Hello,
I made the leap 2 weeks ago to start resistance training and be in better health overall.
I lost 25 pounds since October and it motivated me to start training as well. So here I am.
I bought the Renaissance Periodization 3 days full body workout with dumbbells only to start my journey. I have young kids, so starting at home is giving me the best chance to stick to a program.
With that said, over the 2 weeks, a few questions popped up and I don't know the terminology well enough to answer them and my google skills weren't good enough, so I am trying my luck here.
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I have been sedentary for a long while, even though I did a lot of sport when I was younger. Mainly competitive volley ball, so my legs are decently strong still, but my upper body, not so much. For many upper body exercises I do, it feels like my strength is really uneven, and different muscles are activated, though I make sure that the targeted muscle for the exercise is activated too. Should I stick to the same weight I use if I can reach the targeted reps with good technique (to the best of my knowledge)? Or should I drop the weight a little bit until I am strong enough?
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The program calls for myo reps. Each week, a new set is added. For each exercise, the target is between 5-30 reps. Does that mean that I should target at least 5 reps for each sets? Or if I do, let's say, 7-5-3 reps, is that good enough? Should I drop down some dumbbells weight until I can do all the sets to at least 5 reps? For push ups particularly, I don't use a dumbbell, so I could switch to knee push ups, but my first two sets are over 5 reps, but the subsequent sets are under 5.
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Today while training, I ramped up intensity a little bit and really pushed myself more than before. For certain exercises, even though my targeted muscle wasn't burning and feeling exhausted, I couldn't do more reps and the overall part that was trained was shaky after the set.
For example, I did some sumo squats. It didn't feel like my quads were toasted, but I could not push more and my legs really started to shake (it went away after a bit of rest). Is that a good/okay thing? Or does that mean I pushed myself too much and other parts of my legs weren't strong enough for what I tried? After my training, it felt like my knees worked a lot, so I think this is what limited my sumo squats.
I am aware that other muscles are solicited when doing an exercise, but I feel like the targeted muscle should do most of the work.
Thank you for your time.
In my opinion - consistency and form are the most important things.
Do what you can do, safely and regularly - that's the most important thing, and is more important than whatever the program thinks. Listen to your body and focus on keeping the habit.
And seconding what was said - you do not need to go to failure. Feeling tired after or sore the next day isn't bad, but isn't required to be doing it right. If things feel too easy, do more reps or more resistance/weight next time
I wasn't clear, but the myo reps are to technical failure, not full failure. If I can't do the movement properly, or I need to cheat to finish the movement, then my set is done. It's been working great for the 2 weeks I've trained. I feel sore the next two days, but it doesn't impede on my daily activities and I have time to fully heal for the next workout.
I try to be mindful of my movement and my goal isn't to get reps no matter what, just slowly getting stronger slowly. I do the exercise 8 reps without weight, 6 reps with 5lbs and 3 reps with 10lbs, to stretch and warm-up and to make sure that I feel the movement of the exercise correctly.
I am slowly ramping up the intensity to make sure I don't injure myself.
Thank you for the advices.