Effective Beginner Strength Training Workout Template for Building Muscle and Strength
The Simple Strength Template
The internet provides an abundance of information and I can understand how that makes it difficult for novices to navigate the internet fitness scape. For instance, there are probably millions of training programs available online.
A little while ago I downloaded some free programs I found online from a popular website that I won’t name.
I wasn’t impressed.
Almost everything was just a bodybuilding bro split with 3 sets of 10 and way too many exercises.
That’s where simple strength comes in. This is a free template you can customize for your goals and continually reuse to get results forever. The template is, as the name indicates, simple.
Simple scales, complex fails.
A lot of people like to think they’re special snowflakes. They need a special protocol, carefully curated to their special snowflake self. When in fact, if you’re out of shape and just looking to build a good base of fitness, you can get by with just a few basics performed consistently and executed with high quality.
Simple Strength Template
When it comes to building a base of strength and muscle we want to prioritize compound movements. A compound movement is an exercise that uses multiple joints and works more than one muscle group at a time.
An exercise that uses one muscle group is called an isolation movement. Both a chin up and dumbbell curls work the biceps, but since chin ups also involve the shoulder & scapula, they have the benefit of simultaneously working the back and biceps.
Compound movements are efficient since they work more muscle groups throughout a workout. You can spend less time in the gym and still get great results. Compound movements are also more systemically stressful.
People often think of stress as “bad” but stress can be categorized into two forms: distress (“bad” stress) and eustress (“good” stress). Exercise stress is hormetic, in other words, it’s a small dose of something that’s harmful in the short term but beneficial in the long term.
If training isn’t stressful, your body has no reason to change. It’s important that your training is challenging enough to stimulate biochemical and structural changes.
A Series: Strength Exercises
B Series: Accessory Movements
C Series: Supplementary Movements
D Series: Core
Series can contain supersets. If you wanted to for example do an upper body day, you can do the following:
A1. Bench Press 4 x 4, 3010 tempo, RPE 7-8
A2. Chin-up 4 x 4, 3010 tempo, RPE 7-8
Both of these movements are compound exercises that work the upper body and it makes sense to pair antagonist movements together (a push with a pull). You can use supersets in the B series and C series as well. If you really want to get crazy, you could do giant sets (3 or 4 exercises back to back instead of just 2).
In the case of giant sets, I would keep an alternating pattern of antagonist pairings. For instance, do a push, pull, push, pull, then rest.
Example:
B Series Giant Set Accessories
B1 Dumbbell Bench
B2 Dumbbell Row
B3 Tricep Extension
B4 Dumbbell Hammer Curl
Rest
Movement Selection
Select most of your movements for the A series (strength) and B series (accessory movements) from this list above. This is not an exhaustive list, it’s just some of the most common compound movements you can perform.
The C series (supplementary movements) can be isolation movements. Add your bicep curls, pump work, rehab, and small exercises into the C series to keep you healthy and beef up any small weaknesses you have.
Select just a few movements from each category that you’re comfortable performing, your program doesn’t need 100 different movements. Find 3 to 5 from each category that work best for your body and perform them consistently. You can change movements every 3 to 6 weeks depending on your experience level and programming methodology.
Programming: Setup Your Program
I’m going to attempt to outline programming for you in a couple of steps. It can be complicated, but it doesn’t need to be. Figure out these factors:
1.) How often will you train?
2.) What training split will you use?
3.) How many sets and reps?
If you want more work with the exercises, go to the higher end of the set and rep range.
If you only need a sprinkle of those exercises for gains, go toward the middle or lower range of the sets and reps. The section below goes into more detail about selecting rep ranges.
Use heavier reps to bias strength gain and lighter reps to bias muscle gain. Heavy reps can still stimulate muscle gain, but it’s easier to get sufficient volume with higher reps like sets of 8 than it is with sets of 2.
4.) What exercises? Choose 3 to 5 from each category in the chart above and distribute them into your week. For isolation movements, pick the ones that target weaknesses, feel the best, or just ones that give you big arms (who doesn’t want bigger arms?)
You did it. You now have your first week of training. Now, how do you progress it?
Programming: How to Progress Training (Periodization)
You can gain strength doing sets of 25, build muscle doing heavy sets of 3, and gain endurance doing sets of 6. But those aren’t the best rep ranges to choose for your goals. When you’re lifting, you’re always influencing protein synthesis regardless of the rep range you select.
However, factors like mechanical tension, volume, and metabolic stress will dictate the end result. To keep things simple, just use the general guidelines below. They’re not perfect, but for a novice and intermmediate they provide a good base to build your program from.
Rep Ranges
Strength Range: 1-5 reps
Strength/Hypertrophy Range: 6-10 reps
Hypertrophy Range: 8-12 reps
Hypertrophy/Endurance Range: 12-20 reps
Once you determine your reps, you can begin to think through your progressions. I prefer novices use wider rep ranges. For example, 3 sets of 8 to 12 is a better recommendation for a novice than 3 sets of 12.
The only exception I would say is if you’re brand new to the gym I'd shy away from failure and just hit a target like 3 sets of 12 until you build proficiency with technique.
Here is a sample training day to explain this:
A1. Bench Press 4 x 8-10, 2010 Tempo, RIR 1-2
A2. Neutral Grip Pulldown 4 x 10-12, 2010 Tempo, RIR 1-2
B1. Incline Dumbbell Bench Press 4 x 8-12, 3010 Tempo, RIR 0-2
B2. Single Arm Dumbbell Row 4 x 8-12, 2010 Tempo, RIR 0-2
C1. Tricep Extension 3 x 10-15, 2010 Tempo, RIR 0-2
C2. Dumbbell Curl 3 x 10-15, 2010 Tempo, RIR 0-2
C3. Dumbbell Lateral Raise 3 x 10-15, 2010 Tempo, RIR 0-2
D1. Bosu Crunch 4 x 10-15, 2010 Tempo, RIR 0-2
Rep ranges help you more easily select a challenging weight without needing to be super precise. Keep a larger rep range for the B series (Ex: 8-12) and a narrow rep range for the A series (Ex: 8-10). As you become more experience you can make the A series just a rep target (Ex: 4 x 8) and the B Series a narrow range (8-10 reps).
Keep more reps in reserve for the A series and less for the B and C series (What is RIR?). Progress reps or weight weekly when allowed based on this intensity. Simple.
I recommend….
Accessory Lift Progressions
For the B, C, and D series I recommend just adding reps whenever possible. If you can hit 12 reps every set of your incline dumbbell bench, you’re probably going too light. If you hit 12 reps, then 10, then 9, then 8 on your fourth set, maybe keep the weight next week and try to hit more total reps until you’re getting close to 12 each set.
I prefer rep ranges for novices over straight sets since it’s easier to select appropriately heavy weights and progress them gradually rather than just always adding weight to the bar.
Note: D Series
If you want to replace the core work, you certainly can. My recommendation would be to add in remedial exercises to strengthen weak joints/problem areas, a giant set, or conditioning. Core training is still important though so don’t skip out on it.
That’s it, hope you found this helpful. If you need help building your plan as always just comment, shoot me a DM, or an email.Weeklyflextraining@gmail.com and i’d be happy to help.
Check out programs and other stuff linked below. Stay strong.
Good info. I think the most common problem people struggle with is working with consistency- not the lack of a custom tailored program.
Great advice. Thank you. I have spondylolisthesis (unstable spine). I've been told to stay away from hinge and twisting movements. Any thoughts?