Seeking beginning strength program suggestions

I've been doing Jamie Eason's LiveFit trainer, it's a 3 phase-12 week program, that has been working well for me so far. It's a free program with weekly videos, nutrition advice and meal planning, and a workout schedule that you can upload to your calendar.

http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/jamie-eason-livefit-trainer.html

Thank you, I'll go check that out.

I agree,, there is a lot of information out there but I'm not going to let it paralyze me. I'm close to a decision, but if anyone else has experience they'd like to share that would be great. Thanks to each of you that have taken the time to share your thoughts with me.

My wife and I both have followed Stronglifts. Just download the plan and go from there. No need to put up with all of Mehdi's email spam. It's simple. 3 days of compound lifts and each workout can be finished in/around 45 minutes. We've both noticed marked improvements in strength. I know NROLFW and Starting Strength are great avenues as well, but we both did this.. and worked out together.

Honestly, at this point, if you're wanting to just start training.. just pick one of those three and go to it. You don't have to sign up for meal plans, etc. Just pick one of the three that is listed and get to it. You don't have to change anything else, just add the lifting in and roll with it.

Hi Lenora

I do not follow a strict program but I have a routine I built and you can probably do the same since you have a pretty good handle on this. Maybe I should follow a set up program but I do not have the patience for that. I do a split so what I do would not apply.

If I was going to do a full body work out I would do:

DeadLifts
Bench Press
Squats
Pull Ups
OverHead Press

When doing full body I like to move from upper to lower then back to get some rest for the part. You could also mix in dibs, power cleans, isolation lifts or ab work.

Important - use something to track your workouts and progress. The weights and reps. I use an app called Strong.

Last thing - when I am trying to maximize something, like pulls ups for example, I move that to the first thing because the other lifts will tire me out and I cannot go as hard as I would like.

I think buying the Starting Strenght book is a good move. It has a 3 days per week program in the back. I would follow that. The reason I dont is I like the split of push, pull, & legs. It keeps me in the gym more.

When I look at the list I so casually typed out I cringe. That many lifts in one day would be a killer and probably too much for a single work out. It has been months since I did a full body like that and I remember feeling blown out for 2 days. The workouts in Starting Strenght are a schedule of 3 or 4 lifts per day. Very sensible.

That workout you put together has way too much volume and redundancy. Plus there are some exercises you have in there that I would not do (anything smith machine). In fact some of your exercise choices are very redundant. For example why do leg press, smith machine squats, lunges and step ups if you can do squats? The starting strength workout is good. Its a good amount of volume if you want to get strong, it sticks to basics and it definitely works. One thing you will notice when doing that type of work out is that you really won't get fatigued. Don't let that decieve you because you will be making your whole body stronger. Stick to that workout and do lots of foam rolling + mobility work.

Jeff

I think buying the Starting Strenght book is a good move. It has a 3 days per week program in the back. I would follow that. The reason I dont is I like the split of push, pull, & legs. It keeps me in the gym more.

When I look at the list I so casually typed out I cringe. That many lifts in one day would be a killer and probably too much for a single work out. It has been months since I did a full body like that and I remember feeling blown out for 2 days. The workouts in Starting Strenght are a schedule of 3 or 4 lifts per day. Very sensible.

Haha, I was actually thinking it was too few. I put together the following workout program for a M/W/F schedule. Each exercise would have three sets of 6-8 reps, except for push-ups, planks and crunches as noted. Please let me know what you think. I want to work on my glutes and hamstrings a lot, but otherwise I think it's pretty balanced. Thoughts????


Workout 1
Squats (barbell)
Bench Press
Dumbbell lunges-reg
Push-ups (amrp)
Barbell Hip Thrusts
Lat Pull Down
Dead lift - Romanian

Workout 2
Leg press
Incline Dumbbell Flys
Dumbbell Step-ups
Shoulder Overhead Press
Glute Bridges- weighted
Planks (2 sets minimum of 1 min each)
Dead lift - Straight leg

Workout 3
Squats- Smith machine
Bench press
Dumbbell lunges- rear
Tricep pull down- rope
Kettlebell swings (45-60 seconds)
Ab crunches x 20
Dead lift- Romanian

I'm in my LAST week of P90X & I love it! It's completely transformed my body! Weird thing is, people thing you have to be 'in shape' to do this workout... But that's completely not true! They provide modified moves & tell you to 'push pause' if you need it... You can go at your own pace. I love it!

:flowerforyou: Best of luck!

SS and 5x5 are both great. I recently did the 5x5 routine for a few months and loved it. I'm currently doing a rest-pause routine which keeps my hr up through the entire session. I'm also on bb.com with the same username. Good luck on your fitness goals.