Scheduling a new weightlifting routine, advice appreciated

[Lights Out]

I´ve been outa training, yet again, for a couple of weeks. The reason, as usual is work.

I had to susbtitute a friend in his night shift and had been doing nothing but working (but not out, lol! <-this is mine), sleeping and eating junk food for the past weeks. I´ve lost some weight, BTW, despite my asking-for-a-heart-attack diet and lifestyle in these weeks.

Anyway, I had a chance to think about my training regime, and have been thinking on how to schedule it.

Altrough I´ve always been a fan of three-day per week, different body parts each day schedule, but I probably won´t be able to save time for lifting on mondyas, since I´ll have to choose between kickboxing and lifting, and I think I currently need more kickboxing at this time.

So, that leaves me with two days of lifting per week, wednesdays and fridays.

I´m seriously considering full-body workouts, altrough other options would be considered aswell.

I´m trying to put it all together, but I´m finding a little trouble making up my mind.

So far this is what I have:

1.Objetives

Packing some muscle, good muscle, the kind of muscle that makes you strong. And, of course, gaining "functional strenght" (oh noes, I´ve said it!!!).

2.Exercises whose inclusion on the shedule is mandatory:

-Squats
-Deadlifts
-Pull ups/lat pulldowns (strating with lat pulldowns, since my current physical state doesn´t let me perform more than one or two reps of pull ups at best. Will switch to those ASAP).
-Barbell Rows
-Dips
-Flat barbell bench press
-Dumbell press/military press


3.Exercises that could be included in the schedule, if judged necessary

-Stiff-legged deadlift
-Barbell curls
-French press
-Lateral dumbell raises
-Pull-overs
-Some kind of grip/forearm exercises
-Some variation of the bench press (incline, dumbell, etc.)
-Some variation of the aforementioned back exercises

4.Set/rep sheme

This is the section that is givieng me the most trouble. I´ve been thinking of something along the lines of 4-6 reps per set, attempting to reach failure in the last (or two last) set(s) at 4-5.

Now, the most trouble I´m finding is how many sets should I perform per exercise, or per muscle group if I were to do more than one exercise per muscle group per day.

5.General considerations

-Workouts should not last more than one hour at most. :5clock:
-There should be two different workouts per week, in order to keep things interesting, even if I finally go for full-body workoputs.
-I can´t deadlift and squat the same day.
-Abwork is done as conditioning part in my kickboxing and MT classes, along with some bodyweight stuff (pushups, bodyweight squats, etc.), so, no more abwork, please.
-Have in mind that this routine serves yet another purpose, to put me back in trail again. I plan to do the resulting routine for two or three months, until I develpo a good base, until I can switch to more fancy stuff such as (see below)
-Olimpic lifts and such are a no-no right now, those will have to wait, altrough are not completely discarded, but please, stick to what we have at the moment.
-I train alone :ninja7: , anything requiring a partner is out.
-No, I don´t have access to tires, kettlebells, kegs, boulders, used cars or whatever fancy stuff used in strongman conditioning.


That´s all I can think off at the moment.

This is kinda urgent since I plan to get back on the gym this same week.

[VikingPower]

Here's an idea for you.

WEEK ONE:
Deadlifts
Overhead Press (DBs or BB)
Weighted Dips

Back Squats
Bent-Over Rows
Pull-Ups

WEEK TWO:
Front Squats
Bent-Over Rows
Weighted Dips

Deadlifts
Overhead Press (use DBs or BB, opposite of what you did the other day)
Pull-Ups (or chin-ups, if you want to mix those in)

You can toss in one of your supplementary things in on the end of each day, depending on what you wanna do. Just my $0.02.

[j416to]

This is my routine, a 4 day cycle, Push-Pull-Push-Pull sort of strategy:

Day 1:
Deadlift
Dumbell Bench Press
Dumbell Bent-over Rows
Seated Dumbell Shoulder Press
Weighted Overhand Grip Pull Ups

Day 2:
Rest

Day 3:
Barbell Squats
Barbell Power Cleans into an Overhead Press
Weighted Dips
Weighted Underhand Chin Ups
Barbell Bench Press Reverse Shoulder Shrugs

Day 4:
Rest

Good luck!

[Teh El Macho]

I would make some grip-training part of the mandatory list IMO :eusa_thin

[Lights Out]

I would make some grip-training part of the mandatory list IMO :eusa_thin

Well, my grip gets pretty worked with deadlifts at the moment.

Altrough supplementary grip work is not discarded, of course.

[Lights Out]

Also, I´d like more input on the set/rep shceme.


Good points so far, thanks to all.

[Equipoise]

Vary your program every 4-6 weeks. (Varying maximum strength, hypertrophy, speed strength) Every lifting day should have the primary lift of the main three and various other supplementary lifts focused on the same areas. Have varying repetition schemes during each lifting day to keep the CNS guessing. Beyond this I'd need specific questions to answer as this is a bit general.

As for grip work, it's not really needed if you're using heavy weights with free hands. It can't hurt though.

[Lights Out]

BTW I forgot to add, on the "supplementary lifts":

-Standing calf raises
-Vertical rows

[Lights Out]

Allright, after careful thinking and reconsidering and re-reconsidering, this is what I´ve got, more or less:

Day 1:

-Squats 6X4-6
-Military press (barbell standing press) 3X4-6
-Dips 3X4-6
-Lat pulldowns wide grip 3X4-6
-Barbell row 3X4-6

Day 2:

-Deadlift 6X4-6
-Bench press sX4-6
-Dumbell seated shoulder press 3X4-6
-Lat pulldowns, narrow grip (alal chin ups) 3X4-6
-Dumbell rows 3X4-6

I´m aiming at 6 sets per muscle group, 4-6 reps per set. Not counting the warming up sets.

Thoughts?

[Lights Out]

Forgot to add, would it be good-advised to include, at least once a week, the stiff-legged deadlift? You know, to work the hamstrings and all.

I was thinking of doing it right after the squats, 3 sets of 6-8 reps, or so.