Ok all. A buddy of mine is interested in doing a 2 day lifting split (he will also be doing two days or so of cardio). His goals are at this time VERY modest, namely, just general health and fitness - for him, muscle building and fat shredding are not priorities. He’s just trying to get into a little better shape. My hope is that at some point he’ll get into lifitng on a more hardcore basis but for now this is where he’s at.
My initial thought was a basic upper/lower body split. That said I guess he could also do a 3 day split (ABC) and just do it like so: A, B week 1. C, A week 2. B, C week 3. and so on. First question is, which of these approaches do people think are more viable?
Second question: If we go with an upper/lower split, does anyone have suggestions on what this should look like? I know some basics, like always include squats, bench, etc. But Im so into this now, I see all kinds of exercises that look “too important to leave out” haha. So its hard to pear it down to a reasonable length (I sincerely doubt he will want to be lifting more than 45min - 1hr in a given session).
With only two days to work with, I would say don’t split him at all. Do Monday and Thursday full body workouts. Change the order every week for variety.
Bench - 2x12
Bent Row - 2x12
Squat - 3x8
Pull Ups/Downs - 3 sets
Military Press - 3x8
To start off with, stay pretty light. The higher reps are to help acclimate the body to the weight, but the last reps will be hard.
If he can’t do pull ups, then have him do pull downs, but try to stay over 1/2 bodyweight. 3x8 should be good there. If he can do standing Mil press, then have him do that. Otherwise do seated for support.
This workout won’t take any time at all…much less than an hour. No need to worry about other exercises for at least 6 weeks. Tell him he needs to eat more meat and veggies, too.
Thanks for the advice. Would it be awful or useless to add some direct arm/forearm/grip work on one or both of those days? I know arms can grow without it - but I think it would do this guy some good.
Also, note, he is not completely new to lifting. He’s done it before, and lifted some with me back in college - he’s just never been consistent with it in any real way (Not that in the past I’ve exactly the poster child for consistency myself, but I digress :P)