About splitting & warm ups

[StraydoG]

Hey all. New to the game and still deciding on a split, either upper/lower or 3 day starting with legs, back,bi,abs then chest/shoulders. Leaning towards the 3 days cos Ill be going 3 days a week unless theres better ideas?

One thing I want to know is if Im going heavy with short reps whats the best way of warming up? Do you normally do the excercise with a moderate amount of weight first then bump up to heavy? Just want to make sure I start of doing things right! Thanks again in advance and to those that already helped in the diet section!

[mike27]

hi and welcome

are you new to weight training or just this forum? if ur new to weight training you may want to consider doing a full body routine. mon-wed-fri.

yeah 3 day plan is great! plenty of rest and recovery!

upper mon

lower wed

upper fri

whats your goals for weight training?

for warm I normally do 5mins on the spin bike,rower,treadmill.

then do 10-12 slow reps using a light weight on whatever exercise im gunna do.

or try Agile 8 and Simple 6 as a warm up routine depending on whether ur going upper or lower. good little programs!!

[StraydoG]

Hey Mike,

Fairly new to both. Only been doing dumbells at home but recently moved to the gym. My goal is to put 5kg and go from there (188cm/72kg now) but possibly 10kg.

Ive got Tue/Wed/ Thur currently as gym days and not sure really if that will change. What you do sounds good though, nice way to start.

[timeoutmode]

i reckon 3x full body routine is too much for a beginner,

[Phedder]

i reckon 3x full body routine is too much for a beginner,

I'd disagree. Beginners are usually unable to lift enough weight to sufficiently stress their systems to require long recovery times between sessions.

However given you're working out on 3 consecutive days a full body routine probably isn't the best bet, ideally you'd want a days rest between sessions. Anyway you could do Mon-Wed-Fri?

As Mike said, an upper lower split could be a good idea given your workout days. Every session alternate between upper and lower, and on your Thursday sessions make sure to really smash it as you'll have 4 days before you're in the gym again. 5kg gain sounds like a good short term goal, but you've got a tall frame to fill out so 10kg or likely even more would be a good long term goal. Depends how you want to look of course.

Regarding warm ups, using a moderate weight before jumping into the heavier work is a good idea. Helps you get a feel for the exercise as well as prepare the muscles. Say your first 'working set' was 60kg, I'd do 10-15 reps with the 20kg bar, and then another 5-10 reps with 40kg before moving onto your sets with 60kg. If you still don't quite feel ready for 60kg don't be afraid to do another set at 40kg before moving up. Warm ups are something you really just need to go by feel with.

All the best