Moving to Lifting

bodybuilding.com has a lot of good info. One that I like is ABCbodybuilding.com they have all the book learning you would possibly like all condensed for us non-professionals. Workout suggestions, nutrition suggestions and all physiological discriptions and reports I would care to know.

Pick up the book "New Rules of Lifting" you will not be sorry

I just started Strong Lifts 5x5. I've heard it's a good program. The website is very "market-y" so be careful, but the program is still good.

Seconded. (on both counts....I almost didn't try the program because it sounded so gimmicky, but heard such good things about it. I'm very pleased with it.)

*devious grin*


bodybuilding.com is excellent. ExRx.net is another one, little bit more anatomy heavy. But still good info.

I would suggest dividing upper, lower and core workouts. This maximizes recovery, while keeping you regular.

An example of this would be a 3 - 4 day routine. This is arbitrary, but you could do:

Mon - upper body (Shoulders, bicep, tricep, chest)
Wed - core (planks, superman, bike crunches, mid back)
Fri - lower (hamstring, quads, low back, calf)

You notice nothing repeats. You want at least 48 hours to pass before you repeat a particular body part (notice I didn't say exercise). This is cause you can work muscles in different exercises and repeat them unintentionally.

Just take out a pad and pencil. Divide sections by body part exercised. Select a few that you think would work for you, given abilities, preference to modes used etc. Categorize them by areas that fit into whatever day. Try them out at the gym, some might work great, you might find one you thought would, doesn't and one you thought you wouldn't like you did. You just don't know till you try them. So givem all a try.

Example : I'm big with shoulders. I try to exercise all three delts individually. So 3 exercises on shoulder day. BUT, I also alternate what exercise I choose to use to work that one. I hate cables, machines on my delts. I exclusively use free weights. This is TOTALLY my preference. Machines and cables are just awkward for me.

An example of what my shoulder day includes is 3 sets of 10 reps.

Lateral Delt (3 set / 10 rep)--- I can choose to do upright rows,
Anterior Delt (3 sets / 10 reps) -- I can choose from shoulder press, arnold press
posterior delt (3 set / 10 reps) -- unfortunatly for me, there are no free weight exercises here that are comfy to me. So I instead get this worked through other exercises as a synergist.

The basics are : no repeats for 48 hours at least. Keep a detailed log of what you worked when, and how many you did, weight etc. This will provide you with a log to know where your excelling, plateauing, need to focus on.

Low reps / higher weights is mass building. EX 2 sets 3-6 reps
high reps / lower weights is toning / everyday health / endurance EX 3 sets 8- 12 reps

If you can do an exercise without break 15+ you need to move up. If your failing by 4, you need to go down.

This is alot of info I know, but with some time, research, trial and error you'll be a pro in no time and see results. Ask me anything you want....

New Rules of Lifting is a great book, easy read, no nonsense approach, and the workout programs included are good. I'm a big fan. I more recently picked up the New Rules of Lifting for Abs book and working through those programs. Both books are about $12 on Amazon.

Interesting timing for this topic. I started StrongLifts 5x5 about a year ago. I got 4 months into it, sold a house, moved, moved again, started a different job, etc. Good program and I was making excellent progress. Finally got settled in a new place and was doing a bit more research prior to starting my lifting back up again. All the sites mention above are great. I wanted to add some additional compound lifts to the schedule this time around, so I'm actually start the Starting Strength novice setup that was reference above (the wikia). I'd heavily recommend the book if you're new to "true" back squats.

The garage gym is shaping up. My Rogue beater bar and bumpers should be in on Monday. Still looking for the perfect power cage, but will probably do an inexpensive PowerLine model. All this because the job doesn't really allow me to hit my YMCA at 6am like I used to, and there are too many meatheads doing mid-squats and curls in the power racks at 7pm...sigh.

Good luck, and lift safe.

Good man! Keep an eye on craigslist. Power racks show up all the time (at least in my area).