Need advice on this "Starting Routine" to get me back in shape...

[frorider6.2]

First off, a little about me. I haven't touched a weight in over 2 months due to abdominal surgery. I stayed out of the gym for a few months before that due to a shoulder injury. So I'll be starting over at scratch. I won't be able to jump right in with heavy weight because I don't want to risk a hernia. So I've been looking for a true beginner program that will help lay down a good foundation. I don't know where I found this routine, but I copied it and saved it to my own "book of workouts".

First Question - Is this a good routine? I generally think it is, except for...

Second Question - Is this too much squatting? This calls for squats 3x a week.

Here is the routine. I would give credit for this where credit is due if I could remember where I found this.

Starting Strength Routine:

*note the dip/chin isnt in the original program

You alternate Workout A and Workout B every other day, 3 times a week. So you could either do Mon, Wed, Fri or Tues, Thurs. and Sat. Depending on what works best for you.

Example:

Week 1:

Monday - Workout A
Wednesday -Workout B
Friday - Workout A

Week 2:

Monday - Workout B
Wednesday - Workout A
Friday - Workout B

Etc.

For the actual workouts read below:

Note: This doesn’t include warm-up sets

**Means this is OPTIONAL**

Workout A
3x5 Squat
3x5 Bench Press
1x5 Deadlift
**2x8 Dips (if you cant do these or no assist machine then do Decline Dumbbell Bench Press with your hands Facing each other)

Workout B
3x5 Squat
3x5 Standing military press
3x5 Pendlay or Bent Rows (or power cleans)
**2x8 Chin-ups (recommended mainly if doing the cleans)

 

[TomoUK]

hi

1. yes this is the perfect routine if your just starting out or coming back from a layoff, and starting light will help consolidate your techniques in all the lifts. Add weight to bar each workout but dont make the jumps too big...you dont want to stall too early, the longer you can keep this type of linear progress going the better!

2. No its not too much, (make sure you squatting deep, past parallel). While the lifts are still light you can add weight to your squats every session but eventually you might want to make the middle squat session a day for light back squats or fronts squats to ease the load a bit. but cross that bridge when u come to it!

This is the routine advised by mark rippetoe in his book starting strength, if you look in the training vault in the stickys i think there is more info on it there.

good luck and choice of program