Hi Guys
I am very interested in starting hypertrophy specific training. The only experience I have for lifting weights is following the Body-For-Life program for 24 weeks, where I managed to lose 13Kg’s and drop +/- 6 % body fat. Body-For-Life also works on a progressive load principle except that you accomplish that progressive load in one workout eg. You do 5 sets of a certain exercise and each set you increase the weight and drop the reps, for those of you not familiar with the program.
So my goals have now changed from losing fat to putting on size/muscle, and a few google searches later I came across this website. After a fair amount of reading through the site and these forums I have come up with the following exercises I would like to use for my first cycle.
M/W/F
1) Squats / Dead Lifts
2) Incline DB Press
3) Pullups / Pendlay Rows
4) DB Shoulder Press
5) EZ Curl
6) Close grip tri push down
7) Standing Calf Raises
I will do some light cardio and abs on my rest days, like I currently do.
Should I bother with alternating Squats and deadlifts as well as Pullups and rows for my first cycle. Or should I rather wait until my 2nd or 3rd cycle to start alternating exercises from workout to workout?
I still need to go to the gym and test for my 15RM, 10RM and 5RM but I already have some sort of idea of what they will be. And I foresee a problem with pull-ups and EZ curl. I do not think I am going to be able add much weight at all to my pull-ups, well not enough that would allow a 2Kg increment over 6 workouts. The same problem exists with my biceps for EZ curl as the increment increase at my gym for the bars is 5Kg’s (11lb) and let’s assume my 15RM is 25Kg’s that puts my first workout at 0Kg’s…
Should I switch EZ curls to DB’s? As I will obviously be able to use a smaller increment and/or should I use the same weight for 2 consecutive workouts and only increase the weight on the third workout for exercises where I can’t lift that heavy?
Any advice for the newbie would be much appreciated!
I am very interested in starting hypertrophy specific training. The only experience I have for lifting weights is following the Body-For-Life program for 24 weeks, where I managed to lose 13Kg’s and drop +/- 6 % body fat. Body-For-Life also works on a progressive load principle except that you accomplish that progressive load in one workout eg. You do 5 sets of a certain exercise and each set you increase the weight and drop the reps, for those of you not familiar with the program.
So my goals have now changed from losing fat to putting on size/muscle, and a few google searches later I came across this website. After a fair amount of reading through the site and these forums I have come up with the following exercises I would like to use for my first cycle.
M/W/F
1) Squats / Dead Lifts
2) Incline DB Press
3) Pullups / Pendlay Rows
4) DB Shoulder Press
5) EZ Curl
6) Close grip tri push down
7) Standing Calf Raises
I will do some light cardio and abs on my rest days, like I currently do.
Should I bother with alternating Squats and deadlifts as well as Pullups and rows for my first cycle. Or should I rather wait until my 2nd or 3rd cycle to start alternating exercises from workout to workout?
I still need to go to the gym and test for my 15RM, 10RM and 5RM but I already have some sort of idea of what they will be. And I foresee a problem with pull-ups and EZ curl. I do not think I am going to be able add much weight at all to my pull-ups, well not enough that would allow a 2Kg increment over 6 workouts. The same problem exists with my biceps for EZ curl as the increment increase at my gym for the bars is 5Kg’s (11lb) and let’s assume my 15RM is 25Kg’s that puts my first workout at 0Kg’s…
Should I switch EZ curls to DB’s? As I will obviously be able to use a smaller increment and/or should I use the same weight for 2 consecutive workouts and only increase the weight on the third workout for exercises where I can’t lift that heavy?
Any advice for the newbie would be much appreciated!