01-27-2009, 10:00 AM
If you're after any sort of muscle development, whether it's getting JAKT or just to tone up, you have to affect net protein balance - which means heavy weights and sufficient protein and calories.
You can likely affect the degree of growth by controlling progressive overload. If you start with the 5 lb dumbbells and resistance bands, you're not going to grow that much. You'll grow some, but once you hit the limit, that's it. If you're after muscles, whether you're male or female, you need to be putting weight on the bar.
Full-body Three Day Routine
This routine is more oriented for beginners. There's a variety of rep ranges, some compound lifts, and soe isolation exercises just to get a little diversity in there.
Bear in mind that the exercise choices, while solid, are still somewhat arbitrary. If you want to sub one kind of squat for another, or one kind of press for another, there's no problem with that.
Day 1 - Heavy
3-4 sets of 5-6 (heavy)
Back Squat
Bench Press
Barbell Row
(Assistance)
Day 3 - Light
5-6 sets of 3 (light/fast)
Front Squat
Overhead Press
Chinup (or pulldown)
(Assistance)
Day 5 - Medium
3-5 sets of 10
Back Squat (or Leg Press)
Incline Bench
Seated Cable Row
(Assistance)
(Assistance) means smaller isolation exercises. Most people are going to go straight for Da Gunz and shoulders here, but I'd also make the suggestion to not ignore corrective work for the upper back/scapula, and single-leg work for the hips.
If you're doing the vanity stuff for arms/shoulders/calves or what have you, 1-3 sets of 8-10 would be plenty. For corrective work, that's largely individual but I prefer to keep that stuff to higher volumes and less fatigue (meaning, don't train to failure).
Split Four Day Routine
If you're finding that you don't respond so well to three days a week, or just want a change, it's hard to go wrong with the upper/lower split. This gets you a little less frequency but allows for a little more work/stress per session.
This particular brand is a re-named body-part split, so you can feel like a good Bro when you're cranking out the sets.
Day 1 - Upper Body ("Chest")
Bench Press
Dumbbell Flye
Triceps (high volume, 4-6x8-10)
(Upper back corrective work)
Day 2 - Lower Body ("Legs")
Squat
Single-leg Exercise (lunge, split squat, Bulgarian squat)
Glute-ham Raise
Leg Extension
Leg Curl
Calves
Day 4 - Upper Body ("Shoulders/Arms")
Overhead Press
Triceps (heavy, 3-5x5-6)
Shoulder raises
(Upper back corrective work)
Day 5 - Lower Body ("Back")
Deadlift
Weighted Chinup
Barbell Row
Curlz
Suggested set/rep schemes for the big lifts:
* 5x5, the old standby (also 4x6 and 6x4 count)
* 3x8
* 5-6x2-3
* Lots of singles (5-10x1)
When I say "squat" or "bench press", I really mean "any lift that is close". You can do 2-board press in place of bench, rack deadlift in place of deadlift, etc. You don't have to do the actual full lift each time. I'd rather you be consistent with whatever you do pick, but the actual lift doesn't matter that much.
Once your lift is out of the way, just use the other exercises to pump up the muscle. Preferred rep range here is 8-12, and spend anywhere from 1-5 sets, depending on the muscle. Biceps could get away with one really hard set, a bigger muscle might need more.
Same rules apply here, I'd consider throwing in corrective work for the upper back/scapula and the hips either as part of a warmup or after the fact.
What I'm doing here is giving you options; there really are no hard and fast rules. As long as you're meeting the guidelines, chances are you'll be good.
You can likely affect the degree of growth by controlling progressive overload. If you start with the 5 lb dumbbells and resistance bands, you're not going to grow that much. You'll grow some, but once you hit the limit, that's it. If you're after muscles, whether you're male or female, you need to be putting weight on the bar.
Full-body Three Day Routine
This routine is more oriented for beginners. There's a variety of rep ranges, some compound lifts, and soe isolation exercises just to get a little diversity in there.
Bear in mind that the exercise choices, while solid, are still somewhat arbitrary. If you want to sub one kind of squat for another, or one kind of press for another, there's no problem with that.
Day 1 - Heavy
3-4 sets of 5-6 (heavy)
Back Squat
Bench Press
Barbell Row
(Assistance)
Day 3 - Light
5-6 sets of 3 (light/fast)
Front Squat
Overhead Press
Chinup (or pulldown)
(Assistance)
Day 5 - Medium
3-5 sets of 10
Back Squat (or Leg Press)
Incline Bench
Seated Cable Row
(Assistance)
(Assistance) means smaller isolation exercises. Most people are going to go straight for Da Gunz and shoulders here, but I'd also make the suggestion to not ignore corrective work for the upper back/scapula, and single-leg work for the hips.
If you're doing the vanity stuff for arms/shoulders/calves or what have you, 1-3 sets of 8-10 would be plenty. For corrective work, that's largely individual but I prefer to keep that stuff to higher volumes and less fatigue (meaning, don't train to failure).
Split Four Day Routine
If you're finding that you don't respond so well to three days a week, or just want a change, it's hard to go wrong with the upper/lower split. This gets you a little less frequency but allows for a little more work/stress per session.
This particular brand is a re-named body-part split, so you can feel like a good Bro when you're cranking out the sets.
Day 1 - Upper Body ("Chest")
Bench Press
Dumbbell Flye
Triceps (high volume, 4-6x8-10)
(Upper back corrective work)
Day 2 - Lower Body ("Legs")
Squat
Single-leg Exercise (lunge, split squat, Bulgarian squat)
Glute-ham Raise
Leg Extension
Leg Curl
Calves
Day 4 - Upper Body ("Shoulders/Arms")
Overhead Press
Triceps (heavy, 3-5x5-6)
Shoulder raises
(Upper back corrective work)
Day 5 - Lower Body ("Back")
Deadlift
Weighted Chinup
Barbell Row
Curlz
Suggested set/rep schemes for the big lifts:
* 5x5, the old standby (also 4x6 and 6x4 count)
* 3x8
* 5-6x2-3
* Lots of singles (5-10x1)
When I say "squat" or "bench press", I really mean "any lift that is close". You can do 2-board press in place of bench, rack deadlift in place of deadlift, etc. You don't have to do the actual full lift each time. I'd rather you be consistent with whatever you do pick, but the actual lift doesn't matter that much.
Once your lift is out of the way, just use the other exercises to pump up the muscle. Preferred rep range here is 8-12, and spend anywhere from 1-5 sets, depending on the muscle. Biceps could get away with one really hard set, a bigger muscle might need more.
Same rules apply here, I'd consider throwing in corrective work for the upper back/scapula and the hips either as part of a warmup or after the fact.
What I'm doing here is giving you options; there really are no hard and fast rules. As long as you're meeting the guidelines, chances are you'll be good.