Strength training questions

There's really no reason to immediately go to a split program since you're beginner.
The very best thing you can do for yourself is find a program geared for you, a progressive lifting program, and stick to it until it just doesn't work anymore.

There is Starting Strength by Mark Rippetoe.
There is also 5x5 Stronglifts you can find free on the internet.

Both are solid programs. Stronglifts is derivative of starting strength, and has far less explanation, but it's also free.


But basically it looks like:

Day 1:
Squat
Bench Press
Deadlift

Day 2:
Squat
Bench Press
Power Clean / Pendlay Row

Eventually, you add dips/pull ups.

The above compound exercises will hit all those areas much harder and better than doing a bunch of isolation work.


For example, you can isolate each of these:
Quadriceps
Hamstrings
Calves
Hip Abductors
Hip Adductors
Abdominal
Oblique

Or just do a ****ing barbell squat.


As far as weight and reps:
SS is 3x5
SL is 5x5

You start out with an empty bar and add weight every singe workout session.
You add 60lbs to your squat in the first two weeks!



PS - Power cleans and squats did amazing things for my cycling. I can really dig deep from those power cleans for sprinting and getting out of the saddle.

Thank you wellbert. You are right, I probably need to go with the "less is more" method until I get further along. Also thanks for the program recommendations, a great place to start.

You probably have nearly a year's worth of 'beginners gains' to rely on. Take full advantage!

Another thing to add to Wellbert's post is making sure you focus on form when you lift. It's not enough to just pick up a heavy weight and either push or pull it from point A to point B.

www.exrx.net has many detailed descriptions of isolatory and dynamic movements and how to perform them, including video. www.bodybuilding.com also has good descriptions of exercises and how to perform them properly.

The key that I've discovered is making sure you don't let your muscles rest when you're doing your set. Get a good contraction out of the muscle but don't let it rest during the set. Keep a good pace going with your reps, too. Steady, not fast, but not super slow either, unless you're practicing just for form. Going a little lighter when you start will help a lot with making sure you've got good form. Also, watch how long you rest between sets. For isolation exercises (working one muscle at a time), they should be pretty short, like 1 or 2 minutes. For squats, deadlifts, push press, etc, you will want a few more minutes so that you're heart rate can come back down.

Also, another thing that I've discovered (and that my trainer has helped me deal with) is not prescribing yourself a rep limit or goal per set of an exercise (unless you are finding your max or something). I used to do that and when I reached my goal of 12, I didn't really feel all that worked. So, naturally, I upped the weight, but still kept the rep goal. I worked harder, but I didn't end up pushing myself. Point is, don't limit your potential by setting rep limits but also don't pick a weight so light that you end up doing 30 reps. A good weight training session should leave you feeling pretty taxed.

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Power Cleans is not a beginner exercise, get 100% comfortable with your squat and deadlift before you even consider this one.

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