Weight Training Basics

[donganaaK]

So you've thought about weight training, but you're not quite sure where to start?

    Compound Lifts/Intensity, Volume, and Frequency

 

Compound lifts, the basics of lifting. These are the workouts that, at no matter what level you're at, you should be focusing on the most. These are multijoint movements that will stimulate multiple muscle groups at the same time, as opposed to isolation exercises where, well you guessed it, isolate one muscle at a time. The three kings of compound lifts are: flat/incline bench press, squats, and deadlifts These are going to work the most muscle groups simultaneously and yield the most optimum results. Other compound exercises include: overhead press, pull ups/chin ups, and barbell rows It's not just the exercises that you do that will create progress, you need to also keep your intensity, volume, and frequency in check. If one of them is lower, you need to make up by increasing the other two. I don't really want to dive into the "ideal" set and rep range, because there will be plenty of arguments over which is more ideal based on the different goals. Personally, I like to work in the 3 sets of 12 rep range, with doing more sets and less reps for the more physically demanding exercises (bench press, squat, and deadlifts). But again, that's just me.

Beginner (Full-body workout)

 

Whenever anyone asks me what my recommendations are for working out (given that they're a beginner and have never really been in a weight room before) I always tell them to stick with a full-body routine. When you're a noob, the amount of volume that you will be moving will allow you to work more muscles at once. Sticking to one compound movement per body part, with a touch of accessory work, is usually ideal. Something along the lines of: Chest: flat barbell bench press Shoulders: dumbbell shoulder press Back: barbell deadlifts Legs: barbell back squats Bicep: barbell curl Tricep: tricep rope pushdown Once your strength increases, the volume will start to be too much for you to complete in one night, and that's when you should look to transition into a workout split.

Intermediate (Upper/Lower split)

 

This is now where you dive into workout splits, enough to allow your volume to go up, but not too much to where you're time between muscle workouts is too large. This is where and upper/lower split comes into play. One day you focus on chest/shoulders/back, the next day you focus on quads/hamstrings/calves. Upper: Barbell flat bench press Barbell incline bench press Barbell deadlift OR barbell rows* Pull ups/chin ups Dumbbell shoulder press Lower: Barbell back squats Leg press machine Seated leg extensions Seated/prone leg curls Seated/standing calf raises *deadlifting one day and squatting the next can be very taxing on your body. Feel free to skip the deadlifts if you're working out every 2 out of 3 days. For me, I don't personally like Upper/Lower splits because my upper body requires more volume to feel worked, which then results in a longer time in the gym.

Intermediate (Legs/Push/Pull split)

 

In my opinion, this is the most balanced split that you can work, and what I personally stay on 365 days out of the year. This workout splits up your days based on the motion that you perform. Legs = leg workout, Push = chest/shoulders/triceps, and Pull = back/biceps. I usually say to put your leg day first because, well, let's face it, most people try to avoid leg day - get out there on your first day of the week and crush legs. Legs: Barbell back squats Leg press machine Seated leg extensions Seated/prone leg curls Seated/standing calf raises Push: Bodyweight/assisted dips Barbell incline bench press Barbell bench press Dumbbell shoulder press Tricep rope pushdown Pull: Barbell rows Pull ups/chin ups or wide grip/close grip pulldowns Cable seated rows Barbell/Preacher curls Dumbbell hammer curls

4-day "Bro" split/5-day split

 

This can be viewed as two ways: either you're advanced enough where you need to dedicate a whole day to a specific muscle, or you're just a "bro" and your friend does a 4 or 5 day split so you might as well too. Either way, I would only say to jump to this when the upper/lower or legs/push/pull split days become too strenuous to keep up. 4-day split: Chest/Tricep day Back/Bicep day Leg day Shoulder day 5-day split: Chest day Back day Shoulder day Leg day Bicep/Tricep day Chances are if you're already at this part in your workout career, you won't be looking for advice on how to lift from a general knowledge Imgur post. If you are, however, you can always message me or browse pre-setup guides that you can find on Bodybuilding.com.

Thank you for making it this far, if you have

 

Just as before, thank you for taking the time to read through this (if you have). If you have any questions, try to post them in the comments and I'll get to as many as I can, or maybe others can help lend their insight, or feel free to send me a private message. I did get pretty swamped from the last post, so if it takes a little long, don't hate me for it. Additional tools that I would recommend: - Jefit (phone app) - the best app that you can possibly use for creating, tracking, and managing your workout routines. - www.Bodybuilding.com - they have some generic guides setup there, and have some themed guides. Most are general information, but stick away from the curiously specifically named ones. - www.SimplyShredded.com - they post interviews with some ridiculously fit individual. Most include their current routine that they're on, and what kind of meal plan, but again, most information is tailored specifically to that person. Again, thank you very much, and I hope this will help out a lot of you.

 

[donganaaK]

the formatting isnt clear when I'm trying to paste the content here  .... follow this link , its better

 

http://imgur.com/a/I2Bsl/layout/blog