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How often should I go to the gym?
In general, Upper/Lower (U/L) 4 days per week programs are the best.
For an U/L program, you could do Monday Upper, Tuesday Lower, Thursday Upper, Friday Lower. This optimizes recovery and muscle growth.
What exercises should I do?
Upper body (in this order): Bench Press 5 reps x 5 sets, Pendlay Row 5x5, Standing Overhead Press (OHP) 5x5, Bicep Curl 2x8, Tricep Pushdown 2x12, Face Pull 1x20, abs
Lower body (in this order): Barbell back Squat 5x5, Conventional Deadlift 5x1, Lying Leg Curl Machine 2x10, Face Pull 1x20
What about aesthetics?
Male aesthetics are relatively simple: do exercises that accentuate the upper-body V-taper: deltoids, upper chest, and upper back. Do lateral raises, OHP, incline bench, chin ups, rows, and bicep curls.
Female aesthetics are more difficult. You likely need to hire a coach because some of the following recommendations will inherently cause muscle imbalances. But here are 3 general guidelines purely for aesthetics: 1. Do exercises that accentuate the glutes, hips, and hamstrings. Do squats (wide stance), glute bridges, good mornings, and adductor/abductor machines. 2. Avoid direct arm work (no bicep curls, no tricep pushdowns). 3. Don’t do extra quad work (squats and glute bridges are enough).
The above will develop glutes and hips without making the legs or upper body too bulky.
- Note: Do squats with a wider stance because it recruits more adductor/abductor (hip muscles).
- Note: Do glute bridges instead of hip thrusts because they activate the quads slightly less.
The final key to aesthetics for men and women is to lower your bodyfat percentage. But only do this after you have bulked (intentionally gained bodyfat in order to put on muscle and gain strength) and reached your desired musculature.
How long should rest times (time between sets) be?
For squat, bench, rows, and OHP rest times should be between 3–4 minutes.
For conventional deadlifts, rest time should be about 15 seconds between reps.
For other compound movements (good morning, etc.), rest times should be between 2–3 minutes.
For single-joint movements (bicep curl, lying leg curl, etc.), rest times should be 1 minute.
- It is best to super-set (do two movements back-to-back instead of rest time) for upper body single-joint movements because they aren’t very important. For example, do tricep pushdowns and bicep curls back-to-back to reduce time spent in gym.
Longer rest times (up to, say, 8 minutes) are better because they allow you to lift heavier in subsequent sets but they drastically increase your time spent in gym.
How much weight should I add to the bar?
An early novice with good form should add 5 pounds every session for bench and 10 pounds every session for squat and deadlift.
As you get stronger, increase the bench press by 2.5 pounds every session (you need to buy a set of micro plates — 0.25, 0.5, 0.75, 1 pound set). Increase the squat and deadlift by 5 pounds every session. Do this until you reach a 200, 300, 400 max for the bench, squat, and deadlift, respectively.
Deloads: Reduce the weight by 10% when you fail the last set of a movement.
What if I can’t add weight?
If your lifts aren’t increasing, you are either not
- training correctly (use good form, fast concentric bar speed),
- eating enough (You are too skinny. You likely need to get to 18–20% body fat to get to the intermediate level. Add about a pound of bodyweight a week),
- or sleeping enough (get ~8 hours uninterrupted every night, to aid recovery).
Warm Up
Start each workout by doing 5 minutes of cardio (treadmill, elliptical, etc).
You only need to warm up for your first lift of the workout (bench press or squats) and for heavy deadlifts.
For squat, bench, and deadlift, start by doing 1 rep of the bar, then 1 rep of 135 lbs, then 1 rep of 225, and so on (increase by increments of 90 lbs). Do this until you reach your working set weight.
- Ex) If you are going to squat 245 lbs, you start with the bar, then 135 lbs, then 225 lbs, then you are warmed up and ready to start your working sets of 245 lbs.
What about getting bigger?
Muscle size = muscle strength. Simply put, the stronger you get, the bigger you get.
General levels of strength (male):
Novice: You are a novice until you reach the Intermediate level.
Intermediate: Bench 225, Squat 315, and Deadlift 405 lbs
Advanced: Bench 315, Squat 405, and Deadlift 500 lbs
Conclusion
You need to be doing the big 3 compound lifts (squat, bench, and deadlift) and some accessory movements (good mornings, lying hamstring curl, skull crushers, etc.) to get maximum overall muscle development. It can take anywhere from 9 months to 18 months of hard work for a male to hit a 225 bench, 315 squat, and 405 deadlift (women can hit their goals much faster — 2 to 3 months). Once you hit these strength standards and progress starts to slow down, you need to switch to an intermediate program. The fastest way to reach these standards is to hire an in-person strength coach (not a personal trainer).
Avoid gimmicks: No drop sets, no confusing the muscles, no super slow reps, no bosu ball stability training, no caffeine or pre-workout, no supplements. There’s no such thing as “toning” — there’s only gaining muscle and losing weight. To get a “toned” look, build a little muscle (2–3 months following my program) and then lose weight.
