[YM123]

im not quite sure im with you on what you do, can you elaborate a little more??

[ZackKnight]

that's a lot of warm up sets kenny.

[ibanezman88]

well i count them as warm up sets because i'm not going to failure on any of them even if they may be semi-heavy.

i count my working sets as sets where i'm going to faliure.

i'm not about to jump from 155lbs to 225lbs or from 185lbs to 245lbs. i don't like doing that. because some days i might not be as strong. i like to warm up like this even if it means not being able to use as much weight on my heavy sets. maybe that's why my bench press isn't as strong.
this is just to prevent injury. too many people hurt themselves on bench press.
also, it's to get me pumped. i won't get too pumped if i do only 2 warmup sets. a pumped muscle is getting a better workout so if i'm not properly warmed up and pumped and i do a heavy set, it's like a waste of a set to me.

hey, YM123, what do you need explanation on?

[mr_bhana]

Cool it makes sense kenney, my first set is a 45lb jump from my warm up which i guess it isnt too bad.

[YM123]

about those pause rep things, how do you perform those for your exercises

[mperk]

Originally Posted by ibanezman88

well i count them as warm up sets because i'm not going to failure on any of them even if they may be semi-heavy.

i count my working sets as sets where i'm going to faliure.

i'm not about to jump from 155lbs to 225lbs or from 185lbs to 245lbs. i don't like doing that. because some days i might not be as strong. i like to warm up like this even if it means not being able to use as much weight on my heavy sets. maybe that's why my bench press isn't as strong.
this is just to prevent injury. too many people hurt themselves on bench press.
also, it's to get me pumped. i won't get too pumped if i do only 2 warmup sets. a pumped muscle is getting a better workout so if i'm not properly warmed up and pumped and i do a heavy set, it's like a waste of a set to me.

hey, YM123, what do you need explanation on?

Not that I'm an expert, but you might be overtraining and not getting the maximum benefit- You might try doing really light warm up sets and then go to the heavy ones to failure - that would be my choice.

[ibanezman88]

thanks for the advice but i've been working out like this forever. you don't grow when you're overtraining. maybe you guys got it all wrong. type in kevin levrone into youtube and watch his bench press. see how he warms up with 405lbs before attemting 500lbs? he only did 4 reps i think. and if you notice, that wasn't anywhere near failiure.
he doesn't do real light warmups (225lbs for him lol) for two sets and then go to his first heavy set of 500lbs. that's insane and this is how people get injured. he climbs his way up.
in the unbelievable with ronnie coleman, watch how many warm up sets he does with the flat dumbbell bench press before he goes into his first set where you actually see him stuggling.
same thing with jay cutler's one step close on his incline dumbbell bench press. he does a ton of warmup sets before he actually gets to 150lbs. and then he starts using his x-rep technique which is what i do. let me see if i can find it on youtube.

YM123, it's really nothing. when i'm getting close to failiure, let's say it's a bench press, i would hold the dumbbells at the bottom of the rep and the shoot up explosively maybe 3/4 of the way up and then back down and hold it at the bottom again and then expode up and mabye then rack/throw the weights.

[ibanezman88]

EXACTLY
right here
YouTube - Jay Cutler Chest Training www.Team-Andro.com

check out his very first sets

see what he does on some of the reps?

THAT'S what i'm talking about

that's how i work out. idk why but it just feels awesome when you hold it down there for that 1-2 sec.

[ibanezman88]

check out his back workout here

he does it for the pulldowns too
YouTube - jay cutler back pt 1

i do it for everything except legs.

ooh. check out when he's doing the hammer rows.

it's when you feel you're getting closer to failiure, this technique can help you get a few more reps out actually than you would be able to if you just did all continuous reps.

[ibanezman88]

ok, yesterday's back workout

back

dumbbell rows
1x20 50lbs
1x12 65lbs
1x10 80lbs
1x10 85lbs (meant to grab 95lbs oops)
3x10 100lbs
Lat Pulldowns (wide-grip palms facing eachother)
1x12 100lbs
1x8 120lbs
1x8 130lbs
1x8 140lbs
1x8 150lbs
2x8 160lbs
Reverse grip pulldowns (hammer machine)
1x10 90lbs
1x10 140lbs
Drop Sets
(1x8 180lbs 1x8 140lbs) x3
Seated Hammer Rows (one-arm)
1x12 90lbs
2x12 100lbs

As mr. bhana would say

vomit-o-meter = 9.5/10

i ran to the trash can on those drop sets. i made noises like i was about to throw up but i didn't. and then i went over and did another drop set lol. the dumbbell rows took a lot out of me.

so, let me explain what i'm doing here so you guys can understand a little bit better.

on the dumbell rows, i'm warming up at 20 reps with 50lbs. which is very lightweight for me. ok, now i'm already pumped from this one warm up set.

i continue to warm up and GRADUALLY increase the weight (something many people don't do and end up hurting themselves). so my next set is 65lbs. easy 12 reps. not even breathing hard yet.

i didn't wanna go as heavy on the dumbbell rows this time. i wanted to pre-exhaust my back muscles so that i would only be doing 10 reps with 100lbs. for those of you that have a good memory and have been following along with my log, you'll know i've done 8 reps with 130lbs on dumbbell rows....i think i wrote that workout down not sure.
i warmed up differently for that. if i wanna go that heavy, i warm up like this:
1x12 50lbs
1x10 75lbs
1x8 100lbs
1x6 120lbs
and then my first set to failiure
130lbs x 8

get it?

doing 130lbs for faliure and being pre-exhausted to be able to only do 100lbs for reps are totally different things. people might say, you're failing in the same rep range so it doesn't matter what weight you're using but i disagree. you people who have more experience will say that it's a whole different feeling when you're pre-exhausted already even if you ARE doing the same rep range.

and for most of this, i'm using jay cutler's x-reps technique. i actually didn't know about this technique until today. but i've been doing this ever since i started this log. just didn't really notice it until the other day.

like i said, i go by instict on my workouts and that's what my instincts tell me to do. i don't plan my workouts or have a set routine that i do. i never do the same workouts twice in a row.

if i did this back workout this week, i'll do a different one next week. so you can say that i don't believe in a "routine" per se. just split training is what works for me.

[rdobson]

thats for the explaination on warmup ibanez...I guess I nee