IMO, this is a really good program: Starting Strength Wiki

Yes, I'm doing Starting Strength and love it. In two months of lifting it has 'toned' me up (to use the ridiculous word). For some of the exercises such as the overhead press I had to use dumbbells to begin with and work my strength up to using the barbells, but now I have no problem handling the 45 lb Olympic barbell at the gym. The weights I use haven't progressed as quickly as indicated in the book, which I suspect is due to age, which is fine with me. As long as I keep getting stronger and leaner as has been happening it's all good.

Good for the OP to get in shape- no broken hips for us! :p

work different muscle groups each day... work like your chest, biceps, thighs and abs one day and the next day do you back, triceps, quads and abs the next day do your shoulders, abs and calfs.... this will give each muscle group time to rest and rebuild the proteins... also dont do more than you can... do enough weight to do good reps... do them slow and hold them to get the burn. to tone you want to do about 20-40% of your max at 15-20 reps and 4 sets of each..... to build muscle you want to do 60-80% of your max at 10-15 reps and 4 sets each.... if you have any more questions about this contact me at [email protected]

Another good site is Shapefit.com It has a large list of exercises with quick picture animations to show the movements. Make sure you change your workout routine about every 4 weeks so you and your body don't get bored with your workout. You can go from full body workouts to upper/lower body split days, or work on opposing muscle groups to increase your endurance. Cardio is OVERRATED!! :D

That starting strength wiki looks like a great program. It looks similar to stronglifts 5x5.

Free ebook and great website here:

StrongLifts 5x5: The Ultimate Strength and Muscle Program | StrongLifts.com

Thanks for posting the link to "StrongLifts 5x5"!

It's great to see another example of a similar program - it makes me feel that the fundementals are sound.

I used to lift a LOT back in middle school and high school, but then I took a 20 year break for some reason. :)

I really like the simplicity of these type of workouts.

When I started lifting again recently, I was trying the machines on a 3-day split and not really making any visible progress.

I switched to the "Starting Strength" program awhile ago and I see real progress. +5 lbs/week may not sound like much, but it really adds up over a couple weeks. :)

Even though my working weights are still an embarassing fraction of what I could do as a kid - lifting like this makes me feel strong - and that, to me, is highly motivational.

Cozy,

There will be a lot of "self-proclaimed" trainers on here who really don't know how to answer what you need. They have good intentions but there's more to it than just pushing or pulling a desired amount of weight. There are three basic movements that work the major muscle groups.. Squat, Dead lift and Bench Press.. But what the trainer was trying to get you to do is call General Physical Preparedness.. There's a variety of ways to do this and EVERYTHING is dependent upon a few factors... Your Body Type, Blood type, Muscle type (this is different than body type as body comp for muscle groups vary from person to person and even from ethnic groups), current physical condition.. There are many more factors but unless you plan on becoming a professional athlete, it's just more pieces of a puzzle to put a proper training/diet plan for you... In general, and I use that loosely because of what I already said, you would start out with a Maximum Effort method that would require you doing a 1 rep max for your squat, dead lift and bench press. These would be your marker for starting and testing all future 1 rep max tests as to wither you are gaining in strength or weakening; albeit not fail safe. Once you've determined that, a 4 to 6 week program would need to be designed to get you going in the right direction to meet your goals.. Most "text book" trainers have you lift lightly for your GPP and that's probably where the trainer has you headed.. If you have more questions feel free to PM me.

From one of the ""self-proclaimed" trainers on here" to another...
 

For someone who is "starting weight lifting", IMO, establishing a 1 rep max (1RM) is not only pointless, but certainly needlessly painful and potentially harmful.

Both the "Starting Strength" and the "StrongLifts" programs linked to above are based on the basic movements you mention, but neither, wisely IMO, includes trying to hurt yourself doing a 1RM on day 1.

Dan I agree 100%. For an inexperienced lifter testing 1 rep max is not only dangerous but just unnecessary.

Strength gains can be made without being a meathead about it. Over a couple of workouts you should be able to find out what your working weights are, you need to push yourself hard.

Testing a 1 rep max on day 1 of lifting is asking for injury in which case you would end up delaying your program and all of your progress, so take it slow and be responsible about it.

Also for people doing squats and deadlifts, try lifting in flat soled shoes like chuck taylor's, indoor soccer shoes like adidas sambas, or even skateboarding type shoes. Flat soled shoes give you a good base to push off of. Gel'd soled running shoes give way and roll under the pressures of heavy lifting.

While you don't need these weight lifting shoes these videos illustrate what I mean:
YouTube - VS Athletics Weight Lifting Shoe
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PosBN...eature=related

The second video is a good clip of a typical shoe worn at the gym being compressed under pressure while squatting, this is exactly what you don't want in a shoe for weight lifting.

I used to lift in asics cross trainers but I just recently switched to chucks.

mjwalls,

there's no point in a beginner doing a 1RM test for any lift because when you're just starting out, your lifts go up every time you set foot in the gym. This makes the 1RM meaningless for people who have been training less than 3-6 months. Not to mention it's setting the beginner up for potential injuries, as dan and jason have already mentioned.

I follow a Westside Barbell template for mass building in my training and even those guys RARELY do a 1RM test despite being well advanced in their training years. Most max effort days are done to 5RM, sometimes to 3RM. If you're injured from straining on a 1RM, the downtime = significant losses in strength. For a beginner, downtime = potential to return to old (bad) habits regarding exercise. And these guys still do isolation movements to stabilize the weaker muscles and aid in localized recovery. While dead/squat/bench is a good basis from which to build a program, they aren't the only movements you need.