Everyone always explains to the novice lifter, "stick with the basic compound lifts using free weights." As simple as it sounds, it's a very sound bit of advice. However, some of these movements come with a certain degree of difficulty. And while I'd love to say that we're all born, biomechancially, to squat... learned incorrectly can lead to a number of pathological problems down the road after chronic use.

That said, learning proper form in these movements from the very beginning is probably one of the most important aspects of a "routine" if not the most important.

There seems to be a recurring problem with many trainees that I notice. Once they decide to start exercising, they want to do it NOW. As if the last 15+ years of inactivity is going to be reversed THIS WEEK in the gym. Trust me, rushing into weight training is the last thing you want to do. Take your time, learn these exercises, get some outside help if possible, practice, and very very slowly add weight to the bar as your strength, ability, comfortableness adapt and progress.

The first few workouts, for some, may entail no use of actual weight. They could even be done from home. Once you feel ready, you can start with the bar which will provide enough resistance to understand the *feel* of the weight as it moves through the planes of motion and how your body responds to it.

For some this can all be done in the first workout. As with anything, we all learn at our own pace, so take your time and do things your way. Again, there is no race and no point to rush. The more time spent learning correctly, the less chance of injury and/or incorrect execution. And I always say, it's much easier to learn something correctly from the start than to have to learn over something learned incorrectly previously.

Once you feel comfortable, and better yet, if a professional has actually cleared you for proper form, it's time to add weight to the bar.

This is how I'd go about determining the weight used in each subsequent workout. I'd first pick my rep range that I will use for the upcoming weeks in the program. Something like sets of 5 reps is a nice starting place. This is NOT a workout/program thread. You will not find how to structure a workout here. At least not yet. It's main focus for now is learning the movements. Heck, you can print some of this stuff and take it to a trainer in your gym; have him/her clarify/demonstrate some of these points.

Starting with the bar, keep performing set after set, adding weight each time, until rep speed actually slows down or form actually breaks. This is the weight you should start with the next time you train this exercise.

How much weight you add this first workout is totally dependent on your starting/current strength levels. For some, you might jump 10 lbs each set. For others, you might jump 30 lbs. As a general rule of thumb, if you are unsure, start lighter. If anything, this will simply create more time to practice the movement while you work on finding your starting weight.

Once you find the weight that seems sufficiently difficult (this does not mean you fail the set/rep, it simply means it was heavy enough to slow down rep speed or cause a small shift/break in form), each subsequent week after that, you should focus on progressively adding more weight to each given exercise.

The idea is to force your body to adapt. This adaptation is quite involved, but essentially you are forcing your body to get neurally and locally stronger by making it perform heavier and heavier lifts each subsequent workout.

Many read into this too much and think, "Hey, I can lift a lot more than the bar, so I'll just throw a ton of weigh on the bar and start with that." This accomplishes two things.

1. Most likely your form will be off. In the beginning, it's most critical to focus/concentrate on proper execution of the lift. Really focus on the form throughout the entire movement. Later, once you are more comfortable with the movement and it's second nature, then you can start lifting *serious* weight which will call for focus on the actual movement of the weight. But hopefully you can see, in the beginning, learning the *how* is most important.

2. You leave no room for progressive overload. Progressively overloading the muscle is simply the process of consistently and incrementally adding weight to the bar each time you train a given exercise forcing the body to adapt as stated above. The biggest mistake I see young trainees make (not young in years, but young in experience) is lifting too much weight too fast. You really want to *milk* this time period for all it's worth. What I mean by that is this. You want to add weight to the bar at a very slow rate stretching out the length of time you have to get stronger in this linear fashion. Depending on your current strength levels, this might be 1 lb each time you train. Most gyms don't have .5 lb plates but you can order your own to take to the gym at PlateMate Product Information or a similar site. I can't stress how important it is to add weight slowly. A general rule of thumb is, the more muscles involved in a given movement, the more weight you can jump each week. So for a young male who is athletically inclined, progressively loading an exercise such as the squat which involves a ton of muscles might include 10 lb jumps each training session. On the other hand, for an overweight mother of 3 just learning the movement with poor coordination, progressively loading the squat might involve 2 lbs jumps or less each week. In a nutshell, it doesn't matter how much you up your weight each training session.... it simply matters that you do it.

I think it's wise for me to say here too, that these words are directed at the novice. The novice can withstand linear progression, meaning, they can focus on getting strong on each lift multiple times per week. As you get more advanced, which I know we have a few floating around this forum, more *creative* programming must be utilized in order to manage fatigue properly.

So with that, let's jump into some of these core foundation exercises. I'll add/modify this post at time goes on and more resources are remembered of found.

ETA: PLEASE NOTE: THIS WRITE-UP WILL NEVER AND COULD NEVER TAKE THE PLACE OF IN-PERSON, HANDS-ON TEACHING. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND FINDING A TRAINER, COACH, OR INSTRUCTOR LOCALLY TO SHOW YOU THE CORRECT MECHANICS OF THE EXERCISE. WE ARE ALL ANTHROPOMETRICALLY UNIQUE WHICH WILL DICTATE PERSONAL “TWEAKS” FOR EACH OF US INDIVIDUALLY. ALSO, I CAN GIVE YOU ALL THE VERBAL/MENTAL CUES IN THE WORLD TO CONSIDER, BUT THEY WILL NEVER REPLACE YOUR PRE-CONCIEVED MENTAL PATHWAYS THAT’VE BEEN ESTABLISHED THROUGH YEARS OF NATURAL MOVEMENT PATTERNS. ONLY A TRAINED EYE CAN PICKOUT YOUR WEAK POINTS IN THE GIVEN MOVEMENT AND CRITIQUE.

ALSO, MOST TRAINERS, AT LEAST BY MY EXPERIENCE, DON’T THEMSELVES KNOW HOW TO SQUAT. YEA, I KNOW, IT’S A LOSE-LOSE SITUATION.

I THINK IT’S BEST TO UNDERSTAND THE WHY’S SO THAT YOU CAN MENTALLY TELL YOU STUFF NOT ONLY WHAT YOU MUST DO IN ORDER TO PERFORM THE EXERCISE CORRECTLY/EFFECTIVELY, BUT MORE IMPORTANTLY, SAFELY.

ALSO, IF ANY OTHER COACHES/TRAINERS HAVE ANYTHING TO ADD, PLEASE FEEL FREE. AS TEACHERS, WE'VE ALL EXPERIENCED DIFFERENT PEOPLE AND USED OUR CREATIVE SENSES TO TEACH THE VARIOUS LIFTS. THERE'S NOTHING CREATIVE ABOUT THIS THREAD. JUST STRAIGHT INPUT ON EXECUTION.

Some of these recommendations are per Mark Rippetoe’s amazing book, Starting Strength. I usually don't hand our credit easily, but his books are definitly the most applicable and best I've read in a long while.

As Mark Rippetoe says, the squat begins at the rack. The height of the bar should be at about the trainee’s mid-sternum level.

Foot placement will really depend on each trainee’s individual anthropometry, however, in general, a little wider than shoulder-width will suit most with feet angled slightly outward at about 30 degrees.

Before you place the bar on your back, it’d be wise to feel what the “bottom position” should be, where you are squatted down. At the bottom position, your feet should be flat on the floor and your knees should be pointed outward, since they are supposed to follow the direction your toes are pointed on the way down. Your knees should be slightly in front of your toes at the bottom.

It’s important to understand where your body needs to be in space in this bottom position, and also, why you are doing the things that you are. Your knees need to go in front of the toes so that you maintain balance. If your knees did NOT do this, in order to stay upright, it’d be required for your torso to lean overly forward, which in turn, will place an unwarranted level of strain and torque on your lumbar spine.

It’s also important to understand that you don’t want your knees too far forward either, which would require you to raise up on your toes.

You want to find that sweet spot where you get deep enough down that your hips are lower than your knees, yet, the weight is still planted on a flat foot.

The squat is an exercise that utilizes the entire lower body. You’ll hear many people explain the squat as a quad dominant exercise. However, done properly, the hamstrings and posterior chain will activate nicely as well. And this is why it’s important to get deep in the bottom position.

Many people only understand the squat as a knee flexion and extension exercise. In order to squat down, you need to flex at the knee joint and in order to stand back up, you need to extend at the knee joint. Only focusing on this will really screw up the exercise. What people miss is the idea of hip drive. When you are in the bottom position, you come out of it with the hips first. Not by extending your knees first. The knees will follow the hips. As Mark says, don’t worry about anything… “Just drive your hips up out of the bottom and the rest will take care of itself.”

Think of it like this. At the bottom position, your torso will be leaning slightly forward to balance you. To get out of the “hole,” lead with your hips. Think as if you were using your tailbone to push up something above it… if that makes any sense at all. Many coaches will teach this by placing a finger on either side of the trainee’s lower back and telling them to push their hips/low back up against the fingers.

If you understand this stuff, it’s time to actually go through the motions with the bar on your back. It’s best to start with no weight on the bar. This assures that you learn the movement properly with no undue stress from added weight first.

For the novice’s purpose, especially those on this site, it’s best to find a comfortable place on your shoulder/traps/back for this bar to rest. Ideally, this is going to be midway down your traps resting on your posterior deltoids.

I’d recommending taking as narrow a grip as shoulder-flexibility allows. This will tighten the shoulder muscles creating some cushion and stability for the bar to rest on. It will also help in keeping your chest high, which I will comment on here.

Ideally, you want to “lock into” your position before taking the load on your back. This means you set yourself up to take the weight. You don’t take the weight first, then set up. Setting up involves a few mental cues that will translate into physical positioning. First, you want to really puff out your chest. In other words, keep your chest high throughout the entire movement. This should be accompanied, simultaneously with scapula retraction, or squeezing your shoulder blades together. Again, pinch your shoulder blades together while lifting your chest. This will most likely feel a little strange at first, but it’s very important.

You also want to keep your lower back arched. Nothing excessive. Our lumbar spines are naturally arched. We simply don’t want any back rounding. Seems simple enough, however, once you start getting down into the squat exercise, especially towards the bottom of the movement, many tend to round their backs due to posterior chain flexibily in order to offset the force pushing them backwards…. essentially preventing them from tipping backwards.

I'd practice getting down into the bottom position again now, knowing how, both the lower and upper body are supposed to be throughout the movement.

If it feels strange.... keep practicing.

Here are a few quick tips I’ve stated elsewhere in for forum to keep in mind. I most likely won’t spend as much time discussing the other exercises. Quite frankly, the squat is my favorite exercise. I think it’s the most critical for the novice to learn. It also requires the most understanding and is the most technical.

With a bar on your shoulders, here are the cues:

1. Chest up (don't cave in)
2. Shoulder blades pulled back together, which reinforces number 1
3. Hands gripping the bar are not wide, but closer. Not so close that it becomes uncomfortable for your shoulders though.
4. Pull your elbows under the bar. Make them point to the floor. This will keep you more upright.
5. Initiate at the hips (think about sitting down) and stick your butt out.
6. Keep a nice, tight arch in your lower back.
7. Keep your abs tight.
8. Stance should be feet slightly wider than shoulder width. This will vary from person to person.
9. You should point your toes slightly outward, maybe 30 degrees.
10. As you start to flex at the knees, your knees should follow the path (line) of your toes.
11. If you leaning excessively forward, you are using too much weight or you have flexibility issues. This is not an exercise for the lower back, do not make it one.
12. Your heels should stay planted on the floor at all times. Many people have flexibility issues and the squat is the exercise that uncovers the issues. Many people, in order to get deep in the squat, feel the need to elevate their heels from the ground. In this case, at the bottom of the movement, their weight is on the balls of their feet. Instead, the entire movement, you should keep your feet flat on the floor and drive the weight pushing through your heels.
13. Remember the hips!

At the bottom of the movement, your hips should be deeper than your knees. This is a full squat.

Here are some links that are certainly worth checking out. Actually, I will be updating this list as time goes on. I am currently running short of that commodity right now. Some of these are video links. Some of the vids are rather long. I HIGHLY recommend checking out every one of these links.

Difference between high bar vs. low bar squat -- VIDEO

Lower back rounding at bottom of movement -- VIDEO

Leaning too far forward out of the bottom -- VIDEO

Engaging the glutes and hamstrings -- VIDEO PART I

Engaging the glutes and hamstrings -- VIDEO PART II

Bar placement and squat depth -- VIDEO

Mobility and Flexibility -- VIDEO

Selected Exercises -- VIDEO PART I

Selected Exercises -- VIDEO PART II

Bands and Chains, not for beginners -- VIDEO

Shoes for squatting -- VIDEO

Squat set-up and breathing -- VIDEO

Bodyweight Squats -- VIDEO

Dumbell Squats -- VIDEO

Barbell Squat -- VIDEO

Barbell Squat 2 -- VIDEO

Squat critique from another forum, this forum tends to be brutal in language and avatar pics, so age sensitive -- VIDEO AND COMMENTARY
Body Recomposition Forums

YouTube - Squat Rx #12 (Part I)

The bench press is a much simpler movement relative to the squat. With that in mind, a lot less attention will be devoted to detail. Only the bare essentials to get you in the gym, executing the lift correctly.

First item I’d like to mention is grip. There is no universal concept of exactly where you should grip on the bar. Just with any other barbell movement, it’s going to vary due to the unique anthropometrical differences. This said, it’s best to simply grip the bar will you feel comfortable in terms of width, as long as you are not excessively wide or narrow, which will alter the exercise and muscle recruitment.

Also in terms of grip, I see many trainees using an open grip; meaning all of their fingers are on one side of the bar, including their thumbs. This is a no-no. Using a closed grip assures the fact that the bar will not roll out of your hands (unless your thumb snaps). Any exercise that involves lifting weight over the head or neck should use a closed grip. This means fingers wrapped around one side of the bar, thumb around the other.

Before unracking the bar from the supports, it’s also important to make sure the bar is placed properly on the hand. This entails supporting the weight with the heels of your palms directly over your forearms rather than up close to your fingers which would cause excessive wrist extension.

Once this is done, it’s time to unrack the bar. When you unrack, immediately go to a locked-arm position and get the bar over the body where it’s supposed to be. This is NOT over your head/neck. It should be over your nipple or mid-chest area.

Next point of importance are the elbows. The elbows are something I see a lot of trainees mess. It’s a critical component of the movement as all force generated by the chest is pushed down through the elbows. When discussing where the elbows should be during the lift, we consider the angle between the upper arm and the torso. In other words, there’s a spectrum beginning with the elbows in tight to the torso and ending with elbows flared outward creating a 90 degree angle with the torso. These extremes most likely won’t be used. I like to use something close to a 45 degree angle with the torso.

As you come down each rep with the bench, I suggest touching (softly) the bar to the chest… unless there is some pathological issue going on with the shoulder. Many trainees will take this to the extreme and use their chest as a trampoline to bounce the bar off of in order to lift more weight easily. Don’t be that guy or gal. For starters you look ridiculous. Plus, your diminishing the training effect of the exercise.

Shoulder and upper-back positioning is where most people mess up. Actually, most people don’t even think about this part of the exercise and believe it or not, it’s most critical in my mind. To put it easily, and this is from Rippetoe, when we bench we push both the bar AND the bench. What this means is, we use our backs to drive the weight by pushing our shoulders and upper back into the bench. We create this platform for stabilization by adducting (or pushing the shoulder blades together). This needs to be maintained throughout the movement too. I find many trainees relax this position at the top of the press. Don’t! Driving the back/shoulders into the chest will also help to elevate the chest which is a critical concept too.

An important point is to keep your butt and feet planted. You’ll see so many trainees in the gym using a weight well beyond their means. Sure, they can get the weight up with bad form but they don’t understand what the opportunity cost is. If a weight’s too heavy, the first thing you’ll see a trainee do is excessively arch their lower back, lift their butt off the bench, and possibly kick one of their legs out. Don’t do this. If you feel the need, you are most likely going to heavy. Remember, form before anything always!

Here are a few vids of properly performed benches. Remember; start with the bar only until proper form is learned. Once learned and comfortable, systematically/incrementally add weight to the bar until rep speed slows or form becomes shaky. Stop. That is the end of workout 1 and you’ve successfully found your starting weight for the next workout to build upon.

http://college.holycross.edu/departm...ch%20Press.mov

In the above video, my only negative comment would be to keep your forearms perpendicular to the floor. You can see this trainee's tend to drift inward.

http://www.performanceworkouts.com/e...benchpress.mov

YouTube - Personal training: Bench press technique

The conventional deadlift is anther complex exercise dealing with a lot of various muscles.

First, with the deadlift is the stance. The stance for most trainees will be a bit narrower than their stance for the squat. Usually a stance as if you were going to jump in the air is about right. Something like 12-15 inches between the heels works best for me.

The bar should be resting on the floor about 3 inches in front of your shins.

Grip is a debated topic relative to the deadlift. I prefer to use a double overhand grip except for PR (personal record attempts). Your other choice is to use an alternated grip where one hand is pronated and the other is supinated. What this latter grip provides is more stability since the bar is perpetually rolling one direction out of one hand, and the opposite direction out of the other. You can mess around with both and choose what you are most comfortable with. At this stage in the game when strength gains are most easily realized as a novice, I’d recommend using the double overhand grip.

Grip width is simple. Your thumbs should be just outside your legs.

As Rippetoe so simply, yet perfectly states, “the main idea here is to get the trainee to pull the bar up his legs with straight elbows, with his back in an anatomically safe position.”

As much as I hate to say it, the deadlift is simply an exercise that mimics the action of bending down, picking something heavy up, and setting it back down on the floor. The exercise simply makes sure you do it with safe biomechanical movement.

Back position is the most important part of the lift. There are similarities here relative to the squat. For starters, you want to keep you chest up high throughout the movement which will promote proper extension of the spine. Secondly, you want to stick your butt out in so that the lumbar spine is properly extended. Keep your shoulders back.

So set this position before bending down to pick up the bar.

As you bend down, you are going to lose some of the lumbar extension which is fine. What you want to avoid, always during the deadlift, is rounding of the back!

There are 3 angles to consider during the deadlift. There’s the angle at the knee, the angle at the hip, and the angle of the torso relative to the floor. In the proper deadlift, the knee angle is the first thing to increase. The torso should stay at the same angle from the floor and the hips should open up slightly as shins and femurs become more vertical.

Essentially the quads initiate the movement by extending the knees. As the hips start to open and the torso begins to erect, the glutes and hamstrings take over as the primary movers.

Depending on anthropometrics, the starting position will be different for each person. A few things that will be common for all will be the knees and shoulders should be slightly ahead of the bar at the start of the movement. The bar should be touching the shins. The hips will be low enough so the legs can get some drive against the floor. However, this depth will not be equal to the depths reached during the squat.

Something to remember with the deadlift is this: The last thing that happens on the way up during the movement is going to be the first thing that happens on the way down.

So what is the way down?

You start the downward movement by flexing at the hips and pushing your butt back. The entire time keep the back LOCKED. Also keep the arms STRAIGHT the entire time. As the bar slides down the legs, passing the knee, start flexing the knee to help the bar down the rest of its journey down to the floor.

I could state a lot more minutia on this subject, but I’m starting to run out of time.

Barbell Deadlift

http://www.uwlax.edu/strengthcenter/.../Deadlifts.mpg

YouTube - How to Dead Lift with Proper Form No Matter WHO you are

In the above video, I'm not a fan of the guy's back position, but the words are right.

http://www.performanceworkouts.com/e...lldeadlift.mov

The next exercise I’d like to discuss is the standing overhead barbell press.

Ideally you have access to a rack. If you are squatting with a barbell, you almost need a rack or cage, and the same should be used with the overhead press. It can even be set to the same height.

In terms of grip on the bar, you’ll take a pronated, closed grip just a tab wider than your shoulders.

Simply walk up to an unloaded, racked bar. Unrack the bar by lifting it out of the supports. Do this by placing the bar on your anterior deltoid (front shoulder) and lifting it with the help of your arms out of the supports.

Once unracked, rotate your elbows forward and up so they are in front of the bar when viewed from the side.

In terms of stance, do what you feel is comfortable. Far enough apart to maintain good balance. This isn’t really critical, as with the squat…. something like 12 inches will do. The main thing here is to keep your knees locked, or just outside of locked. Don’t use your legs to create momentum and force to drive the weight up. There is a very similar exercise known as the push press which is basically more of a power movement. It’s simply a standing overhead press coupled with a slight jump for leg drive. That is not this. All of your force should be coming from your arms and shoulders.

Before starting the movement, with shoulders and elbows already pointing forward, elevate the chest.

You are not ready to press the bar. The entire time you are executing this, you should be looking straight ahead. Many people make the mistake of pressing the bar slightly to the front of your forehead. I even catch myself making this mistake. It’s incorrect. You want to press so that the bar ends above the highest point of your skull which will correspond to being directly over your ears for the most part. At this stop position, your elbows should be completely locked. To complete the movement, while the bar is directly over your ears and your elbows are locked, give your traps a nice little upward shrug.

This is the completion of the concentric portion of the movement.

Bars moving in straight lines up and down is what we want, pretty much always. That nice little theory known as gravity can account for this fact. With the press, it starts on the front side of our shoulders and it needs to end above our ears.

To maintain this vertical-line thinking, at the start of the lift, lean back ever so slightly in order for the bar to go straight up past your face. Once your face is cleared, it’s time to get under the bar by leaning forward slightly. As simple as this exercise is, this is the part that’s very good to coach in person… especially for this visual learners. Realize that your torso isn’t moving any appreciable distances. Very slight lean back to let the bar clear, very slight shift forward to get under the bar. That’s it.

Remember to keep you chest nice and high and your back tight. This is a critical component of the lift that many novice trainees forget as they place their entire focus on pressing the weight upward. This brings us back to the point I’m sure you’re getting sick of me mutter: Start with easy weights and focus all of your attention on form until the movement patterns are so ingrained in your brain (literally) that no thought is required for proper execution.

NOTE: Don’t turn this into an incline bench press. You’ll see many trainees use a weight that is too heavy for proper execution. They get the weight up however possible and this normally translates into excessive arching of the lower back. This simply brings more chest into the exercise… which is a much larger/stronger muscle than the shoulders. It’s what our minds telling us to logically do. Fight this urge. Remember, this is mostly a shoulder exercise. Try and stay as vertical as possible.

Once locked out at the top with chest high and traps shrugged, weight directly over ears… it’s time to lower the bar. Simply reverse the order and bring the bar down in a controlled manner to the starting position for the start of the next rep.

I don't think I have any quality videos of this. If anyone else does, please feel free to PM them to me so I can put them in this post.

Here's a vid of what NOT to do. It's hard to see from this angle, but I'd be willing to bet he's not getting the bar back far enough overhead at the top of his press. His grip is much too wide for my liking. He's cutting the lift short by not locking out his arms and shrugging his traps.

YouTube - BodybuildingPro.com - Standing military press.

Here's the popular exrx site's vid of a seated press. I much prefer standing though.

Barbell Shoulder Press

Here's exrx site's standing press, which isn't bad.

Barbell Military Press

Here's a decent one. It's hard to tell from the vid, but it would appear as if he's not getting under the bar enough for my liking.

http://www.uwlax.edu/strengthcenter/...er%20Press.mpg

Oh yea, here's a good one:

Military Press

Alright, we can open up this thread to discussion if anyone has any questions or comments now.

It could be argued that this is all the novice needs. These 4 lifts. Your entire body would be hit with these movements. While they take a high degree of learning and execution compared to machine exercises, many people make them out to be rocket science. They're not.

If you have no pre-existing pathologies that would be at risk performing such exercises, I think it would be wise for anyone to learn these movements. Chances are they're abnormal for your gym. It's unfortunate, but a vast majority of trainees in gyms today are training incorrectly for their goals. Don't follow the crowd, because the crowd is ignorant. Trust me. Cut your own path that, if done properly, will lead to your goals.

If I were going to personally add something to the list of exercises, I might throw something like chin-ups and pull-ups into the mix. That's actually what Rippetoe does in his Practical Programming book

What I see as a recurring theme around gyms today is trainer's idea that complex programming must be present in a novice's program in order for the client to realize results. Also, due to a host of variables that we don't need to get into at this time, novice trainees feel this need to do more than is required to elicit a positive training effect.

Training for the novice is very simple. Learn form. Once learned, practice progressive overload in the major lifts as mentioned above using very minor increases in weight lifted from week to week. It's really that simple. Sorry to let you down. You should actually be happy. Once this nice, clean type of programming is milked for all the strength gains it's worth, programming can get quite confusing. Still not rocket science, but certainly more complex than straight linear progression training as noted here.

Before the question is asked, let me show how these could very neatly be placed into a program. By now, most of you know my take on programs. I don't believe in the rigidity of the modern concept of programming. Don't take this as the bible. This is just one way that's proven itself effective for setting up a routine using the major lifts.

I like the concept of 3 full-body sessions per week, preferably something like a Monday, Wednesday, Friday split.

Not only does this fit nicely with most people's schedules, giving them the weekends off from training, but it also fits the novice's physiological recovery rates. You see, the main concept for any lifter, novice or advanced, is to train a movement. The movement and load provide a stress. This stress causes a depression in state as the body is broken down. Proper fuel (food) and rest provides the required variables for recovery back to your pre-training state. BUT, a nifty little thing happens when any stress is placed on the body. It supercompensates, taking it to a higher state relative to your pre-training state. The idea is simple. Train while in supercompensation so that you are continually building upon a higher and higher state. This is linear programming/progression/loading in a nutshell. It's what's happening behind the scenes. For the novice, supercompensation happens every 48-72 hours, thus, making a MWF training split very suitable for the novice.

So where would you plug in the exercises?

As outlined in Practical Programming, I love the very simple split that follows for novices:

Day 1:

Squat -- 3x5
Bench Press -- 3x5
Chin-ups -- **

Day 2:

Squat -- 3x5
Overhead Press -- 3x5
Deadlift -- 1x5

Day 3:

Squat -- 3x5
Bench Press -- 3x5
Pull-ups -- **

** Chin and Pull-ups are done for 3 sets to failure. For many novices, assistance will be required. Luckily, most gyms have a machine that allows you to select how much assistance you want in the upward portion of the chin or pull-up. With assistance or none, once you reach a max of 15 reps across for 3 sets, it's time to up the intensity.

Every day you add weight to the various exercises. A novice should be able to make significant gains following a routine of this nature for quite some time. Eventually progress will slow. Be sure to milk it for as long as you can. This is where the very small, incremental step-ups in weight lifted is critical. Don't be stupid. Remember, it's not a competition. It's not the amount of increase in weight that creates the positive adaptation response. It's simply the fact that there's an increase.

Progress will certainly stall. We can't get stronger/bigger/better forever. But when you stall, ask yourself why. Is there a lot of stress in your life? Are you getting enough sleep on a consistent basis? Are you eating correctly to fuel the recovery portion of the stress/recovery cycle? Are you training intelligently with very minor ramp-ups in weight or are you being greedy and adding weight at too fast a rate to the bar?

If you are doing things incorrectly, your stall may have been premature and you simply need to rest and get right back into the training parameters as established here. If you've honestly milked this type of periodization for all it's worth, it might be time to step up to the next level of periodization which is DEFINITELY for a later thread.

Most novices can make gains on this type of routine for a solid 6-12 months or more.

If you are doing things right, and you stall, this doesn't mean that you need some drastic change in periodization. This simply means you need to back off for a little bit. This is what some of you have seen me label "detraining."

There are many ways to go about this, but, suppose you hit a wall in your progression. Instead of adding weight from workout to workout, you find yourself not completing the given rep ranges and your performance is fading. This doesn't mean you are done. It's simply time to back off.

A simple reduction in load lifted by 10-15% is usually enough to kick start your progression again. Drop the load by this amount and start right back to incrementally adding weight to the bar each workout from this reduced weight.

I think I should add too, that this is a fine way of training while dieting. And for those of you who've never lifted before... or who've never lifted with *real* exercises, you can certainly expect a lot of strength gains and possibly even some body recomposition... even while you are dieting. Typically, and especially for more advanced trainees, they'll be lucky to hold onto their current strength and muscle levels while dieting. But the playing field is a bit different for the novice.

Thanks to whoever stickied this thread.

I also wanted to give it a bump since there are a lot of people that could use the read, that I'm noticing as I'm making my rounds around the forum.

Thank you for taking the time for writing this. I am going to start using this starting today.

Thank you again

Best of luck and let me know if you have any questions.

Remember, slow and steady. Spend the week getting form down perfectly and finding your starting weights.

Thanks!
This is really helpful.

- Sunny

Glad to hear.

You're welcome.

Steve,

I found my way over and WOW! This is an amazing thread. Thank you for taking your time to type all of this up.

I don't think I'll consider myself a novice, as I have had formal training on the exercises you went over, but I do think I should back down my weights a little after the read... and it has been several years since my training.


Thanks, You ROCK!

Thanks and you're welcome. Unfortunately this thread has not had a lot of response. I really don't mind at all, I've used it elsewhere on other forums with a lot of response, although I typed it with this forum in mind. It simply bothers me b/c for the novice looking to join a gym or who has access to free weights.... this IS the perfect starting point IMO. Not just the 'program,' but the entire mentality of what I presented here.

Anyhoo, if you had a good amount of time off from lifting any serious amount of weight, you are a novice. Even I could be considered a novice if I took a good amount of time off.

Training 'classification' is given based on how long you've known how to lift or even how long you've been lifting. It's based primarily on how long you've been lifting correctly consistently.

It's got 436 views... means people are reading it...

True. I didn't look at that. As long as it's reaching those who it was intended to reach, I'm happy.