How to Structure Your Workout Program to Build Muscle as a Beginner
How To Structure Your Workout Program to Build Muscle as a Beginner
Every three out of four people that go to a gym do not get any progress at all. My goal after you read this article is to make sure you are not one of those three people who waste their time because I don’t know about you but there is nothing, I hate more than wasting time.
Where to start:
Depending on how much time you have to work out will dictate what you should be hitting for the week. If you are looking to build muscle, I would recommend at least going to the gym twice a week for one hour each session. Ideally, for hypertrophy, you want to hit each body part two times a week and if you are lifting twice a week, these workouts would look like more of a full-body workout where you would hit all parts of your body twice. Always make sure to listen to your body and if you are too sore to lift on the days you have scheduled, do some cardio instead and wait until the next day to perform your workout.
Programming:
Once you know what your goals are based on how much time you have and how you want to shape your physique, you can start programming your weekly schedule. If you are a girl looking to gain more muscle in your legs and keep your upper body smaller and lean, you might want to limit your upper workouts to one time a week and lower body twice a week. If you are a guy and are a beginner and are looking to build more muscle upper body and lower body, I would recommend two times a week one upper body and one lower body day.
After a few months of working out this way and you notice you aren’t getting as sore as you were before, its time to up your workout to 3 to 4 days a week now focusing on one particular muscle once a week (for example, back and bis, chest and tris, shoulders and legs). If you are a girl and are looking to challenge yourself more after the beginner stage but still want a smaller upper body, up your leg days to no more than two times a week and keep your upper body at once a week.
What to do:
Once you figured out your goals and how often you want to lift, now you can focus more on what you going to do once you’re in the gym. The best way I believe to work out from lifting for 5 years and being a nationally qualified bodybuilder is to start off your lifts with the hardest workout there is when you have the most energy and then kill off the muscle after with lighter weights, machines, cables, etc. The hardest lifts to perform are compound lifts. Each week you should be looking to improve either the number of reps, the amount of weight, or the sets you do with your heavier compound lifts. This will be the determining factor to judge if you are making progress. After your main compound lifts (for me I hit deadlifts on a back day, squats on leg day, bench on chest day, and military press on shoulder day) then go into some lightweight workouts to increase your pump in your muscles for another 2-3 exercise.
If you do these workouts with the correct form and push yourself to failure for each working set, you should notice yourself improving weekly, especially if you are getting enough protein and fats daily!
