The Somebody Lied Beginner Weight Training Routine

Today I am going to outline a beginner weight training program. Over the years I have been perfecting my training. Consuming everything, accepting what works and tossing what doesn’t.

I am sure someone made a martial arts out of this. Oh wait, Bruce Lee did and Jeet Kun Do was born.

What I have learnt over the last few years is that the basics work. Where many of the fitness gurus were going wrong however was the suggestion of how much you should eat.

See, when you perform any type of training routine you do need nutrients to repair the intentional damage.

When building muscle, this is especially true. By how much I will admit I cannot put an exact figure on it. One thing I can say is that you don’t have to eat 6 meals a day.

Just eat normal amounts of food and you will gain muscle.

For starters, I want to tell you to swallow your ego. Your ego will more likely than not get you hurt and injured. A lot of you will read this information and dismiss in place of a bodybuilders routine. A bodybuilders routine works for bodybuilders. They are on steroids the majority of time and have been training for many many years.

Often their programs are pushed in fitness magazines who are typically owned by supplement companies. Outlining their hellish schedule, 20 sets per muscle group, high reps low rest will leave you fatigued and with very little progress. What is their solution? Well they tell you to buy their supplements.

You on the other hand are probably a novice, and should absolutely milk this program until it doesn’t work anymore. That is when you can consider yourself an intermediate trainer and move onto a more specialised program.

Okay. This beginner weight training program is centred mainly around squats, deadlifts and bench presses and weighted chin ups.

The beginner weight training routine will be 3 full bodyweight workouts per week.  A rest day will be placed between each session and a full 2 days off after the 3rd workout.

Reps

For repetitions, these will vary on the exercise selected. For the major lifts like bench press,deadlifts, military press,dips and chins we will use the 4-8 rep range. Using a rep range above this doesn’t allow you to lift heavy enough and lifting below this rep range doesn’t cause enough fatigue.

Rest

You should rest  anywhere from 2-5 minutes to allow your nervous system to recover and so you can put full effort into your next set.

Tempo

Weights will be lifted in a controlled fashion. I like to keep it simple and make training mimic the real world. You wouldn’t lift a heavy box up off the floor explosively, neither would you pick it up slowly. You also wouldn’t slam the box down (you may break whatever’s inside) and you also wouldn’t put it down super slowly.

So simply lift and lower in a controlled fashion, neither quick or slow.

Progression

A double progression system will be used. What this means is, is that to make the exercise harder we either in the next workout increase the rep range or increase the load. This is the principle of overload and is crucial if you want to get bigger and stronger. The first way to progress is to increase the reps.

Once you meet the target repetition range, increase the load by 2.5kg or 5lbs on the big lifts such as dead lifts, romanian dead lifts and squats.

For smaller muscles, increase the load by 1kg/2.5lbs.

Warm Up

I would suggest some 5 minute light cardio on an exercise bike of some sort. Alternatively you could do something like jumping jacks for 30 seconds, 10 prisoner squats and mountain climbers for 30 seconds. Repeat this a further time and for 3 sets if you want to be really warm.

So to warm up for the individual exercise, I recommend first doing 50% of the load for the full amount of reps and then 60% for 4 reps,  70% of the load for 3 reps and 80% for 1 rep.

Rest a full 3 minutes after this in preparation for the main set.

An Example for the Bench Press

Main Work Set is 100kg. So 50% is 50kg so do 8 reps for this. Then do 60kg for 4 reps, 70% of this which is 70 kg for 3 reps and 80kg for 1 rep. Rest 3 minutes and do 3 sets of your target weight.

This is what the basic template of a beginner strength training program looks like. You will focus on these same  movements every week as this is the best way to get strong.

As long as your recovery is exceeding the intentional muscle breakdown you can carry on this template for a long time before eventually moving onto an intermediate program.

Basic Template

Monday

Squat- 3 sets.
RDL – 3 sets
Bench Press- 3 sets
Chin Ups- 3 sets
Military Press – 2 sets
Rows – 3 sets
Tricep exercise – 1- 2 sets
Bicep Exercise – 1-2 sets

Wednesday

Squat- 3 sets.
Deadlift – 2 sets
Bench Press- 3 sets
Pull ups- 3 sets
Lateral Raises – 2 sets
Rows – 3 sets
Tricep exercise – 1- 2 sets
Bicep Exercise – 1-2 sets

Friday

Squat- 3 sets.
RDL – 3 sets
Bench Press- 3 sets
Chin Ups- 3 sets
Military Press – 2 sets
Rows – 3 sets
Tricep exercise – 1- 2 sets
Bicep Exercise – 1-2 set

Feel free to substitute with suitable exercises. Squats for leg press. Bench press for dips or weighted pushups. Lat pulldowns for chin ups if you can’t do chin ups.

As I mentioned earlier, perform this program 3 times a week with a days rest in between and aim to add reps or weight to each new session. .

Notes:

Each set should avoid failure. When performing full body workouts, training to failiure is a fine way to burn yourself out and be in an overtrained state. By

I really would suggest to milk this program for as long as possible. You get stronger, you typically build more muscle. I typically suspect most people could use this for about 6 months before moving onto a more specialised program where the workouts are split according to muscle groups.

FAQ:

Where is the core training?

Your core is worked pretty heavily in all of these exercise. Most people mistake the core for just the abs,when in actual fact it includes your waist, lower back and other smaller muscles in that region. If you absolutely must train your abs and I do sometimes, simply include them at the end.

Why didn’t I just use the Big 3?

By the big 3, people mean squats, deadlifts and the bench press. I am a big fan of all 3. However, most beginner strength programs are these 3 every workout, 3 times a week. A beginner would likely get bored and look elsewhere.My program has a lot more variation, and enough of the big 3 to make training something to look forward to and also make great progress.

Some great resources for beginner weight training include Mark Rippletoe’s starting strength.

If you would like a bodyweight alternative click here.

If your progress stalls, check out my article on overcoming weight training plateuas.