confused!!

ok so i know a good amount about losing fat and body building but not much about gaining strength. i know u should have lower reps and longer rest periods between sets but thats pretty much it.
1.how much rest should u have between sets? ive heard 90 sec, 2-3min, and 3-5 min.
2. how much rest between workouts? ive heard and thought it was each body part once per week but then somewhere else i heard 2x a week and some1 even said 3x a week per body part which i dont think could work
3. how many sets normally per workout?

thanks for the help.

Duke of the Emancipation Detoxification

1. A lot of sources have told me with strength to rest 2-3 minutes per set, I haven't heard 3-5 anywhere and I know that 90 seconds only applies to those who want to build hypertrophy.
2. Training for strength should be about on the same wavelength as training for hypertrophy, do a 3-day split, except make sure that you have a rest day in between each workout.
3. Sets per workout, well it depends on what exercises/bodyparts you're doing. I'd say 4-7 sets per bodypart, I do 5.

Don't forget about the speed of the reps, different sources have told me that for strength you should have more slow and controlled reps (Still difficult, 5-6 reps in at max) while those training for power would do less controlled and more fast-paced reps.

You may be thinking, 'What is the difference between Strength and Power?'
I have no clue, lol. That I still have to figure out. :p

strength is based on your muscles ability to lift the weight using its own internal energy sources etc.
 
Power is based on your body as a whole being able to use its momentum and elasticity to lift the most.
 
do a simple 5x5 david, got my deadlifts and squats a good 60-70% more weight.

It's impossible to meddle with something that doesn't have a plan

That's still hard to grasp, the difference between them confuses me.

If anyone wants to simplify it, it would be much appreciated. :p

And yeah, I too would recommend a good 5x5 workout. It's very popular and it works :o!

alright thanks every1 that defenetly helps. wow thats crazy twisted link that u got ur squat and deadlifts up that much. so basically ur saying if i want strength i should focus on controlled movement right?

Duke of the Emancipation Detoxification

ORIGINAL: Dae_Light

there are so many different ways to develop or increase your strength, and you will find when looking on the internet that there are so many different training styles and training programmes.

its hard to simplify,  the way i increased my strength, was to perfrom 3 to 4 sets, starting at 8 reps, working down to 4. for me, i just push myself every session, harder and harder, using a basic 3x8 routine, training 4 days a week!

but i know fo routines where u train 3 days a week, doing push,legs, and pull days, i also know 2 day 5x5 routine, and i know 4 day routine using only 3 lifts each session.

keep loking round the net to see if you can find something that fits you!

if you really want a proper routine, PM me and ill try and get one donw for you. i

 
i tried to send u a PM but it said ur inbox was full so could u just send me the routine? thanks

Duke of the Emancipation Detoxification

okay thanks alot

well, i wouldnt set a rest period in between sets, i would just rest until u feel like ur not outta breath and ready to go. Depending on what volume u do, i would do only 1 day a week...but russians do it 3 times a week even. Just depends on how u feel. And u do alotta core workout sets, not as much for ur supplemental lifts.

? i would think u should have a set rest time because sometimes i'll feel like im ready to do another set but i'll try it and ill do alot less reps. plus then u might do less rest time than the last workout and it would seem like ur getting weaker.

Duke of the Emancipation Detoxification

Keep a minimum of 4 reps, you should definitely struggle to get the 5th one in.
A lot of people who do 5x5 don't even get the 5th rep on the last 2 or 3 sets. If you can't get more than 3 then you should definitely lower the weight of course.

EDIT: It'd feel like you're getting weaker but it's just your muscles being screwed over by the pressure, that's a good thing. lol

There's so many ways to train for strength, as mentioned. Many people do many sets of 3 or heavy singles while others do 3x5 or 5x5 stuff. You could do a westside style and go 4 days a week:

ME Upper
DE Lower
rest
DE Upper
ME Lower

Or a 3 day split, full body workouts, or separate the 3 days according to the lift you want to improve.

Rest between sets shouldn't ever be 5 minutes lol. Maybe if you are maxing out, otherwise prolly not. I'd venture to say 90-180 seconds would be best, otherwise it's more bodybuilding territory. Movements should always be controlled, but not necessarily slow. You should be slow on the negative and then try to explode up with the positive.

MOP

"Do or do not. There is no try."
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ORIGINAL: Master Of Puppets

There's so many ways to train for strength, as mentioned. Many people do many sets of 3 or heavy singles while others do 3x5 or 5x5 stuff. You could do a westside style and go 4 days a week:

ME Upper
DE Lower
rest
DE Upper
ME Lower

Or a 3 day split, full body workouts, or separate the 3 days according to the lift you want to improve.

Rest between sets shouldn't ever be 5 minutes lol. Maybe if you are maxing out, otherwise prolly not. I'd venture to say 90-180 seconds would be best, otherwise it's more bodybuilding territory. Movements should always be controlled, but not necessarily slow. You should be slow on the negative and then try to explode up with the positive.

MOP

ok i have been doing the positive movement fast and the negative movement slow cause thats what i thought originally but then some1 said thats for power not strength? also for the first routine u suggested what does the ME and DE mean?

Duke of the Emancipation Detoxification

ME = max effort. 80-95% of your max
DE= dynamic effort is 50-70% of your max usually and it is used to practice that explosion. this will help you get through sticking points. to get a basic understanding of westide training (lots of reading haha) click here.  I don't want to press a certain type of training onto you, so it may be best to just look up material with info to get stronger on credible sites.

MOP

"Do or do not. There is no try."
-----------------------------------------------------------------
www.powerliftingforums.com
www.ironmass.com
www.hardgainer.co.uk
www.brothersofiron.com

oo yea i was just reading about this yesterday, its like when u do mainly acclamation sets on monday and then on like friday u would do all 5 sets at the wieght u did for ur last set on monday right?

In my own humble opinion I think you are going to want to not do work sets more than once a week for a particular body part.  This is not a rule, but a good guideline.  Now some people love to go 2 times a week, or even three times a week, and it might work for them, but if you are lifting to failure, you shouldn't go more than once a week.  The westside powerlifting philosophy goes twice a week for each body part, but they don't lift to failure on the suplementry muscles, and they only do max effort once a week (correct me if I'm wrong here, it's been a while since I've read their stuff).  If you are going to failure, you need alot of time to recover.  I've drawn a very crude picture to help illustrate this, hopefully it won't be too confusing.
 
When you lift, your muscles will be broken down, your strength will be deminished.  During this time, you will feel significant muscle soreness known as delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS for short).  After you are done being sore, the muscles have still not recovered yet, but are still in the process of active recovery.  Several days later, they will have recovered.  Given more time (though not enough to allow atrophy) your muscles will make progress in their strength. 
 
Many beginning lifters begin lifting and they do the same body part 2 or 3 times a week to failure, and seem to make progress.  Their muscles are attempting to adapt to new stress and the first thing their muscles will do is increase glycogen stores (more energy available) and also increase lactic acid removal efficiency.  This is often confused with progress, so they continue on using the same rutine.  After 6 months they find they can no longer make any progress and don't know why.  The reason is that they aren't allowin enough rest for their bodies to recover.


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