training

[joexxx]

hey guys im new here, i just got a gym pass and im gonna start working out. im a pretty light guy, 5'8 140, lookin to gain some muscle mass, but more importantly, just gain all around strength and endurance. not sure about bf% maybe around 12%. ive been working out for the past few months but nothing too serious. does anyone have a good basic training routine to help me with my goals? any responses are greatly appreciated.

[Darkhorse]

does anyone have a good basic training routine to help me with my goals? any responses are greatly appreciated.

I suggest reading ALL the stickies. It's all there.

[BG5150]

Try Max-OT at ast-ss.com. I found it great to build up my strength when I got back into lifting.

bf% will be largely dependant on your diet.

[joexxx]

would this be a good routine:
sunday- legs, shoulders, abs
monday-off
tuesday-biceps, back, abs
wednesday- chest, triceps
thursday-legs, shoulders, abs
friday-off
saturday-biceps, back, abs
sunday-chest, triceps

and so on...

[Darkhorse]

I would never go more than 2 days in a row before I take a day off.

Question: Can you give some examples of the weights you're pushing? I find this relevant for this simple fact:

Most people getting into lifting aren't especially strong. What a lot of people (the vast majority) do is a lot of volume using a 4-5 day split. Unfortunately, they do not have a very strong base for lifting. So instead of increasing their strength, they do a lot of isolation exercises like cable crossovers or concentration curls. For a chest workout, they'd make their way up to 185 lbs for a set of 6 reps, and so on.

I suggest anyone new to lifting to focus on increasing strength with the big compound lifts before doing something like a "split"..

Look into Mark Rippetoe's Starting Strength program instead of an accursed split.

Mark Rippetoe's Starting Strength Routine:

*note the dip/chin isnt in the original program

Here is a routine from Mark Rippetoe’s book called “Starting Strength”. You can buy the book at www.startingstrength.com. It includes endless useful info that all beginners should learn. But as for the program he suggests, his clients that he gives it to on AVERAGE gain 30-40 pounds in about 6 months or so which is amazing gains.

The program is as follows:

You alternate Workout A and Workout B every other day, 3 times a week. So you could either do Mon, Wed, Fri or Tues, Thurs. and Sat. Depending on what works best for you.

Example:

Week 1:

Monday - Workout A
Wednesday -Workout B
Friday - Workout A

Week 2:

Monday - Workout B
Wednesday - Workout A
Friday - Workout B

Etc.

For the actual workouts read below:

Note: This doesn’t include warm-up sets

**Means this is OPTIONAL**

Workout A
3x5 Squat
3x5 Bench Press
1x5 Deadlift
**2x8 Dips (if you cant do these or no assist machine then do Decline Dumbbell Bench Press with your hands Facing each other)

Workout B
3x5 Squat
3x5 Standing military press
3x5 Pendlay or Bent Rows (or power cleans)
**2x8 Chin-ups (recommended mainly if doing the cleans)

Assistance work:

Most people cant get it through there head that compound lifts also work your arms Plenty and always Insist on direct arm work. As quoted by Madcow2, “Don't **** with this. Every bodybuilder seems to have Attention Deficit Disorder and an overwhelming desire to customize everything.” If you are one of these people note that you have the option of doing the dips and chins which give PLENTY of arm work. Abdominal work is fine to do also if needed.

I recommend weighted decline sit-ups and/or Hanging Leg Raises at 2x8-10.

Weight:

As for the weight, make sure that you use the SAME weight throughout the sets. For example if I do the first set if Squats with 200lbs then I do the other 2 sets of squats with 200lbs.

Every week make it a goal to increase each of your lifts by 2.5%. Meaning if I lifted 100lbs for my Bench Week 1 then Week 2 I would try for 102.5lbs. If I did 200lb Squats Week 1 I would try for 205lbs in Week 2. Sometimes you will be able to do more but don’t mess with your form just to lift more.

Warm-up Sets:

Before all your working sets it is best to do a few warm-up sets. Specifically for your first lift. You don’t have to do the whole thing for the other lifts but definitely the first.

What you do is you ramp your weight up to your working sets.

For example:

2x5xbar (sets x reps x weight)
1x5x85
1x3x125
1x2x155

And the working set weight would be 175.

If you are lifting your working sets under 150 I would cut out the 3rd warmup set of 1x5 because it wont be needed.

The Lifts:

**Used references and quotes from Madcow2 and Bodybuilding.com**

Barbell Squat: These should be full range Olympic style squats. Use the full range of your body - that means as low as you can go which for almost everyone is past parallel. If the top of your thighs aren't at least parallel it's for sh!t. If you think this is bad for your knees going low, you and whoever told you that are relying on an old wives tale. Anyone who knows the human body will tell you that below parallel is MUCH safer on the knees whereas parallel and above put all the sheer right on them and doesn’t allow proper transfer of the load to the rest of your body (this is how your body was designed).

Rest a barbell on the upper portion of your back, not your neck. Firmly grip the bar with your hands almost twice your shoulder width apart. Position your feet about shoulder width apart and your toes should be pointing just a little outward with your knees in the same direction. Keep your back as straight as possible and your chin up, bend your knees and slowly lower your hips straight down until your THIGHS ARE AT LEAST PARALLEL TO THE FLOOR. Once you reach the bottom position, press the weight up back to the starting position.

[joexxx]

so would it be better to work lowe body one day, upper body next day, then 2 days off and repeat? and the excersises im doing, alot of it is machines but nothing like curls and stuff more like incline press, leg press, shoulder press, stuff like that, ill try all the excersises and do what feels most comfortable, and i kno i should be deadlifting and squatting and benching but i need someone to kinda guide me through those cuz i dont kno WTF im doing lol

[BG5150]

I like full body workouts, 3 times a week...

[joexxx]

fora beginner would full body workouts be the best thing to start with?

[Eric3237]

Originally Posted by joexxx

fora beginner would full body workouts be the best thing to start with?

The Mark Rippletoe program 0311 quoted you above is a full-body three times a week program. There was a time when I might have said something different but now I'll say I wish I had done something like this starting out. Yes, absolutely, I think a full body program is a great way for ANYONE to go, let alone a begginer.

This program will develop any incredible base of strength and get you phenomenal gains provided you eat enough. It's going to feed into whatever you choose to do afterwards much better, I think, then some lightweight high volume split.

The only problem I could see is that you are indicating you are completely knew to deadlifting and squatting. You have to do them for the best gains on a program like this (or any other of course) but it may not be a good idea to learn them on a program using relatively heavy weights and where you'll be doing squats and dead for the first time in the same workout. So you may want to just start trying them for a couple of weeks with light weights and get your form down, etc. If you did want to get right into it, you'd definitely want to start with moderate weight and not necessarily as heavy as your cabable of at 5 reps.

Some others might have some better of more specific ideas on this.

How to Squat

How to Deadlift

[joexxx]

thanx for the replies guys, i just seem to be the kind of guy that doesnt put on weight easily, and ive always been scared to try some of the heavy compound workouts. so would it be best to do:
sun-on
mon-off
tue-on
wed-off
thurs-on
fri-off
sat-off

would this work?