My Summer Training Plan

Training Beginners
1

Hello.

Since I don’t have any summer plans nor any summer jobs I thought the summer would be a good time to focus a lot on training. I have one year of training experience, but apart from following Chad Waterbury’s training program “Strength-Focused Mesocycle” ( http://www.T-Nation.com/findArticle.do?article=04-038-training ) I haven’t followed any training programs in particularly.

I would just go to the gym and train, but don’t think that I didn’t have a system to it, I had carefully planned exercises and routines in my head which I followed.

Anyway, I have now written this down, and gone through the exercises and was thinking of continuing with my routine over the summer ( I made some improvements to it ). So I’m just wondering what you people think of the whole thing.

Stats:
Weight: 95kgs / 210 lbs
Deadlift: 140kgs / 310 lbs
Squat: 130kgs / 1290 lbs
Bench Press: 100kgs / 220 lbs

And here is my routine:

Day 1 Legs, abs

Squats
Lunges
Calf Raises
Weighted Situps

Day 2 Chest, Triceps, Shoulders

Bench Press
Military Press
Shoulder Press
Dips
Shrugs

Day 3 Back, Biceps

Deadlifts
Seated Rows / Standing rows
Chin Ups
Curls

When it comes to repetitions and sets I am not entirely sure. My goals are mainly to get as much strength as possible, so I was thinking something around the lines of 5 repetitions with 3 sets.

Another thought that crossed my mind was to cycle the sets and reps. Eg doing all the three workouts with 3sets and 3 reps, then do them all again with 3 sets and 8 reps. And perhaps a day with 8 sets of 3 reps.

So, to wrap things up:

*What do you think of my routine?
*How many sets and repetitions do you think would be optimal for strength mainly? Do you think cycling them would be a good idea?

In advance
-Thanks for any advice

2

There are other guys here who can get more deeply into the details to help you out. But here’s a simple answer:

To develop more strength, like you mention wanting to do, use heavier weights and fewer repetitions. Take your time to rest in between sets. The heavy weight will stimulate your muscles to adapt to the extra load.

I would try 5-10 sets of 3-5.

For example, if your max bench is 220, try working with somewhere between 160 and 200. Start with 160 and see if you can do 5 reps. If yes, raise the weight 10#.