Starting a weight routine. - Exercise & Fitness Message Board

Haulin200 · 01-21-2005, 03:04 PM

I am interested in starting a weight routine that will help build muscle. As part of my diet plan, boosting my calories burned daily, and assisting in me in reaching my weightloss goal, without losing the muscle.

I own a bowflex for my home, a dumbell and bench set, as well as a gym membership.

I am currently reading allot on the internet about weight training programs. It seems that everyone has a difrent oppinion of what the best method.
Most articles I have read pertain to heavy weights and low reps till failure, "Pyramid" weight routines, and HIT (High intensity training) routines.

I beleive that compound excersises would be the best for me to acheive a positive overall gain, but I am not sure how many reps, sets, or weight I should be using.

All and any advice is appreciated.
Jason

Naxis · 01-21-2005, 04:34 PM

The good news is that there is no "best" method. Different methods work for different people at various stages in their training. Almost any program with elicit *some* results in the beginning. So if you're just starting out, keep it simple: compound movements. Presses, squats, lunges, rows, pullups, situps, etc. Start with a weight/setting that you can complete 10-12 reps for 3 sets (the last rep should be a struggle, not a breeze) of each exercise. Make sure that you hit all the muscle groups. Front and back, upper and lower body. After 6 weeks evaluate your progress, see what's working for you and what isnt and see if anything needs to be changed. The other variations (pyramid, failure, HIT...) are good to have in the toolbox later on if you should hit a plateau or want to try to change things up a bit.