Variety, How's it Achieved? | Second Question: Delts

[Orange]

Questions:
1. Should I change the ORDER of my workouts to maintain variety (i.e. bench on a different day to the previous 4 weeks, and put it last in my workout instead of first)? Or is variety maintained by changing the excercises completely, or using dumbells instead of barbells for example?

2. Should I be sore in the muscles that were worked out at the end of each workout, to know I trained them adequately?

3. Finally, Diesel posted me a Deltoid workout a while back. Lateral raises, shoulder presses, front raises, upright row, rear lateral raises, row, etc. (I alternated with these excercises, making sure I trained each aspect of the shoulder once every week - 3-4sets per area) - I took breaks every 6 weeks, taking a week off my workout. I've worked out for 6 months using this cycle

My strength in the shoulders doubled, or even trebled in some areas, however, my goal of getting broader hasn't really happened. I may have packed on at most, an inch on both my right and left shoulders respectively, due to the muscle gain. My question is, how do I stimulate the bones to grow, or at least gain much more muscle on my shoulders to look broader?

Oh and I'm 16.

 

[Viroid]

Originally posted by Orange:
Questions:
1. Should I change the ORDER of my workouts to maintain variety (i.e. bench on a different day to the previous 4 weeks, and put it last in my workout instead of first)? Or is variety maintained by changing the excercises completely, or using dumbells instead of barbells for example?

You should do it only if youre getting bored with your workout routine. This BS about keeping your muscles shocked or confused is a myth.

2. Should I be sore in the muscles that were worked out at the end of each workout, to know I trained them adequately?

No. Soreness is not an indicator of growth.

3. Finally, Diesel posted me a Deltoid workout a while back. Lateral raises, shoulder presses, front raises, upright row, rear lateral raises, row, etc. (I alternated with these excercises, making sure I trained each aspect of the shoulder once every week - 3-4sets per area) - I took breaks every 6 weeks, taking a week off my workout. I've worked out for 6 months using this cycle

My strength in the shoulders doubled, or even trebled in some areas, however, my goal of getting broader hasn't really happened. I may have packed on at most, an inch on both my right and left shoulders respectively, due to the muscle gain. My question is, how do I stimulate the bones to grow, or at least gain much more muscle on my shoulders to look broader?


Dont worry about it. Youre only 16 so your bones are still growing. You will achieve the best gains of your life right now so just keep working hard.



------------------
"Fear is for...getting your confidence." -STEVEN HELLER, PhD

"Not one shred of evidence supports the notion that life is serious!" - FRIEDRICH NIETZSCHE

 

[Orange]

Firstly, could others please also state their opinions, or acknowledge that Viroid is right.

Secondly, D's 'GUIDE TO BULKING...' states that, the chest should not be trained more than 10 sets. My question is, do you do all the 10 sets in a row? As in, Guillotine benchpress (4 sets), following with incline benchpress (3 sets), then flyes with dumbells (3 sets), totalling 10 sets? That's all in one hit basically...

Or should I be spreading the chest excercises to making one each sessions, totalling to 10 sets at the end of the week? For example.

Which is correct, and why.

I'm such a newb

[This message has been edited by Orange (edited 11-04-2002).]

 

[Orange]

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[This message has been edited by Orange (edited 11-04-2002).]

 

[Eltosian]

Originally posted by Orange:
Questions:
1. Should I change the ORDER of my workouts to maintain variety (i.e. bench on a different day to the previous 4 weeks, and put it last in my workout instead of first)? Or is variety maintained by changing the excercises completely, or using dumbells instead of barbells for example?

You don't need to change the order of your exercises, but you can if you want. It doesn't make a whole lot of a difference.

I follow a Soviet-style approach of cycling. Essentially, start with light(er) weights and build up to near your max in two or three weeks. (3-6 workouts a week is what I do.) Then, start with light(er) weights again, but heavier then when you started the first cycle. If you're just starting out though, you could keep progressing linearly for a while, but you can't progress linearly forever.

Originally posted by Orange:
2. Should I be sore in the muscles that were worked out at the end of each workout, to know I trained them adequately?

As Viroid said, soreness is not a good indicator of progress. I know some people that are sore for days following heavy squat days and never progress. Then there are some who workout quite often, never get sore, yet continually progress. Intelligent load-juggling and intensity-varying is the key.