Quote:
Originally Posted by Ark2
Maybe this is where I am missing something. I did workout A today, and it only took me like half an hour before I was done. I did a couple of warm up sets before doing the weighted sets. In between the weighted sets, I rested for about 45 seconds. Should I be resting for a longer period of time/doing more warm up sets?
Also, congrats on your progress! the kind of gains that you described are very impressive!
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Your first workouts will be a little faster in the beginning as you are starting at a lighter weight and don't need as much rest to be able to complete your sets, but as you get heavier you will need the rest in order to complete your next set. You want to make sure you complete your set, so rest as long as you need. After I got over 280 for my work sets I was resting between 4 and 5 mins between sets. You want to make sure you are making linear progress. I was adding 5 lbs every work out to my squat. And make sure your form is good as described in the book to maximize performance and avoid injury.
45 sec is pretty short, but err on the side of caution and get the form down pat at the lighter weights so that it will benefit you down the road when you get to the heavier sets. Don't rush it. As long as you are making linear progress, milk it for as long as possible as it is the stage where gaining strength is the easiest.
Warmups should be enough to get you loose and your blood flowing to your muscles priming yourself to go heavy - this can be pretty individual depending on the person.
My warm up involved some dynamic stretching, air squats, a few pushups, pullups - about 5 mins in total so that I feel warm and could be sweating depending on how warm the room is. Then to get the movement pattern going for the squats I would do 5 - 8 squats with just the bar, then 5 @ 120, 3 @ 190 than a couple at a weight in between the 190 and my work set, so if my work set was 300 I would have done 2 @ 260 or something (these weights worked well for the plates that I have). Then for other excerices like bench for example I would just do the similiar scheme with just the bar x5, then 120 x5, 180x 3, then my work set.
Hope that helps.