Ask an Exercise Science major anything

[y0lked]

When doing three sets of 12 reps of an exercise should you always work until failure on every set? Or should you just work until failure on the last set?

Does only working a single muscle group once a week work? I found several university websites saying that this method is not useful at all.

Are there any books you would recommend, on weight training? I'm sick of all the bro-science BS. I want advice from somebody who has a degree or is working towards one. Too many people think that just because they are big, that they are qualified to give advice.

You never have to train to failure and most of the literature shows that it is not optimal due to its impact on the CNS and it affects recovery. Most people think of resistance training in a very microscopic sense where they are looking at each individual set and workout as the key to gains. However, we know that this is not nearly as important as progressively overloading the muscle week in and week out. If training to failure limits your ability to do more reps or more weight than your last workout that it simply wont be beneficial.
Remember; Reps x Weight x Sets will give you WORK. If you WORK harder every week then you will grow. You should be calculating your work loads before your workouts in order to ensure that youre doing more than your last.

A muscle can typically recover 48-72 (2-3 days) after a workout so lifting 1x per week per muscle group leaves too much time on the table that could be spent training the muscle. Just remember that if you do 12 sets for chest once a week you cannot do 12 sets of chest 3x per week. You could do 4-5 sets per workout 3x per week depending on the loads. Dont get frequency and total volume confused. It all goes back to calculating WORK.

Do you want to learn exercise physiology or just the applied exercise science? I would start with the Starting Strength book by rippetoe and come back when you finish it. The program is rudimentary but the concepts are deeply rooted and you will get your feet wet with that. Feel free to ask any questions you have, thats what this thread is for.

[Cerebralbore101]

You never have to train to failure and most of the literature shows that it is not optimal due to its impact on the CNS and it affects recovery. Most people think of resistance training in a very microscopic sense where they are looking at each individual set and workout as the key to gains. However, we know that this is not nearly as important as progressively overloading the muscle week in and week out. If training to failure limits your ability to do more reps or more weight than your last workout that it simply wont be beneficial.
Remember; Reps x Weight x Sets will give you WORK. If you WORK harder every week then you will grow. You should be calculating your work loads before your workouts in order to ensure that youre doing more than your last.

A muscle can typically recover 48-72 (2-3 days) after a workout so lifting 1x per week per muscle group leaves too much time on the table that could be spent training the muscle. Just remember that if you do 12 sets for chest once a week you cannot do 12 sets of chest 3x per week. You could do 4-5 sets per workout 3x per week depending on the loads. Dont get frequency and total volume confused. It all goes back to calculating WORK.

Do you want to learn exercise physiology or just the applied exercise science? I would start with the Starting Strength book by rippetoe and come back when you finish it. The program is rudimentary but the concepts are deeply rooted and you will get your feet wet with that. Feel free to ask any questions you have, thats what this thread is for.

First off, thankyou for letting me pick your brain. What does training till failure do to the CNS?

So, if the once a week workout doesn't work, why do so many trainers (Frank Sepe for example) and books recommend it?

So you've got to slowly do more. Add a little more weight, or do a few more reps every week. It sounds to me like someone could get the most WORK done by circuit training. If you do a set per exercise and make your way around the gym, then by the time you get back to that first exercise you'd be recovered enough to do more WORK on that particular exercise. Is that right? Or would that not work for some reason?

Do you need a spotter to do the exercises in Rippetoe's book?

[YQrt]

Oh sorry to hear that. Not much they can do for those. Instead of the elevated cable rows, terrible name by the way, do dumbbel rows. Lastly, can you do pullups instead of the lat pulldown?

Okay thank you for the answer, that's the name i could find here & Yes i can do pullups ^^

[y0lked]

First off, thankyou for letting me pick your brain. What does training till failure do to the CNS?

So, if the once a week workout doesn't work, why do so many trainers (Frank Sepe for example) and books recommend it?

So you've got to slowly do more. Add a little more weight, or do a few more reps every week. It sounds to me like someone could get the most WORK done by circuit training. If you do a set per exercise and make your way around the gym, then by the time you get back to that first exercise you'd be recovered enough to do more WORK on that particular exercise. Is that right? Or would that not work for some reason?

Do you need a spotter to do the exercises in Rippetoe's book?

The mechanism for training to failure is not well known but what is well known is the effect of neruomusclar fatigue on muscle contraction with some sort of effect on the sarcoplasmic reticulum and a decrease in calcium levels. Training to failure can be beneficial when the loads are extremely light. The research suggests that when training to failure with loads <50% for as many reps as possible can induce hypertrophy. The reason why CNS fatigue isnt really an issue here is that these high rep sets to failure are really just training the energy system and failure to preform a rep is a matter of muscular fatigue rather than a force production issue. Many of the 4 day split workouts are recommended because thats whats popular, thats what the other gym bros do and thats what sells. 6 days per week of upper/lower splits with modulated workloads loads arent sexy and arent going to get anyone excited other than those people like you and I who are posting in this thread. Also, the majority of people looking for a workout routine are beginners who dont have great recovery and can handle large jumps in weights do to beginner accommodation (noob gains).

You're on the right path and thinking correctly, Circuit training is great for keeping the heart rate up. Let me lead you to the answer here.... do you think if you were doing exercises back to back to back you could do the most amount of weight/reps every single set?

Rippetoe preaches bench, squat, deadlift, press. If you used a power rack and didnt train to failure you wouldnt need a spotter. Spotters should not be needed for every day training, spotters should really only be used for big PR sets or rep max tests. If you feel like you need a spotter on every set then more than likely your loads are too high and fatigue will catch up very quickly.

Okay thank you for the answer, that's the name i could find here & Yes i can do pullups ^^

Great, when you do pullups try to pull those shoulders down and engage those lats. If you feel one lat working harder than the other then youre simply not doing enough shoulder extension.

[danfleysher]

First off, thanks for this opportunity.

1. How does tempo/timing of the exercise affect results? Should I be more focused on just moving the weight or should I lower the weight and slow down the rep (maybe something like a pause rep)

2. What's your take on dynamic or static stretching in between sets?

3. I have a very hard time with Overhead press. I've had some shoulder issues in the past and I don't want to push it. I've been doing Standing Dumbbell Press but I feel as though I might be arching my back too much. Would you recommend sitting or lowering the weight?

4. This is regarding what you said earlier for "Reps x Weight x Sets = Work". If I'm trying to keep my growth linearly (i.e. I add 5lbs every week) but on some days I am not able to hit my reps, should I decrease the weight?

For example, I do 3 sets of 8 reps for 185. The following week I plan to do 190 but I only get 6 or say 7 reps on my 1st or 2nd set. Should I continue with the 190lbs knowing I won't hit 8 or should I lower the weight and hit my reps?

[Cerebralbore101]

The mechanism for training to failure is not well known but what is well known is the effect of neruomusclar fatigue on muscle contraction with some sort of effect on the sarcoplasmic reticulum and a decrease in calcium levels. Training to failure can be beneficial when the loads are extremely light. The research suggests that when training to failure with loads <50% for as many reps as possible can induce hypertrophy. The reason why CNS fatigue isnt really an issue here is that these high rep sets to failure are really just training the energy system and failure to preform a rep is a matter of muscular fatigue rather than a force production issue. Many of the 4 day split workouts are recommended because thats whats popular, thats what the other gym bros do and thats what sells. 6 days per week of upper/lower splits with modulated workloads loads arent sexy and arent going to get anyone excited other than those people like you and I who are posting in this thread. Also, the majority of people looking for a workout routine are beginners who dont have great recovery and can handle large jumps in weights do to beginner accommodation (noob gains).

You're on the right path and thinking correctly, Circuit training is great for keeping the heart rate up. Let me lead you to the answer here.... do you think if you were doing exercises back to back to back you could do the most amount of weight/reps every single set?

Rippetoe preaches bench, squat, deadlift, press. If you used a power rack and didnt train to failure you wouldnt need a spotter. Spotters should not be needed for every day training, spotters should really only be used for big PR sets or rep max tests. If you feel like you need a spotter on every set then more than likely your loads are too high and fatigue will catch up very quickly.


Great, when you do pullups try to pull those shoulders down and engage those lats. If you feel one lat working harder than the other then youre simply not doing enough shoulder extension.

Nah, you wouldn't be able to do the most reps with the most weight because eventually you'd be out of breath from no rest periods. So maybe circuit training but with sixty second rests between sets to make sure you don't run out of breath?

Will look into the Rippetoe book. Already ordered another book, and going to read that one first. Rippetoe is next.

[y0lked]

First off, thanks for this opportunity.

1. How does tempo/timing of the exercise affect results? Should I be more focused on just moving the weight or should I lower the weight and slow down the rep (maybe something like a pause rep)

2. What's your take on dynamic or static stretching in between sets?

3. I have a very hard time with Overhead press. I've had some shoulder issues in the past and I don't want to push it. I've been doing Standing Dumbbell Press but I feel as though I might be arching my back too much. Would you recommend sitting or lowering the weight?

4. This is regarding what you said earlier for "Reps x Weight x Sets = Work". If I'm trying to keep my growth linearly (i.e. I add 5lbs every week) but on some days I am not able to hit my reps, should I decrease the weight?

For example, I do 3 sets of 8 reps for 185. The following week I plan to do 190 but I only get 6 or say 7 reps on my 1st or 2nd set. Should I continue with the 190lbs knowing I won't hit 8 or should I lower the weight and hit my reps?

Hey man happy to help!

1) "Time under tension" was popularized by body builders who thought that making the muscle contract longer would fatigue it further than just doing a rep from A to B. The fact is that we can calculate how much work is being done through simple physics. Work = Force x distance. Power = work/time so if you would like to train less powerful go ahead but the point of resistance training should be to become more powerful as strength=hypertrophy. Besides we know that load > fatigue for promoting gains.

2) My view is that static stretching should only be done if there is a flexibility issues that inhibits someone from performing a movement. A stretched muscle is not a strong muscle. Dynamic stretching is essentially a warm up tool to get muscles contracting eccentrically/concentrically through full ranges of motion before a specific warm up is done.

3) Yeah I would only do standing if you did barbell, push press or did neutral grip dumbbell presses, that will help with the arch in your back getting you to a more neutral spine. Otherwise just go seated DB press and find a different way to work your core to make up for it.

4) If you arent able to hit the weight you need to reach your goal you either have too much accumulation of fatigue or your recovery is not good. Assuming you eat a caloric surplus (you arent going to get stronger eating below maintenance), your fatigue is too great. Deloads should occur once every 4 weeks. 3 weeks of intense work followed by a week that is slightly less. Most people suggest taking an entire week off. If youre that burnt that you need a whole week off you should reconsider your long term plans. A deload can be 80% of what you did in week 1. It doesnt have to be a meaningless workout. This is the definition of periodization and there are books upon books on this stuff. 5/3/1 and every other program are classical examples of periodization and thats why they work. If youre on a self built routine then you should understand what to do on days that you dont hit the prescribed weight and reps. If you are on a tried and true program and you still dont know what to do, its probably not that great of a program. I would suggest 2 attempts at the weight/reps. If failure still sets in then I would take about 5-10% off the weight, then spend 2 weeks working back up to the missed sets.

In reply to your example:
24 reps x 185lbs= 4440
24 reps x 190lbs= 4560
or
3 sets of 9 reps at 185lbs= 4995

Notice how the 5lbs is not as much as a difference as the 3 extra reps? By microloading (5lbs per week) and staying in the same rep range we are able to work the same energy systems and still be effective at maintaining progress. 3 weeks on, 1 week off keeps us progressing nicely.

[y0lked]

Nah, you wouldn't be able to do the most reps with the most weight because eventually you'd be out of breath from no rest periods. So maybe circuit training but with sixty second rests between sets to make sure you don't run out of breath?

Will look into the Rippetoe book. Already ordered another book, and going to read that one first. Rippetoe is next.

Sure you could do that. Do you have your own gym where you can go from Bench to BB Rows and then Press and then DB curls and then sled drags.... in a commercial gym this might get messy. Why does circuit training appeal to you?

[17mahmoods]

Is it better to do pull-ups rather than lat pull-downs considering I'm able to do pull-ups?

[y0lked]

Is it better to do pull-ups rather than lat pull-downs considering I'm able to do pull-ups?

Yes. Once you get to 12 reps consider adding a couple pounds and doing weighted pullups.

[17mahmoods]

Yes. Once you get to 12 reps consider adding a couple pounds and doing weighted pullups.

Would there be any specific reason for why pull-ups are better?
I also notice many people have both pull-ups and lat-pull downs why is that?
Should I completely stop doing lat pull-downs and do only pull-ups?

[y0lked]

Would there be any specific reason for why pull-ups are better?
I also notice many people have both pull-ups and lat-pull downs why is that?
Should I completely stop doing lat pull-downs and do only pull-ups?

Pullups, when done without kipping, require more stability in the scapular region and dont allow for momentum to be generated through thoracic/lumbar extension. Through training body builders Ive had some guys that wanted to do pullups and some that strictly wanted to do lat pulldown. The trend has always been that those that do pullups get better lat and trap gains than those who do lat pulldown. Also the movement transfers better to the barbell row and that is the exercise we want to overload week to week.

Unless youre a pro bodybuilder whos specifically trying to overload the lats, the pullup allows for more complete back development.

[17mahmoods]

Thanks that was exactly what I was looking for

[y0lked]

Thanks that was exactly what I was looking for

no problem. Topic of the day: endurance exercise decreases muscle building and promotes muscle breakdown of those muscles not involved in the activity.

[danfleysher]

no problem. Topic of the day: endurance exercise decreases muscle building and promotes muscle breakdown of those muscles not involved in the activity.

Hmm. Does this only apply for long periods of endurance activity?

[y0lked]

Hmm. Does this only apply for long periods of endurance activity?

Yes, long sustained aerobic exercise around 65% of VO2 max is the worst (marathon pace).
Higher intensities for shorter ammounts of time are better at maintaining LBM (hints HIIT) however higher intensities deplete glycogen so recovery must be top notch if you plan to be able to perform in other workouts.

[y0lked]

bump.

[CaptHoneyBadger]

I hurt my lower back deadlifting a few months ago mainly to my left side of the erector spinae now it is hard for me to continue with progressive overload. Do you have any suggestion to over come this?

[MikeWines]

I hurt my lower back deadlifting a few months ago mainly to my left side of the erector spinae now it is hard for me to continue with progressive overload. Do you have any suggestion to over come this?

Learn to hinge efficiently...

[DieselCoontz]

1. I have been addicted to caffeine for a long time, which led to drinking a decent amount of Pepsi daily. Realized how bad that was for me and just really recently broke the habit. Will this alone lead to weigh loss?

2. Are push ups worth throwing in my workout routine?

[Searching4Truth]

What's the best way to recover both mentally and physically when you're burnt out to the point where you're not progressing or even maintaining?

[danfleysher]

When cutting, do you suggest a body-building (3x10) or powerlifting (5x5) type routine to maintain LBM

[y0lked]

I hurt my lower back deadlifting a few months ago mainly to my left side of the erector spinae now it is hard for me to continue with progressive overload. Do you have any suggestion to over come this?

Mike posted a great video that you should use for correction of exercise. Back injuries are super tough to deal with. You could have slightly herniated your disk or even compressed it, possibly have a hip fault. The erector spinae can become very tight after an injury in order to create lumbar spine stability which can cause alot of problems. Im not a PT student so I cant help you diagnose the injury but some of the things you could do to find relief are

1) see if you are hyper extending your spine, this means erector spinae are tight
2) see if you have anterior pelvic tilt and or tight hip flexors (see video)
3) try to get some decompression of the disks and use a lacross ball to stretch the erector spinae. If you have access to a reverse hyperextension machine start using it. Ill post a video of Louie Simmons explaining how it works

1. I have been addicted to caffeine for a long time, which led to drinking a decent amount of Pepsi daily. Realized how bad that was for me and just really recently broke the habit. Will this alone lead to weigh loss?

2. Are push ups worth throwing in my workout routine?

Soda contains about 40g of high fructose corn syrup which is terrible on soo many levels. You will experience weight loss because of the calorie drop alone. If you want caffiene you can get 200mg tablets from any local nutrition store and they wont contribute to your daily calories.

What's the best way to recover both mentally and physically when you're burnt out to the point where you're not progressing or even maintaining?

Deload. Deloading needs to be part of every exercise routine. Most people never take advantage of the deload which can cause overtraining which you are probably experiencing. Deloads dont need to be a complete week off. You can just cut your total number of sets in half and work with appx 60% of your 1 rep max for 5-8 reps.

When cutting, do you suggest a body-building (3x10) or powerlifting (5x5) type routine to maintain LBM

Both. When youre cutting youre going to be in a deficit so its going to be extremely hard to make PRs on heavy lifts. The goal of your training when cutting should be to maintain as much muscle as possible while in a deficit. If you are in a deficit youre going to loose LBM thats just something you have to come to terms with. I suggest working in the 70-80% range of your 1rm for big compound lifts and then working in the 8-10 rep range for all assistance lifts. Polish it off with some 12-15 reps if you would like for smaller muscle groups. Just make sure youre not pushing for big PRs. If you can maintain your strength for all lifts while in a deficit your cut will be outstanding. If your strength simply just disappears during your cut then your calorie deficit is probably too sever and not maintainable.

[CaptainFalcon0]

Hi, three questions;

1. in your opinion, would one experience muscle loss if they were to get their protein from only eggs and plant-based sources? goal is to maintain current physique

2. would one experience muscle loss if they were to shift their training to a more calisthenic focused routine, assuming they train with intensity?

3. i plan to study a bachelor of exercise science near year part-time and eventually move into a masters of physiotherapy - would you recommend your degree if one is passionate and highly interested in the field?

thank you

[MikeWines]

i plan to study a bachelor of exercise science near year part-time and eventually move into a masters of physiotherapy - would you recommend your degree if one is passionate and highly interested in the field?

What sort of population do you want to work with in PT? If you're desiring to work with a more athletic population in the PT field then you need to choose a program carefully as many are more suited towards the general population or they aren't up to date on research/protocols (pain science for example).

[CaptainFalcon0]

What sort of population do you want to work with in PT? If you're desiring to work with a more athletic population in the PT field then you need to choose a program carefully as many are more suited towards the general population or they aren't up to date on research/protocols (pain science for example).

Thank you for the response - the degree I am looking at has a focus on sport and athletic based clients but also has a basis for rehabilitation work. I am tossing up between which route ill take, I have a year to decide.

[EvanM9988]

Since you mentioned injuries here it goes.

Here is a little background on me, I started casually lifting(first time really lifting weights) at planet fitness since the summer/fall of 2014 and around 8 months in, I switch to smaller non-chain gym because I wanted to start doing more compound movements like benching, squating, cleans, deadlifts etc. I've been mostly focusing on those throughout 2015 and seen some pretty good results. I didn't do the whole protein powder or chicken breast with brown rice and steamed veggies diet. I kind of just ate whatever I usually eat and went to the gym about 3-4 times a week. Around February of this year I was able to bench about 225x5, squat 315 x 5, dead lift 335x5 at around 160lbs at 5'7" (with still about +20% body fat, was formerly obese, still have some loose skin).

But then I started working full time (desk job,around march) and started going way less, it started from around 3 times a week down to 2 and 1 then maybe once every 2 weeks all within a month. I've recently decided to start going more recently, but a problem arose. I realized that a lot of the times when I bench (I'm no longer able to bench anywhere near what I use to) my inner chest starts to hurt, right where the sternum is, and I noticed it is also mostly on one side (my right side). It also cracks/clicks a lot (like when you crack your knuckles, not completely sure if it really is the same thing happening), which hasn't happened until recently. Doing neutral grip pull ups strain my sternum to. Sometimes I would sit down use my hands to brace my self on the arm rest (almost like a dip) in the chair it would crack it and it would hurt for days its kind of hard to describe, but like concave my chest while hunching my back it hurts really bad, but if I stand straight it feels tight at the sternum. I've even put on a jacket wrong where my arms go back to go into the sleeves and it cracks and then the same thing all over again. This has happened many times now and its always a little unconformable now even when i try to stretch it. I want to start working out consistently again, but when i bench I'm so conscious of my sternum that I can't focus on the movement and get a good workout. A few times tried a stretch where I have hands kind of at the sides of my pecs and just try to stretch my chest outward and it would crack and then feel better out of no where, but the problem isn't solved. This would still happen occasionally if i move wrong or sneeze really hard and flex wrong or something.

I know my descriptions are not very good, but I hope you can give me a little insight on what you might think is wrong with me, thanks in advance for reading this far in even if you don't have an answer for me.

[StrongLikeKong]

What is better for a beginner that wants to gain size..

A strength based routine - get strong during the peak neural adaptation phase and be able to lift much more total tonnage later on down the track if they change to a Hypertrophy based routine.

A Hypertrophy based routine - lot of volume and metabolic fatigue but obviously not as much intensity or total tonnage.


I know it sounds like you should do a hyp routine for hyp goals, but like I mentioned above, if you get stronger then in 6 months you could do 10 reps at 100 rather than 10 reps at 60

[y0lked]

Hi, three questions;

1. in your opinion, would one experience muscle loss if they were to get their protein from only eggs and plant-based sources? goal is to maintain current physique

2. would one experience muscle loss if they were to shift their training to a more calisthenic focused routine, assuming they train with intensity?

3. i plan to study a bachelor of exercise science near year part-time and eventually move into a masters of physiotherapy - would you recommend your degree if one is passionate and highly interested in the field?

thank you

If your total amount of complete protein before the diet change is the same as after, then you wouldnt experience any muscle loss. Keep in mind all plant sources besides soy are not complete sources and even complientary proteins will not yield 100% complete protein. ie: 10g rice protein and 10g bean protein does not equal 20g complete protein.
Bodyweight exercise will not load the body as much as iron resistance training therefore yes you will experience under-training, unless somehow you were able to calculate and load the body equal to that of the work done on a barbell or dumbbell. There might be some bodyweight warriors that could suggest exercises and loading principals better than I could. In my opinion, bodyweight exercises should be done for coordination and motor control practices and not necessarily for overloading principal.

Since you mentioned injuries here it goes.

Here is a little background on me, I started casually lifting(first time really lifting weights) at planet fitness since the summer/fall of 2014 and around 8 months in, I switch to smaller non-chain gym because I wanted to start doing more compound movements like benching, squating, cleans, deadlifts etc. I've been mostly focusing on those throughout 2015 and seen some pretty good results. I didn't do the whole protein powder or chicken breast with brown rice and steamed veggies diet. I kind of just ate whatever I usually eat and went to the gym about 3-4 times a week. Around February of this year I was able to bench about 225x5, squat 315 x 5, dead lift 335x5 at around 160lbs at 5'7" (with still about +20% body fat, was formerly obese, still have some loose skin).

But then I started working full time (desk job,around march) and started going way less, it started from around 3 times a week down to 2 and 1 then maybe once every 2 weeks all within a month. I've recently decided to start going more recently, but a problem arose. I realized that a lot of the times when I bench (I'm no longer able to bench anywhere near what I use to) my inner chest starts to hurt, right where the sternum is, and I noticed it is also mostly on one side (my right side). It also cracks/clicks a lot (like when you crack your knuckles, not completely sure if it really is the same thing happening), which hasn't happened until recently. Doing neutral grip pull ups strain my sternum to. Sometimes I would sit down use my hands to brace my self on the arm rest (almost like a dip) in the chair it would crack it and it would hurt for days its kind of hard to describe, but like concave my chest while hunching my back it hurts really bad, but if I stand straight it feels tight at the sternum. I've even put on a jacket wrong where my arms go back to go into the sleeves and it cracks and then the same thing all over again. This has happened many times now and its always a little unconformable now even when i try to stretch it. I want to start working out consistently again, but when i bench I'm so conscious of my sternum that I can't focus on the movement and get a good workout. A few times tried a stretch where I have hands kind of at the sides of my pecs and just try to stretch my chest outward and it would crack and then feel better out of no where, but the problem isn't solved. This would still happen occasionally if i move wrong or sneeze really hard and flex wrong or something.

I know my descriptions are not very good, but I hope you can give me a little insight on what you might think is wrong with me, thanks in advance for reading this far in even if you don't have an answer for me.

I think you should see medical advice. This is not a normal run-of-the-mill injury I can comment on.

What is better for a beginner that wants to gain size..

A strength based routine - get strong during the peak neural adaptation phase and be able to lift much more total tonnage later on down the track if they change to a Hypertrophy based routine.

A Hypertrophy based routine - lot of volume and metabolic fatigue but obviously not as much intensity or total tonnage.


I know it sounds like you should do a hyp routine for hyp goals, but like I mentioned above, if you get stronger then in 6 months you could do 10 reps at 100 rather than 10 reps at 60

I say both. Use strength based principals on the large compound lifts (squats, pulls, presses and rows) and then aim for volume on the assistance lifts so long as they dont interfere with the core lifts. Myofibril and Sarcoplasmic hypertrophy is what you and I are referring to here. You can structure it like this:

Main lift: 5x5 for example
2ndary lift: 3x8-10 for example by progressing from 8 reps to 10 reps before adding weight
Tertiary lifts (2-4 exercises): 10-20 reps, can include rest pause, drop sets etc. if you desire. Otherwise just progress on adding reps, sets or weight on the high rep sets.

[zGwild]

Thought on decline bench press. Is it worth rotating in from time to time?

seems like once or twice a year i think about it but never add it in to my training.

link to past decline post http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showth...hlight=decline