I'm curious how many sets and reps people do in their workouts? My goal is to compete in a figure competition in some point in the future. I feel like three sets for each muscle group and 8-12 reps per set may not be enough to exhaust the muscle. Any thoughts or advice is definitely appreciated!!
If your goal is to compete in figure, this is one of the cases where I actually would advise on a split (many on these boards know I am usually a full body workout proponent).
With a split, I would be looking to get about 90-120 quality reps for each major muscle group with 1 to 2 muscle groups per workout. Try to keep the total workout closer to 180 reps to start with as this is a lot of volume. See how your body reacts. With figure as the goal, I would work in the 8-12 rep range the majority of the time, so you can do something like (3 exercises, 3 sets of 12)or (4 exercises, 4 sets of 8), or (4 excercises, 3 sets of 10) or (3 exercises, 4 sets of 10). The body adapts quickest to set/rep schemes, so you probably want to rotate through these and other options every 4-6 weeks to fight adaptation. If you can't exhaust the muscle with 120 total reps, then you can either go heavier or can adjust the rest time between sets down.
When I train figure competitors, I have them do a 4 day split with 4 sets per rep. Most muscle groups I do a 12-10-10-8 rep count, but shoulders I usually do 10-10-8-8. Make sure you hit all four heads of the delt! I do a lot of supersets, especially for legs. How you need to train is based on your current muscle development and your particular body shape. If you have a great natural taper, you don't need to kill yourself trying to widen your back, for example. If you are naturally narrow, you really need to beef up the back, chest and shoulders to emphasize a waist taper. Bodyfat is a function of food and cardio.
Look at lots of pictures of competitors. Look at the body shape and muscle delvelopment and the "hardness" level of the winners. It really varies from show to show. Lately, women who come in too lean, looking like bodybuilders are being dinged for it.
Ya know Kylie, maybe if you posted some photos too, it would help them give you specific advice. I imagine so much of this, like Mel said, is based on where you're starting from. So if she can see your shoulders now, she can tell you what to focus on, for example. In M&FHers (see the discussion thread for Jul/Aug), there is an article on how to eat for competition, and they have a sample training schedule and eating plan for a competitor who is 9 wks out from her show. That might help you too.
Hrbabe, thanks for the heads-up on the magazine. I subscribed to Oxygen, but I'll do a little digging for M&F Hers because that sounds like what I'm looking for. I'll post some pictures in a couple days.
Number of Sets: How much is too little/too much?
