Help needed sorting out a routine

**Asriel** · Posted On: 4/19/2007 7:06am

Hi guys, I've only recently started using weights and don't really know what I'm doing. I've been reading the forums and magazines to get better educated on what I should be doing but I thought I'd run it by you lot. I'm going to be doing weights 3 times a week as of next month and want to know what exercises I should be doing. Is 3 times a week enough to be concentrating on certain muscle groups each time or should I have a big workout that does everything and do that 3 times a week?

I really have no idea so any help would be greatly appreciated.

**Bang!** · Posted On: 4/19/2007 7:19am

What do you want to achieve?

**Red Sauce** · Posted On: 4/19/2007 7:35am

Originally Posted by Asriel

Hi guys, I've only recently started using weights and don't really know what I'm doing. I've been reading the forums and magazines to get better educated on what I should be doing but I thought I'd run it by you lot. I'm going to be doing weights 3 times a week as of next month and want to know what exercises I should be doing. Is 3 times a week enough to be concentrating on certain muscle groups each time or should I have a big workout that does everything and do that 3 times a week?

I really have no idea so any help would be greatly appreciated.

What kind of shape are you in now? For example, how long could you run at a decent pace ? To test yourself quickly, do a 12 minute all out run a treadmill and let us know how much distance you can cover.

The regularity of workouts depends on your schedules and personal life, I myself fit Weight sessions around judo, and attend the gym 3/4 times a week doing a 2.5 hour general CV and weight lifting session.

**Asriel** · Posted On: 4/19/2007 7:42am

I lost a hell of a lot of weight when I was training MT and fought at 85kg. I'm currently walking around at 90kg and would like to bulk up a little. I've got a little bit of flab round my middle but am otherwise pretty athletic lookg; I just don't have much muscle.

I do BJJ 3/4 times a week and would be going to the gym 3 times. I do sprint work and regular jogging too when I can so I'm in reasonable shape.

My sprints consist of jogging for 2 mins and sprinting for 30 secs. I can usually get 10 sprints before I'm done.

Anything else you need to know?

I'll have to try the treadmill thing when I join the gym.

**Bang!** · Posted On: 4/19/2007 7:49am

I know that you'd better be eating tons of calories if you want to put on any muscle mass.

Forget about specific muscles and look at the way your body moves. "Ah, but how does it move," you have not asked:

It picks **** off the ground (or carries it around, for that matter)
It presses **** over its head
It pushes **** away from it
It pulls **** toward it
It twists toward/away from/carrying ****

There's lots of **** you can do.

**Teh El Macho** · Posted On: 4/19/2007 8:15am

Besides your weight, could you tell us your height and age? Without your height, we cannot really tell if 90kg is normal, too little or too much. And age is a factor when you lift weights.

And by knowing your weight and height, we may be able to tell if you are eating too little or too much. Nutrition is important, and if you are lifting weights with the purpose of gaining lean muscle (not just weight, but lean muscle), bad nutrition will kill your efforts.

In any case, lifting 3 times a week is a sensible way to start so long as it doesn't interrupt your weekly 3/4 BJJ classes, work and stuff. If you jog and sprint regularly, that would suggest you are in good shape, btw.

There are many ways to go around this, but the simplest thing would be for you to stick with basic compound exercises:

1. legs: squats/front squats, lunges and pistols (or bodyweight one-leg squats)
2. chest and triceps: incline bench presses, weighted dips, push ups & one hand push ups until the cows come home.)
3. back and biceps: chin ups/pull ups and barbell rows
4. legs, back, core, etc: deadlifts (later after a few months of doing the 3 above... IMO)

I did not include regular bench presses at all. They can really screw your shoulders on the long term, but I've found incline bench presses, dips and push ups to be a lot more forgiving while still being effective.

Another thing you do not want to forget is to work your forearms. Get a nice wrist roller or a CoC trainer and use it a couple of times a week at a different time from your weightlifting and BJJ training.

Don't over complicate your training; keep it simple for a month or two. Then you can come back and ask for ways to improve your weight lifting routine.

For now, I would do it like this (with a light warm up and stretching before doing anything else):

day 1:
- incline bench presses (3-4 sets, 10 reps each)
- squats (3-4 sets, 10 reps each)
day 2:
- chin ups (3-4 sets reps to failure ) or barbell rows (3-4 sets, 10 reps)
- front squats (3-4 sets, 10 reps each)
day 3:
- squats (3-4 sets, 10 reps each)
- lunges (3-4 sets, 10-16 reps each)

Why 3-4 sets, 10 reps each? Oh, I dunno. The thing is that it is really hard to give a precise formula without actually seeing you perform. But since what you are looking for is for a guideline for learning and experimenting with weights, such a number of reps would be good as any. Make sure to increase the weights a little bit (5lbs for example) every other week.

Again, it's until later that you will need to change this to force your body into adapting.

-- EDIT --

Don't forget to tell us your height and weight dude.

**Asriel** · Posted On: 4/19/2007 8:25am

Thank you El Macho that is extremely useful. I totally forgot about height and age. I'm 6`3 and 28 in October.

I must admit to being surprised at having just the two exercises per day.

**Red Sauce** · Posted On: 4/19/2007 8:53am

Yeah I'm a little confused too, if he is only going 3 times a week, should he not aim for in c~2hours worth of session if time allows?

**Nid** · Posted On: 4/19/2007 8:57am

Why would you think that, red sauce?

él måchö,

What's with the squat redundancy?

**cyrijl** · Posted On: 4/19/2007 10:36am

I started a routine based around the exrx.net suggestions I got from Oldman34 who got the site from ElMacho. They have alot of information, good exercise routines and animated gifs. Some clearer videos would be nice but it is a start. So far I do a 2 day split, 4 times a week
BXABXXA
A:
BenchPress (though I may reconsider based on El Macho's comments)
InclinePress
ShoulderPress
Calf Raises
Squats/Lunges
TricepPress
B:
Hamstrings
UpperBack (lat pulldowns)
Abdominals
UprightRows
Curls
BentOverRow

Then I train Judo or BJJ 2-4 times a week.

I am 31 5'10'' 207lbs. So for all my factors, I don't feel this routine is over doing it. From my scant knowlesge, it seems the old saying "Listen to your body" is quite meaningful. My first week I just got the weight amounts right. Now I am just barely pushing out the last reps of the last set.

That's just my two cents.