[The-Iceman]

Ok i have a question about building muscle mass i work out every other day and i workout in my basement i do bench , curls , shrugs and french presses. I used to do sets before but recently i herd it was a fact that doing sets is useless because your muscles can only take so much punishment then after that its like kicking a dead horse its just putting yourself through needless agony. Another thing when i workout it hurts i mean it really really hurts but i want to be big so bad i do it neway is there something wrong with me should it hurt so much??

so are sets usefull should i do them?
why does it hurt so bad i mean like really really bad

[Ryan]

Once again....CALM DOWN. You're rushing into this very haphazardly and it is going to get you into trouble. There are no instant solutions or quick fixes.

As for your specific questions...

i work out every other day

You can probably get away with this because you are young. I would cut this back to 2-3x per week if I were training you.

i do bench , curls , shrugs and french presses.

You're training for looks. This is a very incomplete routine. Proper training is about targeting ALL of the major muscle groups of the body. You're flat out ignoring the top 2 (hips and thighs) and barely addressing the 3rd (back). Do not get caught up in the curls-for-the-girls mindset. That's for little boys....we're here to make a man out of you.

I used to do sets before but recently i herd it was a fact that doing sets is useless because your muscles can only take so much punishment then after that its like kicking a dead horse its just putting yourself through needless agony.

There is some truth to this. Marathon training is very inefficient. One of the keys to proper training is INTENSITY; you train briefly but very HARD. That's not to say you can't perform multiple sets, but there are very few people who would need more than 1-2 sets per movement.

Another thing when i workout it hurts i mean it really really hurts but i want to be big so bad i do it neway is there something wrong with me should it hurt so much??

I'm not sure what you mean....during training? Immediately after? The next day?

If you have acute pain or joint pain during training, stop. You should never have pain during the proper performance of a repetition. HOWEVER, it should be uncomfortable. Muscular fatigue and overall systemic demands generate all sorts of feelings that aren't pleasant, but none of it is really PAIN.

One possible cause of this is your form, which I can imagine is not very good. Poor form can lead to muscle/join/connective tissue aches. ALL movements should be done in a slow, controlled fashion. On all pressing movements, the elbow joints should never reach the point of lockout. There are probably other specific issues, but it is a bit premature for me to lay out proper form for every possible movement.

If you are sore (muscularly, not joint) the next day...well that's largely unavoidable. What you are experiencing is called DOMS, or Delayed Onset Muscular Soreness. This typically occurs after performing a new activity or an activity at a higher intensity level. The degree of soreness varies from person to person and also depending on what activities you performed. It is not an indicator of growth.

ryan- how do you know your stuff so well?

[The-Iceman]

yeah for me it while im doing the excersice and i dont really mean curls they dont hurt so much but they do feel uncompfortable its with the bigger weights like on the bench that makes my joints hurt so bad while im doing them so much so to the point where i have to stop. And for my back , what are some excecises i can do to make my back stronger?


and for my legs as i said before i go running useually i do what i like to call sprints i run as fast as i can for lets say 100-200 meters and walk for a while until i can cath my breath and then i do it all over again im not really into big leg muscle i just want to be able to run fast

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"I dont suffer from insanity i enjoy every minute of it!"

[Ryan]

ryan- how do you know your stuff so well?

I've read a tremendous amount of material over the past few years. I've also had the fortune of discussing fitness matters with some great thinkers...as well as putting things to practice with myself and those I train/have trained.

ts with the bigger weights like on the bench that makes my joints hurt so bad

My guess is that you are using bad form and too much weight. Don't do 1 rep maxes - they are useless for building strength. I can describe a proper bench press repetition if that would help.

what are some excecises i can do to make my back stronger?

If you can do chins (palms facing you), those are the #1 back exercise. Rows are also good, but I don't know if you have the equipment. Shrugs ARE sort of a back movement, but more supplementary in nature.

and for my legs as i said before i go running

I hear this crap all the time. Running is piss poor for fully incorporating the musculature of the hips and thighs. SO much of an individual's fitness potential resides in properly training the musculature of the lower body. If you neglect that, everything else is trivial.

im not really into big leg muscle

Then you aren't into being big or strong.
I can see I need to put up my leg photo again once I get home.

[The-Iceman]

lol ahaah thats ur leg muscle wow cool now what exactly do those muscles do during sports?

[Ryan]

lol ahaah thats ur leg muscle wow cool now what exactly do those muscles do during sports?

Technically you are seeing the musculature of the front of my thigh. It's not a comprehensive picture of all the musculature in the hip/thigh region, which is the most important region.

Most of what you see in that picture is generally responsible for extending and stabilizing the knee (regardless of the activity....sports...walking...getting up off the toilet). Some of the visible musculature at the top and the right is involved in flexion and stabilization of the hip joint, but none of them are the larger muscles involved in those actions.