Fun little question.....

[JNo20]

.....that on this board could ultimately lead to a knife fight, lol.

If you had to start it all over again tomarrow, with the knowledge/information you have now, what would you do in the gym? Let's say at midnight you turned BACK into whatever physical condition you were BEFORE you ever touched a weight and had to start all over. What would you do?

I'll kick things off.

I'd personally build my program around deadlifts, squats, and incline bench press. I'd throw in other exercises here and there from time to time, but my primary focus would be around getting as strong as possible on incline bench, squats, and deadlifts. I'd include weighted ab work, since nobody likes hernia's, but that would be the basis of my program.

What would you all do?

[ShreddedShruggin]

Same as you, just with pull ups

-Shruggin

[_Lifter4Life_]

I would of started with a proper diet, and lifted with mostly compounds.

Lifter,

[lordmatt]

Spent the first year doing nothing but compounds. And never have tainted myself by touching a machine.

[WillB485]

Originally Posted by lordmatt

Spent the first year doing nothing but compounds. And never have tainted myself by touching a machine.

I agree.

I would do only incline and flat db bench, deadlifts, squats, lunges, military presses, and rows, with some decline crunhces

[MoGeaYuglay]

Probably inject myself with copious amounts of anabolics and lift with compound movements as hard as possible, and oh yeah, eat a **** load of food. Is muscle memory included in this or no, because if not, i'm sticking with the anabolics.

[mike_d]

Hmmm, starting from scratch eh? Well I was overweight when starting, so instead of focusing on lifting I would have focused on diet and cardio to get down to a good "starting weight". Maybe I would have learned all the lifts I would do while cutting, but cardio and diet would have gotten priority over weights.


Then at a normal weight I would commence bulking. Focusing on these exercises with a good diet:

Upper Body:
* Pullups
* Incline BB/DB
* Dips
* BB Rows
* CGBP
* CG Chinups

Lower Body:
* Deadlifts
* Squats
* SLDL
* Calf Raises
* Good Mornings
* BB Lunges
* Leg Press



I would also eat like a horse. The progress would be much quicker with what I know now vs. what I knew then.

[SDFlip]

I don't think i'm gonna be lifting for at least the next 2 months because I'm moving from Arizona to England so this extended break could kinda be like starting from scratch.

I'll stick with my "Short and Sweet" routine once I start back up and really stick with the basic compounds. full body routine 3 times a week with one leg, push, and pull exercise each workout and throw in a couple assistance exercises at the end.

legs: trap deads/front squats
push: incline bench/dips/military/pushups
pull: rows/pullups/rackpulls
assistance: side raises/face pulls/hammer curls/rotator work

[tarun_s]

5x5 alllllllllllllllllllllllll the way.

[b0ngman]

concentrate on upping my #'s in my important lifts... strength begets size!! more dedication would have me pulling 450 on the DL by now, and i bet i would be a lot bigger. Also i would eat more consistently. One bad week really can throw you off

[JR2204]

i wouldn't have neglected my legs...im still pissed at myself for that...

[Kozma]

done something like the 5x5 program, learn to clean, and sprint more

[mattman]

i would have a leg day every week that included squats. i would probably be a year or two ahead of where I am now if i had done that. and i would have bulked a little cleaner.

[Worldwide]

Originally Posted by lordmatt

Spent the first year doing nothing but compounds. And never have tainted myself by touching a machine.

Yup, I have to agree. I definitely feel I should have started off by focusing only on the big compounds - to build overall strength yes, but more so to prevent the weak links that inevitibly occur when you avoid certain critical exercises/movements (either intentionally or not).
I feel kinda like a carpenter that started building a house without measuring the first board. Every subsequent board ends up having to get modified in order to fit. It wastes a lot of time, and the house never quite looks right, or seems as stable as it should. At times I feel I'm having to play catch-up - trying to strengthen certain areas before being able to progress. Yeah, I should've focused on the basics, the core, the foundation first.

So...other than screwing up the entire process from the first day, I'm a real winner! Woo-Hoo!

[HEADSH0T]

ive actually thought alot about this, and whenever i talk to a newbie i give them this godlike routine
1: deadlifts, pullups, barbell rows, ab work
2: varying flat and incline press type excs., varying shoulder press, dips or cgbp
3: alternate bb/db curls each workout, squats until flexible for atg squats, leg press, hammie curls, standing&seated calves
minimum 10 reps for form practice (squats and calves 15-20). 4 weeks heavy 1 week (resting) light. Cardio between these 3 workouts. If i need 9 days to recover for next workout then i rest 9 days. if i need 4 days then i rest 4 days. progressive weights, textbook form

eggs+oats+fruit breakfast
schools lunch make sure its a ****load of food
tuna on whole wheat pre workout
pwo dextrose and creatine
ppwo steak and brown rice
then either family dinner or whatever you feel like eating.

its very simple, adjustings may only happen after 1 year of consistently keeping up with this (else you turn gay).

[HoosierBoy]

I'd put bench pressing where it belongs: as a supplementary exercise, not as a major staple of my program.

Oh, and overhead squats 2x a week.

[Uncle Junior]

Originally Posted by JNo20

.....that on this board could ultimately lead to a knife fight, lol.

If you had to start it all over again tomarrow, with the knowledge/information you have now, what would you do in the gym? Let's say at midnight you turned BACK into whatever physical condition you were BEFORE you ever touched a weight and had to start all over. What would you do?

I'll kick things off.

I'd personally build my program around deadlifts, squats, and incline bench press. I'd throw in other exercises here and there from time to time, but my primary focus would be around getting as strong as possible on incline bench, squats, and deadlifts. I'd include weighted ab work, since nobody likes hernia's, but that would be the basis of my program.

What would you all do?

Find a knife and start feeling stabby

[MoGeaYuglay]

Originally Posted by Uncle Junior

Find a knife and start feeling stabby

Yeah, I'd be pretty pissed myself if I had to start all over (which is why I included anabolics in my lineup of what to do if that happened, to speed things along)

I kind of have a fear of going into a coma for years and atrophy galore, and coming out the scrawny piece of **** I started as. I know, it's always good to be alive, but all that hard work out the window to get to the big piece of **** I am now!

[W8isGR8]

Originally Posted by _Lifter4Life_

I would of started with a proper diet, and lifted with mostly compounds.

Lifter,

^^^^^^^^^^


And never wasted time/money on supps

[aqua-beowulf]

I was actually thinking about this today, lol.

First off, I would not have measured a good workout by "perceived effort" (pump, burn, soreness, blah), but rather, by total overall training load, like I do now. *Thanks Dominik for that*

I would never have considered "bulking at all costs" as a good way to increase size. Bulk doesn't count if it's at a ratio of 50/50 muscle to fat.

I would have stuck with Incline or Flat Presses, Dips, Squats, Deads, Dumbbell Shoulder Presses, Chins/Pullups, and Rows for several years before I even included an isolation exercise.

There's many more, but these are most prominent. Good thread.

[braindx]

I would've stuck with gymnastics and you would see me on TV competing in the olympics! Haha, well, I probably wouldn't have been that good, but at least I would be a lot stronger than I am now in terms of a good strength to bodyweight ratio which is my main goal.

[chasm143]

Very useful info guys!!! Thanx!!! Please keep this thread going! These examples of would've/could've's from you who have been lifting for sometime is absolutely golden.

As a beginner it's good to hear/reinforce these things. I'm on the Starting Strength program (which is great) and I must say that hearing all of you and all on this website explaining that "compounds early are key" was about the best advice I think I got. I wasn't familiar w/ a lot of the compounds, but thanx to the examples/advice here and all of the encouragement through your advice, I have tried them and can't wait to get in there and hit the weights again! It's all I think about!

[Wisdom15]

I would have squatted, deadlifted, and rowed instead of just doing benchpress and curls.

[timmy47]

i would have trained legs, used lower volume, not focus so much on arms, and have a better diet. i also would have rested more.

[RU4A69]

I'd work my arms once a month, and I'd take a full 7-10 days off every month.

I'd also do 2 warm up sets for EVERY lift--and all these lifts would be compound, freeweight movements. ASSISTED dips and pullups instead of benching and rowing UNTIL I could do them on my own.

I WOULD'VE BOUGHT AN ADJUSTABLE BENCH DAY 1 ALSO

I'd look to brown rice MUCH less as a good carb source.......there are FAR better carb sources....like sweet potatoes and oatz. More FAT in diet. More GREEN TEA.

I dunno **** about supps but my vitamin DEFINATELY helps-It's very noticable if I go a couple days without.

[JNo20]

I BIG-TIME agree on the multivitamin!!!

[Ex-Terminator]

I would:

1. Find an 17-year old personal trainer.
2. Do strictly low weight/high rep isolation exercises. Mainly curls.
3. Machines only. No free weights.
4. Split it into curls on Monday, Treadmill on Tuesday, etc...
5. Work strictly for the pump with high reps.

Seriously, I'm getting back into it in a few weeks and it'll be almost all compounds and more squats than ever. And none of the above.

[passerby]

Probably something similar to Mark Rippetoe's program; squats, bench, deads, standing military press, pendlay rows, some chins, dips, decline situps, and hyperextensions.

And a proper diet.

[-->aDAM*<--]

i would scrunch up the useless program given to me by my personal trainer and throw it in her face.

i doubt half of the trainers at my gym know what a 'deadlift' is.

[Heatmiser]

If I had a workout time machine I would stay the hell away from the HIT/Heavy Duty training that kept my progress to a crawl for so many years and contributed to me losing my interest in lifting.

Instead I would have started out with more volume and more frequency and MUCH more food. Old school 5X5 and traditional splits/pyramiding works wonders. Unfortunately in my quest to get all intellectual about lifting I ended up in HIT hell. If it works for you, great - but for me it was a waste of time. Instead of experimenting to see what worked for me, I didnt even bother becuase I was so convinced intellectually that HIT was the only rational way to train. UGH! I'm not saying HIT wont work for anybody - just not for me. If you are in "volume" hell and not growing then HIT may be your ticket to fast gains. At this point in my life I'm not so much worried about debating training methods on what "should work" as I am focusing on what ACTUALLY works for my body.

And I wouldn't have been so pre-occupied with how much I could deadlift and back squat - proper form be damned! Giant glutes? So what? Yea I rounded my back and screwed it up again for the Nth time but so what, I made the lift! I kept telling myself that stupid crap for years and years. All those bad form triples and maxes messed up my back forever becuase I had a genetic back problem and crappy form WILL bit you in the ass eventually. Of course in my stupid youthful zeal I ignored the pain and injuries and figured I'd worry about the long term effects later on... Well I'm getting to that "later on" point in life and cant train the way I'd like and I have chronic back pain becuase of that misguided thinking.