Or how often have you heard this “How do I increase my bench press? I saw this awesome workout in a magazine it takes me about 2 hours and its about 12 different chest exercises with 12 reps of 4-5 sets.”
There’s your problem that’s way too much volume for one muscle.
Many think doing MORE is better than doing LESS
But the truth is that, it’s counter intuitive. Doing more volume is far worse than doing less volume more frequently .
For example, if your goal is to build bigger biceps
Don’t always be compelled to perform the latest trick someone tells you. Meaning, if you want to build your biceps and they give you 10 different variations of curls for 5 sets each. Don’t do all of them! What you should be doing instead to build your biceps is just a few sets of pulling/compound movements. Examples include, underhand barbell rows and pull-ups!
This is a list of the best possible exercises to build a lean athletic frame. I have also included how many reps and sets you should do for each muscle!
Chest- Bench press, Incline Press, Dips
Back- Dead lifts, Barbell Rows, and pull ups
Shoulders- Military press, clean and jerks, power cleans, push press
Traps- Barbell shrugs, cleans
Triceps- Close Grip bench press and bench dips
Biceps- under hand barbell row, underhand pull up
Forearms- farmer walks, dead lifts, shrugs
Quadriceps- squats and leg press
Hamstrings- Stiff leg dead lifts
Glutes- Lunges and side lunges
Calves- Any leg exercise! or standing and seated calves raises..
Abs: Dead lifts, squats, any thing overhead bracing the core, weighted leg raises, and weight crunches
In the most simple and basic of terms, the optimal volume range for most people is:
For each bigger muscle group: 60-120 total reps PER WEEK.
For each smaller muscle group: 30-60 total reps PER WEEK.
The breakdown looks like this
Chest: 60-120 reps per week.
Back: 60-120 reps per week.
Shoulders: 30-60 reps per week.
Traps: 30-60 reps per week.
Triceps: 30-60 reps per week.
Biceps: 30-60 reps per week.
Forearms: 30-60 reps per week.
Quadriceps: 60-120 reps per week.
Hamstrings: 60-120 reps per week.
Calves: 30-60 reps per week.
Glutes: 60-120 reps per week
Abs: 30-60 reps per week.
In this case, sets aren’t so much important what is the appropriate amount of reps to equal a set.
If you want muscle growth but you don’t want to over do it. A minimum set/rep volume of 30 is required for hypertrophy, but you must match the appropriate load with volume.
You should start aim to use a load of 80% of your 1 rep max. A volume of 30 is optimal for most but as loads decreases, volume must be increased to cause hypertrophy. But any volume greater than 50 reps won’t allow you to utilize a load of at least 70% of 1RM without inducing excessive structural and neural stress.
Hypertrophy parameter options: 6 x 6, 4 x 12, or 5 x 10.
These provide a solid foundation to build an athletic body!
There you have it! No need to do more of the unnecessary! You should Aim for an hour tops with 1-2 min rest in between sets and I guarantee if you apply these fundamentals you will yield solid results!