Rest period between exercises

StereoSound

I've been doing bicep curls every second day. Typically I do 6 sets of 12 reps. I can just barely manage to get these done with decent range of motion.

Should I be giving myself more then one days rest before doing bicep curls again?

I have been exercising on and off for months now and recently became more serious with intent to build much bigger arms. I want to get my rest periods right so I actually grow bigger.

Alf Veedersane

One day I'd plenty for bicep curls.

I presume you're doing more than just curls...?

StereoSound

Alf Veedersane wrote: »

One day I'd plenty for bicep curls.

I presume you're doing more than just curls...?

I do tricep exercises same day as biceps. I do shoulder and chest exercises on second day. Im trying to focus on my upper body.

Ultimate Seduction

StereoSound wrote:

I do tricep exercises same day as biceps. I do shoulder and chest exercises on second day. Im trying to focus on my upper body.

3 times a week would be good. Grub well. Most people forget food is 50% of the battle when starting out. Get a chin up bar too, mix it up a bit, work your muscle in ways it hasn't worked before.

Alf Veedersane

StereoSound wrote: »

I do tricep exercises same day as biceps. I do shoulder and chest exercises on second day. Im trying to focus on my upper body.

They're small muscles so they're not taxing. A day's rest should be plenty. Don't focus on the disco muscles and forget about the lower body

AllForIt

StereoSound wrote: »

I've been doing bicep curls every second day. Typically I do 6 sets of 12 reps. I can just barely manage to get these done with decent range of motion.

Should I be giving myself more then one days rest before doing bicep curls again?

I have been exercising on and off for months now and recently became more serious with intent to build much bigger arms. I want to get my rest periods right so I actually grow bigger.

The question of how often in a week one should exercise a particular muscle group has always been a hot subject of debate. Bodybuilders are always looking for the best strategy but experience shows that either once or possibly better twice a week is the best strategy. The problem is genetics, meaning people are not the same, thus what works for you may not work for someone else.

In any case I think it is widely accepted that whichever strategy you partake in if you stay on it indefinitely it will cease to work as your body adapts. So mix it up, for example do 3 months once a week and change it to twice a week for the next three months.

drdeadlift

http://wrestlingisbest.tumblr.com/post/29191420986/olympic-muscle-serbias-kayaker-marko-novakovic

Brian?

StereoSound wrote: »

I've been doing bicep curls every second day. Typically I do 6 sets of 12 reps. I can just barely manage to get these done with decent range of motion.

Should I be giving myself more then one days rest before doing bicep curls again?

I have been exercising on and off for months now and recently became more serious with intent to build much bigger arms. I want to get my rest periods right so I actually grow bigger.

You're doing 6x12 bicep curls in a session?

StereoSound

Brian? wrote: »

You're doing 6x12 bicep curls in a session?

Yes, feel free to advise if Im over or under doing this.

Brian?

StereoSound wrote: »

Yes, feel free to advise if Im over or under doing this.

You're way over doing it. Pick a weight you can do 3x12 on, where you struggle with the last 2 reps on the first set. When you complete 3x12 in a session, increase the weight on the next session.

Are you doing a full program or just arms? Lay out your workout for the week.

Mr. CooL ICE

6x12 3x times per week sounds like you're asking for elbow issues.


You also mentioned chest and shoulder stuff. At the very least, do some stuff for your back. But like above, context is key so show us what you do in a week.

StereoSound

Brian? wrote: »

You're way over doing it. Pick a weight you can do 3x12 on, where you struggle with the last 2 reps on the first set. When you complete 3x12 in a session, increase the weight on the next session.

Are you doing a full program or just arms? Lay out your workout for the week.

This is what Ive been doing in a single session.

Day 1 : 6 x 12 bicep curls, 3 x 10 tricep curls, using heaviest weights I can do full range of motion on.

Day 2: 6 x 10 shoulder over head press , heaviest weights I can manage with decent form. Some sit ups, not alot about 50.

Day 3: Same as day 1
Day 4: Same as day 2
Day 5: Same as day 1
Day 6: Same as day 2
Day 7: Nothing

Not a full program at all, been concentrating on upper body mostly. I can see I've not been doing this properly and appreciate the advice.

Mr. CooL ICE

Seems to me like you are only working the muscles you can see in the mirror and neglecting everything else. This is both unhealthy and unproductive.

You seriously need to work on your back for both health and cosmetic reasons. If you don't, then your shoulders will begin to naturally fall forward due to your chest muscles being more dominant. No point being muscular here if you have the posture of a hunchback. Also, having a strong back makes you look good with your clothes on. It (arguably) broadens the shoulders more than muscular shoulders and big lats gives your torso the 'V' look.

Lots of back exercises to do as the back is a bit of a complex network of muscles. Rear delt flyes, facepulls, barbell rows, cable rows, pullups/chinups, lat pulldowns etc.

Also, I'd restructure your program to do bigger movements first and then isolation exercises last. For example, if you did overhead/bench press followed by tricep work one day and chinups followed by bicep work another day, you would get more bang for your buck in term of time spent in the gym.