Hey,I’m new to T-Nation and I was looking for some help in setting up a program. For the past couple weeks of been reading tons of articles on this site. There is so much good information here and I love it. The problem is that I really don’t know where to begin.
I am a college swimmer and have been swimming competitively for 10 years. I’m in very good shape and have lots of endurance. I’m naturally a pretty thick guy and fairly strong. I have a decent amount of experience in body weight exercises including combat conditioning by matt furey. I’ve now decided that I want to get into weights because from the little experience I have had doing them I enjoy it quite a bit.
What I’m looking for is a program that will increase strength and power for my whole body. I also want to look good but that is a second to increasing strength and power. I also would like something that allows me to train often. I love training and with swimming I’m use to practicing twice a day so I would like a program that would let me work out more than 3 times a week. I’m in very good shape so I can handle frequent workouts. Sorry for the long post. Any help would be appreciated.
Well strength, power, and looks aka hypertrophy (bigger muscles) are only the same beast to a certain extent. Unless by looks you mean you have a higher than desired body fat %. Really you’re not narrowing your search down nearly enough. Lifting 3 times a week? Probably two thirds of the routines on this site either are or can be adapated to 3 workout per week program.
You’re talking about frequency which at first made me think you were interested in an HFT (high frequency training). But 3 times a week looking for streagth power and looks? You gotta be more specific. What muscles are you looking to target? Clarify good looks. How much power do you want?
If you want mostly strength with some explosive power your program is going to look a lot different than one focusing on explosive power with a bit of extra strength. Come back with specifics.
Alright, well I’m looking for mostly strength with some explosive power. And with workout frequency I’m looking for something with more than 3 workouts a week. So my focus is on strength gains while still working on some explosive power. I’m not really interested on focusing on certain muscles but would rather just train my entire body.
The best advice I can give you is to invest in a good training book and read it and follow its advice to the tee.
Im using “The New Rules of Lifting” by Lou Schuler and Alwyn Cosgrove right now.
Also, look up Westside Training.
You might like that.