There’s a lot of ways to train for mass and strength but there’s also a lot of different people with different abilities and experience. Trying to train like your favorite bodybuilder at the start probably isn’t a good idea. This individual has been training for years and their body is used to hours a week of training. Trying to do their 6 day split isn’t appropriate for a beginner.
Because you’re a beginner the best way to train is to work everything as equally as possible. This will show you after 3 months what body parts are lagging and which to prioritize moving forward.
Full body vs Split
A full body is where you train all of the muscles in your body is a single training session. A split is where you pick a muscle/muscle group and train just those muscles in a single training session.
Your muscles grow when you rest after training, in my opinion getting a high frequency of training for each muscle is important. If you do a 3/4 day split a week, each muscle only gets trained once per week. If you choose to do full bodies 3 times a week your muscles get 3 times per week to rest and rebuild.
I do not feel a beginner needs the amount of volume to grow that is trained in a split style training session. For a beginner the full body just works better.
The Program
This Training program is split into two training sessions A+B. It’s designed to be done 3 times a week in an alternating pattern. Muscles need 48 hours to recover properly. Do not train this 2 days in a row.
Example:
Week 1: Monday A, Wednesday B, Friday A
Week 2: Monday B, Wednesday A, Friday B
Training Session A
************ Overhead press = Barbell overhead press ************
Training Session B
The main exercise’s listed are the most important but using alternates if needed is acceptable if you can’t get on the right station in the gym or are not able to perform the main exercise. Free weights are always better than machines. Unless you have an injury.
Squat and dead lift are very important exercise’s but are also a higher risk of injury. Not that the rest are safe if performed incorrectly. Make sure you know how to perform these exercises before you start adding weight. Squat form can be learned with just body weight if needed and dead lift with just the bar. If you are not comfortable or can’t get your head around these complicated exercise’s, get an exercise professional to help you. It’s not worth the injuries.
Another thing you must do is not lockout your joints. This will eventually cause injuries and in some cases, like the leg press can cause very serious injury (google leg press accident if you don’t believe me).
So be careful in the gym, take it steady and learn correct form. This will benefit you in the long run. It will program your body to perform the lifts correctly right from the start and will focus the work on the muscles. Producing more muscle gain/strength and lowers the load on your joints/tendons/ligaments. Which lowers your chances of injury.
