I want to get Strong or Lifting 101: A Beginner's Program

WARNING: Long post ahead, If you just want the workouts, skip the first few paragraphs.

There is a lot of discussion around what the "best" types of exercising are around here, and a lot of good advice to boot. It seems like every time someone opens a thread asking "I'm fat/skinny and want to change that" they're told the same (correct) thing: "Eat clean and do compound and Olympic lifts". This is exactly the type of advice they need to hear, no more of the Men's Health "21 days to 21" guns" bullshit that is so rampant in today's "fitness" industry.

That said getting started is tough, and sticking with it is even tougher. The recent thread on how long it takes to start "liking" the gym as well as seeing for what passes for workout programs for some members got me thinking about my own introduction to the gym and weightlifting. I was fortunate enough to have an amazing JV lacrosse coach in high school. From day one he laid out a workout regimen for us and we never had to think about it. We learned our way around a gym as a team, all of us newbies, some naturally strong (one kid I remember was squatting 325 in HS!) others(me)...not so much.

The point of that little jaunt down memory lane is that saying to yourself "I'm going to start going to the gym" and then walking in without a plan is dooming yourself to failure. If our coach had said to us, "Here's a weight room, do compound lifts while I go ogle the cheerleaders", half of us would have injured ourselves and quit, the other half would have stayed skinny/fat bastards because we had no plan of attack. Developing a workout plan is hard if you have no idea beyond "do compound lifts" and wading through all the bullshit out on the internet and in the glossy's is confusing to say the least. So with the help of my old training journals, I thought I'd try to recreate that program that I started out on and offer it up here for anyone to use.

The Program, or Lifting 101:
"Performance is directly correlated with intensity. Intensity is directly correlated with discomfort."

The Program is 12 weeks long and can be done as a "5 on 2 off" meaning all workouts completed Mon-Fri with the weekends off, or a "2 On, 1 Off, 3 On, 1 Off" split (sample: Mon-Tues lift, Wed off, Thurs-Sat lift, Sun off). Each workout should be preceded by 5 minutes of light cardio as a warm-up, either a 5 minute run or 5 minutes on the Erg or stationary bike. The Program has four, 3 week rotations. The "Work Range" or WR is 10-12 reps for week 1, 7-10 reps for week 2, and 3-5 reps for week 3. On week four the cycle starts again with 10-12 reps as the WR. For the first 3 week cycle rest for at least 120 seconds (2 minutes) between sets, on the 2nd cycle rest for 90-120 seconds between sets, on the third cycle rest 60-90 seconds between sets, and on the last cycle rest 180+ seconds. The program is designed as a high intensity, low volume, more frequency routine. The workouts look short on paper, but if you give 100% and leave nothing in the tank, you'll feel like you got put through a meat grinder (in a good way). The workouts are presented in the form: "exercise name - # of sets x # or reps per set"

Day 1:
Bench Press - 2x10-12(warm-up) then 3xWR
Dips - 3xWR
Standing Barbell Shoulder Press - 3xWR

Day 2:
Squats - 2x10-12(warm-up) then 3xWR
Deadlift - 3xWR

Day 3:
Lat Pull Downs - 1x15
Pull-ups - 3xWR
Bent Over Row - 3xWR

Day 4:
Dumbbell (DB) Incline Press - 3xWR
Dips 2xWR
DB Seated Shoulder Press - 2xWR

Day 5:
DB Straight Leg Deadlift (SLDL) - 3xWR
Barbell Front Squat - 2xWR
Seated Row - 3xWR

Notes:
Diet as always plays a huge part in your gains or lack thereof. Eat protein (1 gram per pound of lean bodymass), clean carbs, and healthy fats. A lot of them, if you don't gain mass you're not eating enough. If you are fat/put on fat during the program add in some High Intensity Interval Training (30secs of work: 30 secs rest, for 20-30 minutes) on the rowing machine, a stationary bike, or sprints. 3 times per week AFTER the workouts or many many hours before your work out (ex: HIIT in the AM and weights in the PM after work or school). I recommend NOT doing HIIT on Day 2, unless you know, you like vomit.

On days where dips and pull-ups are prescribed, if the WR is easy, meaning you can bang out 12 pullups or dips no sweat then add weight, either using a chain belt or locking a DB between your ankles or thighs. If you're on the other end of the spectrum and you can't do the WR reps then either use an assistance machine, use bands or split up the reps, minimizing the amount of time you spend off the bar. Just make sure to get all the reps.

The "Work Range" should be just that, work. Choose a weight where the last reps are difficult but not impossible, it is very important that you finish all the reps in a set. Don't be a hero, don't fail out, doing more than you can handle is begging to get injured.

Many people are going to say, "but Invicta, that's not a lot of exercises/movements/cable work/ etc...and there is no biceps work, yadda yadda...Well, I know that. If you give these workouts everything you have and don't sell out then you will see results. Also try to keep in mind that this is a beginner program, that's why there are no Olympic lifts, no sandbag training, no tire flips and other strongman type training. If you're at that level, you don't need me to develop a protocol for you, and you really shouldn't be looking on Styleforvm for lifting advice! But if you're new to fitness and weight training (meaning < 6 months to a year of training) you can and will benefit from this program. Strength training is one of the purest examples of Newton's third law. Every action has an equal and opposite reaction. Work hard, see results, you'll get out if it exactly what you put in.

If you don't know how to perform any of the above exercises then the following website can provide a good reference tool:

http://www.exrx.net/Exercise.html

Google and YouTube can also be your friend, but the best way to learn these lifts is to have someone teach you.

I have included a zipped excel sheet for easy reference and load tracking, print it off and take it to the gym with you.

Um, negative.

I'm not an exercise scientist or nutritionist, just a practitioner, so I don't know all the science behind why what I do works, just that it does. I was 5'11" and 195 my senior year of HS as a lacrosse player and when I graduated college I was a very lean 165 lightweight rower and had to cut to 160 before races. After college I focused on mostly power lifting and strongman type workouts and shot up to a really sloppy 215. During the time I made my gains I was eating at least 1 gram of protein per # of LEAN body mass, during my powerlifting era it went as high as 1.2-1.5 grams per #. Granted YMMV depending on genetic factors, but in my experience, to achieve significant mass gains you need to eat that much protein.

This is exactly the kind of post that this thread is supposed to be fighting against. Vauge and ambiguous advice of highly suspect value.

3x a week should be reserved for geriatrics and heavy Olympic lifters.

Yes, beginners should train deads and squats on the same day. If you look at the eastern european training programs of the 80's especially the Bulgarian and Romainian teams (widely considered to be the best) you will see that they would have multiple training sessions a week where it was all leg work. Hell when I was training in college the heaviest days were deads and box squats (another much maligned movement that idots try and shit all over). It works if you're not retarded.

I'd love to say that every NCSC coach and trainer I've met and talked to knows their value but it's sadly not true. Even in college our conditioning coaches were split on their value. Personally I love to use them as a developmental tool. They break up the concentric and ecentric contrations, forcing you to generate signifigant explosive power from the hips and the posterior chain, and you can go much heavier than you can with the Olympic lifts, which in turn helps your Olympic power develop. They can also allow coaches and trainers the chance to evaluate form "in the hole" since the box is there to take the weight.

Outside the athletic and powerlifting gyms I would get a lot of "bro wisdom" with bodybuilder wannabe types telling me to stop wasting my time. Those are the idiots I refer to. I find much of the general public can be classified thus.