Constantly training at high intensity

[StanUk]

Hey all,

I've decided to reconsider my intensity that I train at, it would seem im perhaps overdoing it again. I work out four days a week:

Sun: Back/legs/biceps
Mon: Rest
Tue: Chest/triceps/abs
Wed: Legs/back
Thu: Rest
Fri: Shoulders, chest, calves
Sat: Rest

My routine has suited me great, but it would seem im training too intense too often. I usually keep my reps within the 10 range, I start off with a warmup and then do a very heavy first set, around 90% of my 1rm, for around 6/7 reps, this first set is the killer and i usually struggle on the last rep if not fail. My following two or three sets are usually within the 8-12 range, also high intensity and struggling on the last rep. My diet is good and I get quite a bit of rest, but i cant help thinking of overdoing it and lifting heavy too often.

Ive searched the forums but unable to find a good example of how often i should be lifting very heavy.

Any help is appreciated.

 

[kenwood]

fuck, i lift till failure on every set. my reps were 8,6,4(pyrimid style) and when i could do 8 i coulda done 10 and when i coulda done 6 i coulda done 8. well u get it eh?. now my reps are 3-5 till failure or almost. i train heavy every workout.

 

[SAMIAM]

I'm a "noobie" so to speak at the hypertrophy game, but I powerlifted for many years and have been doing my best to "educate " myself on B.B. principles- I think that you obviously enjoy the challenge of the heaviness of a 6-7 rep to failure set (as do I), but may be better off easing the weight down to where you're able to do two sets of 8 reps where the first set is around 2 reps from failure and the second is done emphasizing the negative so you fail right around 8.This would cut the volume considerably while maintaining the "high intensity" part that you seem to indicate you enjoy and thrive on.You didn't specify the warm up set weight but for this idea it would be best to use 50%(roughly) of the working set weight just to get the joints, and blood going...If I'm wrong I'm sure some one more experienced at the BB side of things will happily correct me!

 

[StanUk]

Thanks very much for the feedback guys.

See I train like you Kenwood, but I cant help feeling that because of it, it weakens my immune system and makes me prone to illness, a few months back i had a job that involved getting up and different times every day, it was horrible and meant my sleeping pattern was totally screwed, i must have been ill 3 times in the space of 6 months. My new job has my sitting at a desk most the day and i have a good sleeping pattern so ive made some great progress, there is something going around atm (a stomach bug) so perhaps im just being paranoid but i just dont wanna overtrain and hinder my progress.

SAMIAM: thankyou for your input, your logic makes a lot of sense to me, I do enjoy the challenge as you say, I think my problem is that I always want to be improving my lifts, when in practice this isnt possible! thats why every week on my bench i want to get at least one more rep, or pile on a few more pounds. My warm up set is usually around 50% and it seems to get me warmed up fine. I think following your advice and cutting back the intensity is probably my best option.

Thanx again

 

[mike456]

fuck, i lift till failure on every set.

because your an idiot

 

[mike456]

Hey all,

I've decided to reconsider my intensity that I train at, it would seem im perhaps overdoing it again. I work out four days a week:

Sun: Back/legs/biceps
Mon: Rest
Tue: Chest/triceps/abs
Wed: Legs/back
Thu: Rest
Fri: Shoulders, chest, calves
Sat: Rest

My routine has suited me great, but it would seem im training too intense too often. I usually keep my reps within the 10 range, I start off with a warmup and then do a very heavy first set, around 90% of my 1rm, for around 6/7 reps, this first set is the killer and i usually struggle on the last rep if not fail. My following two or three sets are usually within the 8-12 range, also high intensity and struggling on the last rep. My diet is good and I get quite a bit of rest, but i cant help thinking of overdoing it and lifting heavy too often.

Ive searched the forums but unable to find a good example of how often i should be lifting very heavy.

Any help is appreciated.

first of all your split is not good, you can be making better gains if you train movements and not bodyparts, I find upper horizontal / lower quad-dom / upper vertical / lower hip-dom to be the best split. You should be training about 1-2 reps short of failure, and taking a week off about every 4-6weeks.
Did you read the stickies yet?
GL

 

[kenwood]

first of all your split is not good, you can be making better gains if you train movements and not bodyparts, I find upper horizontal / lower quad-dom / upper vertical / lower hip-dom to be the best split. You should be training about 1-2 reps short of failure, and taking a week off about every 4-6weeks.
Did you read the stickies yet?
GL

he didnt ask for a fuckin routine critiqe did he? NO and i'm not an idiot, i do what works for me for my goals...don't worry about what i do, worry about wtf your doing.

 

[mike456]

he didnt ask for a fuckin routine critiqe did he? NO and i'm not an idiot, i do what works for me for my goals...don't worry about what i do, worry about wtf your doing.

so why the hell are you posting it?
if he didn't want help with his split, he wouldn't have posted it.
and you are an idiot imo.

 

[kenwood]

so why the hell are you posting it?
if he didn't want help with his split, he wouldn't have posted it.
and you are an idiot imo.

he didnt want help w/his split(don't think so anyways), he asked about training at H.I all the time.

 

[kenwood]

I say- train as heavy as you can for all compound exercises. but do a warmup set before you start...for example on bench:

135x12-warmup
then fucking hammer it
225x5
235x3
235x3

thats what i do(the warmup then hammering it, the lbs were just for example )

 

[mike456]

yea and I toild him he should use that split, and train 1-2 reps from failure, and take a week off every 6 weeks, whats your prob lem, I thnk you took the wrong pills.

 

[mike456]

I say- train as heavy as you can for all compound exercises. but do a warmup set before you start...for example on bench:

135x12-warmup
then fucking hammer it
225x5
235x3
235x3

thats what i do(the warmup then hammering it, the lbs were just for example )

everyone has different goals, but it is bad to train heavy and to failure all the time, but hey everyone is different.

 

[kenwood]

yea and I toild him he should use that split, and train 1-2 reps from failure, and take a week off every 6 weeks, whats your prob lem, I thnk you took the wrong pills.

mhmmmm ...... be careful training heavy on bench, i have a thing that catches the weight and i duno if u have a spotter lol. one time i was doing overhead presses(standing) and i had 155 on the bar and was only gonna try 2-3reps and i did 2 then i was on my 3rd one and i was push up and my arms were giving out and it was over my head and i was like O FUCK so i exploded up the bar as high as it coulda gone and i moved outta the way lmfao! it made a big bang when it hit the floor lol.

 

[mike456]

mhmmmm ...... be careful training heavy on bench, i have a thing that catches the weight and i duno if u have a spotter lol. one time i was doing overhead presses(standing) and i had 155 on the bar and was only gonna try 2-3reps and i did 2 then i was on my 3rd one and i was push up and my arms were giving out and it was over my head and i was like O FUCK so i exploded up the bar as high as it coulda gone and i moved outta the way lmfao! it made a big bang when it hit the floor lol.

are you trying to prove you know nothing?, I am not saying it is bad to train heavy or to failure because it is dangerous if you don't have a spotter, it puts to much stress on your central nervous system, and that can cause lots of problems

 

[kenwood]

are you trying to prove you know nothing?, I am not saying it is bad to train heavy or to failure because it is dangerous if you don't have a spotter, it puts to much stress on your central nervous system, and that can cause lots of problems

me not know what ur saying

 

[Double D]

If you are going to failure on every set then you are doing to much. There is no need to do this. Normally I throw one set in per workout where I go to failure. As far as intensity you should be intense on every set of every rep! But being intense doesnt mean going to failure, it simply means you are putting everything into the set amount of reps you are shooting for!

 

[StanUk]

Thanks for the replies guys! I dont really wanna take sides or anything, i posted my routine just to elaborate on my workouts, but i do appreciate that you've said its not good.

I have read the stickies but i've found that my routine has been working well for me (well, until i was sick the other day) Perhaps you could elaborate as to why I would be making better gains training movements as opposed to bodyparts?

My main concern at the moment really is that my intensity is not too high all the time and therefore affecting my CNS.

Thanks again.

*EDIT*

Just to add, how do you difer from training body parts and movements? I mean if you look at my routine you could catagorize it as:

SUN: Legs/ upper Pull
Mon: Rest
Tue: Upper Push
Wed: Legs/ upper Pull
Thu: Rest
Fri: Upper Push
Sat: Rest

Am I right in saying this? Apologies if this is a noob like statement..

 

[JimSnow]

fuck, i lift till failure on every set. my reps were 8,6,4(pyrimid style) and when i could do 8 i coulda done 10 and when i coulda done 6 i coulda done 8. well u get it eh?. now my reps are 3-5 till failure or almost. i train heavy every workout.

I tend to do the same thing, but generally at the end of of workout. About 5 minutes of unadulterated hell as fast and furious as possible at the end.

Mental health.

But, more so lately - I'm trying to concentrate hard enough to "feel" the full range of motion, with different paces. That's not as easy as it sounds. Ever concentrate on a full bicep curl, neglecting not a single inch in the movement?

Efficiency. I guess.

 

[viet_jon]

Thanks again.

*EDIT*

Just to add, how do you difer from training body parts and movements? I mean if you look at my routine you could catagorize it as:

SUN: Legs/ upper Pull
Mon: Rest
Tue: Upper Push
Wed: Legs/ upper Pull
Thu: Rest
Fri: Upper Push
Sat: Rest

Am I right in saying this? Apologies if this is a noob like statement..

I was about to say that. Your split is pretty much push pull.

back/bi - pull
chest/delt/tri - push




As for going to failure all the time.....I did that when I first started. After 4 months, you start burning out. Also by then your lifts would be much heavier, so I doubt most people could go to failure like that forever.

 

[StanUk]

Jimsnow: Yeh I know what you saying, concentrating perfectly on a bicep curl usuaully requires dropping a few pounds off the weight! I think its the worst excersize to be strict with your form, for me its me least favourite excersize.

Viet Jon: thanks for clearing that up for me, when i designed my routine i had the push/pull/legs in mind, however I posted it as bodyparts worked for some reason..

This seems to be my problem, ive managed to make good gains in weight that im lifting, my problem is im constantly keeping the reps very similar and therefore constantly trying to lift to failure at a higher weight and i think this is whats causing me problems.

 

[SAMIAM]

When I was new to power-lifting I spent the first 8 months or so shocking myself at how quickly my 1RM bench was moving up , and I made what I percieve to be a fairly common mistake. The "high" of being able to move so much weight became addicting and instead of cycling or periodizing(I guess thats what it's called now a days), my bench "workouts" turned into one LONG plateau of lifting the same weight for an ever increasing number of sets - turning almost into an endurance builder.While great for my ego initially , it did squat for strength increase and became very frustrating(altho IMO it did have a pronounced "hardening effect"); finally I broke down and learned wave loading and other techniques that while initially depriving me of the "he-man" feeling of lifting the heavier weight ultimately enabled me to progress again .
I'm not saying this applies to you 100% but it may fit a little ...Good luck

 

[JimSnow]

When I was new to power-lifting I spent the first 8 months or so shocking myself at how quickly my 1RM bench was moving up , and I made what I percieve to be a fairly common mistake. The "high" of being able to move so much weight became addicting and instead of cycling or periodizing(I guess thats what it's called now a days), my bench "workouts" turned into one LONG plateau of lifting the same weight for an ever increasing number of sets - turning almost into an endurance builder.While great for my ego initially , it did squat for strength increase and became very frustrating(altho IMO it did have a pronounced "hardening effect"); finally I broke down and learned wave loading and other techniques that while initially depriving me of the "he-man" feeling of lifting the heavier weight ultimately enabled me to progress again .
I'm not saying this applies to you 100% but it may fit a little ...Good luck

When you get "down and dirty honest" with your workouts, as a bodybuilder, how much are you cheating yourself out of - handling those impressive weights you really haven't learned to handle.

That's why I'm here.. to suck knowledge off you guys, "intensely"! Hopefully I'll learn enough to add something. LOL

 

[Dale Mabry]

If something is working, don't change it. When it stops working, change it.

 

[JimSnow]

If something is working, don't change it. When it stops working, change it.

Good.