Hello all,

A Days

- DB Bench Press : 3 sets, 8-12 reps
- Deadlift: 3 sets, 8-12 Reps
- DB Shoulder Presses: 3 sets, 8-12 reps
- Pull Ups
- Cable Pulldown: 3 sets, 8-12 reps

B Days

- DB Incline Bench Press: 3 sets, 8-12 reps
- Bent Over Row: 3 sets, 8-12 reps
- Squats: 3 sets, 8-12 reps
- Dips
- Back extensions: 3 sets, 8-12 reps

Days in between I want to do 20 min HIIT cardio + some AB exercises. From what I've read it seems that compound exercises are extremely important. I'm not sure if I'm mixing my exercises up right or if I need to include some more isolate exercises. Any advice is appreciated.

Thanks!

Do you do A and B once a week, or multiple times?

Hello all,

A Days

- DB Bench Press : 3 sets, 8-12 reps
- Deadlift: 3 sets, 8-12 Reps
- DB Shoulder Presses: 3 sets, 8-12 reps
- Pull Ups
- Cable Pulldown: 3 sets, 8-12 reps

B Days

- DB Incline Bench Press: 3 sets, 8-12 reps
- Bent Over Row: 3 sets, 8-12 reps
- Squats: 3 sets, 8-12 reps
- Dips
- Back extensions: 3 sets, 8-12 reps

Days in between I want to do 20 min HIIT cardio + some AB exercises. From what I've read it seems that compound exercises are extremely important. I'm not sure if I'm mixing my exercises up right or if I need to include some more isolate exercises. Any advice is appreciated.

Thanks!

We need to know how many times per week you do each workout and how many rest days. But from what I see, you may want to consider splitting up your routine into say 3 days (A, B, and C). You should add BB Bench Press in there. Also, Bench, Squats, and Deadlifts might be better suited for separate days.

Day A: Bench, dips, and other excercises similar
Day B: Deadlift, Rows, other back exercises
Day C: Squats and other leg exercises.


That's basically my split. I just keep rotating with a day off after every 2. It works good to combine exercises that go together. Back and Bi's on same day. All leg stuff on same day. All bench and tri's on same day, etc.

I was thinking

A

Cardio

B

Cardio

A

Cardio

Rest

But, I kinda like what you laid out Flows with the ABC combination (originally I was shooting for something like this because I wanted a separate day for legs),I might give that a shot. I'll also make sure to do those exercises that work the same body part on the same day.

Thanks for the help guys.

I was thinking

A

Cardio

B

Cardio

A

Cardio

Rest

But, I kinda like what you laid out Flows with the ABC combination (originally I was shooting for something like this because I wanted a separate day for legs),I might give that a shot. I'll also make sure to do those exercises that work the same body part on the same day.

Thanks for the help guys.

Yeah, Flow's idea of breaking things into a push day (bench, shoulder presses, etc), pull day (deads, pullups, etc), and a leg day (squats) is what I try to do. It works quite well.

You have a lot of good exercises in your plan, but you're going to be hitting your chest and shoulders each and every workout. If you're lifting heavy, you're going to wear out very fast doing different kinds of presses constantly. At the very least, swap the DB incline off day B.

I was thinking

A

Cardio

B

Cardio

A

Cardio

Rest

But, I kinda like what you laid out Flows with the ABC combination (originally I was shooting for something like this because I wanted a separate day for legs),I might give that a shot. I'll also make sure to do those exercises that work the same body part on the same day.

Thanks for the help guys.

Both ways will work, your plan looks just fine, and depending on your level of fitness and the time you have spent under the bar, it may even be better. How long have you been lifting for?

Cable pulldowns are going to work nearly the same muscle group as pullups. I'd put your back extensions there instead of the pulldowns, and B days, I'd put chinups where you had back extensions. Other than that, nice :)

How long have you been lifting for?

I lifted for a year or two in school, but those were mainly isolate exercises because I was oblivious to everything else. The passed few months I've been lifting with my buddy (doing his routine), which again focuses on many isolate exercises. However; over the passed few weeks I've been working in compound exercises to learn proper form and I feel extremely comfortable doing them now.

****REVISION****

A - Monday

- DB Bench Press: 3 sets, 8-12 reps
- DB Incline Press: 3 sets, 8-12 reps
- Shoulder Presses: 3 sets, 8-12 reps
- Dips
* Maybe some isolate exercises (TBD)

CARDIO - Tuesday

- 20 min HIIT

B - Wednesday

- Deadlifts: 3 sets, 8-12 reps
- Pullups and/or Cable extensions: 3 sets, 8-12 reps
- Rows: 3 sets, 8-12 reps
- Back extensions: 3 sets, reps TBD
* Maybe some isolate exercises (TBD)

CARDIO - Thursday

- 20 min HIIT

C - Friday

- Squats
- Leg exercises
- Ab exercises

CARDIO - Saturday

- 20 min HIIT

If I feel comfortable enough and have made some gains in the months to come, I will switch my routine up to what I originally had.

Thanks for the advice everyone! I'm extremely excited about all this. I've worked my diet plan out, and I feel like I have a solid workout routine. I wish I could see into the future as to what I'm going to look like because I know it's gonna be different.

I lifted for a year or two in school, but those were mainly isolate exercises because I was oblivious to everything else. The passed few months I've been lifting with my buddy (doing his routine), which again focuses on many isolate exercises. However; over the passed few weeks I've been working in compound exercises to learn proper form and I feel extremely comfortable doing them now.

****REVISION****

A - Monday

- DB Bench Press: 3 sets, 8-12 reps
- DB Incline Press: 3 sets, 8-12 reps
- Shoulder Presses: 3 sets, 8-12 reps
- Dips
* Maybe some isolate exercises (TBD)

CARDIO - Tuesday

- 20 min HIIT

B - Wednesday

- Deadlifts: 3 sets, 8-12 reps
- Pullups and/or Cable extensions: 3 sets, 8-12 reps
- Rows: 3 sets, 8-12 reps
- Back extensions: 3 sets, reps TBD
* Maybe some isolate exercises (TBD)

CARDIO - Thursday

- 20 min HIIT

C - Friday

- Squats
- Leg exercises
- Ab exercises

CARDIO - Saturday

- 20 min HIIT

If I feel comfortable enough and have made some gains in the months to come, I will switch my routine up to what I originally had.

Thanks for the advice everyone! I'm extremely excited about all this. I've worked my diet plan out, and I feel like I have a solid workout routine. I wish I could see into the future as to what I'm going to look like because I know it's gonna be different.

That looks very solid to me now. My plan is quite similar, and I have different exercises I swap out every 6 weeks or so. For example, DB bench can become BB bench, pullups and be swapped for power cleans, etc. That way you're using the same format, but mixing up the exercises. Then once you get used to the new exercises, you can go back to the original ones.

You'll see great gains on that program if you keep your nutrition in line. Like with any plan, there will be plateaus, and there will be times when it won't hurt to try something else. But you've got yourself a good foundation.

Best of luck. :tu:

I lifted for a year or two in school, but those were mainly isolate exercises because I was oblivious to everything else. The passed few months I've been lifting with my buddy (doing his routine), which again focuses on many isolate exercises. However; over the passed few weeks I've been working in compound exercises to learn proper form and I feel extremely comfortable doing them now.

****REVISION****

A - Monday

- DB Bench Press: 3 sets, 8-12 reps
- DB Incline Press: 3 sets, 8-12 reps
- Shoulder Presses: 3 sets, 8-12 reps
- Dips
* Maybe some isolate exercises (TBD)

CARDIO - Tuesday

- 20 min HIIT

B - Wednesday

- Deadlifts: 3 sets, 8-12 reps
- Pullups and/or Cable extensions: 3 sets, 8-12 reps
- Rows: 3 sets, 8-12 reps
- Back extensions: 3 sets, reps TBD
* Maybe some isolate exercises (TBD)

CARDIO - Thursday

- 20 min HIIT

C - Friday

- Squats
- Leg exercises
- Ab exercises

CARDIO - Saturday

- 20 min HIIT

If I feel comfortable enough and have made some gains in the months to come, I will switch my routine up to what I originally had.

Thanks for the advice everyone! I'm extremely excited about all this. I've worked my diet plan out, and I feel like I have a solid workout routine. I wish I could see into the future as to what I'm going to look like because I know it's gonna be different.



That's now basically a once per week per bodypart split.


As a beginner I think you should maybe either go with 3 full body workouts per week, or a 4 day upper body/lower body split, doing each split twice per week. This way you'll be working the muscle groups 2-3 times per week, i.e. much more regular stimulation of the muscles than just once per week.

For Full Body 3 x per week, something like :-

Monday - each exercise 3 x 10 reps :

Squats
BB or DB Bench Press
Chinups/Pullups or Lat pulldown (move onto chinups/pullups as soon as can do only 2 or 3)
Swiss Ball ab crunches or weighted crunches etc.
Seated cable row or one arm dumbell row at bench (this is easier for beginners than standing bent over BB rows or V attachment Olympic Bar row)
Seated dumbell or barbell shoulder press or standing barbell shoulder press
BB curl or preacher curl (just 2 sets)
Bench Dips (add weight plate to lap if necessary, again just 2 sets)

Wednesday - each exercise 2 x 15 reps

Same as Monday except swap deadlifts for squats, and do 4 x 6-8 rep range for this exercise, 2 x 15 for the others (this may necessitate lat pull down machine as opposed to chinups/pullups) and omit the db curls and bench dips at the end


Friday - each exercise 4 x 5-6 reps


Same as Monday.


That is just my opinion however, others may say defo go for the once per week per bodypart split but I'm not sure that that is best for beginners or intermediate lifters. The other alternative is the 4 day per week upper body/lower body split as mentioned. I think whatever plan you go with stick with it for at least 3 months to see how it goes.

Now your routine looks pretty close to mine. HOWEVER, I use the weekend days too.

Sunday A
Monday off
Tuesday B
Wednesday C
Thursday off
Friday A
Saturday B
Sunday C
Monday off

you get the idea. I can hit each exercise 8 times per month with this split. Works out to 1.846 x per week :D