How can you tell if you are lifting too much ?

[xlaw42]

I am curious, I am lifting almost every day, and I am focusing on my upper body alot, doing that group of muscles every day, well 5-6 times a week. Every time i do my routine i am doing more reps and doing more of them. When i get done with my routines at times i struggle to breathe due to my pure exhaustion, that and my arms feel like rubber and dont really feel like moving them. This feeling last for about 2-3 hours.. afterwards I feel completlely good. No soreness and full range of motions as though I hadnt lifted. I am doing it roughly 20-28 hours apart from each gym session.

IS this bad ? And if so what signs should I see or feel, or it is like a future cronic problem ?

Here is my upper body routine

3 sets of 10 on bench
3 sets of 10 on incline bench
3 sets of 10 on decline dumbells
3 sets of 10 Cross-overs
3 sets of butterflies
3 sets of 10 rope pull-down
3 sets of 10 rope pull-down burnouts
3 sets of 10 on v-bar
3 sets of 10 v-bar burnout
3 sets of 10 on machine curl
3 sets of 10 on dumbell curl
Than 10 minutes on hardest setting on the row machine

Anything else i should do for upper body ?

[SW]

Looks like you like to train to failure. 5-6 times per week repeated workouts for the same muscle groups is a TERRIBLE idea. You may make some gains at first, but you don't want to keep doing that, you'll overtrain and start to LOSE strength and damage yourself.

It's not healthy to do the same workout over and overlike that, especially in such volume. 3 sets of 10, that happens to be the basics of my next routine. 3x10 is good, it won't give you much size but for me at least (everyone reacts differently) it gave me big gains in strength and endurance, which I assume are your goals based on the 3x10 thing.

You're doing too many exercises, in my personal opinion. If you want to do an upper body workout, why not try the fairly simple ones that work well? Like:

Bench: 65% of one rep max
Db press: 65% of one rep max
Tricep extension: 65% of 1rm
Db curl: 65% of 1rm
Seated boat row: 65% of 1rm

Do all of these 3x10 and I can almost gaurentee you'll see good results. Everybody so far that I've talked to likes it for strength. It won't give you much size though. You probably don't like the idea of dropping lots of your exercises, but I don't like the road I see you going down if you continue with all those 5-6 times per week. The said workout I just mentioned leads to hypertrophy, exhaustion of muscles, and a major shock to them, so I wouldn't do it much over a week.

I know it's hard to stay out of the weightroom because it's so fun, but you've got to see that the better results and training is much more worth it. That's just my opinon. At least that's what I would do (and similar to what I will be doing) Either way good luck!

[xlaw42]

i came in 3% body fat.. aka i cant lose much fat.. and gained 12lbs of muscle in a month.. so how long will it be until i stop seeing results ?

[geoffgarcia]

i came in 3% body fat.. aka i cant lose much fat.. and gained 12lbs of muscle in a month.. so how long will it be until i stop seeing results ?

[Mr Joshua]

i came in 3% body fat.. aka i cant lose much fat.. and gained 12lbs of muscle in a month.. so how long will it be until i stop seeing results ?

Um, so you're trying to say you gained 3lbs of muscle per week? Sorry bud, that's not gonna fly on this board.

[Beholder]

I highly doubt you are 3% body fat. You will never stop seeing results as long as you keep true to the gym.

[trich daddy]

:d

[xlaw42]

Why would you doubt that I'm 3% body fat, I played Soccer, football and basketball from 6th grade to 8th, than from 9th-12th I played varsity Lax, while all the time I was running 2-3 times a week along with lifting on and off. That and for some reason i dont have an appitite for food that make you gain weight

[ryuage]

because
1. it is almost impossible to get that low without trying, and even then... 3% is like the minimum amount of fat you can have on your body because the 3% will cover the viseral fat between the organs and what not.
2. it would be unhealthy for you to even be at that bodyfat and most likely unless you are shooting yourself with some sort of drugs you would be getting sick on a constant basis

[CiteCollegiale]

because if you were 3% body fat you wouldn't have enough energy to walk around

[CiteCollegiale]

dangit

[xlaw42]

Are you kidding me ? I have 8 friends who are 2% body fat. So 3% aint all that impressive, and if you can post pictures on here I'lll take a picture and you can see that i'm 3% body fat.

[ryan-]

what do you want pictures of?

or are you asking if it's possible to post pictures? ...because it is, so you should, so yeah.

[xlaw42]

Ok this is my body which should prove I'm 3% body fat

[Max-Mex]

Ok this is my body which should prove I'm 3% body fat

That's not 3%. If you were 3, you'd see abs, serratus, and obliques. Then again, your muscles are big enough anyway. It's low for sure, but not 3%.

Out of curiosity, how do you come to the conclusion that you are 3%? Which test? Calipers? Bodyfat scales? Hydro Weighing?

FYI, 3% is what some pro bodybuilders attain when they are on stage, which can only be acieved with drug use.

[AllUp]

That's not 3%. If you were 3, you'd see abs, serratus, and obliques. Then again, your muscles are big enough anyway. It's low for sure, but not 3%.

Out of curiosity, how do you come to the conclusion that you are 3%? Which test? Calipers? Bodyfat scales? Hydro Weighing?

FYI, 3% is what some pro bodybuilders attain when they are on stage, which can only be acieved with drug use.

[Chubrock]

Hate to tell ya buddy, you're a good distance away from 3%. I'd probably say you were anywhere from 12-16%. Anybody that's a better judge please chime in.

[Max-Mex]

I am curious, I am lifting almost every day, and I am focusing on my upper body alot, doing that group of muscles every day, well 5-6 times a week. Every time i do my routine i am doing more reps and doing more of them. When i get done with my routines at times i struggle to breathe due to my pure exhaustion, that and my arms feel like rubber and dont really feel like moving them. This feeling last for about 2-3 hours.. afterwards I feel completlely good. No soreness and full range of motions as though I hadnt lifted. I am doing it roughly 20-28 hours apart from each gym session.

IS this bad ? And if so what signs should I see or feel, or it is like a future cronic problem ?

Here is my upper body routine

3 sets of 10 on bench
3 sets of 10 on incline bench
3 sets of 10 on decline dumbells
3 sets of 10 Cross-overs
3 sets of butterflies
3 sets of 10 rope pull-down
3 sets of 10 rope pull-down burnouts
3 sets of 10 on v-bar
3 sets of 10 v-bar burnout
3 sets of 10 on machine curl
3 sets of 10 on dumbell curl
Than 10 minutes on hardest setting on the row machine

Anything else i should do for upper body ?

Yes it's bad. Yes you are lifting too much. 5 days in a row of this routine will get you nowhere. It'll get you tired, and eventually you'll burn out. On top of that, you are also doing sports so you're not giving your body the proper rest. Granted you are young, but even young lifters need rest. You body grows outside of the gym, not inside.

[xlaw42]

No i dont do any sports anymore, well on and off basketball.. i only mentioned i played sports because its alot of cardo, and all that cardo trimmed the fat off me.

And i am never tired or sore like 2-3 hours after my lifting. And every time i go i am seeing gains.

Someone mention i'll stop seeing these gains, or they will be less.. but every time i go i see an expontial gain from the last time i went.

[BulkMeUp]

Yes it's bad. Yes you are lifting too much. 5 days in a row of this routine will get you nowhere. It'll get you tired, and eventually you'll burn out. On top of that, you are also doing sports so you're not giving your body the proper rest. Granted you are young, but even young lifters need rest. You body grows outside of the gym, not inside.

I Agree.
I do an upper/lower split and my present upper is 4 sets (approx 12 reps per set) of 5 different exercises, twice a week. Each session is 1hr duration. and i am trying to get it down to 45-50 mins.

[xlaw42]

I still havnt got an answer.

How is it bad, when i am seeing bigger results than the before session ?

Ex. of bigger results

V-bar 3x 10 reps of 90'lbs arms completly shot

Next day same thing, 2x sets of 90 than a set of 110lbs and easily did 10 of them, where the previous day i struggled on my last set of 90

Also keeping in mind i do the SAME routine, so the order in which i did the exercise was the same, also the amount of time per exercise was roughly the same.

Also bench, went from struggling on 150lbs of 3x10, to doing 165 with ease.

Those 2 were examples of my last gain. They were the most profound out of them, but that came from only 1 day difference.

[xlaw42]

Another thing.. someone my height should weigh anywhere between 185-190 lbs.. and i weight 160.. How could i be the normal male my age with 8-9% body fat .. when i weight 25-30lbs less than someone with 8-9% body fat ?

[SW]

I still havnt got an answer.

How is it bad, when i am seeing bigger results than the before session ?

Ex. of bigger results

V-bar 3x 10 reps of 90'lbs arms completly shot

Next day same thing, 2x sets of 90 than a set of 110lbs and easily did 10 of them, where the previous day i struggled on my last set of 90

Also keeping in mind i do the SAME routine, so the order in which i did the exercise was the same, also the amount of time per exercise was roughly the same.

Also bench, went from struggling on 150lbs of 3x10, to doing 165 with ease.

Those 2 were examples of my last gain. They were the most profound out of them, but that came from only 1 day difference.

It's all newbie gains. Since your body isn't used to working out, when you do, it's a HUGE shock to your body and forces it to grow and get stronger under this TOTALLY new stress.

I did it too. I went from benching 185 max to 300 in 8 1/2 months, then it slowed down no matter what I did because my body is now used to working like hell 3 times per week. Most everyone who jumps right into the sport of lifting does. In a few months you'll definitely notice a slow-down, unless you're on some sort of gear.

I'll guess you at about 8-10%bf.

[Chubrock]

How long have you been lifting, and I still stand by what I said a few comments up.

[xlaw42]

How do i Know that i'm 3% ? I went to a doctor and he said i was.

And the reason why u dont see abs is i do absolutly nothing for them. I dont think in my entire life I've devoted more than a minute to them per exercise