ExRx.net

I'm ready to begin a weight training program.-Linear or undulating, whichever you might suggest. Here's my vitals- 56 years old. 6' 1 1/2" 185 pounds. No major health problems, some arthritis in the knees and shoulders. I did have an L5 herniated disc injury seven years ago, but it doesn't seem to affect my lifting or bending. I have been doing mostly machines with some free weights for a little over a year now. I want to now focus predominately on free weights with some machine routines. What i'd like to do is train at different intensities to have a balanced program. So strength, hypertrophy, power, and endurance. I am fairly familiar with most, but not all of the free weight exercises and i think my form and technique is allright. Based on this info, should i start at the beginning phase, having never followed a particular program. or can i begin at the intermediate phase since i have some lifting experience? What do you suggest? Thanks.

You should view this as the start of a journey, and not let yourself get caught up in thinking that the routine that you choose has to be perfect. Perfectionism leads to procrastination more often than it leads towards taking action. Like the Nike ad says, "Just do it."

You should select one of the basic routines in this sticky and follow it for 6 to 8 weeks. This is more to develop the discipline to follow a routine to its conclusion. Without discipline, your training will be unfocused and unproductive. Recording your progress via a training diary is a good idea. At the end of the 6 to 8 weeks, take stock of yourself. You might want to continue to follow a version of your routine, or go in a new direction.

If you have any questions, that's what this board is for.

Good luck, and happy training.

The program you do is not important. Decide what fitness component you want to do first and focus on that. You have already worked on the preparation phase, and I assume endurance. Following a linear system you would probably work on either hypertrophy or strength for a while and then do the other.

Once you finish several weeks of this, a conjugate system may be better for you in the long run. I find that working hard on 1 system at a time can lead to over training and/or loss of other fitness elements. Recovery is the key to adaptation so you need to understand your body and what you can do.

There are several ways to set up a congative periodization program and it's best if you do it yourself. Make sure you allow adequate recovery. Some people follow the crossfit model or at least elements of it. Workouts are based either on:
1. Metabolic Conditioning
2. Gymnastics and Body Weight Exercises
3. Weightlifting, Power Lifting and Olympic Lifting
Workouts are prescribed as singlets, doublets, or triplets and the
intensity of these workouts is based upon a “time priority” or a “task priority.”
There are also a number of different skill types that you can work on at different levels.
Workouts are usually either 3 in a row or 5 in a row with weekends off.

By varying the workouts you can change the overall focus to what you need.

I can give you more on this when you're ready.

In the meantime, work on your strength and/or size.

Stu

Are there any workout logs/templates you prefer over others? I've seen the ones on this website and some others. I thought about buying a journal that had sweat-proof pages, if there is such a thing.

My favorite strength routines are Rippetoe's "Starting Strength" and Madcow's 5x5 Intermediate. Both are linked in Stephen's post but here they are again:

http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=998224
http://www.geocities.com/elitemadcow1/5 ... ar_5x5.htm

Stu

Many people have recommended the Starting Strength (2nd edition) book so i think i will buy it.

You won't regret it.