DESCENDING SETS

To put simply, the split's getting old, and I figured being the new year that it was a better time then ever to switch up my routine. I'm pretty small still and I used to be hitting every muscle twice a week. I recently swithced over to every body part once a week. One thing that all my workouts have is that I alwasy do ascending sets, always bumping up my weight. I just wanted some input from anybody who's ever tried descending sets, or merely using the same weight for same reps such as a 5x5 deal. Any suggestions?

I've tried all of the things you mentioned. I find that any variety is key, so going with descending sets for a few weeks might feel great to you. It might take a workout or two of each muscle group to find out what what weight to start your first working set with, but after that you should do fine.
You could also throw in things like supersets, drop sets, forced reps or rest/pause to add variety to your workout.

I don't think I've ever had a workout where I haven't utilized at least two of the techniques above ha. I'm all about my drop sets and supersets!

it works for me, i usually start of with the heaviest amount of weight to complete 10reps for my 1st set, then continue to take off a little weight after each set making sure that each set has 10 reps. i usually do 4 sets, works pretty good but def. switch things up every other week.

hehe you COULD try this if u want to be sore...

use 60% of your 1-rep max for 10 sets of 10 reps. so if you could max bench 135, use 80lbs. rest only 60 seconds MAX between sets.

use a 4-0-2 tempo; this means you would lower the weight in four seconds and immediately change direction and lift for two seconds.

use only 1 exercise per muscle group, preferably compound movements (bench press, squat, deadlift) no isolation movements. train each muscle group every 4-5 days

I'm a Huge fan of descending sets for intensity and high volume work. It's great for conditioning and losing body fat. If you are not that big and are looking to be i wouldn't use this advanced technique. You should concentrate on core strength and the Big lifts. Squat, deadlift, bench, and bent rows. For a good mass routine built around these check out my test drive blog and this should give you some ideas, but, the sequencing and intensity of that workout are tougher than they look, so you may need to tweek it to your experience level.

Def looks like something I wanna try out. Question: Bomber french curls, is is that an incline or the 45 degree version of a skull crusher? And hise shruggs...it's greek to me ha!

The only thing I can tell you is that variety is what you need. Keep the muscles & your body guessing so you don't plateau. Just change it up on your level. The little things can help you in the long run.

a 5x5 routine is great! If you keep the exercises mixed up in the routine that is. :)
For example (back) if on Tuesday you do:
Wide grip Lat pull downs or chins
dumbell rows
cable rows

Then on Friday do:
close grip Lat pull downs or chins
Tbar rows
Deadlifts

Keep it mixed up to keep your body guessing.
a 5x5 routine lifting 4 days a week helped me gain a lot of strength.

If you're going to the 5x5 sets then, you need to find a weight that's going push you.

Steve, a tricep bomber is a type of bar, but you can just as well use an EZ curl bar if that is what you have. This exercise (French curl) is done standing the bar is pressed above youhead and then lowered behind your head, then straighten your arms back overhead.

http://www.exrx.net/Lists/ExList/ArmWt.html#anchor122387 Steve check out overhead tricep extensions and or tricep extensions on this website that one of our RA friends put on here awhile back.

hey Steve, the program i mentioned is called GVT German Volume Training. it is intense and could help you pack on mass quickly. but use whatever floats your boat bro :P