Discussion about training different body parts

[Trish]

Hello,
I'd like to get everyones input on training the different body parts, how much may be too much, ect.

I am female, 30 and I love the gym. It has truly changed my life and when things happen and I miss the gym, I miss it.

Anyway,
I have some questions when it comes to training. Not only do I want to make this part of my life, I want to learn as much as possible.

How many exercises should one do for each body part?

For example, If I am doing chest (bent ove rows and rack pulls) are only the two mentioned enough? I am currently doing 5x5 for my first exercise and then my second I do 3x8. I will post some pictures soon so you can all see what I look like.

My goal is to reduce my body fat and maintain lbm. From what I have learn, I can't really build much muscle while on a deficit of calories, however I do want to maintain what I have now.

I have a one of those weird bodies. It seems like my body likes to add muscle but its hard to lose the fat...make sense?

Perhaps I need to just post this and get people to ask me questions. I feel like I am all over the place...lol

Thanks
Trish

[Trish]

forum.bodybuilding.com/photo/showgallery.php?ppuser=315820&cat=500

This is what I look like if it helps to know what body type I have.

[Karrie]

;DTrish,
Before I started powerlifting and was training for BB this is what my workouts were:
3 sets of 10; once got all three sets of ten move up in weight OR I would pyramid and my third set would be my heaviest and I tried to get at least 6-8

I would wo 3 times a week with the following schedule

WO 1-chest and tri's
Chest:
Incline bb or db press
Flat BB or db press
db flies or peck deck
Tri's:
CG press or skull crushers
Kick backs with db's
two arm over head extension OR push downs

WO day2-
Legs and shoulders
Legs:
leg extension
One leg-leg press OR BB squats OR walking db or bb lunges(sometimes I would superset Leg ext with walking lunges OR one leg-leg press)
Hack squat for variety(sometimes I would do one of the above, hack squats and then move on to below)
leg curls OR stiff leg dead lifts with a BB or db's.

Shoulders:
Military press OR Arnold press, db's
db side laterals
db OR bb front lateral raises
then rear delts

WO 3:
Back and bi's:
Any one of these exercises or pick two: lat pull downs; low pulley rows, db rows or bb rows. Dead lifting is excellent either from floor or in the rack
close grip pull downs
hyper extensions
bi's:
any type of bb curls
db hammer curls
incline db curls


ABS usually twice a week and calves thrown in once
This is more a schedule for you and you can see I worked one body part once a week. It all varies from individual too. There are some people who split their body in two and hit everything 2 times a week. Hope this was helpful. ;D BTW nice pics!

[mrbeefy]

Trish!

First of all, WELCOME to WOTW! Always good to have a new dedicated member!

Now:

How many exercises should one do for each body part?
Starting off, depends on you. Some like 2-3, others like 3-5, some like more. Find the balance between failure and overtraining. Look around this site and you will find all kinds of examples, plus there are a lot of people here who can be veryhelpful, and have loads of experience. I think Tim used to work out with Moses at one time ;D

For example, If I am doing chest (bent over rows and rack pulls) are only the two mentioned enough? I am currently doing 5x5 for my first exercise and then my second I do 3x8. I will post some pictures soon so you can all see what I look like.
This almost sounds more of a powerlifitng workout, rather than bodybuilding. What are all your goals? short term? Long term?

My goal is to reduce my body fat and maintain lbm. From what I have learn, I can't really build much muscle while on a deficit of calories, however I do want to maintain what I have now.
This is a good goal. Reducing BF and mainting LBM is mostly about diet and cardio.

I have a one of those weird bodies. It seems like my body likes to add muscle but its hard to lose the fat...make sense?
Yes, and is normal IMO. I think I'm the same way.
Again, diet and cardio.

I kept my answers breif, because I'm sure everyone else will likley chime in with lots if ideas.
Do you have a trainer?
Do you plan on doing any competing? BB? Figure? Fitness? Etc.

I suggest you cruise arounf this site and read the articles and journals posted here. You can get some ideas from what others do.

We will keep in touch, and help any way we can!

Again, Welcome aboard ;D

Frank aka MrBeefy

[beckie]

Hi Trish,

As a general rule I do the following:

Back 4-5 exercises,4 sets,6-10 reps
Chest,less volume due to injury,probably only 2 exercises x 4 sets
Shoulders,currently 4 exercises because they need the work
Arms,3-4 exercises,4 sets each,6-12 reps
Legs,5-6 exercises,4-5 sets,6-10 reps

I have the same kind of bodytype as you-easy to gain muscle(relatively) but loses fat slower than a snail!
I have a trainer that helps me with cutting nutrition,he is a bodybuilder and a scientist so he covers the angles pretty thoroughly.
It really comes down to diet to lose the fat-you need to eat as cleanly as you can and add in some regular cardio. everybody's diet is different,some respond well to lower carb style whilst others like myself need carbs in order to retain muscle and stay sane.
Feel free to PM me if you want to know more about my diet!

[Trish]

Hi Sorry I have been away. Thanks for the responces.

I will try to cover all the questions asked. In all honesty I think my diet is good, at times I think is too low because I get so damn hungry but I stick it out. I train 4 days a week (weight training) and 2 days of cardio only. On my weight training days I finish them with 15-30 min cardio. I have been trying to do the full 30 min, minimum I get is 15 min.

My goal is to reduce my body fat which right now is about 24.3 to 15-19%. I would love to do a figure competition at least once in my life. I don't want to do bodybuilding, just a figure show, if possible. I really have no idea what my body would look like once the fat is gone. i cycle my calories between these #, low carb days are higher in protein and i take moderate fat, usually 40-45 grams regardless if is higher carb or not.
1276 Calories 1451 Calories 1756 Calories
it goes low, high,medium, medium, low, high, medium.....and i repeat

[Trish]

This is my current workout routine.

Day 1 (30 sec rests between sets)

Legs
Leg Press 3 x 15-20 wide stance
Stifflegged deadlift 3 x 15-20
Leg ext 3 x 15-20
Lying leg curls 3 x 15-20
Standing calves 3 x 15-20

Abs
Jack knifes or V sit Up 3 sets 15-20 (30 sec rest between each set)
Bicycle crunches 3 x 15-20 (30 sec rest between each set)

Cardio
Treadmill on a high incline power walking, running, elliptical, or bicycle for 30 mins

Day 2 (Rest 1 to 2 mins between sets)

Chest
Dumbell chest press 3 x 10-12
Incline dumbell chest press 3 x 10-12
Incline dumbbell flyes 3 x 10-12

Shoulders
Barbell shoulder press 3 x 12-15 OR Dumbbell shoulder press 3 x 10-12
seated laterals 3 x 10-12
Bent over laterals 3 x 10-12


Cardio
Treadmill on a high incline powerwalking, running, elliptical, or bicycle for 30 mins


Day 3 (Rest 1 to 2 mins between sets)

Back
Assisted Chin Ups 3 x 10-12
One Arm Dumbbell Row 3 x 10-12
Seated Cable Row 3 x 10-12
Lat Pull Down 3 x 10-12
Barbell curl 3 x 10-12 OR Dumbbell curl 3 x 10-12
Hammer curl 3 x 10-12

Triceps
Dips 3 x 10-12
Dumbell overhead tricep extension OR Barbell skullcrushers 3 x 10-12
Tricep push down 3 x 10-12


Cardio
Treadmill on a high incline powerwalking, running, elliptical, or bicycle for 30 mins




Day 4
Legs (30 sec rest between sets)
Barbell wide squats 3 x 15-20
Walking lunges with dumbbells 3 x 15-20
Iso Leg curls 3 x 15-20
Iso Leg ext 3 x 15-20
Step Ups 3 x 15-20 OR Butt Blaster 3 x 15-20
Abs
Crunches 3 x 15-20 (30 secs rest between sets)
Oblique crunches 3 x 15-20 (30 secs rest between sets)
Leg Raises 3 x 15-20 (30 secs rest between sets)

Cardio
Treadmill on a high incline powerwalking, running, elliptical, or bicycle for 30 mins

[Trish]

kari7 said:

;DTrish,
Before I started powerlifting and was training for BB this is what my workouts were:
3 sets of 10; once got all three sets of ten move up in weight OR I would pyramid and my third set would be my heaviest and I tried to get at least 6-8

I would wo 3 times a week with the following schedule

WO 1-chest and tri's
Chest:
Incline bb or db press
Flat BB or db press
db flies or peck deck
Tri's:
CG press or skull crushers
Kick backs with db's
two arm over head extension OR push downs

WO day2-
Legs and shoulders
Legs:
leg extension
One leg-leg press OR BB squats OR walking db or bb lunges(sometimes I would superset Leg ext with walking lunges OR one leg-leg press)
Hack squat for variety(sometimes I would do one of the above, hack squats and then move on to below)
leg curls OR stiff leg dead lifts with a BB or db's.

Shoulders:
Military press OR Arnold press, db's
db side laterals
db OR bb front lateral raises
then rear delts

WO 3:
Back and bi's:
Any one of these exercises or pick two: lat pull downs; low pulley rows, db rows or bb rows. Dead lifting is excellent either from floor or in the rack
close grip pull downs
hyper extensions
bi's:
any type of bb curls
db hammer curls
incline db curls


ABS usually twice a week and calves thrown in once
This is more a schedule for you and you can see I worked one body part once a week. It all varies from individual too. There are some people who split their body in two and hit everything 2 times a week. Hope this was helpful. ;D BTW nice pics!

Thanks for your post and thanks for the comment about the pictures.

Do you know how different is training for figure and BB?

[Trish]

mrbeefy said:

Trish!

First of all, WELCOME to WOTW! Always good to have a new dedicated member!

Now:

How many exercises should one do for each body part?
Starting off, depends on you. Some like 2-3, others like 3-5, some like more. Find the balance between failure and overtraining. Look around this site and you will find all kinds of examples, plus there are a lot of people here who can be veryhelpful, and have loads of experience. I think Tim used to work out with Moses at one time ;D

For example, If I am doing chest (bent over rows and rack pulls) are only the two mentioned enough? I am currently doing 5x5 for my first exercise and then my second I do 3x8. I will post some pictures soon so you can all see what I look like.
This almost sounds more of a powerlifitng workout, rather than bodybuilding. What are all your goals? short term? Long term?

My goal is to reduce my body fat and maintain lbm. From what I have learn, I can't really build much muscle while on a deficit of calories, however I do want to maintain what I have now.
This is a good goal. Reducing BF and mainting LBM is mostly about diet and cardio.

I have a one of those weird bodies. It seems like my body likes to add muscle but its hard to lose the fat...make sense?
Yes, and is normal IMO. I think I'm the same way.
Again, diet and cardio.

I kept my answers breif, because I'm sure everyone else will likley chime in with lots if ideas.
Do you have a trainer?
Do you plan on doing any competing? BB? Figure? Fitness? Etc.

I suggest you cruise arounf this site and read the articles and journals posted here. You can get some ideas from what others do.

We will keep in touch, and help any way we can!

Again, Welcome aboard ;D

Frank aka MrBeefy

I have an online coach. I have been working with her for some time. She is a bodybuilder.

She is a great girl and has helped ma a lot, however the time has come were I need to figure this out on my own. Learn it and just do it. I hope that makes sense. I have been told by different type of people that my workouts are more for bodybuilding. I don't know how different figure and bodybuilding exercises would vary. I thought it was basically the same thing.

My short term goals are to continue to progress and reduce my bodyfat. I am not worried about the scale anymore, being that I have only lost about 15 lbs but my body looks so much different. Long term goal is to compete in figure and look good in a damn 2 piece suit...lol ;D I also want to be healthy. My family has a history of diabetis and everything you can think off...

[Karrie]

[quote author=trish board=Talk thread=1198252265 post=1198855198
Thanks for your post and thanks for the comment about the pictures.

Do you know how different is training for figure and BB?[/quote]

I never trained for figure only BB and now that I compete in powerlifting my training is completely different than both BB and figure. I would think it depends on how much muscle you already have b.c figure they do not want the girls too muscular but they need to have a nice shape and symmetry is an issue. I would build where you are the weakest, body part wise, and fine tune what is already built.

[Trish]

copy of my diet yesterday
supplements 8:00am

1 Cup of egg whites 9:00am
1 scoop of strawberry MD

6 oz of chicken 12:00pm
2 cups of mixed green beans and carrots
1 cup of brown rice

supplements 3:00pm

1 scoop of vanilla MD 3:30pm
1 tbsp pb

1rice cakes 6:00pm
1 scoop of vanilla MD

chest/shoulders/25 min cardio

2 cups of mixed green beans and carrots 8:30pm
1 packet of tuna
1 tbsp of mayo

supplements 10:00pm

supplements i take are bcaa 3 of them each time, fish oil, fat burner only am and afternoon (hot rox)

[beckie]

Hi Trish,to maintain your mass you need to be moving heavier weights and doing less reps on your legs. You will find they will tighten up much faster if you train this way..
Heres my current leg workout(it varies quite a bit but these are the basics)

Hammer strength leg press 4 x 8
DB Wide stance deadlifts 4 x 8
Step ups 4 x 8
Alternate leg extension 4 x 8-10
Swiss ball leg curls 4 x 12

I also switch around the order of the exercises,sometimes I'll start with leg extn to pre-exhaust my quads and sometimes I'll start with step ups.

As far as diet goes,how has your body responded to the carb cycling? If you are dropping fat still then there is no reason to change anything right now. Are you getting hungry on your diet or do you feel fine throughout the day?
I will PM you my diet,it is quite different to yours though

Instead of taking BCAA capsules you should try Scivation Xtend-it is a BCAA drink that you sip on whilst training and helps preserve muscle tissue as well as giving your workout a little oomph! This is the best supplement I have ever used and yummy if you get lemonade or watermelon or even the new apple. You can get it from bodybuilding.com or almost any of the online supplement stores.

[Trish]

Hi,

I think the carb cycling is working good. Its been hard to keep track of the progress due to the holidays. I have been really good through out the holidays but have had my days here and there. I tend to gain weight really quick and not only a lb or two, usually 5 lbs or 8. After I resume to my diet with in a few days I am back to my weight. This week I went up since I did cheat for xmas. i was 174 before the cheat. I gained about 5lbs and when I check again 4 days later I was 173 so I actually lost a lb. That was after 4 days of clean eating after my cheat. After the holidays are all set an done I should know better. I started carb cycling about 4 weeks ago and so far I have lost 4 lbs so I think is working and I think it will work once I am consistent with it.

As to my work outs, I thought by doing more reps less weight I can get some more fat off, I know diet is the key to body fat loss but how is lifting heavy always better?

Thanks for your responce and your feedback. I really appreciate it.

[beckie]

Trish,its actually building more muscle that increases your fat burning capacity,because the mitochondria of the muscle cell is where the fat is burnt. If you have more muscle this means more mitochondria,hence improved fat burning capacity!

I think that the weight gain you experienced with the cheats is primarily water-no-one puts fat on that fast,it is a gradual process,so relax!!