Constant flow of new articles regarding weight training

aoa321

Hi all,

Here's a question for the experts among you. I have done a little weight training in the past and I'm going to start again in the coming weeks - when I sign on to t-nation or similar sites there are always loads of new articles on weight training - new methods, new programs, new splits, new everything.

How can this be? Surely the knowledge about weight training cannot be increasing at the rate of 2 articles per week on 1 site alone.

What this boils down to is that I'm totally confused, I couldn't tell you where to start even to find a decent program, let alone say make one up myself.

I would very much appreciate if any of you guys could give opinon on any of the following of my observations - they could be complete nonsense but I am coming from the point of view of a person who wishes to weight train for general health purposes.

1) Lift something.
2) Go with the basic routine of 8 reps, 10 reps, 12 reps then increase the weight and start again at 8 reps.
3) Vary your exercises, but there is no need to go totally crazy on this, exercises can be repeated for a number of weeks if you are increasing the weight.
4) Lift 3 times a week, with at least a days rest in between.
5) Use all the basic compound lifts, squats, deadlifts, overhead presses etc.
6) Sleep well.
7) Eat well - I have a very sweet tooth so this is quite challenging for me.

If I follow these basic guidelines surely I should get stronger, healthier, a little bigger and a little more cut - is this correct ?

Hanley

T-nation has new articles cos T-nation HAS to have new articles. I'm sure they work and they're grand, but at this stage I've just stopped reading them. Everything's the new best thing, and "just what you need". Not interested to be honest.

My basic rules would be these;

1) Train 4x a week.
-Legs (Squat, quads, hamstring, core)
-Chest and biceps (bench, bench variation, light shoulders, upper back, biceps)
-Back (deadlift, hamstrings, lats and shrugs)
-Shoulders and triceps (close grip bench, heavy shoulders, lats/upper back and some form of extenstions or push down)

2) Pick 3 different exercises that target a particular muscle group and cycle them every 3-5 weeks. So for deadlift it might = weeks 1-4 deadlift, w5-8 sumo deadlift, w 9-12 deadlift standing on plates. Work to get stronger on those each week. Then rerun the whole cycle. If you're not stronger on the deadlifts then you did something wrong

3) Exercises chocie is key. Pick movements that WILL build the main lift. Don't bother wasting energy on fancy extenstions and raises. Compound movements pushed hard is where it's at

4) Train HARD

5) Eat LOTS

6) Try and get 8 hours sleep a night

Al_Fernz

T-Nation is a great resource. I like the writing style and attitude to training their authors have. I always look forward to Atomic Dog on Fridays and read every new article they publish.

However you must never forget that T-Nation is a vehicle used to promote and sell macho sounding nutritional supplements like Bio-Test, Surge and Flame-out. Nevertheless I would still recommend the site to anybody because even if you don't follow everything that is written you will often pick up useful information.

Mickk

There is this new way of training and it is blowing all the others out of the water, it is really revolutionary and has thrown all the internet sites and magazines because if everyone does it they will not need new articles every month, its called JFL.
I will try and find a link

aoa321

Mickk wrote: »

its called JFL.

Would that be Just Flippin' Lift ? ... coz that's kind of the point I'm trying to make - I'm better off getting some heavy things, compound lifting them 8 times then 10 times the next day etc. rather than sitting around reading the latest greatest scientific breakthrough from any website.

aye

well the sites need to keep updating, the same for magazines.

nothing wrong with having new programs, different types of splits and different exercises to read up on.

As hanley said above,
"So for deadlift it might = weeks 1-4 deadlift, w5-8 sumo deadlift, w 9-12 deadlift standing on plates."
so 3 different types of deadlifts, with slight postional changes in each.
this is the kind of thing the sites and magazines sell.

it's not gonna be the best programme ever, or the best exercise ever, but reading about variations of the exercises will do no harm, and it will starve off boredom for people if anything.

bwardrop

Aoa321 - please see my post re: resistance training guidelines for all.

The attached article is THE basis for ALL resistance training programs.

Is was compiled by the most expert of experts - well worth a read.