Reccomendations for 2 day lifting routine?

fit4life76
fit4life76 Posts: 36 Member
edited January 3 in Fitness and Exercise
I recently started lifting heavier weights and am focusing on compound exercises. I think I started doing too many exercises on the same day 3X's per week because I just started feeling super tired! I want to scale back to lifting heavy 2x's a week and on my 3rd day do a lighter circuit training routine, honestly just because I enjoy it. Can anyone recommend a routine for me? I've done research online and find a lot of 3 day full body routines using the compound lifts but not any 2 day ones. Not sure if Stronglifts, Starting Strength, or NROLFW would be beneficial if I didn't follow the programs as suggested.

Replies

  • DopeItUp
    DopeItUp Posts: 18,771 Member
    Take a 3x a week program and only do it 2x a week. Problem solved!
  • fromaquasar
    fromaquasar Posts: 811 Member
    I do Stronglifts, which is actually only a 2 days routine, that you do 3 times a week (so one week you do one routine twice and the next week you do the other one twice). So that would work well as only 2 days a week, as you are doing all the exercises still!

    Have you thought about looking at your diet and sleep rather than scaling back the number of weights sessions? Your body needs fuel and rest to build muscle so you will feel really tired if you aren't getting enough of these. After a good strength session I can easily be in bed by 9 :P It feels so nice to sleep from physical exhaustion though :)
  • victoria4321
    victoria4321 Posts: 1,719 Member
    I've done wendler's 5/3/1 as a two day program.
  • fit4life76
    fit4life76 Posts: 36 Member
    Fromaquasar- I think I definitely over-did it the first month. My routine was this : squats, dead lifts, lunges, rows, lat pull-downs, bench presses, seated presses, and some Ab work 3x's a week. All exercises I did btwn 8 and 10 reps, 3 sets. Then, while looking at some of the other routines, I noticed dead lifts were only done for 1 set! So I'm very confused.. I would do stronglifts, I'm just wondering if doing it twice a week is enough. I really want to incorporate some circuit training back into my exercise schedule. There's so much info out there, I think I'm looking at so many different routines, articles, etc... that maybe I'm over thinking it.
  • kimothy38
    kimothy38 Posts: 840 Member
    My routine was this : squats, dead lifts, lunges, rows, lat pull-downs, bench presses, seated presses, and some Ab work 3x's a week. All exercises I did btwn 8 and 10 reps, 3 sets.
    This is the kind of routine my trainer set for me but I as I do it in my lunchbreak I told him it was too much. So 3 days a week I do squats, deadlifts, lunges/step ups, DB chest press. I do 3 sets of 10-12 reps. Has worked wonders for me. I start each workout with a bodyweight warm up (5 min rower, and a bunch of burpees, planks, sit ups). You're right, there is a lot of information out there and it is easy to get bamboozled. Start off with something simple and change it up as you get more confident or get bored.
  • DopeItUp
    DopeItUp Posts: 18,771 Member
    Fromaquasar- I think I definitely over-did it the first month. My routine was this : squats, dead lifts, lunges, rows, lat pull-downs, bench presses, seated presses, and some Ab work 3x's a week. All exercises I did btwn 8 and 10 reps, 3 sets. Then, while looking at some of the other routines, I noticed dead lifts were only done for 1 set! So I'm very confused.. I would do stronglifts, I'm just wondering if doing it twice a week is enough. I really want to incorporate some circuit training back into my exercise schedule. There's so much info out there, I think I'm looking at so many different routines, articles, etc... that maybe I'm over thinking it.

    2 days is decent, I would say the minimum. If you're doing a circuit training day too I'd say you're fine. Maybe do heavy lifting M/F with circuit training on W. Do moderate/low-impact or even no exercise in between.

    For me, I know that doing squats and deadlifts on the same day would be suicide. I do three days a week M/W/F but never keep the two big moves on separate days. If you really wanted to do squats and deadlifts on the same day I'd probably do less sets. 1-3 sets of each.
  • fromaquasar
    fromaquasar Posts: 811 Member
    TBH I often only get 2 sets of stronglifts in a week (which I am working on!) But because I lift as heavy as I can when I am there, and eat enough, I've seen awesome improvements even with just that (I've doubled my free squatting weight etc)!
  • fit4life76
    fit4life76 Posts: 36 Member
    Thank you all so much, I was thinking I would try to do Stronglifts 2x's a week and then I came across a thread someone posted about a 2 day routine! He has one set up, you just have to plug your exercises in. I'll most likely try that and see how it works out for me. I appreciate everyone's input!
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