Liam

At uni now, had a look around the gym first day seems really good.

At my old gym there wasnt any squat / deadlift facilities but here there is so i want to work them into my routine. How often should they be done?
Is it worth my doing isolation exercises like barbell curls or just rely on squats and deadlifts?

I am going to do cardio pre breakfast and jogging / biking / training for cardio.

Thanks guys

Five-O

If thats you in the pic mate, then id keep hitting bench, deads and squats, you need to build some size first, no need for ****y farcy isolation exercises just yet.

Id work them all (sq, dl, bench) on seperate days, you need to be putting them first in your routine and giving them 110%, trying to slowly add weight each week, if your getting stronger and eating well then you'll be also gaining. If I put everything into them then Ive hardly got much left in the tank, infact im sure you'll want to do more but by just doing those 3 exercises with one or two assistance ones you will get where you want.

As posted by Bully, you can build your arms up just by deadlifting, or improve them a lot.

Theres tons of variations, I like what I do, im sure everyone will chip in.

Liam

Any tips on Squats / Deadlifts / Bench as ive never done the first two.

How many reps / set / work to failure etc.

Thanks

_GM_

what are your goals?

for strength low reps 3-5

hypertrophy reps between 8-12

compunds are the best but isolation stuff has its place to

Liam

Well for the time being i want to get stronger and bigger.

So should i do 3 sets with 10 reps, final set ending in failure?

Thats for squats / deadlifts / bench

Thanks

Five-O

I think Bully will be able to chip in here aswell, ill pop back later with a deadlift article mate, hints and tips, you'll need to get comfortable with them and then start adding the weight, it will happen, you'll get stronger and bigger

Squats, you need to be going deep, **** to grass as they say, deadlifts, well you'll need to practise, how to push off etc, some tend to use their arms making it more awkward than it should be when in reality they are just used as pulleys really. Most push off with their hams and legs letting the weight pull on the traps, but keeping the back straight and close to the shins/body throughout the pull.

Hopefully someone will be better with words than I am

chrisj22

Do what Big suggests;

Mon - Squats 5 x 5
Bench 5 x 5
Rows 5 x 5

Weds - Deads 5 x 5
Chins (or pulldowns) 5 x 5
Standing Overhead Press 5 x 5

Fri - same as Monday.

Don't go to failure. Try & add weight each week. Works a treat.

offo

5x5 does that give enough time for him to recover and manage it? I do 2x5 to failure and sometimes find it hard :S but normally increase the reppage everytime

chrisj22

DON'T go to failure for the first few weeks.

offo

well i didnt go to failure the first week :P i ncreased the weights till i could do maybe 3 reps per set then when i hit 5 reps both sets then next time add a kilo or 2

offo

All my workouts go good apart from bench press finding it really hard to increase the weight and reppage with that

Five-O

This looks good, no need to worry about other bodyparts, this will target everything you need to get bigger and stronger, and usually works quite fast.

chrisj22

Yes, completely. & coming from Big, you can't go wrong....

_GM_

are you wanting to go into strength trainig or isit more that you want to look big?

of course the more you train/eat etc... your lifts/strength goes up

but if you are more wanting to achieve size then 5x5 is not the way to go

sorry i just didnt quite get what itis you are wanting to achieve

Liam

Just so i'm clear. On Sunday would i then be doing same as wednesday and it would move on like that?

Basically a days rest between each training session with three days between the same training session. Right?