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hey guys, just wanted to post my second workout with my version of a consolidation routine:
First Workout:
bench press bar 135# 10 reps 1 set
bent rows bar 85# 10 reps *
squat smith m. 135# 10 reps *

Second Workout:
bench press bar 155# 7 reps *
bent rows bar 105# 7 reps *
squats smith m. 155# 8 reps *

On my third workout i am going to leave the weights where they are and see if i can get at least 10 reps. Which shouldn′t be a problem.

cont
Hey guys, Please feel free to give some thoughts to my routine, Your advise is most valuable to me! A question I do have is how do most of you decide when to increase your weights? I just want to be sure that I am doing it correctly. As an example, if I am using 10 reps as a guide, should I wait until I can do more than 10 reps. What does everybody think?

jimpaul, good progress. Mike always suggested waiting until you got to 10 reps to increase the weight. Sometimes I do this, sometimes I don′t. I usually guess correctly with the amount of weight I can increase to get the same reps, but sometimes I don′t! It′s "safer" to always wait until you get to about 10 reps (or more), before you increase weight. However, sometimes if you feel ambitous, stack on more weight and try for the same reps. That′s how I do it at least. I have FINALLY found out that I should NEVER increase the weight if I got 6 reps last time. I′ve tried this a couple of times, and I usually go down to like 4 reps! I have finally learned my lesson on that. For me, if I get about 8 reps on an exercise, I can usually increase the weight safely to get the same reps, or even more sometimes. I know everyone is different with their "optimal" rep range, so it will just take some experimenting on your part.

Remember that Mike trained thousands of people though, so it may be wise just to follow his advice, and wait for the 10 reps before increasing weight. If I would have followed his advice, I wouldn′t have wasted a couple of sets!

Good-luck

Darrell

darrell, thanks for the reply, I was starting to think that some reader′s may not have cared for what I wrote in response to stveg′s posts. I was trying to be as polite as possible. Then I thought "Could it be because I said I was a fan of Arnold′s?" Geez I hope not! Please don′t hold THAT against me. I thought he had a good physique, that′s all. Even though I followed bodybuilding I never knew about the problems Mike and Arnold ever had with the Olympia and such. Well, back to reality, I am really anxious to add weight cause I too realize that stronger muscles are bigger muscles. I have always believed that. But I don′t want to jump the gun. Besides, my new form of 4 seconds up, 2 at the top and 4 going down is why my weights are so low. It′s just like starting all over again. Which is probably best, cause doesn′t Mike suggest to get devolumnized with time off before u start HIT anyways? Can I tell you what my biggest problem is? This is going to sound stupid but ….It′s the counting of my reps…… I′ve never counted before…..I know 1.2.3 etc……but I′m trying to keep 4 up, 2 at the top, 4 going down, 1 rep, 4 going up, 2 at the top, 4 going down, 2nd rep. See what I mean? If I was still going to workout with my old partner it wouldn′t be difficult, but he is at the gym more than anybody I know. Sometimes twice a day. Which, I wish he would just try it the HIT way cause I think he could become an animal! Sooooo, that′s why him and I won′t be training together!! But that′s alright, maybe I can count my reps out loud or something, any ideas???

jim

I′ve had the same problem when trying the slower rep counts. The hardest thing is to be consistent with your counting on each rep and from workout to workout. What I mean is that my 4 second count on my last rep/workout may not have been the same as my 4 second count this rep/workout. Because of that I just went back to my standard 2 sec positive, 1 sec squeeze contraction, 2 second negative. Its just a comfortable rep speed that I dont have to think about. I know some people swear by the slower rep speed but I can still make gains on a more standard speed so why bother.

The only way I think you can be truly consistent is to have a partner lift with you and use a stop watch to time your rep speed exactly. If you are by yourself there is no way to be sure of a consistent count unless you have a clock that you can look at while doing all of your exercises, which presents obvious problems with exercises like bench press where you are facing the ceiling and bent over row where you are facing the floor.