We have a busy weekend ahead, starting with a fundraiser to raise money for a dear friend that was diagnosed with stage 4 breast cancer, it has spread to her lymph nodes and spine, she is unable to work ad has a 19 year old daughter.
Tomorrow we will see my Uncle and then have lunch with my niece, then dinner with my sister and 2 brothers and their partner's. I will also try to get a visit in with my Mom.
Sunday is a stop to see my best friend and her husband, they are heading to Hawaii next Wednesday, so we won't get a chance to see them before Christmas as they are gone for nearly 3 weeks. Then the long drive back home and a possible visit with my daughter on the way home, she is busy studying for an exam, she is doing her Masters. Hoping to try and keep my diet under control with all the eating out, will try to stick with plain chicken or fish. Looking forward to the visits.
I went to the gym this morning and did 45 minutes of cardio and then did my weight routine.
Some more info from the article I read.
The Recommendations
In all
honesty, all of the weight training schedules and splits shown above can work
to some degree for virtually every goal and experience level assuming
everything else is done properly.
However,
the goal here isn’t to just choose one that works. It’s to choose the one that will
work BEST for you and your exact schedule, preferences, needs,
experience level and goal.
So, here
are my personal recommendations for which workout schedule I feel would be best
for you:
- For beginners with any goal, the answer is extremely simple: the 3 day full body split. It is the most proven and recommended workout schedule for beginners, period.
- For intermediate or advanced trainees whose primary goal is increasing strength or improving performance, the 4 day upper/lower split or the 3 day full body split are my top choices.
- For intermediate or advanced trainees whose primary goal is “looks” related (building muscle, getting “toned,” etc.), the 3 or 4 day upper/lower split is probably my #1 choice most of the time, although the push/pull/legs split is an equally perfect choice if you have a schedule flexible enough to make it work.
Sure,
there are various other workout schedules and splits out there that can work
for you (some I like, most I hate), but more often than not, these are the ones
that have been proven to work best.
What’s Next?
Once
you’ve selected a weight training split and set up your overall weekly workout
schedule, it’s time to actually plan out what you’re going to be doing during
those workouts.
First up
is figuring out what your ideal intensity level is and answering the old “how
many reps per set” question. Let’s do that…
Weight Training Intensity –
How Many Reps Per Set Of An Exercise?
Weight
training intensity basically refers to how much weight you will be lifting and
how heavy or light that weight is for you on a given exercise.
The
lighter the weight/easier it is for you, the lower the intensity. The heavier
the weight/harder it is for you, the higher the intensity.
And, all
of this intensity stuff is usually predicted by one thing: how many reps
you’re doing per set.
Reps
(short for “repetitions”) are the number of times you move a weight from point
A to point B during a set of an exercise. The lighter the weight, the more reps
you will be able to lift it for. The heavier the weight, the fewer reps you’ll
be able to lift it for.
Obvious,
I know. But, as you can see, reps and intensity go hand in hand most of the
time. Meaning…
- The more reps you can lift a weight for = the lower your training intensity is.
- The fewer reps you can lift a weight for = the higher your training intensity is.
The
reason this is important to us is because certain levels of intensity are more
ideal for certain goals than others (due to factors like time under tension,
muscle fiber recruitment, etc.).
And this
leads to an important question: what weight training intensity is best for your
goal?
Or, to
put it another way, how many reps should you do per set of an exercise?
Let’s find out…
The Ideal Rep Range For Various Weight Training
Goals
Here now
are the most commonly used rep ranges along with their primary training effect:
- 1-5 Reps Per Set = Mostly Strength
- 5-8 Reps Per Set = Strength AND Muscle Equally
- 8-10 Reps Per Set = Muscle With Some Strength
- 10-12 Reps Per Set = Muscle With Some Endurance
- 12-15 Reps Per Set = Endurance With Some Muscle
- 15-20 Reps Per Set = Mostly Endurance
So, as
you can see:
- Lower reps (high intensity) is most ideal for increasing strength.
- Higher reps (low intensity) is most ideal for improving muscle endurance.
- Moderate reps in the middle of the two (moderate intensity) is most ideal for building muscle and really anything related to improving the way your body looks (rather than performs).
Now, the
key word I’m using here is “ideal.” Just because I didn’t put “strength”
next to the 10-12 rep range doesn’t mean you will never be able to increase
strength when doing 10-12 reps of an exercise. That’s not true at all.
In fact,
each rep range shown is capable of producing some amount of strength, muscle,
and endurance results. However, the objective here is to choose the rep range
that is most ideal for your specific goal, because that’s the one that will
work best for the results you want.
Oh, and
if you’re wondering why there is no rep range that is ideal for “tone” or
“definition” or “fat loss” or anything similar, it’s because, metabolic
training aside (a topic for another day), there really is no such thing.
The whole
“high reps makes you toned/defined/ripped/lean/etc.” concept is pure bullshit.
I cover this in more detail in my post about muscle tone.
The take
home message is that, from a training intensity standpoint, these goals all
fall into the same category as “muscle” on the chart shown above. The same rep ranges
are ideal.
Weight Training Intensity Recommendations
So, when
it comes to intensity and figuring out how many reps you should do per set,
here are the most widely accepted recommendations based on science and real
world results…
- If your primary goal is increasing strength, then you should mostly train in the lower rep ranges (between 1-8 reps per set) and therefore at a higher intensity.
- If your primary goal is building muscle (or anything related to improving the way your body looks), then you should mostly train in the moderate rep ranges (between 5-12 reps per set) and therefore at a moderate intensity.
- If your primary goal is improving muscle endurance, then you should mostly train in the higher rep ranges (between 12-20 reps per set) and therefore at a lower intensity.
Two Other Intensity Related Factors
Before
leaving the subject of weight training intensity, there’s actually two other
subjects/questions that are directly influenced by what rep range you end up
using. They are:
- Determining How Much Weight
To Lift
Once you know how many reps you’ll be doing per set of an exercise, the next thing you need to determine is how much weight you need to lift for each exercise to end up in that ideal rep range. I explain how to do that here: How Much Weight Should You Lift For Each Exercise? - Training To Failure
Another topic directly related to training intensity is training to failure (the point where you can’t complete another rep). The question is, should you train to that point, or should you end a set before reaching that point? I cover this topic right here: Should You Train To Muscle Failure?
