An OK Program for a Beginner?

Bigger Stronger Leaner Beginners
1

I have never tried to gain muscle before.
I used to be fat, 5’3 ~ 160 lbs.

I went down to about ~120 lbs over about a year through cardio. I started to do starting strength for about two months. I’m about ~130 lbs now. (I actually started to eat after eating like nothing for a year) but I really don’t like the workout. To me, its kind of boring and I hate doing legs everyworkout.

I heard that in the beginning you don’t need that fancy of a workout. So will this push / pull split work ok?
I tried it for a week and its so much more fun to do.

Push: (Chest, Triceps, Shoulders)
Barbell Flat Benchpress 3x10
Barbell Military Press 3x10
Dips 3x10
Close-grip Flat Benchpress 3x10
Core / Abs

Pull: (Legs, Back, Biceps)
Dumbell Squats 3x10 (I have no power rack yet)
Pull-up 3x4 (working up to more :slight_smile: )
Barbell Deadlift 3x8
Barbell Row 3x8
Standing Bicep Curls 3x10
Core / Abs

I do this workout like this:
Push, off, Pull, off, off, Push, off, Pull, off, off, repeat…

I’m pretty weak right now. Here are my numbers.
Bench Press 105 lbs (3x10)
Deadlift 135 lbs (3x10)

I’m pretty flabby, basically ffb / skinny fat look. My goals are just to add more muscle and lift more until around June - July. I’ll probably weight about 145-150 lbs by then.

I tried to look for some other exercises for hypertrophy but a lot of them say like 8x3.
I’m sort of wary of lifting weight that heavy since I have no spotter and I workout at home.
I have a bench, bar and weights, dumbbells, and I made a pull-up bar.

Some like this http://www.T-Nation.com/article/bodybuilding/stripped_down_hypertrophy&cr=bodybuilding

advocate 5 days a week working out, is this advisable? It just seems like too much to me.

2

You don’t need a fancy workout. Infact, you can get even more simple then what you posted. Check out stronglifts 5x5 (stronglifts.com) or the “starting strength” 3x5 routine: http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=998224

As far as the workout you posted… I don’t like it. For one thing, you’ll be lifting different days of the week all the time. That’s kinda crappy. It’s also imbalanced. You’ve got 4 exercises that are going to work your shoulders/triceps, but only two for your “lower body” and two for your “back”.

Here’s a nice little upper/lower split:
http://www.T-Nation.com/findArticle.do?article=284big2

However, I recommend the stronglifts or starting strength routines. They’re fullbody workouts 3 days a week.

3

I like the stronglifts more than the starting strength, I read a bunch about it and is it really for size though? Even this on the website kind of means its not optimal for size:

  1. Train Low Rep. You can influence the increase in muscle size you get from lifting weights. The process of building muscle is called hypertrophy. You have 2 kinds of muscular hypertrophy:

    • Myofibrillar Hypertrophy. Gives a denser look but less muscle size. You get this by doing less than 5 reps per set.
    • Sarcoplasmic Hypertrophy. More muscle size but you don�??t get as strong. Achieved by doing sets of 8 reps & more.

StrongLifts 5�?5 builds strength & muscle. But you won�??t get the same muscle size as when doing sets of 10 reps. You can further minimize hypertrophy by doing 8�?3 or 12�?2 instead of 5�?5. This is still about 25 reps volume.

I don’t have that much muscle at all (and I desperately want more cause I look like crap).

All I want is a simple program geared toward hypertrophy.

My favorite exercises are
deadlift
bench press
pull ups

so as long as they are in it thats good.

Can anyone recommend a two day split?

4

[quote]chrono0344 wrote:
I like the stronglifts more than the starting strength, I read a bunch about it and is it really for size though? Even this on the website kind of means its not optimal for size:

  1. Train Low Rep. You can influence the increase in muscle size you get from lifting weights. The process of building muscle is called hypertrophy. You have 2 kinds of muscular hypertrophy:

    • Myofibrillar Hypertrophy. Gives a denser look but less muscle size. You get this by doing less than 5 reps per set.
    • Sarcoplasmic Hypertrophy. More muscle size but you don�??t get as strong. Achieved by doing sets of 8 reps & more.

StrongLifts 5�?5 builds strength & muscle. But you won�??t get the same muscle size as when doing sets of 10 reps. You can further minimize hypertrophy by doing 8�?3 or 12�?2 instead of 5�?5. This is still about 25 reps volume.

I don’t have that much muscle at all (and I desperately want more cause I look like crap).

All I want is a simple program geared toward hypertrophy.

My favorite exercises are
deadlift
bench press
pull ups

so as long as they are in it thats good.

Can anyone recommend a two day split?[/quote]

As a beginner you’ll make huge leaps of progress on a moderately low rep rep, as long as your numbers keep going up. If you’re really worried, I’d do an upper lower split with one lower rep day and one higher rep day for upper and lower.

like:
monday:
4x5 squat
4x5 ramping deadlifts
3x10glute ham raise
calves

Tuesday:
Dumbell flat press 3-4x10-12
seated dumbell overhead press 3x8
Chin up 3x12
Bent over row4x6

Thursday:
front squat 5x8
powerclean 4x3
straight leg deadlifts 3x6
calves

Friday:
ramp flat barbell bench to a heavy single or double
Military press 4x5
Chinup 5x5
dumbell row 4x12

Pick an isolation or two at the end of every workout