Balls to the walls training

[Francesco totti]

How many of you train like this? What I mean is going as heavy as you can every set every exercise. You will need a spotter to do certain exercises like chest press and shoulder exercises.

[thomas]

I have trained like this for years...basically 2-3 warm ups for the for the first exercise then 1-2 all out sets to failure then the next exercise is 1-2 sets with no warm up. I keep the volume low small muscle groups 4-5 sets big ones 6-8 sets and am in and out the gym in30-45 min. I do need extra rest though I take a 5-6 day break every 4 weeks.

its definitely good for a balance between strength and size but there may be better ways to train for size alone ....... depending on the person

[Francesco totti]

Cool to see I'm not the only one who trains like this. That's what I do. 2 exercises, 3 sets each, balls to the walls for each set. After 45 mins, I'm dead lol. I always thought the heavier you lift the bigger your muscles will get.

Today i did biceps and triceps in the gym. 3 sets of 10 reps for seated curls & 3 sets of hammer curls. I choose the heaviest weight I could just about do 10 reps for these sets. For triceps I did 3 sets of skull crush, followed by 3 sets of rope pushdown.

So if you can do 7 or 8 reps at 36kg for shoulder press then it is better than doing 34kg for 10 reps??

Now, I see bigger guys lifting weight for 12 reps or so, & I'm thinking he could add 10kg to his lift if he dropped down to 8-10 reps.

[thomas]

Cool to see I'm not the only one who trains like this. That's what I do. 2 exercises, 3 sets each, balls to the walls for each set. After 45 mins, I'm dead lol. I always thought the heavier you lift the bigger your muscles will get.

Today i did biceps and triceps in the gym. 3 sets of 10 reps for seated curls & 3 sets of hammer curls. I choose the heaviest weight I could just about do 10 reps for these sets. For triceps I did 3 sets of skull crush, followed by 3 sets of rope pushdown.

So if you can do 7 or 8 reps at 36kg for shoulder press then it is better than doing 34kg for 10 reps??

Now, I see bigger guys lifting weight for 12 reps or so, & I'm thinking he could add 10kg to his lift if he dropped down to 8-10 reps.

Hmm a difficult question as there as so many variables .... mathematically moving 34kg for 10 reps = 340kg where as 36kg for 8 reps= 288kg but if it where that simple we would all be doing sets of 20 with 20kg

Form and variety is the key i think and listening to your body, judging results and experimenting. I wise man once told me "the strongest man in the gym is not always the biggest and the biggest guy isn't always lifting the heaviest weights"

I prefer to incorporate more exercises...so rather than 2 exercises of 3 sets each I will do 3 exercises of 2 sets each or 6 exercises of 1 set each for example...more variation / stimulation in the movements but the same work load.

oh on a side note I found things like narrow grip bp and weighted dips the best for tricep mass/strength for me anyway.... these exercises allow you to move far heaver weights than skull-crushers and push downs......not that the others don't have there place. Think of it like comparing bench press to fly's

[Francesco totti]

Interesting stuff. I'm going to write out a new training programme soon, so will take those comments to mind.