Need input on my 16 week plan.

[Suninleo]

Hey guys, new here, new to training with any serious goal and intention. I was recently accepted into a local firefighter academy and start in September. I am a 30 year old male, 5'10", 160 with a lean body mass of 129 (apparently). I'm trying to come up with a workout plan for these upcoming weeks to get myself into the best shape I can in that time frame without injury.

My (ignorant and inexperienced) thought process is to divide the week up by a push day, a pull day, and leg day, with cardio on off days. I'm open to any feedback, critique, and otherwise. Again, I have very little experience and this is just an amalgamation of various tips, sample plans, and word-of-mouth I've gleaned. Trying to keep balanced with the muscle groups I'll be working. The goal is endurance and strength. I wont just yet be interested in bulking, cutting, crazy supplements, or anything other than shaping up steadily and safely before the academy.

Here's my half-baked plan:

Push Day
Bench
Tricep push down
DB lateral raises
Flyes

Pull Day
Lat pull down
Rows
Curls
Wrist curl
Shrugs

Leg Day
Press
Squat
Extension
Curls
Calf raises

Cardio Days In Between
Running
Non-weight-training exercises

It covers a lot of exercises recommended in various resources including FF fitness resources. Any thoughts are appreciated, and I know diet is paramount but this is just for a routine critique. Let me have it, and thank you.

Edit: also looking into input in how best to incorporate high-rep low-weight, low-rep high-weight, etc. into this routine (change it up each set? by week?)

[rdferguson]

As far as self-made novice routines go, this is relatively non-retarded. Off to a good start there. It's rare that I recommend a male do more upper body pushing, but I think you should add an overhead press to your push day unless you have shoulder issues preventing it. On either your leg day or pull day, add deadlifts. Possibly conventional deadlifts on pull day and Romanian deadlifts on leg day. I'd also move squats ahead of leg press.

Over a 16 week period, I would start with higher reps and lower weights, and gradually increase weight, peeling away reps as you go. On the isolation exercises you pretty much always want to be doing more reps than you can count on 1 hand, but for the compounds you might do:

- Week 1-2: 2x15
- Week 3-4: 2x12
- Week 5-7: 3x10
- Week 8-10: 3x8
- Week 11-13: 3x6
- Week 14-16: 3x5, 3x4, 3x3 (respectively)

Obviously, warm up first, and with the heavier weights, you'll need a longer, slower warm up to acclimatise to the weight.

[17mahmoods]

A few problems with it:
Lacks frequency
No hip hinge movement
No reps or sets
Needs rear-delt work

I would say you would be a lot better off with a novice routine from the stickies. Higher frequency, focus on compound lifts. And the best start for a beginner IMO.

[CommitmentRulz]

I was recently accepted into a local firefighter academy and start in September. I am a 30 year old male, 5'10", 160 with a lean body mass of 129 (apparently). I'm trying to come up with a workout plan for these upcoming weeks to get myself into the best shape I can in that time frame without injury.

Any way you can talk to someone who has completed the academy within the last 12 months or so? May give you valuable insight to what you need to focus on. Good luck!

[Suninleo]

Any way you can talk to someone who has completed the academy within the last 12 months or so? May give you valuable insight to what you need to focus on. Good luck!

Thanks guys, really appreciate the input. I was able to talk to a buddy who both completed the academy not too long ago but is now a full time firefighter for an urban station. He is stressing non-weight exercises like push ups, pull-ups, air squats, sit-ups etc. and emphasizes endurance is key.

[Farley1324]

Thanks guys, really appreciate the input. I was able to talk to a buddy who both completed the academy not too long ago but is now a full time firefighter for an urban station. He is stressing non-weight exercises like push ups, pull-ups, air squats, sit-ups etc. and emphasizes endurance is key.

I would run a simple novice routine from the stickies and do significant cardiovascular endurance training as well. Start light on the weight training so you can run at least 3x/week. Cardiovascular endurance from running (and/or rowing, biking, etc) combined with strength and muscle from resistance training, and eating to slowly gain some weight/muscle, seems good.