Re: Motivational/progress thread!
<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: JJones75</div><div class="ubbcode-body"><div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: beastinisgreat</div><div class="ubbcode-body">No over training i just switched to a low rep high weight routine this week so hopefully something changes.
workout-mon chest, tues back, wed legs, thurs arms, fri shoulders
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5 days in a row is over training bud , even if you only doing low volume you are still taxing the piss out of your central nervouse system and the body wont effectivly heal and grow untill the CNS gets a break.
Try either a 2on 1 off or better yet ever other day routine
Monday , legs
tuesday , <span style="font-weight: bold">off</span>
Wednesday , chest , tris , side delts
thrusday , <span style="font-weight: bold">off</span>
Friday , Back , Bis , rear delts
Find a weight that you can only do 9-10 reps and stay with that , rep to failure , take a 30 sec break , rep to fail , 30 sec break , rep to fail.
Move to next body part
next time you work that muscle ad weight or add reps , you must increase one or the other </div></div>
JJ, great suggestions on diet plans although, 5-day consecutive training does not necessarily result in what might be perceived as over training. Lifting heavy five days in a row will have more effect on your joints than it will on your CNS. Over training is actually a broad area of debate and there is not enough research to be able to pinpoint exactly what is happening with any one persons morphology however, it usually takes months for the symptoms to become observable. The main indicator is usually fatigue and noticeable weakness, not loss of mass, if this is happening and your diet has remained regimented it is possible your CNS requires a week or so of downtime. Furthermore, the odds are greater that your perceived lower mass is a combination of loss of water weight, fat, and muscle swelling. Empty fat cells have the uncanny ability to "fluff up" during heavy training and then slough off unpredictably and are the main retainers of water weight. Muscles in repair can have the same effect. If you lounge for a week losing ten pounds out of no where can easily happen. Do not let it discourage you at all because the reality is you are not losing muscle mass. Also, do be aware that different muscle fibers heal at different rates. Aerobic muscles(ones with much blood, oxygen and nitrogen) activated by high reps and milder weight burn more calories and heal <span style="font-weight: bold">much</span> quicker than do their anaerobic counterparts(very little blood and oxygen), such as the ones activated by lower repetitions and heavy loads. There are muscles in between these two main groups as well and vary in their range of activation and load bearing ability. By high rep I mean 15+ and by low rep I mean 5-10. By milder weight I mean 20-70% of whatever you are using for your 5-10 rep heavy sets. These muscles in between the aerobic and anaerobic groups have qualities of both, give or take, and may activate in the 10-15 range. These numbers are of course rough numbers and may or may not apply exactly to your bone structure and metabolism. The key is to pay very close attention to what your body is doing. A lot of athletes will tell you 10-12 is the magic number, the most effective range rather, however you must understand that your body is childish and will form habits, in particular it forms proteins in your muscles that protect your from much of the pain, so just because you don't hurt, does NOT mean you are NOT hurt. That said, I generally do not recommend lifting heavy week after week. Try heavy/low rep one week and light/high rep the next and you are guaranteed to have results. Hope this helps.