough sleep . Be consistent with diet and rest.

If you're going heavy and pushing yourself week in week out, have a deload week once in a while . I've always found big jumps in weight problematic, slow and steady has always suited me better, may not be the case for you. Better to start relatively light even at lower reps and build up (as stronglifts recommends ), rather than smash an extra plate on the bar week 1 and get injured

Eventually there will come a point for most people weight lifting where weekly linear progression slows and plateaus, and some kind of periodised program can become more beneficial

I've always been 'skinny'. My plan for the next few months is to drop the sets and reps to 3x 6-8,

Hypertrophy requires more reps, not less. So you might want stick to the 3 x 8-12 for most of your exercises and focus on eating more/better.

Also, I don't know your program, but you may be wrong about muscles being underrepresented. Unless the author of the program explicitely tells you to add exercises of your own I would think a decent sequence of compound exercises should be all you need at this stage. My personal experience has been that with a longer list of things to get through I may have subconsciously held back on the main lifts at the beginning of the session. These days I try to smash out all I've got in 30 t0 max 40 min sessions. Just looking at the calories used it's pretty much the same amount of effort as for a 1 hour session, and visible muscle growth has been noticeably higher.

Avoiding injury and burnout is a really complex question and it basically comes down to building experience. If you're training hard, you ARE going to get tweaks, niggles and dings. Knowing what's an injury and what's just sore is important. Don't be afraid to deviate from the plan if something is actively hurting but do make sure you do something, you'll come back much quicker. If you've got knee pain from squatting what happens if you drop the weight? Still hurts, what about leg press? Ok, knee extensions or hamstring curls?

With burnout, it's almost always mental before its physical (although physical overuse/overtraining is a real thing, it's usually more like under-recovery). One technique is to rotate exercises. If you're stalling on bench press and driving into a brick wall, consistently feeling little tweaks or tightness as form breaks down, reset with close grip bench press, or low incline bench, and keep going until you reach 'burnout' then swap back to standard bench press where you'll have room to grow again.

Hope that helps.

To add to what others has said, if you want to build size, ensure to be eating in a caloric surplus and eating a good amount of protein. You need excess energy for your body to build size. You could be doing this already but since you said about being new to training I thought better to say than not say.

@Tenners I’d give Chris Beardsley a follow on IG I’ve found lots of his content really helpful

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follow Chris Beardsley

Cheers for this! I'm now following him.

I've been following this advice from a few months ago and I've seen improvements!

Anacdotal - Not in increased weight but in joint health and recovery (post workout Doms)

I was WAY over training. Like in bench I got up to 10 sets (after warm up sets) and my joint fucking hated me ( obvious to everyone else except me). After seeing that graph I realised that all I was doing was hurting myself with no benefit. I thought the extra sets were good and I was willing to push through.

Plus now have slightly more time to do something else.

I've found similar , did the 531 boring but big program for a while. Great to start off with , good progress etc. But by some weeks in the volume was killing my recovery. Dialled volume down, and felt much better . Doesn't help that I'm over now 40 either...

Dang! 10 sets is a lot. How long were your gym sessions? I have a couple of days a month where I'm doing 8 sets on some big compounds but that's sets of 3 so more manageable.

Good ol' Jeff's got a recent vid that covers some of this stuff too:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xc4OtzAnVMI

Yeah there is a ton of content there and no pseudo science, which in general I think is rife in exercise/lifting content. Lots of swole bros who offer questionable advice. Glad to hear it was useful dude :)

What I'd add to this conversation is that set quality makes a huge difference too.

8 sets to absolute muscular failure with proper rest periods is A LOT. It will mess you up and put you in a hole for a bit.
8 mindless sets with a shorter range of motion leaving 5-6 reps in the tank probably won't get you anywhere near the gains you're after.

Doesn't help that I'm over now 40 either...

Ha! Same... 😭 Also not chemically assisted.

@zooeyzooey 3hours? I was doing pyramid sets up to 6rep max, then drop weight slightly if I went under 6. Still do it now, but nowhere near 10 sets. My aim is as close to 6 on my way down.

@Tenderloin

swole bros

Also bad getting advice from gear heads as recovery and ability is way different.

What's your goal ? Strength, size , or some of both ?

Yeah. Ideally a bit of both.

I'm sure you've already read up on this, workouts that stimulate hypertrophy will be better for increasing size. So 10-12 rep range per set. 3-6 reps per set will get you stronger, but not necessarily big / swole.

Yeah, I suppose I haven't hit my plateau yet and should continue with the plan I'm on until I do. Theoretically, it hits all the major muscle groups I have found lacking in the past so maybe just gradually adding weight till I max out is the way for now, and then potentially sit down and set some goals as well otherwise WHY I'm working out will become a question.

A good mid point, would be a powerbuilding routine. Mike Matthews etc.

Thanks for the heads up, will take a look

If you're skinny, eat more !

This I think is my main problem - I've got a chip on my shoulder about not putting on a load of body fat or getting that 'bulk phase' look, but it's potentially acting at a detriment to muscular gains. Much like cycling, I imagine strenght/swoleness gains are primarily actually made in bed and in the kitchen..(?)

Also as @starfish&coffee says, I think maybe focussing on shorter harder sessions would be beneficial - potentially a 5 day split with an hour each session instead of the 3x2hrs I'm doing atm. Less volume but higher quality etc etc.

Thanks also to @Ptown, @zooeyzooey and @Tenderloin. I've read and appreciate your replies but don't have specific responses - thanks though.

Big takeaway, as is often the case for noobs; Eat more, lift heavier.