7/18    sky, what's the optimal way to work out? Max weight (till muscle
        failure) with minimal time, medium weight with maximal time, or
        somewhere in between? And what's the best recovery period?
        \_ max weight 3x per week.  recovery/stairmaster for the rest
           of the time.
           \_ I've tried a million different workouts and apart from
              the really stupid 2 hour work outs I did in high school,
              it doesn't make that much difference.  The most important
              thing to do is eat right, sleep right, minimize stress,
              and make sure you work out with enough weight to challenge
              your muscles.  In the 4 months I was following this advice
              I got to benching sets of 6 at 320 lbs.  Of course now that
              I have a life I'm nowhere near that strong. -emin
        \_ I've found the best way to work out is *variety*. Take bench press
           for instance. One week, just do 3 sets of 10-12 at the same weight.
           Next week, try incline presses and/or decline presses. Another week,
           do 3-4 sets, increasing 10 pounds per set, to exhaustion. Your
           muscles are highly efficient at adjusting to the same routine, so
           you have to constantly surprise them with a different routine.
        \_ why are you asking sky? Shouldn't you be asking ax?
                http://www.csua.berkeley.edu/~ax
                \_ this gets more to the point:
                http://www.csua.berkeley.edu/~ax/Superman.jpg
        \_ I'm not sky, but I can confirm that no more than 3X a week for
           weights is a good rule of thumb. The secret to your muscle endurance
           and agility also involves cardiovascular activities. Stairmasters,
           treadmills, escalators, etc., so you want to make sure you balance
           your weight-lifting with such exercises. Also watch your diet too;
           and your day-to-day posture. (no slouching when you sit coding 8-10
           hours a day) And a touch of positive mental attitude to get your
           arse to the gym religiously. For more info, check out
           http://www.menshealth.com Plenty of good make-sense tips on variety
           of workout you'd ever need. - jthoms
           \_ Is it 3X a week on the same muscle group or 3X a week overall?
              I'm confused because I also heard that the best is to have a
              5-day cycle, where you work on one separate muscle group on each
              of the first four days and then rest on the fifth day.
                \_ It depends on your purpose. (btw, this was covered on motd
                   a few months ago, if you want to see the archive). Get big
                   on a certain muscle groups (chest, shoulder or arm), focus
                   on each group each time you work out. You're less likely to
                   tear a muscle if you pace yourself though. If you just want
                   to get toned, or have limited time to spend at the gym, do
                   comprehensive workout that works different muscle groups.
                   You may alternate chest, then butts, then shoulder, then
                   upper back, etc. to prevent fatigue. - jthoms