Beginner training routine

Rayman79

OK guys, I've been training for a few months now, and on my current program for about three months of that. It is a four day split but I'm thinking of reducing this to a three day full body routine (it also helps with the time constraints I have due to work atm)

So I'm looking to use the beginners program that has been mentioned a few times on here (thanks Chris), and wanted to ask people's thoughts on a slight tweak to the program.

Here is the routine:
Squat 3 x 10
Bench press 3 x 8
Bent row 3 x 8
Military press 3 x 8
SLDL 3 x 8
BB curl 3 x 8

My thoughts:
Taking out the Squats and SLDL's on the middle workout (ie Wednesday) to give my legs & lower back a little more recovery time - they seem to be the hardest hit and take longer to recover while I'm cutting.
Substituting chinups for the BB curls
If I do take out the heavy leg work from one of the workouts, any suggestions of what other work to replace it with? Maybe put the curls back in for that day?

Or should I just suck it up and leave the program as is?

Rayman79

shameless bump

taekwonkenpo

Sldl meand dead lift i assume?

Rayman79

Yeah, straight legged deads

taekwonkenpo

I am a bit confused about the routine you are suggesting. You only mention one workout. I assume that this routine it split into different days somehow. It is hard to make a suggestion without knowing how you intend to split up your routine.

However, with that being said, I can make one sugestion. The deadlift is a excercise that works out a lot of your body. You should not substitute it for a excercise that only focuses on one muscle group. Deadlift is good for shoulders, back, arms, chest, legs and more. So even without the jist of your routine i would suggest you not take out the deadlift.

Squats....................They are very important. I do them but not as often as i should. I know what you mean by needing longer recovery time after a leg day. But that feeling after working legs is a good thing. Somtimes i will do other leg excercises instead of squats but it is not the best thing to do.

yamichi

Gonna echo the ninja turtle- DL is a fantastic exercise and so is squat. That being said, if this is a single workout and you're doing it 3x a week, your recovery is going to be brutal and I'd definitely keep DL to twice a week if you're lifting heavy. Different people have different strengths. I'd squat every day if I could but Bench kicks my *kitten*.
What kinds of weights are you doing for these? What kind of time constraints do you have?

Please get rid of the BB curls as you mentioned

Rayman79

Sorry I wasn't clear on this, it is a full body routine three days a week. (ie Mon, Wed & Fri).

My question was mainly around swapping out the squats and DL's on the Wednesday to maximise recovery time.

I have done StrongLifts 5X5 before and found squatting 3 x a week was leaving me pretty sore most of the time. In essence I really just want peoples thoughts on squats and DL s twice a week and whether some of the more experienced trainers have tried both 2x & 3x per week and what worked better for them personally.

The other thing was if I do take the squats and DLs out of one session, what do I replace them with? Don't worry, I'm not a curl bro , but the program suggests curls for 'elbow health' and I was thinking perhaps an isolating bicep, tricep or calf exercise once a week would be a decent addition. Maybe I could add in a close grip bench instead?

I understand this is probably micromanaging at this point, but just wanted to put it out there for comment.

Punktorian

I don't think that is too much a few months into training. As the intensity picks up or if you are not feeling recovered for the next session you might want to consider dropping the weight a bit one day a week but I don't think you need to take them out or replace them. Since it is a SLDL and not a full on heavy deadlift it should not be too bad as long as you keep the weight reasonable.

As for curls, Derek Poundstone does different variations of curls so I don't see any reason for anyone else to take them out entirely. I don't know about "elbow health" but biceps are used in other lifts like stabilizing a bench press.

It is one of those things you are going to have to figure out as you go since your ability to keep up with it depends on so many factors.

yamichi

Ah that makes sense and Punk has some good advice as well. I would do "real" deadlift once a weak, SLDL once a week, and squat twice. I don't think I'd be too concerned about squatting three times per week. Listen to your body. i lift fairly heavy so I do DL once and squat twice per week. If your body says you're overdoing it, you probably are.

As for Elbow health- curls MAY have some help with that but flat BB curls probably won't. The perfectly flat hand position puts your elbows in an unnatural position and I'd wager it'll damage them, not help them. If you're gonna do curls, use DBs and do hammer and natural curls. Just my opinions on curls

It looks like a good routine. Maybe do some lunges in place of the DLs?