How to set up a weightlifting routine

So you've made the decision to start weightlifting. First, welcome to the Brotherhood & Sisterhood of Iron! Weightlifting is a fabulous method to improve fitness. The benefits of lifting go way beyond simply becoming physically stronger and looking muscular. Some of the benefits include, but are not limited to:

• Increased strength
• Increased muscle mass, or preventing loss of muscle during fat loss
• Improved joint stability - decreased risk of falls
• Increased bone density, sometimes even reversing osteoporosis
• Lowered risk of injury
• Improved posture
• Reduced joint pain by addressing muscular imbalances
• Improved performance in other athletic events (sports, running, etc)
• Improved performance in daily activities (cleaning, playing with (grand)kids, etc)
  

...the list keeps going. And the benefits are not just for young adults; anybody of any age can benefit from weightlifting, from little kids all the way to senior citizens.



***** Before I go any further, I should mention my credentials, why you should listen to a word I'm saying. Truth is, I am NOT a certified trainer in any way, I do not make a living in the fitness industry, I did not go to school for this. All I have is 15 years experience lifting, combined with an insatiable need to research as much as I can about whatever topic has my interest. (Don't get me started talking about Star Wars...) If you're ok with this, then keep reading. *****

So, what do I need to get started weightlifting? All you need is something to lift and a plan. That "something" can range from all the fancy machines and weights at a fully stocked commercial gym, to homemade weights like milk cartons filled with water, to simply moving your body against gravity. (Think you can't get a good pump with only your body? Take a look at the gymnasts in the upcoming Olympics, and tell me they have poor muscles.)

Now for the plan part. The best plan is the one which works for YOU. There is no single plan for everybody. One person can dedicate three hours every single day to lifting; somebody else can squeeze out a single hour twice a week. One person has access to all the equipment in the world; others are far more limited. One person wants to lift the heaviest weight possible; another wants to prepare for a sports season; another simply wants to be able to climb the stairs at home.

With so many options and variables possible, often we just want somebody to tell us a routine to follow - do this exercise this many times on this day of the week. Many people turn to personal trainers for advice, men and women who can provide not only guidance on how to do an exercise correctly but can also tailor a program to your specific needs or physical limitations.

But sometimes a personal trainer is not an option, whether due to finances, lack of access to a gym, not finding one you feel comfortable with, wanting to exercise from home, or any of a number of other reasons. Fortunately, this thread has already compiled an impressive list of possible training plans, for beginners to experts, whether bodyweight or traditional iron.

But how did they come up with these plans? Or what if I don't find one I like, and just want to come up with one on my own? In the remainder of this thread we will discuss the how's and why's of setting up a basic weightlifting routine.



Let's say I want to follow the advice of the CDC and many personal trainers (to include MFP's own @Retroguy2000, to whom I owe credit for portions of this discourse) and want to do 10-15 sets for chest per week. There's lots of ways you can do this, but first, let's define a "set".

A "set" means moving the weight one or more times in a row before resting. If I pick up a hand weight and curl it 10 times before putting it back down, that's one set with ten reps. After a minute I pick it up and do 10 more curls, that's now two sets of ten. Realize that not all sets are the same; a person who lifts a massive weight a single time before resting has done one set; a person who lifts a light weight a hundred times has done one set.

Now, back to the original question of how to get in 10-15 sets per week. I can choose to do all 10-15 sets on the same day, say every Monday. By the end of the workout my chest is very tired, and it may not feel ready to exercise again until the following Monday. This pattern of working a muscle group once per week is often referred to as a "bro split", so named from the days of young jocks on the beaches of California lifting massively to flaunt and flirt with the ladies.

But many trainers are suggesting instead of doing 10-15 sets all at once, instead break it up into two workouts, say 5-8 on Monday and another 5-8 on Thursday. By doing less volume in a single workout you are not as tired/sore and can recover faster, plus there's scientific evidence that by doing multiple smaller workouts per week you get better overall results than if you do it all in a single day and nothing else. Some advanced lifters may even do chest three times per week, but for beginners the advice is usually twice.

So ok, we're doing 5-8 sets of chest on Monday. I can now pick a single exercise (chest press) and do 5-8 sets of this exercise. But just like with splitting the sets across multiple days is good, so also is splitting the day's sets across multiple exercises. So instead of 5-8 of only chest press, let's do 3-5 sets of chest press and 2-3 sets of pushups for example. Theoretically you can continue to split across even more exercises, say four exercises with two sets each, but there's a limit to how much good further dividing will do.

So let's wrap it all up in a bow for chest:

Monday:
Chest press 3 sets
Pushups 3 sets

Thursday:
Machine press 3 sets
Dips 2 sets
Decline Pushups 2 sets

This is only an example, you can select whatever chest exercises you prefer, but this shows how you get a total of 3+3+3+2+2=13 sets for chest (right in that 10-15 range) split across two workouts.

You can now choose whether you want to lift super heavy for only 1-5 reps per set, or medium heavy for 6-10 reps, or light for 10-15 reps, or any combination. Some people do heavy for the first exercise of the day, medium or light for the rest; some people (myself included) choose one day to go heavy on all exercises, the other day to go all medium or light; some people go all light for a few weeks, then all heavy, and back and forth. It's all personal.



At this point, we need to also define the term "working set". Before your first lift of the day, you should do some warming up of the muscle, whether through a light jog, some calisthenics, or doing a couple sets of your first exercise of the day but with a much lighter weight, just to get the blood flowing. These are "warmup sets".

A "working set" is where the rubber hits the road, when you are working the muscle to improve. How much weight should you use? Depends on your goal, what your target number of reps will be. Let's say I aim to increase strength, so I choose a goal of 5 reps. If I choose a weight I can easily complete 20 reps with, and stop after 5, am I going to improve my strength? Probably not. You need to select a weight heavy enough that you can complete your goal reps, plus a couple more. So if my goal is 5 reps, I should feel at the end of the set like I can do another rep or two, but only if I absolutely had to.



How do you KNOW what that weight is? Honest answer is: you won't. Not at first, not until you actually try. The first time you try an exercise, it's guesswork. Even somebody who has been lifting for decades, the first time he/she tries a new exercise, they can only make an educated guess what their limit will be until they actually try.

So how do you find out? The safe answer is to start with a very light weight and do a set. You will hopefully be able to finish all your reps and feel like you could do a whole bunch more. (If you are unable to finish the reps, you need to reduce the weight and try again.) Now add some weight before trying again. You should only add a small amount, no more than 5lbs (2.2kg) for upper body movements, no more than 10lbs (4.5kg) for lower body. If this is again too easy, the next time you will add yet more weight. Repeat this process until you zero in on a weight which is in the Goldilocks zone: not too heavy to finish your reps, not too light to fail to challenge you.

"But if I only do 2 or 3 sets at a time, this may take me several workouts, even several weeks, before I find the right weight!" Yep. It is infinitely better to take your sweet time, even feeling a little silly, than to risk increasing too fast and hurting yourself. Not only does pain suck, but then you have to take time to recover, time you could have been spending pain-free and training towards your goal. But don't feel like you're wasting your time during this build-up process, because you are gaining experience, practicing the movement, building a rapport between your brain and your muscles. Just because you are not yet at maximum intensity does not make it a wasted workout.

Eventually you will reach a point where you are lifting just right for each exercise. And it's important to realize that each exercise has its own special Goldilocks zone. Just because two moves both work the chest does not mean you can lift identical amounts for both of them! This is where accurate record keeping is critical, not only so each exercise gets the exact weight for it, but so you can track progress from one workout to the next. Paper logs work, as can an Excel spreadsheet or a variety of online websites and phone apps. Find one which works for you, and track your improvements, because eventually you will find the weight you've been using is no longer as challenging. Congratulations! You've grown stronger, and need to increase the intensity in order to continue to force the body to adapt, to get stronger.

Note that I said increase INTENSITY, not just increase weight. What's the difference? There's more than one way to increase the intensity of a workout, which is a good thing, because eventually you won't be able to increase the weight any longer and will need to do something else to keep getting better. This thread includes an entire discussion on intensity techniques, and this post is already getting long enough, so I won't repeat it here.



If you want to hit every body part twice per week, you will have to do multiple body parts in a given workout. How you divide is entirely up to you, here's just a few ways people have scheduled their lifting:

Monday - Full Body, Thursday - Full Body

Mon - Upper Body, Tues - Legs, Wed - Off, Thu - Upper Body, Fri - Legs, Weekend - Off

M - Push (chest, triceps, shoulders), T - Pull (back, biceps), W - Legs, Th - Push, F - Pull, Sat - Legs, Sun - Off

M - Push, T - Pull, W - Legs, Th - Off, F - Full Body, Weekend - Off

...and so on.



As you get more experience lifting we can start to talk about total volume, alternate angles, periodization (a fancy word for changing your weights/reps from one workout to the next), and a host of other minor improvements. But for someone starting out, your goals should be:

1. Determine what days per week you want to lift
2. Divide your sets across those days so each body part is hit twice, with a total of 10-15 sets per week
3. Decide which 2-3 exercises you want to do for your sets and a comfortable weight for each exercise
4. Get to work!



Ok, I promise I'm done talking (for now). If anybody else wants to add any information to what's included here, or an actual certified trainer wants to correct anything I said wrong, I welcome the comments below.