Thread: How many calories?

I'm not sure about how many calories your burning, but I'm concerned with the idea that you take almost everyone of your sets to failure! What exactly are you trying to accomplish with this routine?

Flathead

Do what I do: assume it burns exactly zero calories. If you're gaining weight and you want to lose, cut back on your diet. If you're trying to gain and you're not, increase your calories.

I mirror Flathead's concern on your failure training. What's the point?

I wanna watch someone go to failure on
Deep squat ( hamstring touches calf at bottom) 6xFailure

Why does it matter how many calories it burns?

Also, like the others have said, stop training to failure so damn much.

In fact, if you're "failing" this much id go further and say you aren't really failing at all, just stopping, because if you were going to actual complete momentary muscular failure this much you would be dead from shock.

Have you ever done a HIT workout program? They are taxing enough and you're training once a week, doing at most ten sets a workout, and only one set per exercise to failure. Even this is too much for most people to see results on because failure is simply too much for the body.

What exactly are you trying to achieve? I'll bet money on your failure training stopping you from reaching whatever it is.

Originally Posted by PushAndPull

I wanna watch someone go to failure on
Deep squat ( hamstring touches calf at bottom) 6xFailure

I mean, I've failed doing rock-bottom squats like that before, but I wouldn't do it intentionally and I certainly wouldn't do it intentionally 6 times in a row.

Originally Posted by Gazhole

In fact, if you're "failing" this much id go further and say you aren't really failing at all, just stopping, because if you were going to actual complete momentary muscular failure this much you would be dead from shock.

This was the point in my sarcastic response. If you attempted to do squats like that for a routine, you'd get hurt. So what's the point of seriously trying to address his routine, if he's just bullshitting anyways?

Originally Posted by gtbmed

I mean, I've failed doing rock-bottom squats like that before, but I wouldn't do it intentionally and I certainly wouldn't do it intentionally 6 times in a row.

Absolutely. It happens by accident, and I don't give a fuck who you are if you fail on squats with a large amount of weight on your back it's scary.

In the squats i either use a spotter or i drop the bar. I used to train around some powerlifters back home(home of the strongman lol,Iceland) and thats how they used to hit it every now and then. This is not a routine I stick to for a long time (always goin to "failure"). I started it about 3 weeks ago after feeling like I wasnt geting stronger. Believe it or not but it seem to have kickstarted my muscles back into growing but be sure I know You can not keep this going for a long time without seriously over training. From the age of 6 i've played sports (basketball,soccer, ice hockey, handball, boxing) all year around until about 2 years ago so im not exactly new to punishing my body. Word of advice is always well taken though!

I've never done a HIT program no, explain that to me please.

I speak from a power lifter"s point of view & all that failure is completely unnecessary & counter productive. I'll let Gaz fill you in on HIT, as I don't know much about it. But if power lifting is what you looking for, here is what I believe to be the best program out there > Westside Barbell Basic Template

HIT probably isn't the way to go if you're looking for strength.

I totally agree with Flathead in that going anywhere near failure is totally counterproductive to strength gains. Training below your max is the best way to increase strength.

If you're looking for a good strength program you can't go wrong with westside. I also wrote a conjugate training program on my website that a lot of people have seen good results on.

sounds like you want to lose weight. try cardio, plus a sensible training program. always to failure juiced or not is counterproductive.

Originally Posted by Gazhole

HIT probably isn't the way to go if you're looking for strength.

I totally agree with Flathead in that going anywhere near failure is totally counterproductive to strength gains. Training below your max is the best way to increase strength.

If you're looking for a good strength program you can't go wrong with westside. I also wrote a conjugate training program on my website that a lot of people have seen good results on.

Meh

Westside is good for equipped lifters because it was designed by and for equipped lifters. I'm not convinced that it's as good for guys who are unequipped.

Don't get me wrong, it still works, but I think any program that places such a huge emphasis on the posterior chain like that is going to work well for strength gains. It's also totally up to the lifter to recognize his points of weakness and improve them with the correct assistance exercises.

I've seen better results on total tonnage programs like Bill Starr's 5x5 and Smolov.

Originally Posted by gtbmed

Meh

Westside is good for equipped lifters because it was designed by and for equipped lifters. I'm not convinced that it's as good for guys who are unequipped.

Don't get me wrong, it still works, but I think any program that places such a huge emphasis on the posterior chain like that is going to work well for strength gains. It's also totally up to the lifter to recognize his points of weakness and improve them with the correct assistance exercises.

I've seen better results on total tonnage programs like Bill Starr's 5x5 and Smolov.

I agree, I have a lot of friends who's numbers have exploded since doing westside and I have always be very interested in westside. However, I don't think I am ready for it and maxing out every week I don't think would good for me at all. The guys I've known who have had success with Westside were already huge to begin with and more experience. I have been working out for about a year now and have gained a lot of strength, but I'm still waiting until I'm ready for westside.

I'm not sure about how many calories your burning

Originally Posted by cshea2

I agree, I have a lot of friends who's numbers have exploded since doing westside and I have always be very interested in westside. However, I don't think I am ready for it and maxing out every week I don't think would good for me at all. The guys I've known who have had success with Westside were already huge to begin with and more experience. I have been working out for about a year now and have gained a lot of strength, but I'm still waiting until I'm ready for westside.

Like I said, Westside was designed by and for guys who wear squat suits, bench shirts, knee wraps, etc. I don't do any of that - I lift 100% raw, so their methods and exercise selection doesn't always work for me.

The other thing I hate about Westside is that if your form on your lifts is not excellent to start with, it's going to get ugly after doing the program. You almost never train the competition lifts directly. There are so few repetitions of the actual big 3 that you can't groove those movement patterns like in other programs.

So I agree with you - it's a good program for an equipped lifter who's had years to perfect his technique in the big 3. For someone relatively inexperienced I'd prefer something else.

Originally Posted by Gissurjon

Does anybody know aprox. how many calories you are burning on a work out like this.
#1
Dumbell bench 4xFailure
incline dumbell bench 4xF
Dips weighted (aimed at chest) 4xF
pull over 3x6-8 reps

#2
Deep squat ( hamstring touches calf at bottom) 6xFailure
Bulgarian split squat 3xF
Leg curl 3xF
Calf raise 6xF

I try to keep the weight so failure is around 5-8 reps
2-3 min. recovery between sets
Whole workout takes 45-60 min

Detailes about me
6'3
196 pounds
aprox. 10-12% BF

Thanks.

honestly it's a waste of time seriously tracking calories burning during exercise. how much energy is expended during exercise really depends on the level of intensity and the amount of fat free mass (LBM) the the person has. a 100 lb man at 10% bf would burn 50% less calories performing the same exact workout as another man at 200 lbs and 10% bf.

there are fitness calculators on the net which can help you to determine your caloric expenditure during exercise. one thing you can be sure of is that when you constantly increase the amount of "work" that is performed during an exercise session you are burning more cals than the previous. so make sure each session you are either performing more reps or using greater loads with resistance. and in terms of cardio you want to travel a greater distance at the same level or greater level of intensity in the same amount of time. this is how you force the body to adapt and become more efficient at exercise.