Tips on a starting routine?

[Latex69]

I am finally getting back to working out after around a year off due personal problems. I had been working out for a year or 2 previously to stopping, my stats then were 5'7' 165 and main lifts were close to 2/3/4 plates. Now finally getting back to it, I have been working out for a little over a month with good gains but I want to make sure that they keep coming. I also realize that my nutrition will play the biggest part in this as well as resting. But I am looking for advice since I am coming back and not starting for the first time, will that change anything? Should I start on another beginner routine for the best results? I have found that I get great results in low rep range (4-6) for compound exercises as well as some isolation exercises in the 8-12 rep range. So I am wondering what routine would help me gain back my strength and muscle and keep progressing from there.


Thanks in advance for any information and advice.

[Partyrocking]

A novice routine is a good idea because they have the fastest progression, so you'll remake lost gains the fastest. Whichever one you like the best will work fine. Greyskulls LP comes to mind because it was made to be customized, so you could just add in whatever isolation work you want to do after the main lifts.

You should note, however, that you will recruit your muscle fibers better than a true novice, so you may get to a point in the routine where you can make linear progress (like a beginner) but your body responds to weight like an intermediate. In other words, you'll be sore as hell. I experienced this myself when I came back using Starting Strength.

[Latex69]

A novice routine is a good idea because they have the fastest progression, so you'll remake lost gains the fastest. Whichever one you like the best will work fine. Greyskulls LP comes to mind because it was made to be customized, so you could just add in whatever isolation work you want to do after the main lifts.

You should note, however, that you will recruit your muscle fibers better than a true novice, so you may get to a point in the routine where you can make linear progress (like a beginner) but your body responds to weight like an intermediate. In other words, you'll be sore as hell. I experienced this myself when I came back using Starting Strength.

I checked out that routine and I do like how it is customizable, and also it uses linear progression but only at 2.5lbs and the last set where you go to failure. Also I was wondering how many isolation, or multi joint exercises to add from the base 2 exercises. Like for example Rows, pull-ups, or overhead press.

Thanks for the help.

[Partyrocking]

It's up to you how many exercises to add, but I would try to keep the total for each day around 4-6, which means you would add 2-4 exercises depending on how many compounds you want to do and how many isolations.

OHP is already in the program. It's set to alternate with bench. You could do that, but if you want to bench more, you could do bench on the 1st and 3rd day of each week and keep OHP in the middle. This is how the squat and deadlift are set up.

You could either alternate rows and pull-ups or row when you squat and do pullups when you deadlift, depending on how much frequency you want for each movement.

I would do something like this:

Monday .............Wednesday...........Friday
Bench.................OHP ...................Bench
Row...................Pullup..................Row
Squat.................Deadlift...............Squat
curl/skullcrusher...facepull/abs........curl/skullcrusher

You could keep the days the same each week or alternate lifts depending on how often you want to do each exercise.

[Latex69]

It's up to you how many exercises to add, but I would try to keep the total for each day around 4-6, which means you would add 2-4 exercises depending on how many compounds you want to do and how many isolations.

OHP is already in the program. It's set to alternate with bench. You could do that, but if you want to bench more, you could do bench on the 1st and 3rd day of each week and keep OHP in the middle. This is how the squat and deadlift are set up.

You could either alternate rows and pull-ups or row when you squat and do pullups when you deadlift, depending on how much frequency you want for each movement.

I would do something like this:

Monday .............Wednesday...........Friday
Bench.................OHP ...................Bench
Row...................Pullup..................Row
Squat.................Deadlift...............Squat
curl/skullcrusher...facepull/abs........curl/skullcrusher

You could keep the days the same each week or alternate lifts depending on how often you want to do each exercise.

That looks great one of my bigger problems would be that most routines only had 3 exercises a day witch would not be enough for me with no isolation, and I wasn't sure how much to add. And how are cleans or power cleans, would they be another good exercise to alternate? Thanks again for the help, repped also.

[Partyrocking]

Power cleans are a great exercise, but they can be tricky to program well.

I would do them first on whichever day you do them. If you do them fatigued, your form will likely give out and you'll end up teaching yourself poor movement patterns. I would not do them with an Amrap or in the 3x5 scheme. I'd probably do a 5x3 or even do singles or doubles for the working weight.

You could do them on the middle day before the OHP. You could also clean the barbell before each set when you do the OHP. I just started doing this. A bit early to say if it's worthwhile, but it actually gets me to do them each week.

Or you do them on a 4th day and make that day conditioning, hill sprints, pushing a sled, kettlebell swings, etc.