And the Confusion Continues.....

Hi All,
Since you have spent some time in the gym, probably 6 to 10 months and now have a passion for the sport, you are the whole bunch of people who are so confused about their training that you don't even follow a routine for 3 weeks. Every new routine, every new set-rep scheme that you hear on the internet becomes the reason for your change in the routine.
Some of the factors or constraints that I and obviously you are confused about are:-
1. Compound or Isolation exercises.
2. Free-weights or Machines.
3. Full-body or Split routines.
4. Body-part oriented routines or movement based routines.
5. Number of sets, number of reps.
6. Number of days in a week to workout.
7. How long should the routine continue, 3 weeks, 6 weeks, or forever.
8. The exercises to be changed after one cycle is over.
9. Squat or no squat.
10. Deadlift or no deadlift.
11. Supplements or no supplements.
12. To go to failure or not to go to failure.
13. Fast or slow reps.
14. To use the intensifiers like forced reps, drop sets, negatives or not to use them.
15. Steroids or no steroids.........

Well there are a lot of things that i have not included, but i continue to be confused. 15 confusing points, is already a big number, believe me. This itself can stop your progress and leave you stuck in the same levels of strength and size.

So what do you do about it. I feel this is information overload and most people and Fitness instructors are taking advantage of this weakness.

So guys and girls, what are you going to do about it? How are you going to design your routine, change your lifestyle, enjoy your life and also lead a path to 'Muscle and Might'?

Well i am fed up, though i have been told many times, read many times, there is no one routine, one magic rep count, one way to gain muscle and become strong. You need to work hard and include various methods of training during different times in your training.

I am a follower of Stuart McRobert, Beyond Brawn, but i fall into the bad habits of ignoring what he says, which i know is my fault. So folks Beyond Brawn is the way to the health and safe way to train in and outside the gym.

The routine that i follow now is as follows:-
Warm up on the treadmill for 5 minutes. I follow it up with Flexing of my trunk using the Broomstick Swings and hamstring stretch. I dive into the Training.
1. Squat --> Use a weight that i can do 20 reps, such that the 21st rep is the toughest. So for my example i start the cycle with a weight of 60kgs(132 pounds). I do around 25 reps, the point is to go to absolute Concentric failure, how many ever reps it takes.

2. Bench Press --> 40 kg to absolute Failure (F).
3. Deadlift --> 50 kg X F
4. Calf Raise --> 20 kg X F
5. BB-Rows --> 30 Kg X F
6. Shoulder Press --> 26 kg X F
7. Barbell Curls --> 23kg X F
8. Crunch Style Situp --> BW X F.

These 8 exercises done twice a week.

Now comes the way to do it and how to progress, and how to make the body grow.
1. Every workout increase the weight by 4 kgs in the Squat and Deadlift. For the rest increase by 2 kgs.
2. As you increase the weight, the intensity will increase, and so will the load on the body. The reps will come down by one to two reps depending on the exercise. Don't worry this is natural.
3. Give it your all, this is where your zone of growth is.
4. So this is a single set, reps taken to failure on each and every exercise. Low volume, high intensity, failure set.
5. Before your workset in every exercise do a set or two of progressively heavy sets, but do it for low reps. You don't want get fatigued here itself.
6. Return to the gym, once completely recovered and do a full blown workout as done in workout 1.

I will come back with my progress. I measure 74 Kgs in Body weight, 14 inches in biceps and 34 inches on the waist. Yes i know i am no where close to give the gyan, but i am learning too and i am only in the 2nd week in this routine. I will update you on my progress, i wish to move to atleast 76kgs in body weight with my waist coming down to 33. I know it is a uphill task, but i am striving to reach it. I will update you all.

Thanks for reading.
Girish