4/18    Dear motd personal trainer: I've been lifting weights for awhile,
        and I no longer get that stiff, swollen feeling in my muscles the
        day afterward.  I didn't realize how much I missed it until I did
        an exercise I don't commonly do.  Does this mean my workout is not
        intense enough (more weights? more reps?) or is it unavoidable?
        It seems like I'm lifting at about my outer limits (3rd set seems
        exhausting) and I don't want to injure myself. Thanks
        \_ I used to work out where I did one body part (back, chest,
           legs, etc) each day, several exercises for 3 sets each.  I
           switched to doing 2 full body workouts per week, 1 set per
           exercise of multi-joint exercises like squat, deadlift, bench
           press, rowing, and have had good results from that.
           \_ do you have a full list of the exercises you do?  I've made
              my own workout, and would be interested in comparing to get
              an idea of other things to add in... - mds
        \_ One of the golden rules of weight-lifting: change your routine
           regularly. Your muscles grow accustomed to any set of exercises
           you do over time, hence become efficient at them. Do different
           exercises. You can also try supersetting (doing two different
           exercises together, eg. bicep curl and tricep pullovers), or
            \_ Do you mean simultaneously?
               \_ I think the idea is grab a barbell, curl, raise it over
                  your head, do the tricep extension.  Repeat 8-12 times.
                  Repeat 3 or 4 times.
           circuit training (a set of 5-6 different exercises back to back,
           rest, then repeat)
           \_ Any good varients for straight and incline bench press?
              Thanks! - !OP, same problem
              \_ decline bench press
                 \_ I hate the decline, all the blood rushes to my head.
              \_ One variation is to use dumbbells instead of barbell. Or you
                 can try "negatives": do a bench press as normal, but go really
                 REALLY slow on the way down... like 3-6 seconds. These will
                 *burn*. Negatives can be used for just about every exercise.
                 \_ Well alternating light/medium/heavy lift days also work,
                    or is that not enough variation?
                    \_ I've rarely alternated between l/m/h, so I can't say.
                       But a good indication of how heavy you should be doing
                       is that the third set should always be to exhaustion.
                       Ideally, you need a spotter to get to a full 10-12 reps.
                       \_ The trainer I was working with said for "heavy" you
                          should be looking at a set of 8/6/6 reps, full
                          exhaustion at the end.  Only when the muscle is
                          "failing" will it have the incentive to build more
                          \_ That's cuz you're actually ripping and breaking
                             down the muscle fibers. New muscle can't be built
                             unless current muscle is destroyed.
                             \_ false
                                \_ fair enough, but spell out why:
                                   is it more accurate to say that new
                                   muscle can't be built unless current
                                   muscle is torn?
        \_ How long is a while?  After a certain point you will stagnate.
           To get past that usually involves eating a ton of food, which makes
           you gain weight all over, some/most of which is muscle.  Then you
           get stronger, but fatter too.  -ax