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Hi everyone, I have been gone a while, getting things in my life in order and what not. But I am back now. So I have finally found the perfect diet for myself and I have even dropped one size since April. I am feeling great and I am motivated again (I lost my track a little at some point). I am even going to attempt the next 4 week challenge. Yay! Anyway, so I am looking for a little advice from some advanced members on my sets and reps. Its a simple question that I have really, and I am looking for a simple answer. I do a one set of 12 low weights to warm up (about half my heaviest weight) and on my heaviest weight I am currently doing 3 sets of 8 reps for each exercise. I am busy weight lifting to build lean muscle and lose all my extra fat. It is the only thing that has been working for me. Sometimes I still doubt myself though. Am I on the right track or should I be doing 4 - 5 sets of 8 instead for a better result? I am unsure if it is unnecessary to be adding extra sets. So far the 3 sets of 8 make me stiff but not unbearably sore. Is it necessary to add the extra and create more "post workout soreness" (for lack of a better description). Or should I stick to my 3 sets of weight and just increase my weight when I feel that it is no longer effective? What sets of reps do you suggest? Thank you for in advance for easy to understand advice. You guys rock!

How can I decide how many sets of each exercise I should do? I've read all about how many repetitions and the wait time, but I've seen people recommend different numbers of sets for different exercises. How do I decide? For example, at the moment I can do about 3-4 (not perfect form) pullups, how many sets should I do of these?

Ok, noob question here.. I know that the term "5x5" somehow includes 5 sets with 5 reps, but since both numbers are the same I didn't pay attention to which number is which. I've also read about "3x5"... is this 3 sets of 5 reps, or 3 reps for 5 sets? I'm guessing the former, since I seem to remember seeing "3x15" or something silly elsewhere, and I am skeptical that any routine would have a person doing 15 sets of anything. Just want to clarify. Furthermore, I've noticed that when doing my 5x5 routine, I definitely am lifting enough weight that it's difficult but possible, and yet my muscles aren't crazy sore afterward. What does this mean? It seems like if I'm really working them out as hard as I want to, I should be feeling it when I'm done for the day, or at least the next morning. Instead what happens is I work up a sweat and get my heart rate up while I'm doing it, but feel fine ten or fifteen minutes later. It's weird. Or maybe I'm just not used to it.

For the most part I'm loving the NF Guides. However, I've got a question on the Barbell Battalion one: Rank one uses 2 exercises per workout, each exercise having 5 sets of 5 reps. Does this mean I go, warm up, then do a set of 5 push presses, rest, another set of push presses, rest, etc until completing the 5 sets, and then start my sets of squats? Or do I do a set of push presses, rest, a set of squats, rest, a set of push presses, a set of squats, etc until I've done 5 of each? Does it matter?

I'm feeling a lot less like a noob now, but I do have a very important question I wanted to ask of you more experienced and lovely people. On days when I don't go to the gym, I make do with what I have at home. I do body weight squats, push ups, planks, and things like that. I can't do incline pull ups because of my right hand (flexor tendinitis, had surgery twice), but I do make sure to do assisted pull ups at the gym where the machine has a much better grip on it. At home, my heaviest dumbbell is 10 lbs (in the past I never got much farther past needing it), and already I'm able to tell that it's getting to be too light and I only get a benefit with adding reps and/or sets. My question is this: I'm going to be adding another gym day and was wondering if instead of the usual 3x15 I feel anything from with the 10 lb weights, would it be advisable to switch to the 5x5 with 20 lb weights for my rows and curls? On a positive note, before I could only do 5 second planks, but now I'm up to 10 on a bad day and 15 on a good day and about ready to get rid of the ball for my push ups.

Hi everyone, For the past couple months I've been rotating all my exercises once to complete a set and doing three sets total. In this way, I could do 12 chin ups each time. Today I decided to do all three sets of the same exercise back-to-back before moving on to the next ones. In that fashion, I could only do 12, 6, and 4 chin ups. Quite the dip!! I know people say it comes down to preference, but am I still getting as much out of my workout if I'm doing so many fewer reps? I don't know if I feel as worn out tonight as I usually do (I was able to push harder on other exercises, so I don't really know what the "net effect" is). Thanks for your input!