How long is too long?

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posted by Enickma

Alright....before you queens go all brokeback on the thread title let me explain.

I was doing full upper body every third day and I've been seeing decent results, but the other day I decided to sit down and look over my routine just to make sure I wasn't missing anything. It turned out I was neglecting certain parts of certain muscles and not doing nearly enough work on traps and triceps. So I guess I'm gonna start a wider variety of upper body exercises and split it up into two days. One day for shoulders / back and one day for chest / arms. I did really like doing it all in one day, but I swear I've heard you guys say not to let a single lifting session go longer than an hour....right? If I worked 3 sets of all the upper body stuff I want to do into a single day it would probably take me 2 hours instead of 1. Is that something I want to avoid?

posted by cosmic-dust

2 hours is very long.. what would you be doing on a chest/arms workout that would take 2 hours to finish?

posted by A.B

Im usually in the gym for 45 minutes... i only get in once or twice a week for weights and i can get all my excercises in within that time frame... hit the main lfits... you shouldnt need mroe then one hour... if your gonig over that time then you need to psot up exactly what your doing... if your stuck fro time hit the back and chest dont worry about arms, obviosuly with a lot of back excercises your hitting your biceps secondary, and with chest your hitting your tris secondary so focus on the big picture instead

posted by Enickma

No, 2 hours would be three sets of full upper body, Chest arms shoulders back trunk etc.. I spend more time on some of these new exercises than I do on old familiar ones, so that could probably be trimmed down with a little experience and wrapped up in circuit I could prolly cut the time considerably

posted by Enickma

:thumbs: Thanks for the response

So I don't have to worry so much about doing different exercises to target different parts of traps or that focus specifically on front, middle, or rear deltoids, just hitting my main big lifts should be good enough?

As I'm trying to develop muscles I just wanted to make sure I set up a well rounded base and didn't end up looking developed in areas and underdeveloped in others. IMO that's what makes for a good physique,... is balance

posted by president_fad

do u even do legs?

posted by Enickma

yeah, I'm just not focusing on them as much at the moment. I'm cutting right now and I figure the running and stairs I do at 245 lbs is pretty effective for most of my leg muscles for the time being. Plus most of my body fat is around my midsection, my legs are pretty lean, so as fat is lost I wont have as much loose skin to deal with on the legs. I'm starting to develop upper body during cutting cause the more muscle I can maintain and tone, the less loose skin I'll have hanging around as fat is lost. Once I get my BF down and start to focus on adding mass I'll do alot more weight work with legs.

posted by brsett

Effective for what? Its not an efficient way to build muscle. I wouldn't expect to improve my leg muscularity very much by running up stairs carrying two 25lb dumbbells (which would put the load at 245lbs) any more than I would expect to do so by doing squats with just the bar. I would expect to improve my endurance . . .

posted by Enickma

Indeed. And it's my endurance that's my focus right now. I'm not trying to bulk at the present. Right now I'm trying to lose fat while conditioning and maintaining what muscle I already have.

posted by Storm

By yoursefl your gym time should not go much more then 75min 90min max and that is if you got good recovery. 1 hr is a good avg but training smart is the key and if you looking for endurence then anything past an hour is crazy no way you doing 30-45sec rest in between sets and having to go that long either your donig way to many movements or way to many sets.

posted by Enickma

right on. Thanks for the advice guys. Appreciated as always. I just got done with some of the new chest arm stuff and I definately feel a difference from the stuff I was doing. I'm gonna just split it up into two days for now. I think it's taking me longer right now cause I'm still trying to make sure my form is right. Once that feels more natural I'm sure things will speed up too.

And I didn't want to make it sound like I don't do leg work at all. I work on my hamstrings and quads and glutes too just not as much as upper right now.

posted by anti-fat

Sup bro,Well those guys mean that it took too long because for example: Split rountine
Chest rountines : BB bench 3 sets 4-6 reps, incline DB 3 set 4-6 reps, Dips(weighted) 2 set 4-6 reps, Flies ect.. , and it different from your every third day, but for that workout it takes around no more then 40 mins, goal is to simulate muscle and get protein in your system before 45 mins asap for recovery. Maybe you can't go everyday, so i duno. This site helps alot, for 5 day splits if your interested

http://www.ast-ss.com/max-ot/max-ot_intro.asp

posted by estray

WTF, is ast paying you to plug their program. Max-ot sucks for beginners, thats all anyone here needs to know. Most ppl will get hurt with a muscle or ligament strain before they get big. Its for intermediate to advandced lifters taking anabolic steroids. Why, because beginers have no business spending 5 days a week in the gym. You grow outside the gym and 2 days rest is not nearly enough.

posted by anti-fat

ok my bad =[. just save it for later

posted by MegaA

Some ways to tell if you are overtraining is when you go to the gym in the morning and you hear the owner that same day say - "10 minutes left guys",

When you walk down the street and you pull a pose in front of the shop window,

When you start planning work around your gym not gym around your work!!!!

When people at the gym mistake you for one of the employees because they are used to your face.

Any of the above are signs of overtraining and anybody experiencing these symptoms should see Dr Phill or their closest psychologist.

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