Right, this one’s for the been there, done it guys. In your opinion and with hindsight, what is the best programme for natural, beginner/intermediate trainees? What split did you make your best gains on initially? I’m sure a lot of people would benefit from this info.
When I started, I was able to hit it hard five days a week for the first year. Granted, I was unknowledgable about lifting, but after the year, I had a decent foundation. If I went back to start, knowing what I know now and having T-mag for advice, I would keep a three day on - one day off - repeat type of program for the first couple months. My split would probably be: **Day 1: Back, Traps, Bis, Forearms, Abs **Day 2: Quads, Hams, Calves **Day 3: Chest, Shoulders, Tris, Abs. I’m sure many would disagree, but newbies can really kick it without overtraining. That’s my 2 cents. For what it’s worth (if anything), I use to be a trainer and most of my clients had good success with their goals in the first six months. After that they were usually on their own.
Pretty much agree with Choad. Id personally go for a 3-4 day weekly split each bodypart once per week (a limited number twice), 2-4 exercises per bodypart (focusing on free weights as much as possible but alternating as much as possible eg bb one week db next), 10-15 reps to failure EVERY SET and ALWAYS LOOKING FOR INCREASED RESISTANCE (ie more reps or weight).
Define “beginner” and “intermediate” for me.
Char,
Perhaps the terms ‘beginner’ and ‘intermediate’ are a little misleading as both are subjective and should be based on progress/development rather than time frames.
The intention of my question is for the more experienced contributers to offer advice on training programmes (with the benefit of hindsight) to those that are relatively inexperienced.