The End Of The Ultimate Weight Training Workout Routine

2,735 thoughts on “The End Of The Ultimate Weight Training Workout Routine”

2,735 Comments

1. Hi! I have two small questions. Thanks in advance for any advice.

   1) Is it essential that a workout be done all at once, or can it be done over the course of a day? For example, using your beginner’s workout, squats in the morning, bench press after lunch, rows in the evening, and maybe 20 minutes of rest between each set instead of 1-2 minutes, rather than all of those in one localized “workout” period. Are there studies, or otherwise a rationale, on whether this matters or not? It’s sometimes more convenient to do the exercises during the small break periods that one has free during a day, without dedicating a set 30min to it all at once.

   2) What are your thoughts on flexibility and using stretching to improve it? For example, if someone has poor hamstring flexibility, they may not be able to execute good form on the deadlift (Romanian or traditional). Some exercises require some degree of flexibility that not everyone has. If someone is incapable of good form on an exercise due to lack of flexibility, is it better to work on the flexibility until they can do that exercise, or should they do the exercise with a more limited range of motion, or should they replace the exercise entirely, etc.?

   • 1. AM/PM training where you train one body part in the morning and another at night is an actual training method that can work, although it’s probably not ideal for most people. But what you’re referring to is something different altogether and not something I’d recommend. Just taking 20 minutes between sets isn’t something I’d recommend before even considering the rest of it. Lots of problems with just that alone.

     2. I’m far from a flexibility guru, but if you’re having issues with form and ROM due to a lack of flexibility/mobility, it’s definitely something you should work on correcting. Search around Eric Cressey’s site… he’s written plenty of stuff on hamstring flexibility.

2. Ok, I’ve decided to use the beginner’s workout schedule you’ve reccomended. My only problem is I’m working out at home and all I have is a dumbbell set and I have no way of doing pull ups. Are there any kind of vertical pull exercises you can do without using a bar? What about pullovers? Thanks, for any answers.

   • If you have no way of doing pull-ups or lat pull-downs, the next best replacements would either be band pull-downs (something like this, albeit a little slower: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uZDqSqLQa7I) or just some other type of horizontal back row (e.g. a bent over dumbbell row) but with an emphasis on rowing the weight more towards your hip than your chest, and with your elbows kept in close to your sides.

3. Hello, I’ve been reading your information and I’m very excited to start your beginners workout routine! I was just wondering if doing ab workouts 3 times every two weeks was sufficient to stimulate the core muscles, and I was wondering how to do progressive overload on the abs if I’m not doing ab exercises with weights? I was also wondering if I can run on the resting days or if that’ll interfere with leg recovery? Thank you!

   • Yup, it’s plenty. Very little direct ab work is needed… some do just fine with none whatsoever.

     As for progression, it depends on the exercise. Some ab exercises can be progressed with reps (hanging leg raises), others with weight (various crunches), others with time and harder variations (planks) and some with all of the above.

     And regarding cardio, it really depends on too many individual factors to really cover in a comment. Needs a full article (it’s on my to-do list).

4. Hey again,

   Two questions:

   1. I’ve been losing weight for like….a year now. Maybe 9 months. I’m not 100% where I’d like to be body fat % wise, but I’m pretty close. Maybe…17% body fat (based on pictures so not really worth much). I mean, I can see my upper abs and all I’m waiting on is my stupid lovehandles to shrink a bit more (they’re not that big, but that’s where the excess is) and I’ll be where I want to be fat-wise. But I’m getting sick of being in a deficit and not making any gains strength-wise. I know your recommendation is to wait until I’m a little leaner to bulk, but would it be a dumb move to bulk for a couple of months and go back to cutting? Or a couple of weeks (though I’m not sure that would be called bulking)?

   2. Related to the above. I seem to remember you writing about the timing of a bulk/cut cycle somewhere…but I looked in places I thought it would be and found nothing. Can you point me in the right direction?

   Thanks man. I don’t know what I’d do without you. (No joke).

   • 1. Honestly, I think in the end you’ll be a lot happier (and do a lot better) if you get leaner (below 15% at the very least) before bulking. But if you want to take a 1-2 week diet break and just come back up to maintenance for a bit to reset all of the stuff that goes to crap while in a prolonged deficit (mood, hormones, hunger, etc.), that would be fine.

     2. I don’t really use time to cycle bulks and cuts unless the person happened to have a specific time frame they needed to be doing something by. The best way in my opinion is to go by body fat percentage. For a guy, get down to 10-12% body fat, then bulk to 15-16%. Then cut back down to 10-12%, etc.

     • Got it. Thanks!

       I hope you get enough recognition in real life for how awesome you are.

5. Hi Jay. Can I check something with the split squats? When you say 3 sets, is this 3 sets on each leg? So in effect, a total of 6 sets? Thanks

   • Yup, 3 sets per leg. I like to do it like this…

     Set 1: Left leg (or whatever your weaker leg is)
     rest 60-90 seconds
     Set 1: Right leg
     rest 60-90 seconds
     Set 2: Left leg
     rest 60-90 seconds
     Set 2: Right leg
     rest 60-90 seconds
     Set 3: Left leg
     rest 60-90 seconds
     Set 3: Right leg
     rest 60-90 seconds

     • Damn, thought as much ;). Thanks 🙂

6. I have free weights and a smith machine with an upper and lower pulley, but I don’t have any machines like the leg press. Is it going to conflict with my gain if I simply replace the selected machine exercise with a free weight move?

   • Replacing machine exercises with free weight exercises is usually perfectly fine (although keep in mind that the smith machine is NOT free weights).

     As for the leg press specifically, the ideal replacement would be front squats. If you don’t like front squats, some type of lunge can work too.

7. Hi great site! A lot of useful information that I could use.
   I was wondering whether I could get some advice from you.

   I’ve been working out for the past 3 years now, however I stopped about 5 months ago and haven’t worked out since then. From reading your sample workouts, would it be best for me to use your beginner muscle building schedule or can I start off with the intermediate.

   Also, I’m a fairly slim fellow and wanted to know whether working upper body 3 days a week (monday, wed, friday) would be ideal. Or would you recommend that a slim person work on upper and lower body to gain the most mass possible? I’m more focused on getting a bigger chest, arms, more definition in abdominals, so I was wondering whether I should still focus on lower body.

   If you could clear these things up for me that would be great!

   Thanks.

   • Also are 2-3 minute sets important? I understand resting between sets is crucial. But for 2-3mins between I think I would feel like I’m losing my momentum and not getting as much as I could get done.

     • If the goal is gaining strength and building muscle, 2-3 minutes between sets is pretty ideal for the big stuff, especially once it gets heavy and challenging enough. If you’d rather rest less though, feel free. Eventually you’ll feel the need to do the opposite.

   • Yup, starting with the beginner routine is probably the right move… even if it’s just for the first month or two.

     If a person’s goal was the build as much muscle as possible, I’d definitely recommend NOT ignoring your legs. A significant portion of the muscle your body is capable of building is on your lower body.

8. Hey,

   First, awesome website!!

   Im slightly confused on how to “count” my macros. You mention that 1g of protein = 4 calories, 1g of fat= 9 calories, and 1g of carbs= 4 calories. When I use math to figure out how many calories there is in lets say, a serving size of beans, it doesn’t quite add up to the calories listed in the nutritional facts.

   Therefore, my question is how to go on by “counting” how many macros I am consuming: Count how much calories, protein, fat, and carbs are in a serving size of food that I consume (according to the nutritional facts) or just count how much protein, fat, and carbs and then use math to figure out how many calories they all provide?

   Also, I sometime find it frustrating not being able to know the macronutrient information of food, and thus it is hard to keep track. For example, when I eat fruit and other foods. Also, when eating out it is hard to measure. How do you go about keeping track when you don’t eat at home, and eat foods that don’t have labels?

   Thanks so much, and warm regards,
   Andres

   • When calculating what your daily calorie intake needs to be and how many grams of protein/fat/carbs you need to eat per day, calories per grams of each macronutrient is something you need to pay attention to as part of doing this math.

     But after that, you just need to count total calories and grams from each macronutrient. Calculating calories from protein/fat/carbs is not needed anymore. So if a serving of food says it’s X calories, X protein, X fat, X carbs… that’s it. Count those amounts… no additional math needed.

     As for tracking when you’re not home, there’s probably dozens of diet tracking apps you can get on your phone for this exact purpose. MyFitnessPal seems to be a popular one.

9. I’m a little confused about what exercises are compound and which aren’t. I understand the definitions you provided, but then you give a list of the best exercises for each body part/muscle group and I am not sure which ones fit which label?

   Also, when doing the beginner routine, could I do ab moves during the two minute rest period? Complete a set of bench pressses, rest for 30 seconds, do crunches for a minute, rest for another 30 seconds, and then repeat the bench press?

   • Have you read this one yet?

     As for ab exercises, you could… but it would mostly just serve to fatigue you while training more important stuff.

10. Awesome, awesome, simple, no bull website! I like it a lot. Still haven’t read all of the material in creating a workout routine so I might have some more questions later on. Just have one though, for now. I am working out using the one muscle group per week routine right now and I’m a beginner and after having read your guide, I am thinking of moving to the full body workouts three times a week routine. Right now, I’m doing once a week 20 kg bench presses (3 sets, 12 reps per set), so if I were to do the chest exercises thrice a week, what would you recommend should be the weight? Also, for chests you’ve said, 60 – 120 reps. If i were to do 120 chest reps per week, that’s 40 chest reps per workout day, that’s 4 sets of 10 reps each and that translates into an exercise and a half, so how do I break this down? I mean, I’d prefer to do more than one exercise of chest per workout…so yea, that’s where I was getting a little confused as to how to proceed. Thanks 😀

    • Use whatever amount of weight is needed to end up in your goal rep range. More here: https://www.aworkoutroutine.com/how-much-weight-should-you-lift-and-use/

      As for doing more than 1 chest exercise per workout… that’s just not what full body workouts are designed for.

      But more importantly, if you’re a beginner, the best thing you can do is NOT try to create your own routine. Instead, use a proven beginner program such as Starting Strength or my own.

11. First of all, like most people have said, this site is very informative and looks like the information is correct and overall very well written.

    I am 18 years old and my main objective is building muscle and I have been eating for such objective. I have reached a stage where I can see that I have enough mass to turn into muscle in my whole body except in my arms. My question is should I keep eating in order to gain weight or should I stop ? I don’t think it’s a matter of genetics since my dad has big arms and so does my older brother and they don’t really work out often, when I have been doing the Beginner Workout Routine for almost 2 months.

    • It mainly depends on your body fat percentage. If you’re over 15% body fat, you probably shouldn’t be eating to gain weight.

12. Thanks again for all the great info. I did the 4 day upper/lower for about 13 weeks, while in a deficit, and I’ve kept all the weights the same while losing weight, about 14 pounds, so I think things are in balance. Wifey says I look more ripped than I ever have so that’s a good sign right :). I’m a truthful 9-10% fat, 165lbs, wouldn’t have gotten there without your info, gram of protien per day/push the weights hard, thanks a ton!

    Anyways, while in this long of a deficit I’ve noticed that I have more aches than normal, my left knee, and one shoulder have been sore for a few weeks. Nothing real bad but I’ve been lifting for about 3 years in a calorie surplus before this and didn’t have any aches. Do you find it’s normal to have a few more aches while in a deficit?
    Also, I took the 4 day routine and made it into a two day for the last 3 weeks, time reasons. I do the upper compound exercises, rest a few minutes, do the legs routine, and then finish up with the isolated upper exercises. It takes 55 minutes and I am one wiped out puppy by the end. What do you think about this? One thing I’ve noticed is may aches have gotten better, more total rest days I think. Weihts have all stayed the same so far, I got one extra rep on bench this week so I think it must be ok? Any negatives I should watch out for? The only one I’ve noticed is I’m not as excited about going in to do the routine because it’s fricking hard, but am still excited to get er done. Thanks again!

    • Good progress dude, glad the site helped.

      Recovery is reduced in a deficit compared to being in a surplus or at maintenance, so it definitely becomes easier for you to be “overdoing” it during this time, which of course can increase injury potential. I’m not surprised you’re feeling better with less workouts per week, as reducing volume and/or frequency is something I actually recommend in a deficit. Although, combining that much stuff into one workout may not be the best way to do it.

      See #3 here for more.

13. That link is actually the first article I read of yours. I was on the internet looking for info on how to lose fat and keep muscle, and luckily found your site. Can’t thank you enough for your info, I think a huge part of any success I’ve had has to do with the right volume.

14. I have a question..

    I am doing the 4 day split and I usually workout on the same days every week.

    I do Upper A on Monday, Lower A on Thursday, Upper B on Friday, Lower B on Sunday.

    Lets say that I have to miss a workout.. for example lets say I missed thursdays Lower A workout.

    The next time I workout on Friday should I do Lower A(the one I missed) and rotate all the exercises example: Upper B on Sunday, Lower B on Monday, etc..

    Or should I just “Miss” that workout and do Upper B on friday still..

    I hope this wasn’t too confusing.. It was difficult to write out and explain.

    • If I’m understanding you correctly, then the first option would usually be ideal. Unless of course you just end up VERY rarely missing a workout, in which case just “missing it” wouldn’t be too terrible. But if it’s happening even close to often, go with option 1.

      • Thanks for the answer!

        One more question. On Upper A for shoulders I have lateral raises.. For me it doesn’t feel like enough for my shoulders.. Where would upright rows fit in? Could I add these to Upper A or would that be pointless?

        On upper B I have the shoulder press.

        • What’s your definition of “doesn’t feel like enough?” When most people say that, they’re usually saying it for all the wrong reasons. More here: https://www.aworkoutroutine.com/am-i-doing-enough/

          But if you really wanted to do upright rows, you can just do them in place of lateral raises.

15. Hi mate, just wanted to say this is one of the greatest websites I’ve ever stumbled across, you’ve given me and I’m sure plenty of others motivation to get down the gym so thanks

    im 21 and have been going gym for around 3 years now to build muscle. During this process I have had mixed success, gaining muscle but also a bit of fat, and with me being 5 foot 6 have now got something of a bouncer physique.

    I’m planning to start your upper/lower 4 day workout but had one question; I’ve read your articles explaining about diet, how to lose fat and how to build muscle. Just generally, how long should I spend ‘bulking’ and ‘cutting’ respectively? if my main overall goal is to build as much as i can whilst keeping back the fat?Are you aware of any potential health risks associated with this?

    And one final thing that I can’t find info about, what is your view/experience on supplements? Particularly beta alanine…. I have become a massive sceptic of overhyped shit in bright packaging but feel much less lactic burn with the stuff.

    Thanks again for all your wisdom, you are a godsend

    • A guy should typically bulk till they hit 15-16% body fat, and then cut till they get down to 10-12% (or lower if preferred).

      As for beta alanine, check out: http://examine.com/supplements/Beta-Alanine/

16. Hi,

    First of all a great job and thanks for putting up such a nice website.

    I am a beginner as per your book/site definition.

    I am into weight loss(read fat loss) and at the same time i don’t want to lose my muscles though i don’t have much anyways!!!

    I am already maintaining a 20% caloric deficit and the results are showing.

    Now my question is which program to follow so as not to lose my muscles…your book says follow the “Fat loss+muscle maintenance solution program” but then that’s for intermediate/advanced trainees.

    Thanks

    • As a beginner, you should definitely go with the beginner routine. Even though you’re in a deficit, the fact that you’re a beginner with some fat to lose means you’ll actually be able to make some decent strength and muscle gains while losing fat.

      In fact, I actually have a new article coming up next week that covers this exact topic. Be sure to subscribe if you haven’t already so you don’t miss it.

17. Amazing job with the information you provided. It is incredible, I actually got better information here for free than I have in most of the books I paid good money to have. My hat is totally off to you for laying out the information in a way that was easy to read and understand. I really enjoyed how you went into a lot of detail about how to design the routine so that you are not working a muscle group to many times, it really cleared up a lot of the issues I had with building my own routines and helped me to figure out where I had been going wrong.

    I started the 4 day upper/lower split this morning so I can’t really say how it is working but the workout itself felt great. Hit the right muscle groups at the right time and I look forward to continuing it.

    My question is about cardio. Where would you suggest throwing in cardio with this routine and what kind of cardio and duration would you suggest in conjunction with this routine.

    Thanks for an amazing informative website, you rock!!!

    EDIT: Sorry I read through the previous posts and now see the cardio questions that I had have been answered multiple times. Thanks again for an amazing article.

    • Awesome to hear it Terry, thanks for the feedback!

18. Hi Jay. I’ve been doing your 3-day upper/lower body split program for 2 months now and I love it! You recommend a 10-minute ab workout and you’re also saying that the optimal volume range for abs is 30-60 reps per week. My ab workout takes about 10 minutes and I manage to do 8 sets total (3 sets of weighted crunches, 3 sets of weighted hanging knee raises and 2 of cable crunch or mason twist.) I go for 8-10 reps on each exercise so I usually end up doing 60-80 reps per workout. There are 2 lower body days a week which means 120-160 reps PER WEEK for me. It’s twice as much as you recommend. I did however notice a significant increase in my ab muscles size (still not showing though due to body fat %.) Is this way too much in your opinion? Should I decrease the volume to 4sets per workout not 8? Will I still be able to see progress if I do so? Thank you in advance for your response.

    • Hmmm, I don’t remember ever recommending a specific volume range for abs. But regardless, 10 minutes or so of whatever you want at the end of a lower body workout is fine.

19. First I would like to say that this website is really great. I have found so much information on it. I was previously doing an beginner full body routine and made progress but I see from the articles where I was still doing to many exercises. Thank you for all the information I see where my mistakes have been. Here is my question I understand that we have to do the exercises that are best for us individually. When I looked at the beginner full body routine I see the template is the 6 compound exercises. You have suggested replacement exercises for each of the six exercises for people that might have injuries or difficulty. I just wanted to if my routine looks like this

    Workout A
    Leg Press
    Dumbbell Bench Press
    Dumbbell Bent Over Row

    Workout B
    Straight Legged Deadlift
    Lat Pull Downs
    Barbell Shoulder Press

    Does this exercise setup ruin the whole routine because it is to much change from the original barbell compound movements listed in the routine or is it still okay and I will succeed building a better body and muscle just the same because I am still following the suggested routine template? Thank You again for the great website and free help.

    • Looks perfectly fine to me.

20. Hello Jay! I am an absolute beginner and started with the free weights just 3 weeks ago. I am only doing 3 exercises, namely squats, bench press and deadlift (in that order) 3 times a week. With light weight for now to train proper form. In your beginners schedule you use the A-B-A-B trainingschedule with 3 additional exercises. Would my very simple schedule be a good substitute or do you recommend switching to the beginners schedule you recommend? And if so, could you explain in short why.

    Love your guide, it’s very clear and straightforward!

    • Deadlifting 3 times per week is usually too much, especially along with squatting 3 times per week as well. I’d recommend going with something closer to my beginner routine or Starting Strength.

      • Thank you for your respons and I’ll start doing your recommended schedule!

21. Hi Jay,

    There seems to be a little confusion in my mind regarding the protien intake.

    Is it 1gm/pound/day or are the units in gm/kg/day?

    My sources tell me that the rda is 0.8 to 1 gm/kg body weight/day

    Can u plz clarify.

    Thanks

    • The RDA for protein is widely regarded as being quite low. The ‘1 gram per pound’ recommendation you’re referring to is indeed correct… it’s supposed to be per pound, not kilogram.

22. Thanks for the awesome website and information. I’m amazed that you’re still answering questions on this series. I’ve been going through the questions and haven’t seen this addresses yet… Ill be doing about 50% of my workouts in my garage gym (muscle building workout). No machines so obviously some substitutions which I’ve worked out from you answering lots of other questions and google. The question: when I’m at a regular gym and have access to machines, should I use the machines or keep with the substitutions. If I’m not clear, for example lower body A, no leg press at home so will sub front squats per your recs when I’m at home. On days I get lower body A done in the “real” gym should I do leg press or keep with front squats.
    Thanks again for the awesome info.

    • So you mean you’ll end up doing a different exercise each week? Like front squats this week, leg press next week, front squats the week after, leg press the next, etc.?

      In that case, I’d stick with just the same exercise regardless of where you’re lifting just so there is optimal exercise continuity. Progression will be harder if you end up doing a different exercise from week to week.

      • Thanks for the response. Ill stick to the substations I have to make. Hope to be back in touch in a few months with good progress!

23. Hi Jay,

    I am interested in starting your beginners workout routine, however i first had a question that i wanted to ask you.

    I noticed that for workout A you have the bench press and for workout B you have the shoulder press, my question is will i be able to build my chest properly by doing the bench press twice in week one and then only once in week 2 since i would be doing the shoulder press twice. I mainly ask this because i feel that my chest is the most underdeveloped muscle in my body and i just wanted to make sure that I would be working it enough with your routine. Furthermore, I also wanted to know how important the shoulder press exercise is and whether it would be a big deal to replace the shoulder press in workout B with another chest compound exercise like the incline bench press so i can train my chest more.

    Thank you in advance, and great job on the ultimate guide, it was extremely informative and helped me greatly.

    • Don’t think in terms of a Monday – Sunday week. Think in terms of how frequently each workout gets done, period. It sounds like it’s twice a week one week, then once a week the next. But, in reality, it’s just each workout getting done every 4th-5th day 100% of the time every single week. And yes, that’s plenty.

      As for focusing more on chest, it’s not really something I’d recommend for a beginner. You’ll benefit most from an equal focus on everything.

24. I am an experienced online researcher. After 2 hours, I find you have the only technically credible (no-myths), topic-complete, and logically structured website. [Though your harshness thing (“dumbass”, “bullshit” etc.) is not appealing to me.] You have contributed something quite valuable.

    But sell books? It is old tech.

    I was looking for an online program/routine design Form. Nobody has one. But you have clearly identified the necessary inputs [current condition and goal description] and you know (even if not formalized) the pathway(s) from that to what would work. Even a single “example” routine would be useful. And the programming to cycle through alternative routines using the same input data would be pretty simple. I am sure you have a friend who could do it in Excel or something just for the fun of it. Or for less than $1000, if not. I guess the App world is where you need to be, but that I know little about.

    Again, congratulations on having brilliantly researched and thought through the world of hype that surrounds working out.

    • Thanks for the compliments, glad to hear you liked the site.

      As for your suggestion, it’s a good one. In fact, some kind of ‘workout program design’ app is actually one of the MANY things on my never ending to-do list. I’ll (hopefully) get around to it at some point.

25. Hey Jay,

    Thanks for the response earlier, if you don’t mind critiquing the beginner routine that i have been doing for a while now and whether i should stick with it or would it be more beneficial to switch to your beginner routine.

    I found it in bodybuilding.com and it basically tells me to pick one compound upper body push, one compound upper body pull, one compound lower body, one shoulder exercise, and two of either biceps, triceps, abs, and calves.

    so i set it up like this:

    Monday:
    Squats
    Bench press
    Bent over rows
    Military press
    Preacher Curls
    crunches

    Wednesday:
    Deadlifts
    Lat pulldowns
    Incline bench press
    Upright rows
    Tricep extensions
    standing calf raises

    Friday: same as monday.

    Please let me know what you think, thank you.

    • Sorry man… routine (and diet) critiques is just something I really never do for anyone. Too time consuming to go through every detail and provide the proper feedback. That’s why I write the stuff on the site… so you can critique things yourself. 😉

      Or just use a recommended proven routine.

26. Hi,

    I would like to just thank you. Thank you for helping those who cannot afford at the moment a personal trainer. I am about to start with the beginner plan. I hope that it works for me. I am much more focus on loosing my belly fat and toning my body. I read your information and hope I understood it well. If you have anything to assist with the belly fat that I may have left over or did not understand, I will appreciate it.
    Thank you again

    • Happy to hear it Vanessa. Regarding belly fat, all you need is a caloric deficit. More details here.

27. Jay,

    Great site! I have a question regarding the push/pull/legs workout. I recover well from workouts and have no problem doing legs after a pull workout, no soreness to speak of. I want to do a straight 3 on 1 off, repeat. Why don’t you list this as an option for the push/pull/legs workout? Thanks Jay!

    • Search around through the comments on this post. I’m pretty sure at least half a dozen people asked me this exact question there.

28. Hey man, thanks a bunch for all the help you provide to people every day, its truly incredible. Anyways I have a question regarding your suggested healthy carb foods to eat, i saw that you said white rice and white potatoes are okay to eat, but what about pasta?, I ask because i love eating it.

    Also, for the protein foods, are meatballs okay or do they have too much fat, and by meatballs i mean the frozen ones you buy from the grocery store.

    Thanks again for all your help.

    • As long as your total calorie and macronutrient intake is what it needs to be each day, getting some of those calories/nutrients from pasta is perfectly fine. The same goes for meatballs, although I’d be less likely to recommend it based solely on the fact that frozen grocery store meatballs sounds kinda disgusting. 😉

29. Sorry, i also had another question if you don’t mind answering. I don’t know if its a dumb question or not, but basically you said that if one were to eat less than there caloric maintenance level, they would lose weight, but would they lose weight day to day or after like a week of eating below there maintenance?, I ask this because yesterday i weighed myself in the morning and it was at 136, so today i weighed myself again in the morning and it showed 137, so does this mean that i gained 1 pound from yesterday to today?

    Thank you in advance.

    • Read this: https://www.aworkoutroutine.com/weighing-yourself/

30. Thanks man, I noticed also that you said not to drink any sodas but are diet sodas included in that, I ask because i have been drinking a coke zero with my lunch for quite a while now.

    Also, for your beginners workout routine, is it okay if i switched the squat and deadlift, for example on workout A i would do the deadlift and squat for workout B.

    Thanks for your help.

    • Some diet soda is fine.

      Never really tried it with those exercises switched, but I don’t really see there being too much of an issue with it.

31. Don’t you ever get tired of feeling wore out from lifting? I think it’s the thing that gets to me the most from lifting hard. I’m calorie maintaining now and it’s better than in a deficit, but it’s still there if you know what I mean.

    • Of course. This is exactly why training breaks are so important. Full details here: https://www.aworkoutroutine.com/deloading-and-taking-time-off/

32. Hi, I absolutely love this website. It has helped me understand things a lot more! I do have a couple questions ….my workout routine is Mon wed and Fri I do full body workouts ( work a lil bit of everything) then HIIT training for about 20 mins after then Tues and Thurs I do a hour of cardio….I just started this today…I’m 190 5’6 trying to lose weight /fat and tone! Do you think this workout routine is going to be good for me to do in order to see results? Should I try something else? You have any suggestions? How long should I use the same workouts before switching this all up? Any help or ideas would b AMAZING…I’ve been struggling since Jan to lose weight and get to 150 it just seems like nothing is working! Please help…tyvm 🙂

    • To lose fat, the one and only thing you need is a caloric deficit. This can be accomplished through diet alone, in which case literally no exercise is needed whatsoever to cause fat loss. If however you want to use exercise to help you create that deficit, that’s fine too. And of course if you’d like to build some muscle, exercise would then become required.

      But if you’ve been trying to lose weight for months and “nothing is working,” the only real explanation here is that you’re not doing the one thing that actually works… creating a deficit. More about that here.

33. Hi, first of all I want to thank you for writing all this information and making it available for free, when it comes to weight training the web is full of claims lacking any apparent logic, your guide on the other hand is very well-thought and I like it a lot.

    I have a little question: I’m training at home, I’m a beginner so I don’t yet have access to great equipment, mostly because of money, but also for safety since I train alone. I just have the very basics: a bench, a pull-up bar and a pair of loadable dumbbells with a total of 50kg of weight (25kg each, enough for now). I’m following the beginner workout replacing barbell exercises with dumbbell variations. While I have no problems with chest exercises, I find it a little difficult to replace leg ones, and would really appreciate a little help.

    Is the Bulgarian split squat a good substitution for the back squat? What about the one-leg/split deadlift for the standard deadlift?

    Since my limitation is heavy weight, I thought using unilateral movements for legs would effectively “double” my available weight, but I’m not sure it is just that easy. Thank you again for everything, hope I made sense.

    • For the back squat, any of the following could work: dumbbell squat, goblet squat, dumbbell split squat/Bulgarian split squat/lunge variation. For deadlifts, some form of single leg deadlift would be pretty good.

      And you’re right, when you’re lacking heavy weight, single leg movements are the way to go.

      Also consider getting some bands. A pretty cheap way to add additional resistance to many exercises.

      • Thank you very much, I really appreciate your help 🙂

34. A’ight so I decided to create my own beginner workout.
    I’ve come across a difficulty though-
    The recommended rep range for back is 60-120 reps per week.
    Same for chest. So I decided to do the chest press machine 3×8 per workout for about 72 reps per week.
    That means I have to do balance it with 72 of back exercises.
    I decided to do 2×8 sets of Rows every workout (48 reps of Horizontal Pulling)
    And 1×10 sets of lat pulldowns every workout (30 reps of Vertical Pulling) and 1×10 sets of overhead presses every workout (30 reps of Vertical Pushing to balance the lat pulldowns).
    The problem is- There aren’t as many reps of horizontal pulling as there are of horizontal pushing, but I’m afraid to increase the reps for back because it might cause imbalances between my back and my chest.
    So how can I solve this problem? Does it even matter? should I just do another set every workout of rows to balance?

    • Honestly? This is why I think the best thing a beginner could do is go with a proven beginner routine and not try to design their own. It’s just a much simpler and easier option 99.9% of the time.

      But to try to answer your question anyway, this is why many proven beginner routines (including my own) alternate rows and pull-ups each workout, and bench press and shoulder press each workout. This allows for an even balance of horizontal and vertical pushing and pulling over the course of the week.

35. Hi,
    thank you for your informative site.

    I’m from Iran and I wanna use your beginner recommended plan after searching for more than 2 weeks on finding an optimal plan for beginners. but before starting it, I have a question:

    you have already mentioned that: “3 day full body split, is by far the most highly proven and often recommended workout schedule for beginners” and as I understood it is:

    Monday: Full Body Workout
    Tuesday: off
    Wednesday: Full Body Workout
    Thursday: off
    Friday: Full Body Workout
    Saturday: off
    Sunday: off

    but as per your recommendation in later pages, alternating “ABA BAB” the Full Body Workout (FBW) is divided to A & B.
    Like this:

    Week 1
    Monday: Workout A
    Tuesday: off
    Wednesday: Workout B
    Thursday: off
    Friday: Workout A
    Saturday: off
    Sunday: off

    Week 2
    Monday: Workout B
    Tuesday: off
    Wednesday: Workout A
    Thursday: off
    Friday: Workout B
    Saturday: off
    Sunday: off

    To me it means that “ABA BAB” is not a Full Body Workout,in other words I expected something as follows while I’m not sure about it (because I’m sure that you already had enough concern about it before which it means that ABA BAB will work best for me since you know more and better than me)

    I expected one week plan like this as said above:

    Monday: Workout A+B=FBW
    Tuesday: off
    Wednesday: Workout A+B=FBW
    Thursday: off
    Friday: Workout A+B=FBW
    Saturday: off
    Sunday: off
    (every exercise is repeated 3 times per week)

    I’m asking all above to understand what is my mistake or what points I didn’t consider while I was reading “The Ultimate Weight Training Workout Routine”

    Needless to say that after reading your site and by starting your beginner plan, I’m very confident that I’m doing the right things now!

    Also I’ve already read your The Best Diet Plan fully 8 months ago and I lost about 13.5Kg till now but using other workout and my body fat is less 7.9%. I really appreciate your free information which helped me a lot as you can see the results

    • It depends on how you want to define “full body workout.” To some people, it’s one exercise for every body part or movement pattern. To others, it’s at least one big upper body push (like a bench press), one big upper body pull (like a row), and one big lower body movement (like a squat or deadlift). My beginner routine uses the second version.

36. Hey, thanks for the great guide, I’ve been lifting for about a year now and wanted to try switching things up to see what works out there. I was just wondering, for the pull-ups in the workout routine, what type of grip should I be using? (underhand, overhand, wider, etc)

    • Pull-ups are technically done with an overhand grip, usually slightly wider than shoulder width. If you happen to feel more comfortable with another grip (such as neutral), that’s ok too.

      • I was just wondering how your traps would increase in this workout routine without doing shoulder shrugs? I’m not an expert on muscle building so that might sound ignorant.

        • Deadlifts and most back exercises hit the traps. But if preferred, 3 sets of 8-10 (of shrugs) can be added on at the end of one workout once per week.

37. I’ve been using the website caloriecounter.com and it decreases my calories when I enter in my exercise sessions. So I can eat additional calories to maintain the “1,200” calories per day they suggest to lose weight. My question is should I be eating additional calories to support my body or am I just “maintaining” my weight because I am eating extra calories?

    Nothing in your very long and informative article says anything about eating extra calories because you work out! SO I wonder if I’ve been defeating my own plan>>>

    Lisa

    • If eating 1200 calories per day causes you to lose weight, and you burn an additional 300 calories today, eating 1500 calories would still put you at the same 1200 you need and cause the same degree of weight loss.

38. Hi! I am so happy that found your website 😉 ! It took me couple of hours but I have read through everything 🙂 I am just wondering – if I am doing beginner workout – would it be advisable to stick all 3 days with one workout ( not A and B, but only A), but in this workout include all exercises for all muscles (as you said – it is full body workout and each muscle has to be trained 3 times a week). Thanks 🙂

    • I’d recommend doing it like it’s written. If I thought some other way was better, I would have written it that way. 😉

39. And one more question 🙂 – I am quite concerned about my inner thighs (adductor muscles), would it be advisable to do front squats and also sumo squats (dumbbells placed on the shoulders) at the same day ? Wouldn’t that mean that I am doing too much reps on hamstrings and gluteus (as these muscles are also involved in sumo squats).
    I’m 26y, 56kg, 166cm. My goal is to loose fat and get toned. I am aiming to do 3 sets of 10reps each exercise…

    • Two similar squatting movements in a single workout would be redundant in my opinion.

40. Hi 🙂 sorry for so many questions… I have written beginner program, and I would appreciate your opinion about it 🙂 I will begin as a beginner, I am quite fit (doing some weight exercises, HIIT, etc. for 1 year quite intense)but still want to loose some body fat and gain nice, toned body. After reading your website I realized that most of all I have been working on CV endurance. I am happy that you are here. At the moment I have few qualifications in fitness and now going to do personal trainer qualification, but I don’t have a lot of experience and have lot to learn. 🙂 But I want it so badly ! And I want learn. And you have experience which you cannot gain with qualifications only. Thanks for being here 🙂
    My routine:
    Alternating sets – full body workout – rest 60sec between each

    Squats (3×10)
    Shoulder Press (3×10)

    Bench press (3×10)
    Bent over row (DB)(3×10)

    Sumo Squats (3×10)
    ABS (2×12)

    Biceps Curl (2×12)
    Triceps kick-backs (2×12)

    Dead-lifts (3×10)
    Calf raises (2×12)

    • People contact me all the time with their diets and workouts and ask me to look it over for them, but it’s unfortunately not something I do at all for anyone anymore. It’s nothing personal of course. It’s just too time consuming to go through every detail and provide the proper feedback. So, it’s just one of those things I always avoid doing. Sorry.

41. Is it possible to lose fat and also get that toned look ? I know that to lose weight you need to eat less but to gain muscle you would need to eat more so I’m not sure if this is possible or if I need to lose the weight first and then focus on gaining muscle. Also once I reach my goals, do I still need to do strength training exercises ?

    • Read this one.

42. Hello!

    I’ve been doing your routine for about five or six months now, and it’s great! However, I feel like I need to change it up: I’ve plateaued in most of the exercises. Also, I would assume there would be other benefits to doing different exercises as well. Any suggestions?

    — John

    • Start with this one. And then go to this one.

43. First off, thank you very much for this website and resource it is amazing. I have been lifting for a couple years now with decent results but in the past few month’s it has gotten so frustrating to the point where I stopped enjoying it. Finding this website has brought my enjoyment back. The main reason I had stopped enjoying lifting/dieting was because everything got so ridiculously complicated. I’m confident now with your assurance that I can go back to the simple days of simply counting my calories and focusing on the correct macro’s. Thank you so much for re-instilling that concept!

    I found your articles very helpful, in just cutting out all the unnecessary crap. They were easy to follow and included almost everything a person could ask for in a guide. The only question I am still left wondering is:

    In the case of either cutting or gaining, should a person adjust calories for non-workout days? Because I’m burning close to (I’d guess) 800 calories a workout (75 mins intense lifting & 30 cardio) if I am at 600 caloric deficit on my training days (5 days a week) then on my non-training days I’m at a 1,400 caloric deficit. Likewise when bulking / gaining on training days I would be at a 250 surplus but on non-training at a 1050 surplus. Should I make my non-training day’s less calories so that they are the same deficit/surplus as training days or make them so they are at maintenance?

    • Glad to hear it man!

      Basically, you went to end up with a net surplus at the end of the week of somewhere around 1750. So whether you have a 250 surplus every day, or more calories on training days and less calories on non-training days, as long as that same total weekly surplus is there, you’re good.

      There are lots of different ways to do it and pros and cons for each, but this is one of those things that will really need a full article to properly explain. It’s on my to-do list.

44. When you are attempting to find your sweet spot in lifting by doing the 3 sets of 8 reps, is this when you add a little weight at a time or do you add weight the next time you do that in particular lift?

    • If the goal for the exercise is 3 sets of 8 reps, and you successfully get that 3 sets of 8 reps (with good form) using some amount of weight, you’d then add weight the next time you do that exercise.

45. The most detailed guide I have ever found. Most others just say “do fewer reps for strength and fewer for endurance” without breaking it down as precisely as this one, so thanks for that! Definitely learned something new here and can’t wait to get back into it!

    • Glad to hear it man!

46. Great info!
    I’ve only just started the program, and am really pumped (excuse the pun) to see what kind of results this will bring.
    Just one question though – do you think stretching is important (before or after a workout) and if so what are the best stretching exercises to do?
    Many thanks!!

    • Glad to hear it dude! Keep us updated on how things are going.

      As for stretching, that’s something that will really need a full article to properly cover (it’s on my to-do list).

47. What do you think about Optimum Nutrition- Opti-Men multi vitamin?

    • Pretty good if I remember correctly. Although I do remember it failing some part of Consumer Lab’s multivitamin test a couple of years ago… too high in something or too low in something. Can’t remember.

48. When figuring out my macros and maintenance level should it be for my current weight or for my target weight.(20lbs less). I figured out all my macros, maintenance and my 1000 calorie deficit by figuring my current weight. if done that way , every week as I lose weight I will have to recalculate my macros. I want to get from 239 to 220.Should I just put in my target weight into the maintenance calculator and adjust my macros accordingly to maintenance level for target weight (220)?

    • Your current weight should be used when calculating everything, with one possible exception being protein intake. Those who are obese should usually use their target weight instead for protein.

      And definitely DON’T recalculate things every week or every pound… it’s unnecessary and you’ll just drive yourself insane trying to make adjusts of like 9 calories. Instead, wait until progress stalls to make adjustments.

49. I usually take five grams of creatine post workout only. Should I be taken it on off days as well? Also, when I first started taken it about a month ago, I kinda did a half ass loading. Do you think I should reload the way you recommend or do you think my muscles are all ready saturated enough?

    • Take 3-5g per day and you’ll be just fine. No need to load or reload or anything like that.

50. Should I be taking creatine on non workout days ? Should I take it pre workout? I already take it post workout.

    • Read this: https://www.aworkoutroutine.com/taking-creatine/

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