I am looking for a good 'ole quality routine for strength. I was thinking...
M/W/F
Squats
Bench Press
Deadlifts
Pullups
Military Press
Barbell Curl*
Skull Crushers*
What kind of set/rep scheme should I be doing? Thanks for the help.
Depending on how easily you can stimulate growth maybe think about doing:
Monday 2x15
Wednesday 3x10
Friday 4x8
How does it look?
That will increase your strength, just about any lifting will. The above rep/set scheme will get you a good balance of strength, hypertrophy, and endurance. If you really are a beginner, you should stick to lighter-weight work until you get the proper form down, and have built a good basic core of strength.
However, if your only goal is to gain strength, you might want to try something a bit more like this:
Monday 5X5
Wednesday 3X10 (Dynamic - i.e. use a light-wieght and lift AS FAST AS YOU CAN. Start with your 10 RM.)
Friday 3X3 (Start light and keep adding weight until you get to your 3RM, do 3 sets of 3 at your 3RM)
Read up on "Westside Barbell" programs.
Also, you should swap-out the barbell-curl for barbell rowing. (It'll work your biceps too!) You've got more 'pushing' movements in here than you have 'pulling' movements, and eventually your shoulders might have trouble.
You want to do 5 compound movements, then 2 more isolation movements just for good measure all in one workout, 3 times a week?
If youre a beginner, which I get the feeling you are... I would suggest doing:
deadlifts
squats
barbell rows
military press
chinups
dips
bench press
and good mornings or lunges, if you want.
And breaking those up into 2 movements (or 3, depending) each monday wednesday and friday. Since you want to increase strength use lower rep schemes with relatively higher weight (more on that...) like 10x3 or 5x5.
About heavy weight... You'll gain more strength short term, as well as longer term if you learn the correct form. You'll also avoid a shitload of injuries short and long term with the right form.
Rows???
If you are worried that leaving out skulls and curls will lose you arm size, then you are mistaken. If you want to build strength, dips and close grip chins will do a better job, hitting more overall muscle fibres, meaning greater training economy. Moreover, these lifts will transfer to curls and skulls, meaning that you will be able to shift more iron in those lifts without even doing them! The reverse is not neccessarily true.
If you really love doing them and they motivate you to go to the gym, keep doing them but dont do them just for the sake of your ego. I used to make the same mistake, but now I leave my ego at the door when I hit the gym.
Rep ranges really depend on your goals. If you want to build max strength then you are gonna have to go low on the reps and high on the load.
There are loads of ways you could periodize it and more than enough info on this site as to how you could do it.
I would definitely do deads and squats at different ends of the week. Also I would think about training antagonists in the same session:
e.g.
BB Bench, BB Row
Pull-Up, Military Press
Squat, Romanian Dead
Dead, Lunge
It really depends on your training level and goals. More info would be helpful.
So would this work with the rep scheme you recommended?
Ookkk.... what about this?
M- 5x5
W- 3x3
F- 5x5
1 min. 30 sec. rest
I want to do the above cycle because I do not want to have a constant change on my set/rep scheme, I prefer to do the same repititions so I can do progressive overload and what not.
M/W/F
Bench Press
Deadlift/Squat
BO Barbell Rows
Military Press
Barbell Curl
Skull Crushers
So how long should I use this workout routine? 1-2 months?
I would go more like this:
Monday
Squat
1 Leg Romanain DL
Pull Up
Military Press
Wednesday
BB Row
Bench Press
Close Grip Chin
DB Shoulder Press
Friday
Deadlift
Lunge
DB Row
DB Bench
Week 1 4*4 (5RM)
Week 2 4*6 (same load)
Week 3 3*3 (new 4RM)
Week 4 5*3 (same load)
Week 5 4*4 (new 5RM)
Week 6 5*5 (same load)
If your loads increase faster than that, lift heavier.
If you have to, add curls at the end of Monday and skulls on Friday.
The pros on this site are way better than me though, so you could probably get a better program from them.
I would also be tempted to through in some direct grip training on off days.