Good Reps

Today I want to touch on good reps and sets vs. bad reps and sets.

First off I believe that a bad sloppy rep or set is a wasted set or rep, they drain your body of strength and stamina that could have put to good use towards a good solid effective set or rep, that would have affected growth in a positive way. If you trained in a sloppy manner the entire session you will have just wasted the days training as little will have been accomplished.
Whenever I have a sloppy set I feel cheated and disappointed, I only have a certain amount of time to train each day and to burn up that time by not being careful in how I am training is disappointing.
Don't get me wrong here, you can use cheat moves such as arching your back slightly at the end of your reps on a set of barbell curls, but even they can get sloppy if you try to use your back arch as a momentum builder that will assist you in accomplishing the lift. A slight arch to help you past the sticking point is fine.
You also will not get the same results in a sloppy set, your pump will not be as full, the muscle penetration of the exercise will not be as deep (more of a surface burn than a full deep burn), you will be prone to injury. Take your shoulders for instance, Poor form during Military Presses can result in joint separations, torn rotator cuff muscles. Even minor tears that can occur during exercise can over time if not remedied can result in major injuries that can keep you out of the gym for months. Lower back issues with a lot of trainers are a result of improper form during squats, bent over rows, low pulley rows etc.
The belief amongst younger trainers is that the heavier they go the more results they will see, the bigger they will get, the stronger they will be. They often do not realise that heavy training will increase strength whereas lighter higher rep training will increase size. So each routine should have a good mix of heavy low rep sets and mid to high rep sets for size. BUT keep good form, this is a discipline that will ensure that if you practice it from the start of your training career will ensure you are training into your later years, I see many people in the gym that are in their 60's and 70's training hard and looking good. I call it a career because once you start to see results you will be in it for the long haul, you will get excited and the desire to continue grows and you will most likely train into your 70's, that hopefully will be longer than your actual career.

Protect your muscles and joints with properly formed sets and reps and you will have a long successful training career, hopefully injury free.

Saturday Fun

Hi all
Saturday today, which means it was arm day. I always start arms with Bi's for 4 exercises 4 sets each of 10-15 reps. I keep the reps higher if I can 12-18, this really gets the blood into the muscle and forces the skin as tight as it can go. I also try to mix it up a bit. Low heavy reps but as soon as I complete the heavy reps I drop the weight and grab a weight roughly 1/2 the poundage and rep out to 18-20 reps. this again forces the blood in. After this if you have done it correct you should not be able to hang onto the weight for at least 2 mins. then do it again for 4 sets. If I have trained arms properly I will end up with a min pump of 1" at the end of the session.
Triceps I train the same way, mid to high reps always to failure. I try not to go to heavy as I have to be wary of my wrists and elbow joints. Being over 40 does add it's challenges to the sessions. If you train smart and know your body you can still grow and grow regularly after 40.
Listen to your body and what it is telling you. New comers will have to train for a while to get in tune with this aspect of training, but it is very important to avoid long term injuries.

Lets Get Pumped

Today was my day off from the gym. I usually train 5 days a week, one bodypart per day. As we are now gettinginto the fall schedule I will start to take Wed. off and train Saturday instead, I will most likley do this most of the winter months.
I am an early morning trainer. I hit the gym anytime between 6:00 am and 7:00 am and train for roughly 45 - 60minutes. I would consider myself somewhat of a intermediate bodybuilder. I currently weigh 255lbs, not too much around the middle, keeping my waiste at 40". My goal is to bring that down over the next few months to around 36", but at 44 it will be very hard work.
My reason for this blog is to hopefully sharre some of my insight and experiences I have encountered since I started training at the age of 16. I was 149 lbs in grade 10 and for anyone who thinks that is not bad try being 149 lbs at 6'-1" in high school. I was contantly teased and harrased. So I started training, as a hard gainer though I did not really succed in gaining to much weight untill I was almost 30. My metabolism was rocket fast, I would actually consume 200 grams of protein a day just from powders add that to the meals I ate, I was taking a lot of protein. But it was nit until I physically slowed my life down outside of the gym, ball, hockey etc. that I finally started to put some weight on. As a rsult at 44 today I am 255, I woudl love to hit 275 at 6'-2" and then lean out to around 250.
The other reason for this blog is that hopefully some of you will offer your advice and experiences in return.

Thank you for now.
Parry