|
Most gym users follow the classical 3 day a week training routine, deciding to train; Mon, Wed, Fri. The 3 day a week training programme is often followed as either;
a. Train the entire body each training day with 3 sets per major exercise.
b. Split the body up into 3 sections and train these different bodyparts; Mon, Wed and Fri, The best routines use compound exercises that cause overlap, so you actually work some of the major muscle groups twice in a week. Here’s the prefered 3 day split routine (b) 
Click on each exercise for a pop-up window
that shows you how to perform each exercise
(no downloads or extra software needed).
Monday Squats OR Leg Press
Straight leg Deadlift or
Leg Curl (Lunges for women)
Standing Calf Raise
Leg Raise
Crunches Wednesday Incline Bench Press
Close Grip Bench Press
Military (or DB) Shoulder Press
Lateral Raise
Dumbbell Biceps Curl
Hanging leg raises Friday Shoulder Width Lat Pulldown
Close Grip Seated Pulley Row
Dips
Reverse hand Triceps Pushdown
Crunches
Hyper Extension
Shrugs (men only)
*Get proper instruction on all exercises or invest in a personal trainer to show you how to perform each exercise properly. For those just starting out;
1. On the first training session, start off light, do 1 set per exercise. You might ache the next day, this is normal and shows you have trained well. Training well results in your body adapting to the stress applied. This causes your muscles to get stronger, firmer and more toned to cope with the stress you have put them under. You tend to ache the most the first few sessions, a dull ache however is good, often desirable and is a true indication that you have trained hard! 2. After a few weeks, perform 2-3 sets for each exercise. After around 2-3 months, you can move to a maximum of 3-4 sets per exercise. Always do an easy warm-up set of around 15-20 reps, to get the motion right and the blood into the muscle. 3. Perform a maximum of around 8-12 reps for each exercise. The weight you are using should be heavy enough, so that the last rep should be near impossible. Try and increase the weights or reps you are doing every session, to ensure you are progressing. When I say increase, it only needs to be a very little increase in weight, (in some instances, a tiny 1 or 2lb plate or extra 1-2 reps is fine.). Don’t ego train, i.e. throwing two additional big plates on the end of each bar and thinking you can lift it, only to struggle or bounce it up, is a waste of time. You’ll end up using bad form, which makes you look silly and increases your chance of injury and… you probably won’t even be using the actual muscle you are trying to work! You’ll find that most professional bodybuilders will not use 3-day splits because of the large amount of ‘Chemical assistance’ that allows them to enhance their recovery abilities by a significant amount compared to the average trainer. So these guys will tend to use much higher frequency routines (greater than 4-6 days per week), due to the fact the more you stimulate a muscle to grow, the greater opportunity it has to grow. This is of course only possible if you have the extra protein required for building muscle by using a good protein powder and your recovery abilities are enhanced by effective supplementation/sports nutrition. A lot of Natural bodybuilding champions and powerlifters, as well as a lot of professional athletes in other sports such as football, wrestling, track and field, boxing, Aussie Rules Football and rugby, use a 3-day per week weight training routines.
|
