Growth Methods?

[morgan000]

My goal is like everyone elses on here. Put on muscle. However I was wondering does it mean you have to go heavy or will the pump suffice? Can you have muscle growth with the pump?

For e.g. I did legs this morning, usually squat, leg press, deadlift and so on, heavy for around 3 or 4 sets for 5 or 6 reps. I thought I'll try something I haven't done in a while which was supersetting. When I used to train legs about 5 or 6 years ago, I would feel like throwing up afterwards and haven't felt like that for a while. So I superset squats with leg extension and after 2 sets, felt like throwing up but more importantly, I couldn't walk properly and my thighs were full of blood like it was about to explode. The other thing is my legs get a better pump from 10 to 12 reps.

Is that something I can do on legs day or is it not good to superset all the time? Do you get growth from supersetting and drop setting?

 

[0ni]

Volume, a large range of motion and food will grow you
Yesterday for example, I did 5x8 squats low bar then 5x5 paused high bar. After the 2nd set of paused high bar squats I could feel the quads start to tear down the middle and they started to cramp. Then I did 3 extra sets and they were very hard. I had maybe one rep left in me on every set.

Same with when I did chest + triceps, I bench heavy 6-10 sets of 3-6 reps then 4 sets of incline bench, 4 sets of decline smith, then I can really feel the chest very pumped and after 4 sets of reverse grip benching I feel that "tear" again which is how I think you know the muscle is truly worked then I finish with some pec minor dips or flies. Then the same with triceps I'll immediately do some pushdowns with minimal rest for 5 sets, this usually does it for the triceps as they have been worked very hard already so then I'll go light and flush the whole lot with blood with another 11 sets over various movements

Super setting, drop setting, the number of sets or the number of reps doesn't matter really, just do enough volume to feel like the muscle is well and truly worked and starts to cramp up and if you're having trouble doing enough volume then you need more reps per set

 

[Grunta]

Aim for both, high and low reps. Train as heavy as you can go and also include hight rep (pump) sets.

 

[steveP]

Ultimately it's about overloading the muscle so it repairs bigger and stronger. Do whatever you feel really works the muscle and stays challenging. Once your workout gets easy, change it up a bit.

 

[Goosey]

You'll get a good muscular pump in the guns doing 5 sets of 30 of curls holding 5kg dumbbells, it's got nothing to do with work or growth but it will sure give you a pump and crook elbows to boot.

 

[Goosey]

Ultimately it's about overloading the muscle so it repairs bigger and stronger. Do whatever you feel really works the muscle and stays challenging. Once your workout gets easy, change it up a bit.

Yeah, progression, use a pen and paper to log progress and most importantly choose the method you enjoy.

 

[0ni]

You'll get a good muscular pump in the guns doing 5 sets of 30 of curls holding 5kg dumbbells, it's got nothing to do with work or growth but it will sure give you a pump and crook elbows to boot.

Paul Carter managed to put half an inch on his biceps just curling the bar for as many reps as he could one day and 30kg for as many reps another day, so twice a week.
Heavy curls hurt my elbows and aggravate the torn biceps in my left arm but I seem to do fairly well training my back pulling muscles first, then hitting 2 reps shy of failure over about 10 sets for biceps

The weights are always going up though, which as you say is the most important thing

 

[Goosey]

Paul Carter managed to put half an inch on his biceps just curling the bar for as many reps as he could one day and 30kg for as many reps another day, so twice a week.
Heavy curls hurt my elbows and aggravate the torn biceps in my left arm but I seem to do fairly well training my back pulling muscles first, then hitting 2 reps shy of failure over about 10 sets for biceps

The weights are always going up though, which as you say is the most important thing

correct, I'm suggesting that trying to get a pump every workout is not productive and that you are already pumped without knowing.

 

[0ni]

correct, I'm suggesting that trying to get a pump every workout is not productive and that you are already pumped without knowing.

Yeah definitely

 

[morgan000]

So basically in order to get bigger, you can't shy away from increasing the weight on the bar? My question is alluding to Oni's comment in that my thighs today felt like it was going to explode, however when I do heavy squats for say 5 or 6 reps, it doesn't feel the same. Mind you I am doing say 3 or 4 sets followed by the same on leg press. Do I need to do more sets maybe?

 

[bozodos]

I would have said eat big to get big, to put it at its most succinct.

 

[steveP]

Try different number of reps and sets to see what you feel works best. I used to always train lower reps (4-6) and try to go as heavy as I could) as I thought that's what all the cool kids did. I have since dropped the weight and used more reps, and I feel I get a far better workout which targets the muscle more instead of your joints.

Also, certain muscle groups respond better to different to reps/sets. I feel that smaller the muscle group, the more reps you should do with less weight. So arms, shoulders, calves - high reps, lower weight. Legs, back, chest - heavier with less reps. Try different things and see what works.

 

[Goosey]

Great response and to add, adding kb's to the bar is by far the best way to measure growth.

 

[0ni]

So basically in order to get bigger, you can't shy away from increasing the weight on the bar? My question is alluding to Oni's comment in that my thighs today felt like it was going to explode, however when I do heavy squats for say 5 or 6 reps, it doesn't feel the same. Mind you I am doing say 3 or 4 sets followed by the same on leg press. Do I need to do more sets maybe?

4 heavy sets isn't really a lot. The heavy stuff is good though. Try 10 sets of squats total. Some heavy, some medium and some very high rep then finish the job with the leg press. 5 sets of 5, 3 sets of 8 then 2 sets of 20 would be brutal

 

[Fadi]

So basically in order to get bigger, you can't shy away from increasing the weight on the bar?

No, that is not entirely true. You get to a point when you would need to overload the muscles for sure, but overloading here does not mean overloading with weights on a bar. That is why we have different methods in bodybuilding to overload the muscle fibres, that does not always constitute the addition of weights to a barbell. Taking less time to lift the same weight would be considered part of an overload method, and there are many of them to incorporate into your training when the need arises.



Fadi.

 

[Goosey]

No, that is not entirely true. You get to a point when you would need to overload the muscles for sure, but overloading here does not mean overloading with weights on a bar. That is why we have different methods in bodybuilding to overload the muscle fibres, that does not always constitute the addition of weights to a barbell.



Fadi.

Can you describe another method of stimulating growth please.

 

[Fadi]

Can you describe another method of stimulating growth please.

You mean apart from adding weight to a bar?!

 

[Goosey]

You mean apart from adding weight to a bar?!

Yes please.

 

[Fadi]

Yes please.

Why such a question from an experienced lifter such as yourself Andy?! In any case, I've already done so in my original answer.

 

[Goosey]

Why such a question from an experienced lifter such as yourself Andy?!

Fadi, you noted that there are other ways to stimulate growth, I'm interested to know what you think they are;

whether that be, adding rep's, rep cadence (speed), negative accentuated?

i sense you are a little paranoid?