I have two questions for all you experienced uys out there. After you stop taking creatine(in general) will you lose all of the gains you have made? Secondly, i have been puzzled on my bicep workouts. Before i came to this website i always over worked them and now i have backed off. There are times when i finish my workout and i feel like i need to do more(feel the burn…lol), and i am wondering if this is normal? I am wondering if the workout i do is enough to be effective?
My bicep workouts are as follows…
barbell curls-5x5(heavy)
hammer curls-3x6
alternate dumbell curls-3x6(standing)
*alot of times after i finsh this workout i feel like i havent done enough so i do a little extra.
*if i do extra at the end i usually do lighter weight with high reps until failure or i use the barbell and put on weight that i can barely do and i usually do two sets of three reps with the heavy barbell…is the workout that i posted above(without the extra stuff) enough? I am just worried about over working and sometimes i feel like even tho my arms arent dead i should stop…if u guys could, please help me out with this!
thanks and GO ILLINI!
But, as a T-man I will still answer your questions.
You may lose a little size because of some water loss in the muscle when quitting creatine, but it is not something that occurs overnight. The creatine will remain full in your system for a while. Continue to lift hard and you may not notice a thing.
As for bi’s. If, after 11 sets you have more in the tank, I suggest you raise your intensity level. That, on top of most back work should sufficiently stimulate your arms.
I don’t see any proplems with what you’re doing. It looks fairly standard. If you’ve been doing this routine for a while though and haven’t been increasing the weight you’re lifting, then there’s your problem right there.
Remember, if the intensity is high enough than you shouldn’t be able to do any more.
How often do you say to yourself, “I think I’ll just do a couple more sets of squats. I just wasn’t really feeling it”.
When doing lower reps though chances are you’re not really going to get a ‘burn’. You’ll get more of a full, pumped feeling.
Maybe you’re looking for a different feeling than you’re working for.
To add to what other said. First sure you will lose some of the over hydration/size from stopping creatine but NOT any of the real tissue that you built or strenght gained during that time.
I must ask however why stop taking it. Thats like stopping eating meat. The stuff is cheap and effective just pop a teaspoon in your mouth every day or so and call it good.
As for the Bi’s. Well I also say if what you listed it aint getting it done then you need to push a bit harder and quit playing round in the gym. Other than that, by god you dont have to leave the gym not able to raise the weight of your own arm. you dont have to kill the damn things.
Is it working for you. Are you growing and getting stronger. If so keep it up if not time for a change.
I say dont hold back at all on the early sets just because you know you have 10 more sets to go. Hell all the better if you give it your all get the work done and are not able to do those endless sets. The squat example was great.
IMO time for you to look at how much intensity (not load but let say passion/drive) you are unleashing on the weights.
I bet if you paid close attention to rest periods (only allowed 60 sec between sets) and used the same weight you’re using now, that biceps workout would suddenly start kicking your ass.
As far as your biceps workout goes, if you’ve been doing that same workout for a month or 2, it may be that your muscles are adapting to it, and might not respond anymore. Everyone needs to change-up their workouts after 6-12 weeks. You can certainly just add more sets to the existing workout, but that adds more time to your workout.
Another option would be do start by doing higher-rep work, say one set at your 15RM to failure to pre-exhaust your bicep, and then start-in on the higher-weight stuff. Another option would be to superset Chin-ups/Pull-ups with dumbbell curls. That should bust you out of your slump.
The other question is are you working your triceps enough? Your body will prevent one muscle from getting out-of-balance compared to the opposing muscle.
You might even want to give your biceps a complete break for a week or so. It might be that you’re not allowing your bicep to fully recover between workouts, and thus never fully realizing the strength/size gains. Keep in mind, workouts don’t make muscle stronger, it’s the recovery afterwards.
Lastly, are you squatting/deadlifting enough? If you’re not doing the ‘Big-Lifts’ enough, you’re missing-out on growth stimulus for your whole-body. I like to start each workout with some variation of squatting or deadlifting, and sometimes at the end of the workout as well. As others have said, don’t forget about chin-ups/rowing either!
The basic rule is that no workout works forever. If you start to plateau, change something.
[quote]Wreckless wrote:
Was it Alwyn who said: people just need to curl more if they want bigger guns?
I think it was him.
I also thought he was being sarcastic.[/quote]
I’m not really sure where you are trying to go here??? Would you deny that curling would make your arms bigger?
This whole ‘squat to make your arms big thing’ is ok in theory, but squats or other large muscle work–combined with direct arm work is 10x more effective than without.
[quote]sasquatch wrote:
Wreckless wrote:
Was it Alwyn who said: people just need to curl more if they want bigger guns?
I think it was him.
I also thought he was being sarcastic.
I’m not really sure where you are trying to go here??? Would you deny that curling would make your arms bigger?
This whole ‘squat to make your arms big thing’ is ok in theory, but squats or other large muscle work–combined with direct arm work is 10x more effective than without.[/quote]
I think the issue is that some guys spend more time curling instead of getting thier chins and rows numbers up and they are puzzled why their arms arent growing