I have adopted a theory that doing a single set of each exercise 1-2 times a week is enough and that the diminishing returns from additional sets is large enough to make doing more than that a waste of time (especially for beginners/novices like myself).
I have no evidence to back this up and I have adopted this theory mostly because I have never really liked lifting weights much. It's the hanging around, repetitive part that I despise. But I've found that if I do 10-15 exercises (mostly dumbbells) for one set of 10-20 reps I don't mind it at all and almost enjoy it. I'm done in about 30 minutes during lunch and think I might be getting something out of it.
Is there any validity to my theory or am I wasting my time with this routine?
I have no background to comment on weightlifting, but your comment ...
It's the hanging around, repetitive part that I despise.
... made me think, "How is that different from swim training?"
I say this because, the other night my wife and I were watching our youngest daughter practice the same gymnastics routine over and over and over again. I said to my wife, "How boring. She's just doing the same thing over and over."
My wife looked at me and said something like, "Didn't you just brag about the godawful number of 100s or 50s on some super fast interval that you did? Don't you swim the same events almost every meet and haven't you been doing that for twenty-or-thirty-something years?"
The point is this: if you enjoy it, it's not repetitive ... even if it really is.
On weightlifting, I think there are a huge variety of exercises that you could do that might add more variety and enjoyment to your sessions.
I have no background to comment on weightlifting, but your comment ...
It's the hanging around, repetitive part that I despise.
... made me think, "How is that different from swim training?"
I say this because, the other night my wife and I were watching our youngest daughter practice the same gymnastics routine over and over and over again. I said to my wife, "How boring. She's just doing the same thing over and over."
My wife looked at me and said something like, "Didn't you just brag about the godawful number of 100s or 50s on some super fast interval that you did? Don't you swim the same events almost every meet and haven't you been doing that for twenty-or-thirty-something years?"
The point is this: if you enjoy it, it's not repetitive ... even if it really is.
On weightlifting, I think there are a huge variety of exercises that you could do that might add more variety and enjoyment to your sessions.
