3 Day Split Routine - Advice

[Lead_Head]

Hello all,

I've not long been a member at a gym and I've been basically doing a 'total body workout', where I've been getting my muscles used to exercising and lifting relatively light weights.

After a bit of research and this regime starts to plateau, I've been thinking of doing a 3 day split routine. I'm a complete beginner to lifting weights, so I've been sticking to the machines rather than free weights for now to help with my form, maybe at a later date I will move on to free weights and squatting etc.

From my research I've seen I should split my routine in to pulling / pushing and then leg work. One website suggested the following:

Day 1: Chest-Triceps,
Day 2: Back-Biceps,
Day 3: Legs-Shoulders.

I'd mix this in with a bit of cardio to not only get warmed up but also improve my CV performance and also swimming to relax my muscles.

What do you reckon to the suggested workout? I've got a personal trainer developing a programme for me to follow and I've got an appointment with her on Thursday, so if I suggest things like the above I can then improve the programme to suit myself. It's a one off appointment so I'll be looking to maximise the time out of her.

FYI, over the medium to long term my main goals are to increase upper body strength and definition. Shorter term would be to improve CV.

Another question, slightly off topic but I meant to ask it before. After my first week in the gym, I started to feel aches near the ends of the muscle, particularly in the pecs. Is this them repairing themselves? Like I said earlier in the post, a lot of the muscle groups are not used to strenuous exercise. I don't mind pain as long as it is beneficial.

 

[Morba]

DOMS is most likely to be the cause of the muscular pain, hving DOMS doesnt mean you have had a good work out, you can have a good workout and not get DOMS :]

Push / pull / legs is a good common 3 day routine, personally i never got on with legs and shoulders in the same day.
the main thing will be the exercises that she gives you and the set:rep ranges :]

 

[FeFiDoh]

if ya look on here mainly under the beginners section there is a huge list of routines bud!

Im currently (well was slight injury) doing cashmans 5x5 routine which constists of....


5 Min warm-up
Dumbell Incline Bench - 5 sets 5 reps (very low incline)
Weighted Dips For Chest - 5 sets 5 reps
Seated Dumbell military press 5 sets 5 reps
Skull Crushers - 5 sets 5 reps (or close grip bench press)



Back/Trap/Bi

5 min warm-up
Deadlifts 5 sets 5 reps
Wide Grip Chins 5 sets 5 reps
Bent Over Barbell Rows 3 sets 5 reps
Barbell Bicep curl 5 sets 5 reps (Strict Form!!!)
Incline seated dumbell curls 3 sets 5 reps (arguably this exercise can be cut out. Just listen to your body and decide how knackered your biceps are by this point)


Legs & Abs

5 min warm-up
Barbell Squats 5x sets 5 reps
Stiff Legged Dead Lifts 5 sets 5 reps
Calf Raises 5 sets 5 reps (last set to fail)
Weighted Swiss Ball crunches 4x sets 6-8 reps
lying leg raises 4x sets 6-8 reps (if you can do these resisted tyhen even better.)
Dumbell side bends 3x sets 6-8 reps

Its all big compound movements which get all the stablizer muscles working too, so altho there isnt a huge amount it works well.

TBH from my experience trainers tend to get people on as many machines as possible doing a lot of isolations, a lot of machines make people think they are doing more. I certainly did until about 2 months ago then i found this and i feel the gains are much better.

 

[Lead_Head]

DOMS = Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness?

I've read up a bit about it and I've got some tips to try to prevent it. I was worried in case it was the beginning of tendonitis.

Thanks for all the tips, would having protein supplements (either powder or naturally from high in protein foods) prevent DOMS? As there is conflicting advice on what actually causes DOMS.

I will be moving on to free weights once I am comfortable in the gym and my body is used to the exercise. I can then move on to get perfect (or as close as possible) form using free weights.

Thanks for the website Rich.

 

[FeFiDoh]

get into free weights asap m8! No point in practicing on a machine then going on free weights may as well just start em now instead of wasting ya time

 

[One More Solo]

get into free weights asap m8! No point in practicing on a machine then going on free weights may as well just start em now instead of wasting ya time

More sensible to build up if you haven't done any weight training before, you're just an injury waiting to happen.

 

[FeFiDoh]

thats why you take it easy for a while on free weights doing weights you can manage quite comfortably, doing a machine isnt going to get half the stablizer muscles working is it

 

[benjo plz.]

More sensible to build up if you haven't done any weight training before, you're just an injury waiting to happen.

I'd say start off with light free weights, get the forms spot on, and then add weight.

 

[Heaven Can Wait]

Haven't read what people are saying, but your general strategy is exactly what I do most of the time.
Just make sure you do the right things and do them properly
Edit: read a bit, Don't bother with the whey for now, the less muscle you have, the less you need to work, and less you need to eat to gain bigtime.

And yeah get onto the real weights, machines are really not worth doing, only for people that want it easy.

 

[Heaven Can Wait]

Oh, and watch out with your squatting, its probably the hardest movement to figure out, my son finds it very hard to rest it on his rear delt, which is where the bar should be, seen a lot of people put it on the neck and hurt themselves, you might have to work up your rear delt beforehand.

 

[benjo plz.]

Don't bother with the whey for now, the less muscle you have, the less you need to work, and less you need to eat to gain bigtime.

Whey's pretty cheap, I'd say start off with it anyway.

my son finds it very hard to rest it on his rear delt,

Your profile says you were born in '86

 

[Wullie]

pain is normal after a workout, once you get into it you should be feeling your sorest 2 days after the workout. This is the result of you tearing the muscle tissue so that it can repair and get bigger and stronger.

No amount of anything will stop the pain, just make sure you rest the muscle group and get plenty of sleep each night. At least 8hrs. This is the most important part. Muscles dont grow in the gym, they grow when they are resting and when you're sleeping.

You wont need protein supps at your stage, just make sure you get enough from various sources in food. chicken,fish,meat. Keep it varied as each type has a different amino acid spectrum. You need to get as wide a range as possible to keep the muscles growing

 

[alexakasloth]

This is my 3 day split which has been working well for me:

Legs/ Abs

Squats 4x6
SLDL 3x8
Calf raises 4x6
Crunches and leg raises.

Back/ Biceps

Dead lifts 4x6
Bent over DB rows 3x8
Lat pull downs 3x8
Shrugs 3x8
Hammer curls 2x8
Preacher curl 3x8.

Chest/ Shoulders/ Triceps

Bench press 4x6
Incline DB benchpress 3x8
Arnold press 3x8
Lat raises 3x8
Rear delt row 3x10
Overhead tricep extension 3x8