i want to seriously put on mass starting now and need some help [Archive]

ace.3

04-06-2007, 09:02 AM

i usually say one day i want to get huge and bomb the baseball, but then after a week i just forget about it. Now that im playing varsity baseball as a freshman, i really feel that i am just too thin and need to get more muscle. Im 5'10 and 130...freshman in high school...and i want to get to 150 at least. What weight training programs are good for this, and what should i go about to gain muscle, diet wise and supplements. i dont want to gain fat because right now im the fastest runner on varsity and would not like to lose that.

Eat, eat, eat, eat. Just don't stop eating. Always be snacking. Research protein supplements and get one of them. For weight training program, to gain muscle mass you should do hypertophy (less weight more reps) - reps in the 8 to about 12 range.

Colorado Express

04-06-2007, 09:18 AM

Eat, eat, eat, eat. Just don't stop eating. Always be snacking. Research protein supplements and get one of them. For weight training program, to gain muscle mass you should do hypertophy (less weight more reps) - reps in the 8 to about 12 range.

I roomed with two college football players and have two nephews that play football for D-I programs and that is what they are encouraged to do as well. I never see any of them without food in their hands.

Baseball gLove

04-06-2007, 09:47 AM

Eat, eat, eat, eat. Just don't stop eating. Always be snacking. Research protein supplements and get one of them. For weight training program, to gain muscle mass you should do hypertophy (less weight more reps) - reps in the 8 to about 12 range.

Not more weight less reps? Ever notice that long distance runners are pretty thin? I used pyramids for strength with a wide base (high reps, low weight) and a small peak (low rep, high weight). It allowed me to bench almost twice my weight without a noticeable increase in size. I made sure to use full range, regardless of the weight on the bar, to retain flexibility.

I agree with the eating more, but I'd be careful with the supplements. Even the best supplements only barely beat fish, beef & chicken for protein content, but are loaded with carbs that will turn into fat if you don't work out to burn them.

Maxx

04-06-2007, 10:14 AM

Eating a lot is good, but only if you are eating the right things like complex carbs and lots of protein. If you are not working out intensely enough, it doesn't matter how healthy that food is that you are eating. Any extra calories are stored as fat, regardless of the source. The big thing is to eat clean--eliminate any processed foods and sugar from your diet and you'll see amazing results.

Also, I would not train over 8 reps for the most part, and I would concentrate on learning the power lifts--bench, squat, clean, jerk press, deadlift. Those lifts will add mass and you really shouldn't train them over 8 reps when using heavy weight because your form will break down. Make sure you receive proper training on these exercises!

What does your diet look like now and what is your training experience?

baseball2234

04-06-2007, 10:35 AM

ive been lifting on and off for 2 years...with not really any mass gains just strength gains. Ive been researching online and are weight gainers good? i might pick up some N-Large II. I need a workout program though to stick by, id rather not make one up because i do not have that much knowledge like some other hardcore people do. my diet right now is pretty much eat as often and as much as i can, i havent really made a diet or anything...just have been trying to eat high calorie foods even like mcdonalds.

Maxx

04-06-2007, 01:30 PM

You do not need any weight gainers. And you definitely need to avoid McDonald's. Do you drink soda pop? If so, stop immediately. You need to do more research on calorie dense foods. You just can't eat a bunch of crap and expect to put on muscle. And if you have been lifting "on and off" for 2 years, that would explain why you haven't made any mass gains. Having a good program is half the equation--being consistent with your training is the other half. And nutrition is the other three/fourths of the formula :D That's D-Dogg math 101.

Check out my site for advice on training programs.

paul5150

04-06-2007, 01:30 PM

Dont eat McDonalds...eat healthy food but alot of it. Get some Whey Protein.

Maxx

04-06-2007, 01:37 PM

Here is some BASIC nutritional advice I give my athletes. This would be a good place to start making changes to your dietary habits.

Proper Eating for Athletes

The athlete should eat foods with plenty of complex carbohydrates, which will provide long-term energy. Foods high in protein are also good choices, especially after a contest or work-out. Pre-game and pre-practice meals or snacks should be eaten approximately 2 hours before the game or practice.
Good carbohydrate choices:

Fresh fruits
Fresh veggies
Breads, cereals, bagels (whole grain and whole wheat are the best choices)
Pretzels
Crackers
Granola bars
Applesauce
Raisins
Fig newtons
Oatmeal
Pasta
Cereals that are low in sugar

**Read the label!! If the carbohydrates are primarily made up of sugar, then it is not a good choice!!

Good protein choices:

Peanut butter
Nuts
Chicken
Turkey
Roast beef
Cheese
Beef jerky
Cottage cheese
Yogurt
Eggs
Tuna

Avoid any of the foods listed below. Most of these foods are high in sugar and fats. These types of foods will give you energy in a short period of time, but that energy will also be used quickly, leaving you feeling sluggish! Read the label—if most of the carbs are in the form of sugar, then it is NOT a good choice!

Bad food choices:

Candy
Chocolate
Cookies
Cake
Cupcakes
Pop
Fast food from restaurants
Doritos, chips, or other bagged snack foods high in fat or sugar
Fried food
Processed foods
Anything with hydrogenated oil or high fructoses corn syrup
Anything in the ingredients that ends in -ose is a sugar!!

paul5150

04-06-2007, 02:33 PM

ace.3

04-06-2007, 09:26 PM

ElHalo

04-06-2007, 10:03 PM

Not more weight less reps? Ever notice that long distance runners are pretty thin? I used pyramids for strength with a wide base (high reps, low weight) and a small peak (low rep, high weight). It allowed me to bench almost twice my weight without a noticeable increase in size. I made sure to use full range, regardless of the weight on the bar, to retain flexibility.

You ever notice Lance Armstrong's calf muscles? They're bigger than most people's thighs. What you can bench isn't necessarily the best indicator of strength; really depends on your needs and what you're working out for. Because my workout regimen doesn't emphasize chest muscles, I can't bench much more than half my weight. But I can curl more than I can bench, and on back and lats I can nearly double what I can bench. And I didn't get to that by finding out what the max I could lift was and do three sets of ten on that. I got there by finding out what the max I could lift was, cutting that weight in half, and then doing four sets of fifty on that.

Maxx

04-07-2007, 06:11 AM

But I can curl more than I can bench.

And what does curling do for you, other than make your biceps look good for the beach??? I have no problem with people adding biceps work to their program, as Ace full well knows, but the biceps get plenty of work in upper back exercises. And doing chest exercises is far more impotant than doing curls........

And I didn't get to that by finding out what the max I could lift was and do three sets of ten on that. I got there by finding out what the max I could lift was, cutting that weight in half, and then doing four sets of fifty on that.

That may be the worst example of program design I have ever come across, and believe me, I've seen a lot of bad examples.....:nosleep:

ElHalo

04-07-2007, 07:30 AM

And what does curling do for you, other than make your biceps look good for the beach??? I have no problem with people adding biceps work to their program, as Ace full well knows, but the biceps get plenty of work in upper back exercises. And doing chest exercises is far more impotant than doing curls........

Not a baseball player; for rowing, back, biceps, and legs are most important.

Maxx

04-07-2007, 12:25 PM

Not a baseball player; for rowing, back, biceps, and legs are most important.

Ok, I could see that then........but your method of choosing a weight and the number of reps you are doing is not scientifically, theoritically, or actually sound. I understand that you are probably doing high reps because you are training for a repetitive motion--rowing. But you are already getting that work when you actually row....so what are you doing to maximize your power output on each individual row?

If you applied your philosophy to baseball, then you are saying that players should do exercises that will help with swinging a bat for example. So does that mean that they do all of their hip, upper leg, and core exercises at really high reps, since those are the muscles are involved?? No....they may do that once in a while, but instead they should be training for maximal power.

Another way to apply this would be with a 400 meter sprinter, where they have to run a long distance at top speed. They would need to train for endurance AND power output, not just the endurance part.

And further, tho you may be satisfied with your results, you should not be recommending that type of workout for athletes in other sports since your program is a rowing-specific workout.

SAM I AM

04-07-2007, 06:58 PM

By far the best way to gain muscle mass and strength is to do a few basic compound exercises like Squats and dips and chin ups. If you really are serious then try to warm up and do 1 set of squats for 20 reps. This will probably make you puke because it is so intense but it will do a couple of things for you: 1. You will build leg strength and mass as well as work your glutes (butt) lower back and your overall torso as you stabilize the bar on your back. 2. Believe it or not it will also cause your body to naturally produce a little more testosterone than normal and you will experience an increase in appetite ( just trust me on this).

Dips I would keep in the 8-12 rep range and make sure your rep cadence is slow so that you are not bouncing at the top and bottom of the movement. That is called using momemtum and it takes the strain off of the muscles where it should be. Do 2 sets and go all out.

Chin ups. I would try to do 50 reps with my body weight. Let me explain, for starters it will probably take you over ten sets to get the 50. I am talking about trying to get a total of 50. As you progress it will take you fewer and fewer sets and finally (in a couple of months) you will progress to the point that you can get 10-15 per set and you will have your 50 in as few as 4-5 sets. This will build your upper back and grip strength as well as give you bigger biceps.

Warning: this is such a basic workout that you will be tempted to try to add additional exercises and if you do you will find that you will stop making gains. If you stick to this routine doing it twice a week say Mon and Thur you will greatly increase your strength and experience some size gains as well.

ElHalo

04-07-2007, 10:53 PM

Ok, I could see that then........but your method of choosing a weight and the number of reps you are doing is not scientifically, theoritically, or actually sound. I understand that you are probably doing high reps because you are training for a repetitive motion--rowing. But you are already getting that work when you actually row....so what are you doing to maximize your power output on each individual row?

If you applied your philosophy to baseball, then you are saying that players should do exercises that will help with swinging a bat for example. So does that mean that they do all of their hip, upper leg, and core exercises at really high reps, since those are the muscles are involved?? No....they may do that once in a while, but instead they should be training for maximal power.

Admittedly, I'm not a baseball training guy, but rather a general fitness guy who happens to be a baseball fan. And the original poster was asking in general about putting mass on, rather than on specifically creating strength for baseball hitting (the title of the thread is: "i want to seriously put on mass starting now and need some help"). Aside from nutritional intake, the biggest and quickest way of gaining muscle mass, both through my personal experience and the experience of those I've worked out with in the past, is massive numbers of reps at medium weight. Eventually you shift that around to start building more toward maximum weight per individual rep, but somebody who's 130 at 5'10" is obviously just starting out, and every weight trainer I've ever known has recomended low weight / high rep workouts to begin with.

Although, on a seperate note, it's possible that there's just something wrong with my pectoral muscles, because the sheer magnititude of disconnect between what I can bench and what I can lift in other areas is just far too vast to simply be a product of workout regimen. I've never met anybody else who could lift more on tricep extensions than bench press.

Braves Fan 24

04-08-2007, 11:39 AM

When you squat, do you do straight bar or bent bar? If you're doing bent, then switch to straight and make sure you get all the way parallel.

Protein supplements won't help you put on good weight. Your body can only handle so much protein in a day, it's around 20g if I remember correctly, and when you put more protien than that into your body it just gets converted directly into fat.

Follow the advice of the other guys and eat right.

My biggest question is, you're on varsity and so obviously your coach believes you can succeed with your current body, so what's the problem? Some of the gaining mass will come with getting older.

cubsphill

04-08-2007, 02:11 PM

i started working out in october and ive gained 30 pounds since then. my waist size is the same, i dont have any soft fat spots on my body, so it has to be all lean mass.

what i do is work arms one day and legs another. the only day i dont work out is saturday for religious reasons.

i do 10-15 reps on each exercise

on arms day i do the following workouts:
overhead tricep extensions
skull crushers
flies
lateral raises
cuban press
grippers
shoulder shrugs
forearm curls
wrist curls
reverse preacher curls
dumbell bench press
lat pull
tri pushdowns
tri pulldowns
bent rows
wrist rollers
military press (once in a while)
and some stuff with a bat and a big weight on it. first wave the bat back and forth to the right and left while flexing your forearms, keeping it under control. the last one is to make controlled figure eights with the bat out in front of you.

for legs:
squats (for these, sometimes i only do 4-6 reps)
lunges (sometimes only 6-8 reps)
hamstring curls
leg extensions
leg press
back extensions
calf raises
and some ab work with a medicine ball

the supplements i use are n.o. xplode and true mass weight gainer

with the weight gainer i mix in 2 scoops of peanut butter with milk. sometimes ill throw a banana in there as well.

as for a diet, i really eat whatever, but mostly healthy food, heavy in peanut butter, roast beef sandwhiches, etc. i never drink pop. i will eat mcdonalds or whatever a few times a month though.

with all this ive noticed a huge increase in power. i cant wait for the season to start to really show off my newfound power.

baseball2234

04-08-2007, 03:07 PM

the reasons why i want to get a lot bigger are that the pitchers are so much bigger than me and if i get hit by a 80 mph pitch ill die. also i need more power now because the outfielders are so much farther back and lastly its always better to hav some muscle rather than being a twig.

brettthejet7

04-08-2007, 04:13 PM

The newest issue of muscle & fitness has the Albert Pujols workout in it. however this is his off-season workout and I wouldn't recommend starting it in season.... as for gaining weight in hs, I put on 30 lbs my sr. year by making eggs or oatmeal everyday for breakfast, double lunch every day, protein bar before practice, healthy dinner, and a snack before bedtime every night. The better the quality of the food the better the quality of your body composition. Stick with whole foods and avoid junk food and fast food.

Braves Fan 24

04-08-2007, 11:38 PM

For gaining muscle I switch between two types of workouts, endurance and power. During endurance I do a lot more reps ( 8 reps at 60 %, 5 reps at 70%, 3 reps at 80%, 1 rep at 90%, 1 rep at 95%, 5 reps at 70%) for every core lift (squat, power clean, bench). Then after about a month I switch to my power workout (5 reps at 55%, 2 at 65%, 2 ay 75%, 2 at 85%, 2 at 95%). When our weight lifting coach first introduced the two workouts, I was a little skeptical, but I've gone up a ton of weight by doing them. Since Jan I've added at least 30 lbs to every core lift.

kylebee

04-09-2007, 12:32 AM

Protein supplements won't help you put on good weight. Your body can only handle so much protein in a day, it's around 20g if I remember correctly, and when you put more protien than that into your body it just gets converted directly into fat.

This is absolutely wrong. Most athletes trying to add LBM should be eating 1g of protein per pound of bodyweight in different forms of protein (fast-acting proteins after workouts, slow-acting ones before bed) along with complex carbohydrates and "good" sources of fats.

deezledogg knows a lot about weight training, and pretty much everything he says I definitely agree with, just as I'm sure he'll agree that 20g protein/day is woefully inadequate for even the random person, much less an athlete.

kylebee

04-09-2007, 12:37 AM

Simply eat, eat, eat, and eat. Eat at least 1g of protein per pound of bodyweight, do a ton of compound lifts (squat, deadlift, clean), and work on functional strength routines. This means cutting back on the exercises that make you look cool (bicep curls) and doing routines that are actually applicable for the diamond (core exercises, plyometrics).

If all you want to do is get big, then cut back on the cardio as well. But remember that bigger does not always equal better on the diamond - you need to be flexible, fast, lean, and strong to be a great athlete. And never forget that baseball is primarily a skill-based game. Some of the greatest athletes that have set foot on the diamond who could run faster than most college WR's, lift more than the average linebacker, and throw harder than half of the major-league pitchers couldn't even make it past double-A ball because their skillset didn't match up.

As Dick Mills says, your time spent working on functional strength and skills will determine how far you go on the diamond. Waste it by doing inefficient weight training or not working on what you need to become a better ballplayer, and it will quickly manifest itself out there.

Erik

04-09-2007, 03:21 AM

Hi,
I remember having a problem gaining weight when I was in college. I started eating(shrimp,chicken, pork) combination fried rice daily. I gained 15 pounds and I still worked out. I also drank a milk shake 4 times a week. This blew me up fast.

EL,

Maxx

04-09-2007, 08:08 AM

Some general thoughts on some of the info posted:

kylebee is correct--20 g. of protein is extremely low for anybody. Hell, you could get almost that much from a couple glasses of milk alone! General recommendations would be at least a half gram per body weight. If you are training, then at least 1 gram per body weight. I know some serious athletes who consume 2 grams per body weight. It all depends upon the intensity of your training. But you are correct Braves Fan, any extra is either stored as fat, or eliminated from the body in the urine.

A few people recommended a variety of programs saying "do this and you'll add mass." Well, if he has no experience in training, no matter what program he starts with, he is going to see gains, that's been proven in medical journals that the body will respond to an overload. So the question is, which type of program will maximize his gains? I use linear and alternating periodization programs for all of my beginners, whether they are athletes or just some average kid in my weightlifting class. These programs are not easy, and if a kid isn't serious, they probably won't last long and will go back to curling and benching every single day. But the kids who follow it consistantly, get bigger and stronger in a hurry, and continue to make gains over the long term.

SAM I AM, while those exercises you listed are good exercises, your rep scheme makes no sense. You are correct that compound exercises are the best. But why would he stop making gains if he added exercises???? That is silly!

Braves Fan, what exactly do you mean when you ask if he is squatting with a bent bar?

Cubsphill, you have some good exercises there, but your programming is suspect. You should change up your number of reps every so often--that is part of a periodization program. You also can't think in terms of training "just arms and legs." Are you doing all of those exercises in one day? If so, that is a bit much.

Braves Fan, the program your coach has you doing sounds like it has some promise!

Here's the link to a year round training program that I have used with college baseball players and high school athletes in general. If you really want to understand how the program works, start by reading the first link and read them in order. It explains everything! www.maxxtraining.com/stp.htm

One final note, a lot of you recommend high reps. I always start athletes at the 10-12 rep range. Anything beyond that, you are working more endurance than strength, and your form also starts to suffer. I know some people will train 15-25 reps once in a while, but this is part of an advanced program, not basic! Again, look at my programs for a place to start. I am not saying my programs are the only way to do things, but I've had great success with it, and it is easy to follow for beginners.

Jake Patterson

04-09-2007, 10:01 AM

i usually say one day i want to get huge and bomb the baseball, but then after a week i just forget about it. Now that im playing varsity baseball as a freshman, i really feel that i am just too thin and need to get more muscle. Im 5'10 and 130...freshman in high school...and i want to get to 150 at least. What weight training programs are good for this, and what should i go about to gain muscle, diet wise and supplements. i dont want to gain fat because right now im the fastest runner on varsity and would not like to lose that.

Getting HUGE can be dangerous and is a long process when done porperly. Do not seek advice here unless you know the person's credentials. The only person here I can speak for is DeezelDogg.

kylebee

04-09-2007, 10:17 AM

Getting HUGE can be dangerous and is a long process when done porperly. Do not seek advice here unless you know the person's credentials. The only person here I can speak for is DeezelDogg.

It's also not necessarily beneficial on the diamond, either.

If the goal is to get noticed by scouts at any level, they don't necessarily look at your weight now - they want to see your tools and your projectability into the future. Long and lean means that you can fill out given a proper training protocol under good supervision.

Jake is definitely right.

Maxx

04-09-2007, 11:25 AM

Thanks guys.....

I'd also like to add that while squats, cleans, deadlifts, bench press, jerks, snatches are the best exercises for building strength, power, and mass, they are also complicated movements and should only be performed by someone who has been taught proper technique.

Finally, it doesn't matter how intensely you train if you're diet is junk. Most serious trainers believe that a good program is 75% nutritional, meaning you can train all ya want, but if you ain't feeding the body, you are just wasting your time.

hawkiirock

04-09-2007, 11:53 AM

Curls arent a mass building exercise.
This guy says he wants to put on some serious mass. Than he states he would like to get to 150. Dude, at 5'10 adn 150 pounds, you will still be a string bean. That is a realistic goal to reach pretty quickly but IMO you should raise your bar much higher.
Shoot for 5'10 180 at least if you want to talk about putting on mass. I am 5'8 and have been up to 207. Not fat. Always have at least a 4 pack. I was skinny as hell as a freshman.
My best advice would be to never miss a workout or a meal. If you have to skip or shorten your workout, then at least get your deadlifts and squats in. If you are bored and want more work, throw in some curls but really you are wasting your time doing curls if you want sport specific gains and increased mass. just my opinion and I will say Deezle has a nice site as well with some very helpful guysAdmittedly, I'm not a baseball training guy, but rather a general fitness guy who happens to be a baseball fan. And the original poster was asking in general about putting mass on, rather than on specifically creating strength for baseball hitting (the title of the thread is: "i want to seriously put on mass starting now and need some help"). Aside from nutritional intake, the biggest and quickest way of gaining muscle mass, both through my personal experience and the experience of those I've worked out with in the past, is massive numbers of reps at medium weight. Eventually you shift that around to start building more toward maximum weight per individual rep, but somebody who's 130 at 5'10" is obviously just starting out, and every weight trainer I've ever known has recomended low weight / high rep workouts to begin with.

Although, on a seperate note, it's possible that there's just something wrong with my pectoral muscles, because the sheer magnititude of disconnect between what I can bench and what I can lift in other areas is just far too vast to simply be a product of workout regimen. I've never met anybody else who could lift more on tricep extensions than bench press.

hawkiirock

04-09-2007, 11:57 AM

I hope the original poster can sort through some of this horrible advice. 20g / day lmao. Are you serious? Surely you are jokingWhen you squat, do you do straight bar or bent bar? If you're doing bent, then switch to straight and make sure you get all the way parallel.

Protein supplements won't help you put on good weight. Your body can only handle so much protein in a day, it's around 20g if I remember correctly, and when you put more protien than that into your body it just gets converted directly into fat.

Follow the advice of the other guys and eat right.

My biggest question is, you're on varsity and so obviously your coach believes you can succeed with your current body, so what's the problem? Some of the gaining mass will come with getting older.

hawkiirock

04-09-2007, 12:02 PM

nice post except i would hesitate to follow anything in one of those magazines. Some good stuff but a lot of hogwash as wellThe newest issue of muscle & fitness has the Albert Pujols workout in it. however this is his off-season workout and I wouldn't recommend starting it in season.... as for gaining weight in hs, I put on 30 lbs my sr. year by making eggs or oatmeal everyday for breakfast, double lunch every day, protein bar before practice, healthy dinner, and a snack before bedtime every night. The better the quality of the food the better the quality of your body composition. Stick with whole foods and avoid junk food and fast food.

Maxx

04-09-2007, 12:29 PM

hey hawk, i've got another good site for you if you still need some "ammo" or just general advice for your kid:

www.fitfriends.com and click on "Brian Grassos Youth Athletic Development"

hawkiirock

04-09-2007, 12:32 PM

thanks deezle. I really appreciate it. Been busy the last week so wasnt around quite as much but things should be tamer this week. Take carehey hawk, i've got another good site for you if you still need some "ammo" or just general advice for your kid:

www.fitfriends.com and click on "Brian Grassos Youth Athletic Development"

Braves Fan 24

04-09-2007, 11:40 PM

Braves Fan, what exactly do you mean when you ask if he is squatting with a bent bar?

Well the first year or two I was seriously lifting, our coaches had us use a bar that was bent something like this: (sorry best way I could explain)
---| |---
and it allowed me to put more weight on without seeming like I was really straining to do it. Then we had a new lifting coach who made us use just a regular straight bar and go all the way parallel. From my experience, the straight bar works a lot better. It works out both the quad, hamstring, and glutes all at the same time and also seems to generally be harder. This is good I think because it works the some of the core areas where your power comes from. Also, the way my coach explains it, most people only tend to get a really good workout on their quads with a bent bar and fail to work the hamstrings enough to keep up with the quad growth, resulting in an increased chance of pulling a quad.

And about my coaches workout, that was just some of it, but it works really good to keep me strong although it is more designed for football players which would be more obvious from some of the other lifts we do. However he does have us work the abs and obliques which is also good for baseball (or about anything)

lamsat

04-12-2007, 10:13 PM

Don't count this post as fact, it's just my opinion.
Now that that's out of the way.

I found that for powerfull lean muscle you should set a time to do reps in, not a set number of reps. Doing this I gained a bit of weight (15 pounds) but it was over a long period of time(like 3 months).
For example do curls for 45 seconds at a lower weight, maybe 50-65%, then 2 days later you're doing 65-70% for 30 seconds. Finish off at 90% max for like 15-20 seconds.
My football coach recomended this since I wrestle and wanted strength without much mass.

It's like the pyramid idea before, but you have to use time limits instead of rep numbers.
Also don't do this with cleans or heavy bench, because you can injure yourself.

Also I still do this and have gained no weight since, but have gotten much stronger.

Maxx

04-13-2007, 09:34 AM

There are a veriety of training methods that work to increase strength, power, mass, speed, etc.....The goal is to find the BEST method for the individual. Sometimes that takes trial and error. I promote a program that is proven both by research and thru real-life application. On my site you can see a sample of strength increases thru-out the course of a training program. One thing that has changed since then, tho, is that we lift a lot heavier and more frequently during the season. If you look at those results on my site, you can see that when we tested after the seson, most of the players experienced a decrease in strength. We take steps now to ensure that we at least maintain the level of strength, and, if possible, even continue to get stronger thru the season. This is done using heavy weights on the core/olympic lifts and lifting in the 3-6 rep range.

hawkiirock

04-13-2007, 09:54 AM

good point deezel. Everyone does respond differently. In college, i lifted with a partner. We did the following workout
Mon Chest Bench, Incline db's, decline db's. Maybe smith machine at times. We would vary the order. Do 1 set of 12 reps with a weight that was hard to get 12. Than one or 2 sets of 6-8 reps. Than one set of 3 reps or so.
Tue Back
Wed was Legs
Thurs was shoulders and perhaps abs. All done like noted above. So several sets were taken to failure. SOmetimes thurs would be off and we would do shoulders and abs on friday.

I got a lot bigger doing this type of workout but not a whole lot stronger. My partner didnt get much bigger but got a lot stronger. My point is that everyone does respond differently. I respond better by hitting body parts 2-3 x/week in terms of strength and size gaines