# Routines for the Beginner-Intermediate Lifter.



## Natural1 (Mar 23, 2009)

I hope this will help beginners and first time readers and also those who are looking for a simple strength based routine.

First a few basic points to consider.

1/ Don't copy the workout routines of advanced guys that are already big, and strong.

The training style of someone who is already strong, and has experiance under his belt maybe very different to a newbie. Don't look at these guys training styles and think that you need to train their way straight off. These guys have built up their work capacity, and also through experiance, know how to fine tune a workout to address their own personal strengths and weaknesses.

2/ No one single training style is optimal for everyone.

There are many styles of training and while a training system maybe optimal for someone at a given time, no one training style will be optimal, for everyone, at all times. We must experiment and find what works for us as an individual, because thats what you are, unique, so while somebody else may gain on style A, style B may be more suited to you. The best way to find out? Try!

3/ Keep your routine simple, basic and focus on getting stronger.

The best thing a new lifter can do is train to get stronger on the core lifts, compound (multi-joint) movements:

Squats

Deadlifts

Bench

Rows

Dips

Chins

Overhead pressing

These are the things to focus on, and get good at. Think how much bigger you'd be if you concentrated on the above lifts for a year or two and added significant amounts of weight to each! All without tricep kickbacks and rear lateral raises! I'm not suggesting to leave out isolation (single-joint) exercises but the above movements and their variations are the money makers.

I'd like to share a few routines that I have found effective:

A simple 3 day routine. Each bodypart once per week. Each exercise 2-4 sets, reps 5-8.

Back/Bis

Deadlifts

A Row

Chins or Pulldows

Bicep Curl

Chest/Tris

Bench

DB or Inc Bench

Chest Dips

Triceps Isolation

Legs/Shoulders

Squat

GHR (Glute Ham Raise)

Military Press

Calf Work

A rotation that hits each bodypart once every 4-5 days.

1.

Squat 2-3 x 5, 1 x 10

Ham Work 3 x 8

BB Row 4 x 6

Bicep Iso 2 x 10

2.

Bench Press 3 x 5

Dips 3 x 8

Side Laterals 3 x 10

Tricep Iso 2 x 10

3.

Deadlift 3 x 5

Leg Press 2 x 10 or 1 x 20

Pullups 20-40 reps

Bicep Iso 2 x 10

4.

DB or Incline Bench 3 x 5

Flyes 3 x 8-12

OH Press 3 x 6-8

Tricep Iso 2 x 10

Workout on Mon/Wed/Fri/Mon and alternate workouts 1/2/3/4 etc...

Another rotation that hits each bodypart once every 4-5 days but using a little more volume.

1.

Squats 3 x 5, 1 x 10

Ham Work 3 x 8-10

Pullups 20-40 reps

BB Rows 4 x 6

Curls 2 x 10

2.

DB or Incline Bench 2 x 5, 2 x 8

Dips 2 x 8

DB OH Press 3 x 8

Side Laterals 2 x 10

Skulls 2 x 10

3.

Deadlifts 2-3 x 5

Leg Press 2 x 10 or 1 x 20

Chins 20-40 reps

DB Rows 3 x 8

Curls 2 x 10

4.

Bench Press 2 x 5, 2 x 8

DB Flyes 2 x 8-12

Military Press 3 x 8

Side Laterals 2 x 10

Skulls 2 x 10

Workout on Mon/Wed/Fri/Mon and alternate workouts 1/2/3/4 etc...

A favorite of mine that hits each bodypart twice per week.

Day 1

4x Squats: 5 reps

3x Ham Work: 8 reps

3x BB or DB Row: 8 reps

2x Bicep Curls: 10 reps

Day 2

4x Bench Press: 5 reps

3x Military Press: 8 reps

3x Tricep Isolation: 8 reps

2x Ab/Calf Work: 15 reps

Day 3

4x Deadlifts: 5 reps

3x Pullups: 8 reps

3x Leg Press: 8 reps

2x Biceps Curls: 10 reps

Day 4

4x DB or Incline Press: 5 reps

3x Chest Dips: 8 reps

3x Side Lateral Raise: 8 reps

2x Ab/Calf Work: 15 reps

Day 1: *On*

Day 2: *On*

Day 3: Off

Day 4: *On*

Day 5: Off

Day 6: *On*

Day 7: Off

A simple 4 day upper/lower.

Mon.

Squat 2-3 x 5

Ham Work 3 x 10

Calves 3 x 15

Abs 2 x 10

Wed.

Bench Press 3 x 5

BB or DB Row 3 x 6, 1 x 15

OH Press 3 x 8

Arms -Tri/Bi - each 3 x 8-10

Fri.

Deadlift Variant 2-3 x 5

Leg Press 2 x 10 or 1 x 20

Calves 3 x 15

Abs 2 x 10

Sun.

Incline bench 3 x 10-15

Pullups 20-40 reps

Dips 2 x 8-12

Lateral Raise 3 x 8-10

A couple of examples of 2 day per week training.

Each bodypart 1x a week.

Chest, Shoulders, Triceps.

Bench or Dips

Incline Bench (optional)

OH Press

Side Laterals

Tricep Isolation

Legs, Back, Biceps.

Squat or Deadlifts

Leg Press (optional)

Pullups

Rowing Lift

Bicep Curl

Hitting each major bodypart 2x per week.

Workout 1.

Squats

BB or DB Row

Bench

Incline Bench

Bicep Curl

Workout 2.

Deadlifts

Pullups

Dips

OH Press

Tricep Isolation

A 10 day strength/hypertrophy rotation.

Day 1: Heavy Upper

Day 2:

Day 3: Heavy Lower

Day 4:

Day 5: Chest, Shoulders, Triceps

Day 6: Back, Biceps

Day 7:

Day 8: Legs

Day 9:

Day 10:

Repeat, or Repeat on Day 10

Day 1 - Heavy Upper.

Bench 3 x 3 or 3 x 5 or work up to a 1RM

Row 3 x 5

OH Press 3 x 5

Day 3 - Heavy Lower.

Squats 3 x 3 or 3 x 5 or work up to a 1RM

GHR 3 x 5

Calves 3 x 6

Days 5-8 All exercises are 2-4 sets of 8-15 reps.

Day 5 - Chest, Shoulders, Triceps.

Bench or Dips

DB Flyes

Side Lateral Raises

Front Lateral Raises

Tricep Isolation

Day 6 - Back, Biceps.

Wide Grip Chins

Rows

Pulldowns

Shrugs

Curls

Day 8 - Legs.

Squat Variant

GHR

Leg Press

Ham Work

Calf Work

NOTE: The above routine can also be condensed into the 7 day week for those that can tolerate the workload. Monday and Tuesday would be heavy upper and heavy lower, Wednesday would be off followed by the higher rep work on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Sunday off and repeat. This is similar to the training style of Natural Pro Layne Norton.

Routine Summary.

The routines above are not set in stone, you may like to adjust sets and/or reps to suit you but they serve as a basic template.

A routine to get you big and strong doesn't need to be filled with loads of "stuff" just heavy work on the important lifts at a frequency that you personally can recover from.

If you decide to put together your own program remember to keep it

Simple

Basic

Focus on big lifts

Strength Progression

Add to this a decent diet, and you'll get the gains you want!

How to deload.

A "deload" is a period of time typically a week where either less intensity, volume and/or frequency, or a combination of all three is used to allow accumulated fatigue to dissipitate. A deload is usually recommended after 3-6 weeks of hard training. An example would be to train just once or twice during that week using less intensity and/or volume than usual. You're usually stronger coming back off a deload and often this is when PR's are set. It's an invaluable tool in our box of tricks.

All the best with your training and in reaching your goals.


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## cellaratt (Jul 16, 2008)

Where has this been hiding...Thanks...


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## AAZ (Dec 7, 2008)

Thanks mate, I'm sure this will be helpful to many


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## Natural1 (Mar 23, 2009)

I'm not sure too many members check out the articles section. Thx guys for posting. All the best.


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## Ecksarmy11 (Apr 4, 2006)

Good post dude. :thumb:


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## nohulk (Jun 23, 2009)

loving this post ..its what i needed


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## N2GB (May 23, 2008)

good post mate:thumbup1:

To be honest rarely do I go into this section if it had`nt been in the new threads list i`d not have seen it ..


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## Natural1 (Mar 23, 2009)

Thx guys your comments are appreciated.


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## vsideboy (Feb 3, 2009)

nice one mate, +1 rep.


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## GymEatSleepRepeat (Jan 14, 2009)

damn good post


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## sonofwacky (Apr 22, 2008)

nice 1 bud good post:thumbup1:


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## winger (Jul 26, 2003)

I like it a lot. Nice to see some good training advice and it's free...lol


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## Jake1436114563 (May 9, 2008)

Brilliant post!


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## hackskii (Jul 27, 2003)

Natural1 said:


> A routine to get you big and strong doesn't need to be filled with loads of "stuff" just *heavy work on the important lifts at a frequency that you **personally** can recover from.*


I like this part the best.

Everyone has diffrent recovery ability, me being older I have to add (more time inbetween resistance training) recovery to my training.

Nice post.

I wrote an article similar to this one, but I dont want to post after your post with another article.


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## winger (Jul 26, 2003)

Very nice once again.


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