Hello everyone,
I just wanted to write something that not many people talk about. I chose this forum because I feel it is those who are fairly new to lifting that would benefit from it most.
For those of us who have been faithfully lifting for 20+ years, it is common to sometimes choose to do whatever we feel like in the gym now and then. You will hear and read about this routine and that, but in the end, the goal is really to put some strain/stretch on the muscle to make it grow.
When I was about 9 years old, I had an adjustable weight bench in my pasement with a jimmy-rigged cable attachment I could use for cable flys. Man did I love doing cable flies.
And to tell you the truth, I had the biggest chest in my Jr. High. My buddies used to say I had "boobies" and egg me into doing pec-bouncing parlor tricks in class when the teacher wasn't looking.
Anyway, to shorten this story up a bit. For my chest workout, I used to do 1 set at every incline the bench would allow, usually starting at the highest incline and working my way down. By the time I got to "flat" my chest was so pumped I honestly used to think I might look like Arnold one day.
My point in all this is, once you understand how muscle grows, and how it will respond to what you do in the gym, don't be afraid to let your hair down once in a while. If doing "21s" (21s are a method of doing curls: half way up for 7>half way down for 7>full reps for 7) is fun, go ahead and do them!
Have fun in the gym. Don't make training your second job. If you do, it will be the first "job" you quit when life's pressures start bearing down on you.
I just wanted to write something that not many people talk about. I chose this forum because I feel it is those who are fairly new to lifting that would benefit from it most.
For those of us who have been faithfully lifting for 20+ years, it is common to sometimes choose to do whatever we feel like in the gym now and then. You will hear and read about this routine and that, but in the end, the goal is really to put some strain/stretch on the muscle to make it grow.
When I was about 9 years old, I had an adjustable weight bench in my pasement with a jimmy-rigged cable attachment I could use for cable flys. Man did I love doing cable flies.
And to tell you the truth, I had the biggest chest in my Jr. High. My buddies used to say I had "boobies" and egg me into doing pec-bouncing parlor tricks in class when the teacher wasn't looking.Anyway, to shorten this story up a bit. For my chest workout, I used to do 1 set at every incline the bench would allow, usually starting at the highest incline and working my way down. By the time I got to "flat" my chest was so pumped I honestly used to think I might look like Arnold one day.
My point in all this is, once you understand how muscle grows, and how it will respond to what you do in the gym, don't be afraid to let your hair down once in a while. If doing "21s" (21s are a method of doing curls: half way up for 7>half way down for 7>full reps for 7) is fun, go ahead and do them!
Have fun in the gym. Don't make training your second job. If you do, it will be the first "job" you quit when life's pressures start bearing down on you.