Workouts

[holmes26]

I need a little direction/advice on my workouts.

I started lifting about 6 months ago. Prior to this I never really touched weights, especially for my upper body. My goal is to gain LBM and increase strength. I have been going pretty steady with lifting and diet since January except for a 4 week period where I was very sick and didn't lift at all. I finally got over that and started lifting again 3 weeks ago.

I lift 3 days/week, working each bodypart once per week. I do 3-4 sets of each exercise and try to max out each set. I also keep my workouts to under an hour and vary my exercises/routines a lot. I'm not sure if this is the best way to go (?).

I have also been doing a lot of research and I have read a lot of conflicting articles (surprise) about workout routines. Some say to work out 5 times per week and focus on a few muscle groups during each workout while others say to work out 3 times per week and do a total body workout each time.

When I do my arm workout on Monday, I feel like I am not going hard enough by waiting a full week to work them again. At the same time, I don't want to overtrain and get sick again.

I have put on about 25 Lbs since I started lifting weights with a small increase in BF. I'm at the point now where I want to make sure I'm capitilizing on my efforts by working the right parts at the right intervals. Any advice would be appreciated!

[Benway83]

Well, you seem to have a good basic system down so far. I think it would help if you post exactly what your split is, btw.

You will continue to get differing opinions on lifting programs. There's really only one question that has to be answered: are you getting the results you want, at a reasonable pace, without getting injuries? Sounds like you're doing pretty well to gain 25 lbs in 6 months. It's not a ridiculous amount, but very respectable.

There's a lot of good programs around here, some that may suit you very well. My personal opinion is that when you're just starting out, a basic 3 or 4 day split, each body part once a week, with 3-4 exercises per body part, 3-4 sets per exercise, is an optimal program. When you stop seeing gains with that, start messing with other programs.

[stratus]

My two cents:

1) Squat
2) Eat
3) Sleep