Hello all, I plan to start weightlifting again very soon and want to focuse on strength training. It seems to be that some of you have knowledge (more then I do) in this particular area. At least five days a week I will be doing cardio exercise(treadmill or bike) at my local gym I plan to signup at. I need to come up with a schedule for the most productive strength workout I can get. If anyone can spread some knowledge would greatly appreciate it.
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Weightlifting help
- Thread starter Mr.QuakQuak
- Start date
Don't strength train too often. The rest between workouts to let your muscles heal is very important. Give yourself at least 48 hours before repeating a lift - more is better. I allow anywhere from 2 days to a week before repeating a lift - there is other stuff you can do in between if you want to exercise.
I keep my training diet pretty simple - I eat normal food, I don't use supplements, I make a point of getting lots of vitamins and nutrition from the food I eat. I do stay very aware of my protein intake and try to get about 200 grams a day. I also make a point of taking in some carbs before a workout - especially if it's been awhile since I've last eaten.
I do 3 - 4 sets of any given lift / exercise and rest about 1 to 2 minutes between sets. I try to use enough weight so that I am doing around 10 reps on the last set. Something like: (repetitions) 14,12, 10, 8 is just about perfect (IMO)
Lower weight / higher reps is good for toning, and probably a good way to ease into a workout routine. Higher weight, lower reps is better for building mass.
Whatever you do, any exercise - good form is the most important thing. Always do your exercises slow and controlled, using the muscles that your supposed to be using. I believe that 10 good exercises are better than 50 "bad" (sloppy / fast / poor form) exercises.
I keep my training diet pretty simple - I eat normal food, I don't use supplements, I make a point of getting lots of vitamins and nutrition from the food I eat. I do stay very aware of my protein intake and try to get about 200 grams a day. I also make a point of taking in some carbs before a workout - especially if it's been awhile since I've last eaten.
I do 3 - 4 sets of any given lift / exercise and rest about 1 to 2 minutes between sets. I try to use enough weight so that I am doing around 10 reps on the last set. Something like: (repetitions) 14,12, 10, 8 is just about perfect (IMO)
Lower weight / higher reps is good for toning, and probably a good way to ease into a workout routine. Higher weight, lower reps is better for building mass.
Whatever you do, any exercise - good form is the most important thing. Always do your exercises slow and controlled, using the muscles that your supposed to be using. I believe that 10 good exercises are better than 50 "bad" (sloppy / fast / poor form) exercises.
Thank you so much Matt. I was thinking a different muscle group a day.
For example : Monday - Shoulders, Tues - Chest, Wed - Arms, Thurs - Legs, Fri - Back. I'll find a safe way to fit abs in there but I plan to be lifting a hour plus a day. This way I get a week inbetween.
I'm not into sloppy form. I've always tried to stay in good form so I know it's working. Sloppy form and I'll just hurt myself.
I can't wait for legs, want to be able to get over 600lb on inclined leg press. Shouldn't take me TOO long to go over it but I won't push it. Last thing I want is to injure myself.
For example : Monday - Shoulders, Tues - Chest, Wed - Arms, Thurs - Legs, Fri - Back. I'll find a safe way to fit abs in there but I plan to be lifting a hour plus a day. This way I get a week inbetween.
I'm not into sloppy form. I've always tried to stay in good form so I know it's working. Sloppy form and I'll just hurt myself.
I can't wait for legs, want to be able to get over 600lb on inclined leg press. Shouldn't take me TOO long to go over it but I won't push it. Last thing I want is to injure myself.
That sounds like a pretty full schedule. I find that it's really nice to have a day that is a complete rest day. Even if your doing a different exercise everyday, you can get to a point where every muscle in your body is sore pretty easily and sometimes it's hard for muscle groups to recover when you workout that much. Also, 5 days a week cardio along with 5 days a week strength training sounds like it could be a recipe for burn out - watch out for that. If you push yourself too hard and it gets to be a real P.I.T.A of a chore, you are likely to have trouble getting motivated to do it all after awhile and could end up stopping altogether. To get the most out of your workouts, and your gym membership, be sure to establish a reasonable routine that you can stick too long term. My $.02 (I'm up to $.04 now!)
If I feel overworked I will definitly change the schedule. That was only a example anyway. I wouldn't mind giving myself a Wed off 
Matthew Bryson said:
When I saw the start of this thread, I knew I wanted to respond. But after reading this reply from Matthew, I can't add much, so I'll just offer support to what he has said.
Its important to eat right. If you want more muscle and strenth. You have to take in protein and carbs. The only supplements i take are protein shakes. And try to do each excercise in the correct form. Don't put too much weight and cheat. If you have any questions PM me and ill try to help you out. 
Ben_P said:Two-hundred grams of protein? Isn't that like six and a half cans of tuna?
I suppose you could go on an all tuna diet if that's what you like, not my choice. Here's what I ate yesterday at breakfast, lunch and dinner to get my protein.
Chicken Bake - 44g
2 cups of 2% - 16 g
Frozen Dinner (Turkey) 18g
Frozen Dinner (Salsbury Steak) 26g
2 cups of 2% - 16 g
Beef Steak (estimated) 70g
4 cups of 2% - 32 g (estimated - probably actually had more..)
I'm sure I had some other things that gave me some protein as well, but this stuff was my main protein sources - it adds up to 222g. Pretty typical day. Also, if you're not getting enough protein at meals, a snack of beef jerky will get you right back into the right range for the day.
I have one word of advice: GET A SMITH MACHINE!!!
You can do squats safely, which are the single best excercise you can do. They work the biggest muscles in the body, and trigger a testosterone release that strenghtens your whole body. You can also do lateral pulldowns and benchpresses without a spotter. (however, these will not work your stabilizer muscles) I'd recommend getting some dumbells to use with the bench for thath and do dumbell bench-presses, forming an A shape motion. There are alos lots of other excercies you can do with these things.
So basically excercising is good. I'd also recommend doing some dips. Dips are tha shizzle.
You can do squats safely, which are the single best excercise you can do. They work the biggest muscles in the body, and trigger a testosterone release that strenghtens your whole body. You can also do lateral pulldowns and benchpresses without a spotter. (however, these will not work your stabilizer muscles) I'd recommend getting some dumbells to use with the bench for thath and do dumbell bench-presses, forming an A shape motion. There are alos lots of other excercies you can do with these things.
So basically excercising is good. I'd also recommend doing some dips. Dips are tha shizzle.
I actually feel that a weeks worth of rest is manditory for each muscle. I also feel that you should do synergistic muscles on the same day, so that you are not working them more than once a week.
Here is my workout routine:
Sunday - Delts/Traps/Abs
Monday - Legs
Wednsday - Chest/Triceps (note that most chest exercises require triceps)
Friday - Back/Biceps (note that most back exercises require biceps)
5 days of cardio will not only burn you out, it will leach energy from those hard earned workouts! If you really want to do cardio, do it only 2-3 times a week in-between your resistance training.
If you just want to gain lean mass, then eat a good amount of carbs before you do cardio, that way you will not leach from your muscles (I forgot what the term for that is). If you are trying to lose fat and gain lean mass, then don't eat before you do cardio. It may be difficult to lose fat and gain lean mass as you will have to balance your diet for cutting out a lot of food, while still maintaining a high amount of protien and carbs needed to make all that hard work you put into resistance training show any results.
I also feel that supplements are very useful. Especially Whey Protien. Its not some muscle enhancing drug or anything, it is basically just protien extacted from milk. Take one scoup when you wake up, and two scoups after you get back from training. You may also want to look into malto-dextrin powder, if you feel you cannot intake a high amount of carbs from foods (I take it because I didn't eat very much before I started training, you'd be suprised how difficult it is to eat more!). And later in your training, you may want to try creatine. Creatine is one of the chemicals in muscles, it can be found in most meats, but in order to intake to most amount of creatine your body can store, you would need to eat like 10 steaks. So taking a supplenmental creatine would be helpful, but probably not until you are about 6 months into your training.
Here's a more detailed breakdown of my routine:
Sunday:
Military press. 3 sets 8 reps
Lateral Front Raises: 3 sets 8 reps
Shrugs: 4 sets 8 reps
Beefcake Shrugs: 4 sets 8 reps
Crunches
Monday:
Squats: 4/8
Calf Raises: 8/8
Hamstring Curls: 4/8
Leg Extension: 4/8
Wednsday:
Dumbell Press: 4/8
Tricep Pushdown: 3/8
Fly: 4/8
Dips: 3/8
Skull Crushers: 3/8
Friday:
Deadlifts: 4/8
Seated Rows: 4/8
Lat pulldowns: 3/8
EZ Bar Bicep curl: 3/8
One arm Dumbell preacher curls: 3/8
In conclusion: 1 weeks rest, synergistic muscles on the same day, 5 days of cardio will hurt you more than help, mind that you may need to balance cutting foods while still taking in a high amount of protien/carbs, supplements are good, and have a set routine.
Feel free to ask me any questions.
Here is my workout routine:
Sunday - Delts/Traps/Abs
Monday - Legs
Wednsday - Chest/Triceps (note that most chest exercises require triceps)
Friday - Back/Biceps (note that most back exercises require biceps)
5 days of cardio will not only burn you out, it will leach energy from those hard earned workouts! If you really want to do cardio, do it only 2-3 times a week in-between your resistance training.
If you just want to gain lean mass, then eat a good amount of carbs before you do cardio, that way you will not leach from your muscles (I forgot what the term for that is). If you are trying to lose fat and gain lean mass, then don't eat before you do cardio. It may be difficult to lose fat and gain lean mass as you will have to balance your diet for cutting out a lot of food, while still maintaining a high amount of protien and carbs needed to make all that hard work you put into resistance training show any results.
I also feel that supplements are very useful. Especially Whey Protien. Its not some muscle enhancing drug or anything, it is basically just protien extacted from milk. Take one scoup when you wake up, and two scoups after you get back from training. You may also want to look into malto-dextrin powder, if you feel you cannot intake a high amount of carbs from foods (I take it because I didn't eat very much before I started training, you'd be suprised how difficult it is to eat more!). And later in your training, you may want to try creatine. Creatine is one of the chemicals in muscles, it can be found in most meats, but in order to intake to most amount of creatine your body can store, you would need to eat like 10 steaks. So taking a supplenmental creatine would be helpful, but probably not until you are about 6 months into your training.
Here's a more detailed breakdown of my routine:
Sunday:
Military press. 3 sets 8 reps
Lateral Front Raises: 3 sets 8 reps
Shrugs: 4 sets 8 reps
Beefcake Shrugs: 4 sets 8 reps
Crunches
Monday:
Squats: 4/8
Calf Raises: 8/8
Hamstring Curls: 4/8
Leg Extension: 4/8
Wednsday:
Dumbell Press: 4/8
Tricep Pushdown: 3/8
Fly: 4/8
Dips: 3/8
Skull Crushers: 3/8
Friday:
Deadlifts: 4/8
Seated Rows: 4/8
Lat pulldowns: 3/8
EZ Bar Bicep curl: 3/8
One arm Dumbell preacher curls: 3/8
In conclusion: 1 weeks rest, synergistic muscles on the same day, 5 days of cardio will hurt you more than help, mind that you may need to balance cutting foods while still taking in a high amount of protien/carbs, supplements are good, and have a set routine.
Feel free to ask me any questions.
I eat pretty healthy as it is. But I will need some more carbs when I start lifting though as I have cut them down somewhat. Thanks for the info Spank and others. I just need to come up with a good schedule.
Mr Quack Quack, I have a comment about the splits in your schedule. You have one day for shoulders, for example, and one day for arms, etc. My concern is when you said you have one day for legs and you have a goal of surpassing 600 pounds on the incline leg press.
Here's my concern. Leg muscles, being some of the biggest in the body, can create a very demanding workout. I mean, if you do all leg areas in one day: glutes, quads, hamstrings, calves, inner and outer thighs--you will have one exhausting workout if you are working on heavy weights such as you mention.
I see lots of guys in the gym that NEVER plate up a leg press machine to 600 pounds or even close. If you are working that heavy, you will really feel a total leg workout if you do it all in one day. Why? Because if you want to achieve a 600 pound leg press, you will also need to do very heavy hamstring curls in order not to develop imbalances between front and back. Too, you should be doing squats and calf raises, so as not to develop bulgey quads with weak hamstrings and smallish glutes behind and weak calves below.
Doing all that heavy work to keep muscle balance in one day will leave you weak, sore and tired. I dare say, it can damage joints and tendons, too. Heavy leg presses can wreak havoc on your lower back and your knees, especially if your technique isn't perfect and you haven't strengthened your other muscles to match the strength you want in your leg presses.
My advice would be to divide up your leg workout and add it to rest of the week. Maybe do different leg parts on three days of the week along with the upper body part you set for that day.
I don't know what your present strength is in regard to leg presses, squats, chest presses or any other criteria. I do say go easy and slow. You have set out a very ambitious program. You don't want to overtrain or, even worse, sustain an injury.
I wish someone who actually knows you at the gym could give you some advice based on your present capacity. That person could help set up a graduated program for you so you don't burn out or injure yourself.
By the way I am by no means trying to dissuade you or discourage you from achieving the goals you have set out. I'm just trying to help you MEET those gaols in a safe and timely manner. Good luck. Please let us know when you shoot past that 600 pound leg press and let us know how you did it. I'll be very proud of you.
Here's my concern. Leg muscles, being some of the biggest in the body, can create a very demanding workout. I mean, if you do all leg areas in one day: glutes, quads, hamstrings, calves, inner and outer thighs--you will have one exhausting workout if you are working on heavy weights such as you mention.
I see lots of guys in the gym that NEVER plate up a leg press machine to 600 pounds or even close. If you are working that heavy, you will really feel a total leg workout if you do it all in one day. Why? Because if you want to achieve a 600 pound leg press, you will also need to do very heavy hamstring curls in order not to develop imbalances between front and back. Too, you should be doing squats and calf raises, so as not to develop bulgey quads with weak hamstrings and smallish glutes behind and weak calves below.
Doing all that heavy work to keep muscle balance in one day will leave you weak, sore and tired. I dare say, it can damage joints and tendons, too. Heavy leg presses can wreak havoc on your lower back and your knees, especially if your technique isn't perfect and you haven't strengthened your other muscles to match the strength you want in your leg presses.
My advice would be to divide up your leg workout and add it to rest of the week. Maybe do different leg parts on three days of the week along with the upper body part you set for that day.
I don't know what your present strength is in regard to leg presses, squats, chest presses or any other criteria. I do say go easy and slow. You have set out a very ambitious program. You don't want to overtrain or, even worse, sustain an injury.
I wish someone who actually knows you at the gym could give you some advice based on your present capacity. That person could help set up a graduated program for you so you don't burn out or injure yourself.
By the way I am by no means trying to dissuade you or discourage you from achieving the goals you have set out. I'm just trying to help you MEET those gaols in a safe and timely manner. Good luck. Please let us know when you shoot past that 600 pound leg press and let us know how you did it. I'll be very proud of you.
I work out only 5 days a week and it works well. I take off the weekends.
Monday- I do full squats, leg curls, calf raises, power cleans, bar curls, db curls, leg extensions
Tuesday- Bench, (DB) Incline Bench, Lat Pulls, Nose Breakers, Tricep Pushdowns, Shoulder Combo, dips
Wednesday (Abs)- Sit ups, hyperextensions, Cardio Work
Thursday- Box Squats, Clean Pulls/Hang Cleans, calf raises, leg curls, leg extensions, bar/DB curls
Friday- Bench, DB bench, Lat pulls, Nose breakers, Tricep pushdowns, shoulder combo, pull ups, weighted dips
If you need an explaination of any of the exercises PM me
John
Monday- I do full squats, leg curls, calf raises, power cleans, bar curls, db curls, leg extensions
Tuesday- Bench, (DB) Incline Bench, Lat Pulls, Nose Breakers, Tricep Pushdowns, Shoulder Combo, dips
Wednesday (Abs)- Sit ups, hyperextensions, Cardio Work
Thursday- Box Squats, Clean Pulls/Hang Cleans, calf raises, leg curls, leg extensions, bar/DB curls
Friday- Bench, DB bench, Lat pulls, Nose breakers, Tricep pushdowns, shoulder combo, pull ups, weighted dips
If you need an explaination of any of the exercises PM me
John
Boplicity said:
You aren't discourageing me at all. I'm very thankfull people are being so helpfull. The main reason I 'was' able to get that high is I played football for a few months a while back and then still continued to lift after I quit. I'm going to try to figure out a good schedule in the next few days. Weight limit I no longer know because I haven't strength trained in a while but I want to set up the muscle groups I will work out each day. I have hurt myself before lifting and it wasn't fun at all so I've been carefull ever since.
I greatly appreciate all the help people have given me. Thank you all
Just read the part with hang cleans, God I haven't done them in a while. Kind of miss them because once I got the technique down the weight I was able to handle increased a nice amount.
If I may ask, would someone please help me come up with a Monday-Wed-Fri lifting schedule ? I'm having trouble comming up with a solid strength training routine for 3 days a week and a few of you offered such great advice I though you could be of great help.
Mr.QuakQuak said:
I have been using this workout for the past couple months. It's worked great for me. Specially since I wasn't training with a partner.
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reasonbass said:Its important to eat right. If you want more muscle and strenth. You have to take in protein and carbs. The only supplements i take are protein shakes. And try to do each excercise in the correct form. Don't put too much weight and cheat. If you have any questions PM me and ill try to help you out.
I have to second the protein idea.
My roommate is trying to make the Baylor basketball team, so he's CONSTANTLY working out. Works out 6 days a week, every week, religiously. When he got here this past summer, he was fairly big, but he is absolutely MASSIVE now. The only supplements of any type that he takes are protein shakes. He never eats any sweets during the week, but on the weekends he'll occasionally splurge. He also eats basically ZERO red meat--no hamburgers or steaks especially.
I wish I was as dedicated as him. If I was, I'd probably be as big as him. His biceps are, all joking aside, as big as my thighs.
Good luck, Quack.
Ty McNeely said:
I know a guy like that, except he went from being fairly shrimpy to being a total nomdar. He works out 6 days a week, and I think(not sure if he still does this) he regularly skips down to the gym to do like, I don't even know what you'd call them, relaxation sets? like, you'll find him at teh gym at the weirdest times, but he'll only go for like 5 minutes, just like do some benches then leave. He could juts be addicted to working out.
at anyrate, this guy takes like 3 different supps, Whey protein, creatine and some other stuff I've forgotten. He's one burly dude. He eats a lot too, Like, once I caught him after he ate 4 Double-double burgers. The crazy thing is that, while he does have some pretty burly muscles, he's not necessarily a big guy ya know? he's just got that lean muscle thing going on.
I've been going to the gym about 3 times a week for hte past couple weeks, I've been going with a friend who used to play football so he knows a bit about weight training, but still we're both pretty amateurish when it comes to these things. I also have been playing *a lot* of soccer, which is pretty much all intensive cardio, so in lieu with what spank posted, I guess that's not a very compatible routine, especially considering my diet could use some revising. *but* all that aside, I have noticed some improvement in my stamina, and my overall strength, so, even though I have a pretty shoddy routine, there has been some benefit, though I'm sure it's a tiny fraction of my potential if I really went all out.
reasonbass said:
I don't know about the muscles trained each day. As I mentioned in my earlier post, it is best to work a muscle once a week, giving it a full weeks rest. There aren't too many back exercises that don't involve biceps, and not too many chest exercises that don't involve triceps (well actually there are a few, but when I say chest, we all know the primary exercise is the press). So if you do a chest/back legs/abs arms/shoulders split, then you are working your arms twice in a week. I wouldn't recomend that, especially from such an intense training method as this one.
Everything else seems like it would be effective, but I'd recomend this split:
Chest/Triceps/Shoulders
Back/Biceps/Traps
Legs/Abs
