Building dynamic workout routines can be challenging. Often time you are struggling to balance time and equipment availability. And that doesn't include what exercise should you choose? What equipment should you choose? What time of day? How to pair the exercises? Spending hours researching exercise only to get conflicting information. Building spreadsheets to track workouts. It is exhausting.. I have been there before.
Here are some things to consider when building your workout routine for beginners.
Myth 1: Body part splits
You do not have to do body part splits. It really depends on your goals. If you are trying to gain strength and muscle than yes your muscles need rest but not as much as you think. You can hit the same muscle twice in one week as long as there is enough time for recovery. There is not right away. It depends on your recovery, your fuel, your sleep, time, and goals.
I work on Spartan training which takes an incredible amount of total body strength so my training is a blend of isolated exercises and compound movements.
Myth 2: There is no best exercise for body parts.
Do the movement that works for you. If you prefer the split squats for quads instead of step ups, then you should do split squats. The type of split squat whether back foot up or front foot up or on the floor, as long as you feel the quad being pumped then that is the split squat for you. However, I would say mix it up so the muscle doesn't get used to it. After 6 weeks, try a different exercise, or increase the load, or vary the tempo. Keep your body guessing to keep your gains realized.
I prefer split squat with front foot elevated because the traditional Bulgarian split squat with rear foot elevated is uncomfortable. The stretch is too deep for my elevated leg and the it hurts the top of my feet.
Myth 3: Make sure you are not fatiguing your muscles too much
When creating your workout plan, ensure you are doing a split that doesn't fatigue your muscles. If you are doing a barbell heavy squat or a deadlift than a bicep curl, you are too fatigued from the first exercise to properly do your bicep curls. You would not want to do lower back after either. If you want to do biceps and hamstrings, it would be better to do the bicep curl before the barbell heavy squat.
Myth 4: Cardio as a warm up before lifting weights
This is a bad idea. You should have a dynamic warm up that engages the muscles you are going to work while warming up the supporting muscles. Example chest press engages biceps, triceps, and shoulders. My warm up includes rolling my chest, tricep and lats to work on knots. I use a light weight chest curl while laying on the roller down the length of spine. As I get into a deep stretch my shoulder blades wrap around the roller to work out knots in my shoulder and stretch out my chest at the same time. Priming my chest and backs is a game changer for increasing my weight lifting.
Remember, have fun with it. Try different things out to see how it affects you.
Congratulations on starting your fitness journey.
Workout Routine for Beginners Sample
Click here to download a sample Core & Stability workout routine.
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