At the moment I’m only managing to get to the gym on Saturday and Sunday. I want to lift weights but I am finding that on Sunday I am tired from the previous days activity and therefore can’t do as much as I would like.
At the moment I am breaking my routine down by doing chest and biceps one day and back and triceps the other day. I try to rotate which routine I do on Saturday so that each area gets a heavy workout once every couple of weeks.
Is there a better way to organize my workout? Would I be better doing chest and back together or chest/triceps and back/biceps?
I want to work on my strength at the moment and eventually I hope to be able to workout more regularly and then try to lose a few pounds as well.
Does anyone have any opinions on good routines to fit in to this schedule?
Two consecutive days in a row is a tough split, to be sure. You got limited time, and you’re not in great shape for doing much on Sunday. So you need to completely cut the crap out and do worthwhile things on both days.
You need to train your legs on Saturday. That’s the most important thing you can do because that gets you the maximum results for your effort. Without strong legs, upper body strength really doesn’t count for a lot. The two absolutely essential leg exercises are the squat and deadlift, and unless you physically can’t do either of those, that’s what you should be doing.
Sunday is a good day for upper body training, because that’s of secondary importance, and it won’t be highly impacted by your leg training on the previous day. Since you’re limited in time, you need to cut the direct arm work out and concentrate on compound movements: bench presses, barbell rows, military presses/dips, and chinups.
In order to make more specific recommendations, I need to know how long you’ve been training, and how active you are during the week.
I work out twice a week and that is about it at the moment. I have been working out on and off for over 10 years but have been down to twice a week for the past 2 1/2 years. In the past I have not really worked my legs all the much.
Why are legs most important and upper body “of secondary importance”? Just curious because I’ve never heard that.
They contain somewhere in the neighborhood of 60% of the muscle in your body, and most of the largest muscles in the body–namely, the glutei maximi and the quadriceps. Neglecting that just isn’t gonna do you any good.
The testosterone/growth hormone release triggered by leg training is unmatched by anything else. In fact, it’s too much for your legs alone, so a lot of it ends up elsewhere. Want a big chest? Squat.
Any real-world test of strength is not performed lying on a bench, or seated, so leg strength is going to matter as much or more than anything else. In fact, in the powerlifting-style bench press, quadricep strength does matter.
So that’s why you should train legs.
It really doesn’t sound like you’ve got much in the way of solid training experience, so let’s start with something light.
Saturday
A: Squats, 4 x 10
B: Deadlifts, 4 x 10
Sunday
A[sub]1[/sub]: Barbell row, 3 x 12
B[sub]1[/sub]: Bench press, 3 x 12
A[sub]2[/sub]: Chinups, 3 x 12 (or pulldowns if you need to)
B[sub]2[/sub]: Dips, 3 x 12
The goal here is to get you started on a decent foundation of strength and to get you to learn the movements. Stay away from the machines and stick with the free weights. Find someone who knows the proper form–if there’s a big, quiet bald guy who deadlifts 600 lbs. at your gym, talk to him–and have them show you how to do the movements. Use enough weight that the last set is challenging but you can do it. Focus on control rather than speed, and don’t rely on momentum to put the weights up. Pause briefly at the top and bottom of each movement.
After three weeks, swap the A and B movements. After another three weeks, swap back and try using a little more weight. I think you’ll find this a manageable program that’ll get you good results.