[BendtheBar]

Originally Posted by Lerho

Thank you BendtheBar.. very good points from you. Couple of questions though..

1. As for my case. I feel like I've gained too much fat in my first year (although strength and muscle gains have been very good). So now Im in a diet to reduce most of that fat. I plan to do this to end of July, then again trying to really up my strength gains in between August 2010-april 2011..Is that okay?

2. Are my goal mentioned in first post good strength goals before doing more bb-type training: overhead press comparing to bodyweight x 100%, bench press x 150%, squat x 200%, deadlift x 250%?

3. Im quite a tall, 186cm, with long limbs and I have felt that I need to get more reps in my lower body exercises than in my upper body exercises. For example, I can have a very good feeling by doing bench presses 3x5, but same doesnt work in back squat.. Its more like 3x10 to get a feeling to really have trained that bodypart. Can this be the case or is it just my imagination?

Do you have any before and after pictures. Or a current picture? That would help us assess and better advise.

Regarding strength goals...they are good, but do them in a good rep range. You will be very strong at those levels, and you will also gain quite a bit of muscle getting there.

Don't use under 5 reps for training right now. I don't look at strength and bodybuilding as 2 separate journeys. They are basically the same for a very long time, unless you don't eat like a bodybuilder and train with a powerlifting-specific type of routine. Hope this makes sense.

Regarding legs, higher reps tend to work better for many. This isn't unusual at all. I get great chest soreness at 5 reps, but not as much for legs. Legs can easily be work between 8 to 20 reps....that's a good sweet spot for great gains.