How many exercises per body part for beginner

[mikecorn]

I just started working out at age 42. How many exercises per body part should I start out with? My workout days consist of a chest/tri, a shoulder/bicepts and a back/legs. I do some stomach everyday. I work shift work and with my current schedule, I can get in 3 to four days in a row. Im looking to just add some muscle and definition. I'm taking a whey isolate and a pre-workout to get me going. Thanks for any advise or comments in advance.

Michael

[r694031]

Hey Michael

I'd shoot for around 3-4 lifts for each as you begin (maybe 2-3 for bis/tris.) Focus on your bigger compound lifts as well, bench press, dead lifts, squats, rows, shoulder press, upright rows, shrugs... your multi-joint exercises. If that doesn't get you your 3-4 then you can supplement with some smaller lifts.

Good luck

[magician27]

do full body routine if you just started. you dont need splits.

[ScottAllan77]

Full body is the way to go. I was a total beginner last March. I found AllPro's Simple Beginner Routine (see the stickies) and I've been running it ever since. It's a 5 week cycle and it's 3 days a week. Big compound movements. Great for overall strength. I'm 7 months through, so I've started to adjust the program slightly. The sticky thread is very active with tons of great advice almost any question you can think of has already been answered so don't be shy with the search function.

[ironwill2008]

I just started working out at age 42. How many exercises per body part should I start out with? My workout days consist of a chest/tri, a shoulder/bicepts and a back/legs. I do some stomach everyday. I work shift work and with my current schedule, I can get in 3 to four days in a row. Im looking to just add some muscle and definition. I'm taking a whey isolate and a pre-workout to get me going. Thanks for any advise or comments in advance.

Michael

For beginners, frequency of body part training, rather than volume, is the key to the most-timely gains. A full-body program, performed 3 times per week is a good place to start.




Here's one such example:

Beginner bodybuilding program:
*Routine: http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=4195843


If you don't know how to perform any of the exercises in this program, look them up here to learn how to do them correctly:
http://exrx.net/Lists/Directory.html

[mikecorn]

Thank you all for the info.