Tell me your equipment set up in detail and I can give you a 3x a week program if you'd like.
Lifter's Lounge
- Thread starter Hannibal
- Start date
Alright it's fully framed out and solid. It actually works! I knew those TRX straps would come in handy for something.
Thank you, pal. That would be greatly appreciated.
I have a pull up station:
Plus a bench with adjustable incline:
I have an EZ bar, straight bar, 100 kg in plates (ranging from 20 kg to 0.5 kg) and dumbbell bars.
Do you have a rack for benching? Or just bar?
I have the above, which is described as an adjustable rack. Sorry, I forgot about that. I also have a couple of kettlebells (9 kg) and a medicine ball, 5 kg.
Thanks again, pal.
If you're doing 3x a week and just wanting to get into it...30 mins isn't a whole lot of time but it's still ok
I would do something like the below. It will be fairly quick paced to get it all done in 30 mins... But it's doable with sub maximal loads
Use dumbbells where you prefer. The more you in can do with a barbell the better for gradual progressive overload.
Okay with the reps/sets as you need. But this is a decent general starting plan.
Id just try and go all out on the lower body exercises as best you can, they'll give you the biggest hormonal and metabolic response.
Day 1
Squat 3 x 5
Incline Bench 3 x 5
Pullups 3 x max reps
Biceps curls 3 x 8 - 12
Day 2
Bench 3 x 5
Dumbbell Row 3 x 8 - 12
Dips 3 x max rets
Shrugs 3 x 12
Day 3
Deadlift 3x5
Bent over row 3 x 5 - 8
Over head press 3 x 5
Skill Crushers 3 x 12
You can obviously make this wayyyyy more sexy and complicated... But this will hit everything 3 x a week and you can find what works.
If you need technique videos let me know and I'll post them too.
Edited to add... Make sure you're doing everything safely and in proper form...
I would do something like the below. It will be fairly quick paced to get it all done in 30 mins... But it's doable with sub maximal loads
Use dumbbells where you prefer. The more you in can do with a barbell the better for gradual progressive overload.
Okay with the reps/sets as you need. But this is a decent general starting plan.
Id just try and go all out on the lower body exercises as best you can, they'll give you the biggest hormonal and metabolic response.
Day 1
Squat 3 x 5
Incline Bench 3 x 5
Pullups 3 x max reps
Biceps curls 3 x 8 - 12
Day 2
Bench 3 x 5
Dumbbell Row 3 x 8 - 12
Dips 3 x max rets
Shrugs 3 x 12
Day 3
Deadlift 3x5
Bent over row 3 x 5 - 8
Over head press 3 x 5
Skill Crushers 3 x 12
You can obviously make this wayyyyy more sexy and complicated... But this will hit everything 3 x a week and you can find what works.
If you need technique videos let me know and I'll post them too.
Edited to add... Make sure you're doing everything safely and in proper form...
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About how much time do you rest between sets?
I personally do about 2 minutes between sets. Men need about 1-3 minutes rest (or maybe more, but who has time for that) for optimal hypertrophy. Women need less. Less than that and it ends up having aerobic effects, which is good, but not ideal for muscle growth. You can get both cardio and hypertrophy by doing different muscle groups next to each other. A set of legs followed by a set of chest, for example. This might help people with limited time, but you're definitely going to get gassed.
I'm fortunate in that my gym is a poorly equipped apartment gym, so I can show up and be the only one there and claim 2 machines to myself in order to do that, but that's probably not happening in a commercial gym in January.
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Thanks. I do 1:00 to 1:30 rest between sets, but I'm lifting in the 8 to 12 reps per set range most of the time. I've never tried extremely low reps and high weight like in the program that @Get2choppaaa suggested, so I was mainly interested in how long you'd rest when doing something like sets of 3 reps. I work out at home too and don't have the equipment to lift that heavy, but still, I was curious.
if you’re powerlifting, then you’ll only need around 18 minutes between each triple
Depends on what you're doing.
On a speed day, I might do 8x3 or 10x3 or 12x2 or even 12x3 with 30 to 45 seconds in-between sets.
Great for conditioning and muscle endurance.
But for most straight heavy sets, I rest around 2 mins.
Think about weight lifting like speaking a language... The longer you do it, the more you learn nuance.
When you start it's "where's the bathroom/I want to order a beer ECT..." But eventually you'll want to master it and learn Shakespeare.
Thanks. I never do more than 1:30 between sets and 2:00 between exercises, but I don't really understand how heavy lifting like you described works. I'd heard of guys doing up to 5:00 between sets which seems excessive, but like I said I have no idea how working out doing sets with very low reps like 3 would feel and can't really try it do to logistics and lack of equipment.
At about 90 percent of a maximal load you need maybe 3 mins or so for the CNS fatigue to dissipate.
I might take 5 mins between a max single on a deadlift... But generally 3 mins or so does it.
That makes sense. It reminds me that I used to do a workout where I'd open up with trying to do two sets of 15 chin-ups with good form, then two sets of 20 bar dips with good form. I never quite made it on either, always falling just short of finishing the second set. I did take 3:00 breaks between sets with that workout because I seemed to need them at that intensity.
Look up the Armstrong pullups method for chins. Do that... It's very easy and you can get 20 chins in about 6-8 weeks if you're already doing 10
Looks interesting but at https://armstrongpullupprogram.com/armstrong-advanced/, which looks like the workout for those who have plateaued at pull-ups like me, he seems to be talking about weighted pull-ups. So, it's definitely something I'd consider if I ever start going to a gym again or manage to get a bigger house w a bigger home gym some day, but as it is I'm back to being limited by available equipment. Getting in 20 pull-ups or chin-ups would be great. My PB so far is 18 pull-ups, although that was over 10 years ago and I couldn't come close to that today.
You can also get a dip belt and do weighted chins.
As you gain absolute/maximal strength, your repetitions will go up also.
I see you got some replies already but I am in a very similar spot in terms of time availability for working out and this is what I've personally found ideal, I don't split and just do this workout 3x/week:
Pullups 3x8-12 (if you can do 3 sets of twelve add weight)
DB incline press 3x8-12
DB rows 3x8-12 (or any kind of row doesn't really matter))
Leg press/calf raise combo 3x12-15
Romanian deadlifts 3x8-12
Facepulls 3x8-12
If you have extra time throw in some hammer curls/OHP/abwork/cardio depending on your poison, each exercise work from 3x8 to 3x12 on a weight and then add weight. I personally think RDLs and incline press are much superior to DLs and flat press in terms of practicality.
It's an all-around routine that can be completed quickly, can be scaled to either be taxing or not depending on your other energy needs on a given day, but it's not the best for maxing out weight or getting super shredded by any means, nor would I recommend it for someone who is skinny or starting out lifting.
It sounds appealing. I had elbow problems off and on through most of last year that were holding me back on pull-ups, but now they seem to finally be gone. Right now I just have a doorframe pull-up bar and I'm a few inches over six feet tall, so I don't know if weighted pull-ups are possible with my current set-up (my knees are just a few inches off the ground at the bottom of a rep). That said, I do need to get some new equipment this year.