Strength training workouts vary with each person's ability and preference. If your goals are simply to get stronger in general, and you do not have a great deal of experience with strength training, then stick to some simple movements and exercises that promote safety and develop the most strength in the shortest amount of time.
Frequency
Decide how often you want to work out. If you exercise three times a week, each workout will be a total-body workout, while four workouts a week would be divided evenly between upper- and lower-body workouts. Favor lower reps of greater weight whenever possible for building strength.
Total-Body Workouts
In a three-day workout, do upper- and lower-body lifts each day because you have the following day to rest. Muscle adaptation can occur if you do not change up the exercises you do periodically, so you should not get bored by the workouts. Each day, include a lift that stimulates the chest, shoulders, biceps, triceps, back, quadriceps, hamstrings and calves. An example of a workout would be as follows: Bench press, military press, biceps curls, overhead triceps press, lat pulls, squats, lunges and calf raises.
Upper-Body Day
In a four-day routine, twice a week you will be focusing on upper body only. In order to gain strength, each muscle must be worked, so every upper-body muscle group should be addressed both days. Since you are focusing solely on the upper body, you can do more than one exercise to develop the same muscle group if you want to accelerate strength gains in that group: bench press, military press, barbell curls, overhead triceps press and lat pulls. Chest flyes, lateral dumbbell raises, hammer curls, triceps extensions and back extensions are optional.
Lower Body Day
In the world of strength training, there is not much room for variation in lower body exercises without getting into complicated, expert lifts. There are only three main lower-body muscle groups. Your lower-body days can be the same, unless you do not feel comfortable having a bar on your back for squats twice a week. Perform squats, lunges, leg curl, leg extension and calf raises. Use the leg press as an alternative to squats on the second leg day if you choose.
References
- "Starting Strength"; Mark Rippetoe and Lon Kilgore; 2007
- "Essentials of Strength Training and Conditioning-3rd Edition"; National Strength and Conditioning Association; 2008
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