Lifting advice needed

BellaFe
BellaFe Posts: 323
in Fitness and Exercise
I have been lifting weights since October. I made my own routine consisting of 2-3 exercises per muscle group in splits 4-5 days a week. That was working for me and I saw great results in a short period of time. I recently switched to a full body routine that I found online http://www.projectswole.com/weight-training/a-generic-full-body-workout-routine/. This routine is ok but I kind of feel like I'm not doing enough, coming off of my split routine.

I have been contemplating doing stronglifts based on everyones experiences and recommendations on here. I am, for once at a loss at what I should do. Do I got back to my split routine or give stronglifts a go?

I really don't know which is more beneficial, splits or full body.

Any input would be greatly appreciated.

Replies

  • Loftearmen
    Loftearmen Posts: 380
    When you're first getting into weights it is more beneficial to train with a full body routine because of the increased frequency of the lifts. The training/recovery wave of someone with your level of experience is very short, a few days at most, thus you will get faster results because your training doesn't warrant a whole week of recovery before it is repeated. Stronglifts 5x5 is a good program, there are some other very similar programs that you could follow also like Starting Strength or Madcow's 5x5. I would recommend that you buy the books "Starting Strength: Basic Barbell Training" and "Practical Periodization" by Mark Rippetoe regardless of which one of these progressive overload style programs you choose. They will provide you with the base knowledge necessary to implement an effective program and also how to change your program as you develop higher and higher levels of adaptation.
  • GiddyupTim
    GiddyupTim Posts: 2,819 Member
    Looks like the one you are doing is based on Stronglifts 5x5; only they have made it much more complicated.
  • Troublemonster
    Troublemonster Posts: 223 Member
    Stick with full body compounds, isolations are for body builders etc and in the grand scheme aren't worth that much to most people.

    Why not just increase the training volume of your new routine? Add sets to the new routine or increase weight so that you're working harder. If I'm feeling particularly froggy during a workout and don't feel like I've done enough I usually just add a few extra sets of whatever I am working that day and burn it off.
  • rshields9093
    rshields9093 Posts: 20 Member
    First of all, you shouldn't necessarily worry if it feels like you are not doing enough. A good beginner's lifting routine actually does feel pretty easy. But this ensures that you recover thoroughly between each workout so that you can continue to add weight and progress rapidly. As long as you are seeing roughly linear progress be happy and keep going.

    I completely agree with Loft's recommendation to pick up Rippetoe's Starting Strength and Practical Programming. If you want to save a little money up front just start with Starting Strength. Practical Programming has a ton of useful information about how to build good programs for each level of person (beginner, intermediate, and advanced) but a beginner can get started just fine with Starting Strength alone.

    Even if you decide not to use Rippetoe's exact program as outlined in Starting Strength, the bulk of the book is explaining the proper technique for performing core exercises like the squat and bench press such that you get the maximum benefit from them and do them safely. Even more experienced lifters often learn a few things from this book.

    Oh, and Loft is also absolutely correct that a full body workout (usually 3 days a week) using just a few core compound exercises is the best choice for a beginner. This has been shown in much research and decades of practical experience.
  • DavPul
    DavPul Posts: 61,406 Member
    Stronglifts is going to feel like even less work than your current full body routine. But for your current level of experience, either stronglifts or your full body routine is a better idea than the split routine that you started with. Try that one later on after you've built a solid foundation of strength and form.
  • taso42
    taso42 Posts: 8,980 Member
    Another vote for one of the compound programs. I like Starting Strength, but Stronglifts 5x5 will do. Either way, buy the SS book. It's a great reference. It's about $30, but the Kindle version is 9.99.

    You can use strstd.com to gauge your progress. When you've hit Intermediate, you can change to something more advanced...
  • Lyadeia
    Lyadeia Posts: 4,603 Member
    I only did total body routines when I was a beginner.

    I really like to do split routines, but how you split it up is really up to you.

    I am currently doing a 3 day split, and I work out 4 days a week. So I do workout 1 on Monday, 2 on Tuesday, 3 on Thursday, and start back on 1 for Friday so the first workout of the second week is workout 2. (If that makes sense without writing it all out for you?)

    Strong Lifts and Starting Strength are also good. I also like The New Bodybuilding Workout which is an upper body/lower body split with 2 upper and 2 lower workouts per week using a variety of rep/set counts for either strength or hypertrophy. I did TNB last year and lost a great deal of body fat and even gained about 5 pounds of muscle mass over that year's time (I was focusing mainly on cutting, but would eat more at times just to see what I could do with muscle gain).

    But the best workout you can do is the one that you personally like and will stick with. You only need to change it up when you stop seeing results from it. Most people can stay on a particular routine from 4 weeks to 4 months (depending on how advanced you are) before needing to change it. That isn't to say that you shouldn't change small things, like an exercise here or there...just talking whole routines.
  • taso42
    taso42 Posts: 8,980 Member
    FWIW I'm just finishing my 10th consequitive month of Wendler's 5/3/1 (I did reset after the first 4 months though). I'm Intermediate, and nearly Advanced in some lifts. Still making progress. Still on a compound program. My goals right now are mainly strength, and whatever hypertrophy I'll get as a side effect. If my goal was bodybuilding, I would do a different program. No plans of switching up any time soon. Just continuing to bump up the training max every month and loving it.
  • BellaFe
    BellaFe Posts: 323
    You guys are fantastic! Thanks so much. I was leaning towards starting it anyway, you guys have pushed me over that fence.
  • Lady_Bane
    Lady_Bane Posts: 720 Member
    Splits. You can train a single body part harder when you focus on it exclusively, then let it recover during your other muscle days. You should see faster results by "destroying" one muscle at a time.
  • kathleennf
    kathleennf Posts: 606 Member
    Great thread- thanks for posting! I am just going to "change up" my routine today!
  • rshields9093
    rshields9093 Posts: 20 Member
    Splits. You can train a single body part harder when you focus on it exclusively, then let it recover during your other muscle days. You should see faster results by "destroying" one muscle at a time.

    With all due respect (especially having looked at your pics and clearly see you are doing something very right), I disagree with this advice for a beginner. Full body, highly compound exercise routines are the best choice for a beginner (and I would add that many people are so eager to start calling themselves intermediate that they abandon a still-working beginner's program too soon). There are many reasons for this and they are written about in Starting Strength and many, many other places and many actual controlled studies bear out this opinion. But one major reason I really support the full body compound style of routine for a beginner is that it is not just muscles that are in serious need of training. It is the entire central nervous system (CNS) that needs training in a beginner and nothing does that as well as a full body routine.

    That being said, I agree with everything you said as it applies to intermediate or greater trainees. But even then there are some feasible full body programs out there that have been successful. When one reaches intermediate level there are many ways to go and your choices depend largely on what your specific goals are. But for the beginner, the only goal should usually be to build a basic foundation of general, functional strength. After that is done, then all the other goals (powerlifting, bodybuidling, just looking hot, sports, etc.) are more easily attained.
  • blues4miles
    blues4miles Posts: 1,481 Member
    Also, check out New Rules of Lifting for Women. Might be your thing.

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