Suppose only 4 excersises are done..

[asuguy]

not that im going to do this, although mine is similar. But suppose a complete noop to bb does squats, deadlifts, barbel rows and bench presses. Nothing else. This would pretty much work the entire body would it not? What kind of build would this person have in say 1 year, given they work our properly and eat properly.

[Lion Heart]

Immagine they would gain pretty well on that routine if the right volume and frequency was used. Diet would be important as well.

[asuguy]

why ask stupid questions

wouldnt wanna make YOU think too hard and hurt yourself.

[Dbag333]

why ask stupid questions

This is one of the best questions ever asked on this board. If he actually does this routine, and diet is good, I garuntee, with in 3-5 years he will be twice as strong and big as you, (unless you are an advanced PLer, but if you were, you would be harolding the greatness of such a question)

Who ever does that routine, beginner, or experienced, would be one of the smartest and fastest progressing lifters ever. Dead lifts hit 70% of the muscles in the body.

Cut the rows and do weighted pull ups. Deads hammer the back like no other.

eat 300-500 grams a day, every day, no matter what!

As long as they increase the weight and or reps every work out, which if they are starting they can do it by 5-10 lbs a week, they could totally transform themselves.

lift mond/wed/friday and alternate deads with squats every other week. 1-2 sets after proper warm up, last set to failure, 8-12 reps. as soon as you can get 12 reps up the weight again. Don't know what your starting weights are, no matter how small, add weight or reps every week. If not over training, you could add 100 lbs to every lift in a year, and at least 15 lbs to your frame, if not 30.

A sizable goal, probably not with in a year, give 2-3, to shoot for, would be repping weight of 225 bench for 8, 315 squat for 8, 8 pull ups with 45lbs around the waist and deads at least as heavy as your squat if not a lot heavyer. DO NOT SACRIFICE FORM. If you can do this, you'll be in better shape than the majority of lifters who do 4 excercies of 4 sets for chest and biceps three times a week and never progress. I would give almost anything to go back in time and do this from the beginning!

EAT, EAT, EAT!

if you stall out, eat more, and try cutting back the volume.

check out doggcrap and IronAddict, they will open your eyes.

and DIET!DIET!DIET!DIET!DIET!DIET!DIET! 300-500 grams of protein a day! lots of good fat like olive oil and flax, and a multivitamin. Som creatine if thats your thing.

then eat some more

good luck

[Lion Heart]

why ask stupid questions

Negged.

[Dirk D.]

This would be an outstanding routine. It's better than 99....ahem....100% of the routines on this board, and if you did it for a few years, you'd blow everyone out of the water. You'd also be well rounded, with very few visible laggers. If you did have a lagger, you'd be able to fix it relatively quickly.

I'd change it somewhat, however. Like Dbagg said, cut the rows, but I'd say do a chin palms up instead of a pullup, as this will hit your lats and your bis maximally. I'd also say drop the bench and do weighted dips. Dips are like an upper body squat, and they nail the pecs, delts, and tris like mad. Also, split the exercises up and do half on monday, and half on thrusday. This will probably lead to more consistent gains over the long term, and when you finally do plateau, you'll be further ahead then if you had done it three times a week as a full-body.

Dirk

[asuguy]

thanks Dbag and Dirt. chin palms?..is this were palms are facing each other? can dips realy replace bench or dumbell presses?

[madcap]

I agree that this is a good question. If anything, when someone is creating a routine for themselves, this should be the baseline and with exercises added and substituted over time. I would keep the bench press, but I'm partial the bench anyways.

[Dirk D.]

thanks Dbag and Dirt. chin palms?..is this were palms are facing each other? can dips realy replace bench or dumbell presses?

Sorry mate,

"A chin palms up.." A palms up chin up. Close grip palms up. When your palms are facing you and hands closer together than a pullup.

And in may ways, the Dip is better than the Bench, the Bench is just more traditional.

Dirk

[asuguy]

Sorry mate,

"A chin palms up.." A palms up chin up. Close grip palms up. When your palms are facing you and hands closer together than a pullup.

And in may ways, the Dip is better than the Bench, the Bench is just more traditional.

Dirk

oh yeah, those would realy hit the biceps good.

[paingame]

i would also instead or reg bench do incline bench and add dips.

[XIII]

Now were talking. I do something somewhat similar with a few more exercises. I find people are too scared to rely on the basics thinking that it'll make them look like a big blob of muscle. Believe me if it did youd see a lot of big blobs of muscles walking around at the beach in the summer since people seem to want to try anything to get big. With proper form the big exercises work the muscles in a full range of motion and devellopment is still balanced adequately. Hard gainers should take something like this under consideration. If someone does decide to try it out they can always monitor the progress and pay some attention to any weaknesses that migth arise periodicly. Cheers and good luck

[Big Daddy Shane]

I agree. Stick the basics. Read Stuart McRobert's books for info.
BDS

[bass generator]

i personally think its a great routine.

[daninthemix]

I agree - superb routine. And I hope those who've been whinging recently about the mass of bench press and curl threads agree that this is a refreshing thread? DON'T YOU??

[asuguy]

I agree. Stick the basics. Read Stuart McRobert's books for info.
BDS

one of these?


http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/se...157405-4008038

[Dirk D.]

Yes, order Beyond Brawn immediately. This is his biggie. Further Brawn is also good, but you need the base with Brawn, and particularly Beyond Brawn.

You're taking a step in the right direction.

Dirk

[Wanker527]

a decent enough idea, but a routine such as this WILL leave you with a few lagging parts, no way around it. too simple for me personally, but to each his own.

[ENJOIBECKHAM]

so you can get awesome gains, mayber faster than most other routines, say doing only a couple of basic exercises 2 times a week or 3?

like a routine like this maybe.
Squats
Bench
Rows
Chin ups
Dips

can you get awesome gains with a routine like that if you stuck with it like all over your entire body, and alternate Deads with Squats every other?

[olaf christ]

If you were going to do that, I'd add in military press too, otherwise you'd find yourself with some pretty weak shoulders in the end. Strength isn't just about what you squat/bench/deadlift, shoulders are critical for functional strength and are an important part of your phsyique too.

[Dirk D.]

a decent enough idea, but a routine such as this WILL leave you with a few lagging parts, no way around it. too simple for me personally, but to each his own.

Well, it MAY leave you with a few laggers. but certainly not "WILL."

The interesting thing is, is that you'll grow so much faster, if you don't overdo it and do the workout too frequently and/or with too many sets, that you'll notice those laggers because the rest if you has gotten so much bigger. Once you see that, the problem is easy to fix.

I've said it before, that people are so worried about growing in proportion, that the end up growing extremely slowly or not at all. But hey, at least those guys are still proportionate.

Dirk

[Stormbringer]

not that im going to do this, although mine is similar. But suppose a complete noop to bb does squats, deadlifts, barbel rows and bench presses. Nothing else. This would pretty much work the entire body would it not? What kind of build would this person have in say 1 year, given they work our properly and eat properly.

man, when i started i did a couple of sets of squats, deads, rows, dips, militarys and chins, and i'm not gonna lie to you - it's 12 very hard sets!
i don't think i'll do it again

imo sqats, deads, good mornings and olympic lifts are most important lifts out there
also moves like ghr, pullthroughs, rev. hypers and stuff that strengthens posterior chain is important
because the key to awesome physique is strength and the key to strength is strong legs and back!!!

[Gollum]

This thread should go in the stickies. This is a great thread.

[TNCEKM]

not that im going to do this, although mine is similar. But suppose a complete noop to bb does squats, deadlifts, barbel rows and bench presses. Nothing else. This would pretty much work the entire body would it not? What kind of build would this person have in say 1 year, given they work our properly and eat properly.

They would grow beautifully off of that.......I'm dead serious.

3 Day per week program, and it's on!

[TNCEKM]

If you were going to do that, I'd add in military press too, otherwise you'd find yourself with some pretty weak shoulders in the end. Strength isn't just about what you squat/bench/deadlift, shoulders are critical for functional strength and are an important part of your phsyique too.

Bologna

Bench press will trash your front and medial delts (mostly front) and deadlifts (done properly) will trash your rear delts. Throw in the BB rows and your rear delts are hit will.

[Dirk D.]

This thread should go in the stickies. This is a great thread.

hehehe,

I agree Gollum, beauty thread. The problem is, nobody reads the stickies :-(

It's almost better to just bump it up on the board now and then.

And I agree TKCE...No need for militaries for the reasons you stated. Even more, if Dips are preformed instead of Bench, kiss those front delts goodbye.

Dirk

[Gollum]

hehehe,

I agree Gollum, beauty thread. The problem is, nobody reads the stickies :-(

It's almost better to just bump it up on the board now and then.

And I agree TKCE...No need for militaries for the reasons you stated. Even more, if Dips are preformed instead of Bench, kiss those front delts goodbye.

Dirk

True, true. Nobody reads the stickies. Ah well....bump!

I do some other work besides the basic lifts. I train DC style. I'm actually trained by DC himself. He watches me like a hawk, I cant get away with anything. Its like having a 300lb grandmother. LOL! Anyway, despite the fact that I do include a small amount of direct work for smaller body parts the basis of my program is still the big lifts and always will be. Deads, rack deads, rows, various bench presses, squats and heavy leg presses, weighted dips.

But I've been in the game a while. For the absolute beginner I think a routine of just the big lifts is a fantastic idea.

[Gollum]

lift mond/wed/friday and alternate deads with squats every other week. 1-2 sets after proper warm up, last set to failure, 8-12 reps. as soon as you can get 12 reps up the weight again. Don't know what your starting weights are, no matter how small, add weight or reps every week. If not over training, you could add 100 lbs to every lift in a year, and at least 15 lbs to your frame, if not 30.

A sizable goal, probably not with in a year, give 2-3, to shoot for, would be repping weight of 225 bench for 8, 315 squat for 8, 8 pull ups with 45lbs around the waist and deads at least as heavy as your squat if not a lot heavyer. DO NOT SACRIFICE FORM. If you can do this, you'll be in better shape than the majority of lifters who do 4 excercies of 4 sets for chest and biceps three times a week and never progress. I would give almost anything to go back in time and do this from the beginning!

I wanted to comment on this part of Dbag333's great post. To the new lifters out there...yeah I see you sipping on that Muscletech shake in a bottle...read these two paragraphs 10 times. Gimme 10 reads! Drill it into your heads. You can rear delt lateral raise at a 45 degree angle until the cows come home. If you want to grow, get stronger. The goals Dbag set are VERY reachable. Yet many people will never be able to do them IN GOOD FORM.

Progressive poundages in good form. McRoberts. I'll say it until I'm blue in the face.

[ENJOIBECKHAM]

hmm. i'm thinking about trying a routine like this for awhile, and see what kind of gains i get.

could i set up 2 different routines maybe and alternate them maybe? like say something like this, would this work just as good?

Workout A
Squats
Bench
BB Rows
Military press

Deads
Close grip bench
Chin ups or Pull ups alternare each one
Dips

But maybe rest 2 days after each lift for some good rest. Like 1 on 2 off...
Monday - Workout A
Tues - Off
Wed - Off
Thurs - Workout B
Friday - Off
Sat - Off
Sun - A
Mon - Off
Tues - Off
Wednesday - B
etc.

[TNCEKM]

why ask stupid questions

you need a life man.......and also you need to do more research before you go telling people that a full body workout, 3 times a week is the way to go.......That routine went out of style about 30 years ago because it wasnt as effective

Haha, so you think there buddy.

First off, nobody said a full body workout, if you read carefully you said "3 day per week program". Maybe I should have been more clear, but, by this I mean a 3 day split. I.E. Upper body push, Upper body pull, lower body split (or something similar).

If you think that workout doesn't work, you're out of your mind, OR you've never used it b/c you read FLEX too often.

This routine WILL grow people and is optimal, yes optimal, especially for gym newbs.

IFBB pro level people (and other genetic freaks) can get huge doing high volume isolation crap, but normal people need max. stimulation with max. recovery time. I've helped people grow, and I've taken open-minded information from great trainers, and through trial and error I am a better bodybuilder than I was yestarday, the day before, so on and so forth. I will continue this trend b/c I possess these qualities and I do not "follow the leader" or the latest craze.

But, W/E, I'll do what has worked best for me and has helped others out...you can do what you read in FLEX.