How do you break down your weight lifting?

impudentputz

Meaning... When you plan out your exercises, what do you pair with what? Do you try not to overload one area too much? Just starting out with weight training and am looking for a few ideas of what to do each day / other day or what have you.

I am looking for pretty much all over, don't want to focus too much on section of my body. So if anyone has any tips they would be greatly appreciated!

infamousdrew76

If you are new to weight training, I would start with something like stronglifts 5x5. I have never personally tried it, but i've heard nothing but good from it, and I wish I had known more about compound movements when I started lifting! I probably would have advanced quicker than I did!

I believe as a beginner, you will get the most from the compounds this type of program incorporates

halleymw

Many people here like Starting Strenght, stronglifts 5x5, or else new rules of lifting for women. Mehdi (who runs stronglifts website) has a simple program of compound exercises that you do 3 times a week, as well as a simple plan on when/how to increase the weights, and what to do when you stall. You don't HAVE to signup for anything, if you do get his email he will ask for you to join his payed service, but you don't have to. I find his emails somewhat interesting, so I don't mind geting them.
I just started a program called ALL PRO Beginners after doing stronglifts for a while and stalling out. , and I like it. so far.

Video explanation:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bMJ__EwOlDo

The original bodybuilding.com forum post:

http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=4195843&page=1

A Simple beginner's Routine
You will do 3 work outs per week on non consecutive days. The first work out is your heavy work out. The second work out is your medium work out, use 10% less weight for your work sets. The final work out for the week is your lite work out, use 20% less weight.

Do a lite warm up with 1/4 of your work sets weight. Do a medium warm up with 1/2 of your work sets weight. Do 2 work sets with the same weight. Choose a starting weight and start light.

These are the seven exercises you will be starting with.

Squats
Bench Presses
Bent-Over Rows
Overhead Barbell Presses
Stiff-Legged Deadlifts
Barbell Curls
Calf Raises

You will be running this program on a five week cycle as follows:
The first week do all 4 sets for 8 reps.
The second week do all 4 sets for 9 reps.
The third week do all 4 sets for 10 reps.
The fourth week do all 4 sets for 11 reps.
The fifth week do all 4 sets for 12 reps.
If you got all of the required reps on the fifth week then increase the weight by 10% and

repeat the cycle. If you didn't get all of the reps on the fifth week then repeat the cycle with the same weight. You shouldn't need more than one minute rest between the warm up sets and you shouldn't need more than one minute thirty seconds between the work sets.
Do some cardio and abs work on non weight training days.

There is a spreadsheet to d/l to figure figure out how to progress, and later in the forum he talks about how to figure out what weight to start at. There is also a JeFit program for the routine.

Mike

jimmmer

All Pro's is great if you're cutting too. It's not commonly recommended on these boards, but it's a fantastic routine!

impudentputz

thank you much guys, I will look into those.

whiskeycharged

Meaning... When you plan out your exercises, what do you pair with what? Do you try not to overload one area too much? Just starting out with weight training and am looking for a few ideas of what to do each day / other day or what have you.

I am looking for pretty much all over, don't want to focus too much on section of my body. So if anyone has any tips they would be greatly appreciated!

Google push, pull, legs routine. It's simple and works your entire body in 3 days and then you repeat. One day you do all exercises that incorporates a pushing movement (chest, tri's, some shoulders), next pulling (back, bi's, some shoulders) and then legs. Stick with compound movements.

barnzey901

I tend to stick to two muscles per day for example:

Monday- Quads/Hamstrings/Glutes

Wednesday - Chest and Delts

Thursday - Biceps and Triceps

Friday - Core

Sunday - Traps/Lats/Rhomboids

I add in cardio each day as well as doing various classes, but I stick to the same muscles for each day

holothuroidea

I lift twice a week, and do 3 lifts each time. A squat, a posterior chain movement, and an upper body movement. I cycle between variations for variety.

-Squats (front squat, back squat (high bar or low bar), overhead squat)
-Posterior chain (deadlift, good morning, romanian deadlift, kettlebell swings)
-Upper body (strict press, push press, push jerk, ring rows/pull ups, bench press)

I generally do 5x5 but it gets switched up a lot. A max effort set could get thrown in, or I'll try a higher weight for 3x5. Sometimes I do intervals of two different movements, like 5 deadlifts and 10 kettlebell swings or 5 bench press and 10 ring rows. Sometimes my coach throws in an accessory lift (like bent over rows).

The idea is to have a lot of variety so your body never gets used to doing the same thing over and over again (also it's more fun this way IMO).

danimalkeys

As a beginner, I'd recommend one of the full body routines like 5x5, Stronglifts, etc. Spend time (a year or more) building up your base strength, form, and technique on the lifts. Once you have a good solid base, then you can branch out and do a bodypart split where you might target 1-2 body parts a day, or a routine based around the lifts themselves vs bodyparts- squat and assistance for squat one day, bench and assistance for bench another day, deadlift and assistance for deadlift another day, press and assistance for press another day.

JustJennie1

I start with 30 min of cardio and then I do one muscle group per day and alternate abs and legs. I do 3 sets and strive for 10 reps but typically since I am lifting heavy it's more 10/8/6. Sometimes I'll drop the weight down so I can bang out the last reps to make it 10.

But as far as my workout goes for example this week was:

M: Chest/Legs
T: Back/Abs
W: Shoulders/Legs
Th: Tri's/Abs
Fr: Bi's/Legs

Monday will start with chest/abs etc. Leg and ab day I do different exercises: squats, lunges, DL, leg extensions, cable ab/adductor & back kicks etc. crunches, captains chair, decline crunches, weighted twists . . . I also just created 3 weeks worth of weight training programs that I intend to cycle so next week it will be a new program with different exercises to keep it from getting boring.

danimalkeys

I start with 30 min of cardio and then I do one muscle group per day and alternate abs and legs. I do 3 sets and strive for 10 reps but typically since I am lifting heavy it's more 10/8/6. Sometimes I'll drop the weight down so I can bang out the last reps to make it 10.

But as far as my workout goes for example this week was:

M: Chest/Legs
T: Back/Abs
W: Shoulders/Legs
Th: Tri's/Abs
Fr: Bi's/Legs

Monday will start with chest/abs etc. Leg and ab day I do different exercises: squats, lunges, DL, leg extensions, cable ab/adductor & back kicks etc. crunches, captains chair, decline crunches, weighted twists . . . I also just created 3 weeks worth of weight training programs that I intend to cycle so next week it will be a new program with different exercises to keep it from getting boring.

How do you measure progress with such a varied routine? Or do you not care if your lifts go up? (not trying to be snarky with that comment, I'm curious- I'm probably the opposite and will stick with a routine for a long time if I continue to make progress on it).

davideickelmann

Do a full body workout on alternating days until your lifts become heavy enough that your compound exercises begin to interfere with each other. Once that happens you can go to a 2 day split (upper/lower or push/pull) until your lifts start interfering with each other at which point you can go to a 3 day split (push/pull/legs is common) or a muscle group split (Chest/Tri, Legs/Bi, Shoulder/Tri, Back/Bi is what I use, there are others).

JustJennie1

I start with 30 min of cardio and then I do one muscle group per day and alternate abs and legs. I do 3 sets and strive for 10 reps but typically since I am lifting heavy it's more 10/8/6. Sometimes I'll drop the weight down so I can bang out the last reps to make it 10.

But as far as my workout goes for example this week was:

M: Chest/Legs
T: Back/Abs
W: Shoulders/Legs
Th: Tri's/Abs
Fr: Bi's/Legs

Monday will start with chest/abs etc. Leg and ab day I do different exercises: squats, lunges, DL, leg extensions, cable ab/adductor & back kicks etc. crunches, captains chair, decline crunches, weighted twists . . . I also just created 3 weeks worth of weight training programs that I intend to cycle so next week it will be a new program with different exercises to keep it from getting boring.

How do you measure progress with such a varied routine? Or do you not care if your lifts go up? (not trying to be snarky with that comment, I'm curious- I'm probably the opposite and will stick with a routine for a long time if I continue to make progress on it).

I don't understand the question? By "varied" do you mean because I have 3 different weight workouts that I am going to be doing or the split? With the three different workouts I am using different equipment - free weights, cables etc. - and targeting different muscle fibers. I measure my progress by how heavy I lift each time. I WAS doing the same routine for a really long time -- like a couple of years -- and I stagnated (even though I was lifting heavy) and was getting bored to the point where I didn't even want to go to the gym any more because it was the same thing.

danimalkeys

I mean, how do you measure your progress? Are you constantly adding weight to each lift, or do you use the same weight and rotate the routines?

JustJennie1

I mean, how do you measure your progress? Are you constantly adding weight to each lift, or do you use the same weight and rotate the routines?

I constantly add weight to each lift and each set. By the third set I am pretty maxed out and struggling at the end.

Topsking2010

Bump