building a strength program

I'm studying up on this as well... today was my first attempt at strength training and it was awkward, to say the least! From what I've learned, strength training is absolutely great for weight loss and you aren't going to bulk up if your cutting calories. Bear in mind that I'm a total noob when it comes to this, though! I have a link that may help you... its a general overview of health and fitness for beginners but a majority of it relates to strength training and it has a few links to different routines. Hope it helps!
http://www.liamrosen.com/fitness.html

Also, your progress is amazing! Great job, man! :flowerforyou:

Step one- Define your goals.
Step two- Define your abilities. How much time and energy will you dedicate to this? What equipment do you have access too?

For a two day routine, I would suggest a split like legs/abs/back and shoulders/chest/arms.

It will take time to find a routine that works for you, so don't be afraid to experiment. I will post a link for you in just a few minutes...

I have found the quickest, safest, and most efficient way to get started (note, I said started...you can switch to weights later if you really want...but it's not really necessary either) in strength training is bodyweight exercises, at home. This eliminates the 'I don't feel like going to the gym today' excuse. You can complete the exercises in 30-45 minutes at home, with little to no prep time and without having to go out of the house.

Now, to really simplify it...I found a series of full on programs designed to initiate a person into bodyweight exercises over on bodyweight culture's forums (no, I'm not advertising for them...I have just truly found this stuff to work). As long as the mods allow a link to the original article to remain, I don't think the original poster will have any issue whatsoever with me reposting it here...so here goes:


"Bodyweight Culture article, courtesy Cheesedog at:
http://www.bodyweightculture.com/forum/showthread.php?11058-Bodyweight-Strength-Training

Bodyweight Strength Training

People are always asking about strength training using only bodyweight. This is nothing new or revolutionary. I am borrowing HEAVILY from Rippatoe, Bill Starr, and lots of other great authors and trainers. This is your basic 5 x 5 template. (To clarify, 5x5 is 5 reps x 5 sets. The idea is to work at a difficulty level where you could only do maybe 7-8 reps on the first set, and are struggling to finish 5 reps on the last set).

You would do strength training 3 times a week, say Monday-Wednesday-Friday with the weekends off. These are done "lazy circuits" style, with about 1 minute rest between each set.

Workout A

1A. Knee dominant - 5 x 5
1B. Horizontal push - 5 x 5
1C. Horizontal pull - 5 x 5
2A. Ab - flexion - 3 x 5
2B. Ab - static 3 x 30 seconds

Workout B

1A. Knee dominant - 5 x 5
1B. Vertical push - 5 x 5
1C. Hip dominant - 5 x 5
1D. Vertical pull - 5 x 5
2A. Ab - rotation - 3 x 5
2B. Grip and neck training - 3 x varies

Exercise Progressions - with regular weight training you can just add weight to the bar. With bodyweight progression is mostly about changing your leverage. These are just a few examples, I'm sure we could come up with dozens more if needed. You can always add resistance in the form of a weighted vest or backpack or resistance bands.

Exercise options (please search youtube if you need a visual example of each exercise):
1. Knee Dominant -- squats, lunges, step-ups, bulgarian split squats, unilateral bent leg deadlift, partial one leg squat, one leg squat, box or stair pistols, full pistols.

2. Horizontal Push -- pushups, decline pushups, resistance pushups, side to side pushups, stair one arm pushups, negative one arm pushups, full one arm pushups.

3. Horizontal Pull -- body row, resistance body row, negative one hand row, incline one hand row, full one hand row.

4. Ab - flexion -- crunches, situps, resistance or incline situps, reverse situp, resistance or incline reverse situps, hanging knee or leg raise, hanging pikes, rollout from knees, rollout from feet, dragon flag. Also included are oblique moves like side lying crunches with or without resistance and side lying two leg raise.

5. Abs- static -- 4 point prone bridge, 3 point prone bridge, 2 point prone bridge, 4 point supine bridge, 3 point supine bridge.

6. Vertical Push -- pike pushup, hindu pushup, divebomber pushup, decline pike pushup, decline hindu pushup, decline divebomber pushup, one arm pike pushup, negative handstand pushup, handstand pushup with head touching floor, full handstand pushup.

7. Hip Dominant -- supine hip extension, good morning, one leg stiff leg deadlift, split one leg good morning, one leg supine hip extension, hyperextension, one leg hyperextension, natural glute-ham raise.

8. Vertical Pull -- jumping or assisted pullups, pullups, resistance pullups, side to side pullups, negative one hand pullups, one hand pullups. All these can refer to chinups or neutral grip pullups as well.

9. Ab - rotation -- twist crunches or situps, resistance or incline twist crunches or situps, russian twists, lying windshield wipers, standing rope rotations, hanging windshield wipers.

10. Grip and Neck Training -- for grip you can use handgrippers, deadhangs from a pullup bar (especially a fatbar or gripping a towel). For neck nothing beats wrestlers bridges. If you are involved in a striking martial art or sport, finger and fist pushups are very important also.


None of these lists have to end here. If you get strong enough you can always add resistance to your full range of motion one limb exercise. Or if you can do more than 5 one hand pushups do decline one hand pushups, or start working on one hand hindu and then eventually one hand dive bombers, and so on."

Basically, the idea is to perform ALL of the exercises in workout A on Monday...choosing from the listed exercises in the appropriate area near the bottom of the workout. Rest or do simple cardio tuesday, then wednesday, perform ALL of workout B, again choosing from the proper exercises. Rest/cardio thursday, and friday you'll do workout A again. Rest/cardio saturday, full rest sunday, then monday you'll do workout B, then complete A and B again through the week. The exercises are listed easiest to hardest in order...so as each becomes simple for you to complete, you can move up to the next exercise, or add weight/resistance to the existing exercise. If you finally reach a point where you'd like to hit the gym...by all means do so! But keep this as a fall back for those days where you can't make it...but don't want to miss your workout completely =D.

In just over a month of serious dedication with this, I've lost almost 20lbs and have increased my strength substantially. There is before and after pictures on my profile. It's a pretty effective plan!

Cris