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Hi all,

I've got a real basic question. I've been lifting for 6 months now and I've slowly increased the weight so as not to injure myself since I've been pretty sedentary for the past 10 years. I thought it best to take it real slow. I'm down to sets of 4 reps now on most lifts and I'm really pushing myself now to make gains in strength and see what my max lifts are. So my question is how do I know if I'm 'over training' or if I'm doing a good job and just training really hard? Thanks.

Riley

It would help if you put up your routine

Thank you for the help. Here is my current routine.

Sunday
-------
Bench Press - 3 or 4 sets of 4 reps
Incline Bench Press - 3 sets of 4 reps
Military Press - 3 sets of 4 reps
Standing Dumbell Side Raises - 2 sets of 10 reps

Tuesday
--------
Squats - 3 or 4 sets of 4 reps
Lying Leg Curls - 3 sets of 8 to 10 reps
Standing One Leg Calf Raises - 2 sets of 12 reps

Thursday
---------
Deadlifts - 3 sets of 4 reps
Bent Over Barbell Rows - 3 sets of 6 to 7 reps
Lat Bar Pulldowns - 3 sets of 6 to 8 reps
Barbell Curls - 3 sets of 6 reps
Dumbell Curls - 1 set of 6 reps

in accordance with what Eric said, Riley, you should look into working out more frequently. By this I am no referring to more than 1x a week workouts but more in terms of muscles and lifts.

If you have read the stickies in this forum (especially the sticky "why you arent growing" then you will know that it is more advantageous for you to think in terms of lifts rather than muscles.

in the same way, you routine below can be broken up into an upper-lower program which you rotate on a sunday/tuesday/thursday schedule.

in other words, your workout will look like:

Week 1
Sun - Lower 1
Tue - Upper 1
Thu - Lower 2

Week 2
Sun - Upper 2
Tue - Lower 1
Thu - Upper 1

Week 3
Sun - Lower 2
Tue - Upper 2
Thu - Lower 1

etc etc etc

The four workouts which you have to do are:

Lower 1
Deadlifts 2-3 sets x 3-5 reps
Squats 2 sets x 5-10 reps
Glute Ham Raises 3-4 sets
Front Plate Squats 2-3 sets

Upper 1
Flat Barbell Bench Press 3 sets x 5 reps
Pull-ups 5 sets to failure
Low Incline Dumbbell Bench Press 2-3 sets of 6-12 reps
Hanging Leg Raises 2-3 sets

Lower 2
Squats 3 sets x 5 reps
Romanian Deadlifts 3 sets x 10-12 reps
Leg Curls 2 sets x 10-12 reps
Reverse Crunches 3 sets

Upper 2
Military Press 3 sets x 5 reps
Cable Rows 3-4 sets x 6-12 reps
Facepulls 2-3 sets x 12-15 reps
Front Planks 2-3 sets (timed)

so have a look at the above routine and tell us what you think...

i have left the loading parameters fairly open to you. you can choose how to progress. but you must roughly have a plan.

for example, on lower 1 you have deadlifts for 2-3 sets of 3-5 reps
now, if you start out doing 3 sets x 5 reps x 225 lbs, then you can play around with such a progression scheme
Week 1 = 3 sets x 3 reps x 265 lbs
Week 2 = 3 sets x 4 reps x 265 lbs
Week 3 = 3 sets x 5 reps x 265 lbs
etc etc

you can progress by either increasing the weight, increasing the reps or increasing the number of sets. any of these is possible either on their own or you can do two of them at the same time.

also, what are your current maxes on the big 3 lifts?

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Wow, thanks for putting in the time and providing all that info. I need all the help I can get.

My current routine has me working each body part once/week with the same exercises and getting a whole week of rest before repeating.

The LOWER1, UPPER1, LOWER2, UPPER2 routine is very different from what I am doing now. I see it alternates working either upper body or lower body twice/week and alternates chest and shoulder exercises and different variations on back exercises.

I can give your workout a try however I am a little concerned about not getting enough rest/recuperation between workouts. I read a lot of the stickies and how important it is to get enough rest and to 'stimulate' the muscles and not 'annhilate' them. I've only been doing this for 6 months now and lost when I read conflicting points of view.

My max lifts are as follows:

Squat - 350lbs - 4 sets of 4 reps. I haven't tried a one rep max.
Deadlift - 365lbs. - one rep max. I tried 400lbs. but couldn't even budge it. I know I could do 375lbs, maybe 385lbs.
Bench - 275lbs. I think I could do 285lbs., maybe 295lbs.

Are facepulls another term for doing pulldows to your chest with a lat bar?

I'm still not sure what front planks are. What type of bench/machine would I need to do them?

Withe the front plate squats, do I literally 'hug' a 45lb. plate and squat or do I squat with the bar on the front of my shoulders?

Thanks again for your help. I'm really putting in a big effort with lifting and want to make sure I go about it the right way.

Riley,

have you read the stickies? have you read about the difference between over reaching and over training??? i don't think so. please do so immediately.

now, ill try my best to address this concern of yours. you dont need a week's rest for any muscle unless you do something extreme like 100 sets of 100 reps lol. this program has varying volume which you will change as you go along. there is no need to worry about "resting" your muscles. bulgarian lifters workout 6x a week and they do just fine. there is a guy who i know who's doing an internship with westside (on IA's site) and he works out 4x a week plus does extra workouts on off days and also on on days.

also, i do not believe you have read the stickies because no sticky says that working out at 1x a week frequency per muscle group is good. infact, all the stickies say otherwise. more quality frequency = better results.

impressive. great work. make sure you squat deep and below parallel...

http://youtube.com/watch?v=k_5X5Jk78QI
http://youtube.com/watch?v=bWJ8on3E3Io
http://youtube.com/watch?v=C0YvD1eDG4M
go to the 55 second mark on that video. don't watch him do overhead squats....front squats come in at 55-60 seconds. watch how he does them.

good luck

are you cranky all the time and have you stopped progressing?

that's usually how i get if i overtrain

Well hopefully someone else will chime in, since I'm not the best at giving out advice.

What are your training goals?

Are you going for size? strengh? or just overall fitness?

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I would like both. Lately with the low reps I've been training more for strength I guess. I want to see what my current max lifts are so I can then check again after a few months and see if I've made any progress.

I'm not sure if this goes for all muscles, but for biceps, if they bruise easily, that is a sign that you overdid it. And, if you are sore after every workout, it's probably a good indication.

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