Clemens' Guide to making a Beginner Program

What do you need to understand to follow this program?

This article is aimed at the general novice lifter, not a complete beginner to resistance training. If you plan to give this article a read be sure you understand the following terms first:
Sets: the number of times you perform multiple reps of a given exercise. Generally, you rest for 3 to 5 minutes between sets.
Reps: The number of times you performed an exercise within a set
Rep Range: The number of reps you perform in a single set.
Training to Failure: Doing a set to the point where you are unable to do another rep with good form.
3x10: a basic notation for 3 sets of 10 reps.

How does the human body practically grow muscle?

Our bodies need to push or pull against a progressively growing resistance to grow long-term. This resistance can for example be a dumbbell, barbell, our body weight, or a machine.
- A) We start fully recovered. At this point, we have either never trained before, or we just recovered from a session from a few days ago.
- B) As we lift against resistance a few times our body loses strength initially. We may for example do a max bench press of 40kg for 4x10.
- C) In the next 48 hours if we were to bench again our bodies would not be recovered enough to reproduce this feat of strength.

- D) It is only after this time that our bodies have recovered from the stimulus. The interesting thing is that we recovered more than 100%. The numbers 100%, 0% and 150% itself are arbitrary, but we should now theoretically be able to do a 42.5kg bench press for 4x10.
- E) From this point we start the cycle all over again and repeat. Repeating this cycle is what grows muscle long term. The more of these cycles we do the more incremental amounts of strength and muscle we build.
This process has a fancy name, which is: "Super Compensation". A program that only follows a simple progression scheme from workout to workout is called a "Linear Progression or LP". That is what we will be making in this article. Your goal will be to set a small personal record on a lift each session. We will move up from 42.5kg to 45kg, all the way up to where we can't get any stronger.

How many sets a week should you do as a novice?

I will distinguish between "balanced" and "specialization" sets in this article. As a bodybuilder, we may want to pick a few movement patterns that are more important for specific goals. A good example is someone who wants big arms but doesn't want to give their legs as much work.

Keep in mind that these numbers are general recommendations. You may need more or less volume based on your body composition and your exercise selection. You may need 2-4 sets a week less on deadlifts than other hip hinges like good mornings. Deadlifts are way more simulative to your body since it is a very large movement. Another good example would be someone with long arms. If you have longer arms you may need less volume on a bench press than someone with short arms.

I recommend you stick to these volume ranges for as long as your program still produces your results. If it stops working you need to switch to an intermediate program (as long as your sleep and diet and in order). If you already have an idea of what volumes work for you, you might want to stick to that instead of this graph.

Graph

Setting up an Example Of Weekly Volume

Based on the graphs I set up a volume chart which can be seen below. This is the first step to creating a custom program. This volume is set up for the average beginner lifter who just wants an overall balanced physique, with a small emphasis on delt training. You can play with the volume and exercises including traps, forearm, neck, etc. isolations if you feel these will have additional benefits for you in your program and might fit better with your goals.

Horizontal press 6x
Vertical pull 6x
Horizontal row 4x
Vertical press 4x
Lateral delts 4x
Rear delts 4x
Squat 6x
Hip hinge 6x (less if we do deadlifts)
Biceps/curl 4x
Triceps/extend 4x
Abs 4x
Calves 4x

How should you split up volume?

Next up we need to decide how we are going to split up this volume. There are countless amount of splits for you to choose from, but as long as the volume is equated it won't matter much which one you choose. A general rule of thumb is to start your days with your heavier movements and let a muscle recover at least a day in between training sessions before you start training it again.

The next split is an upper-lower split where you do your arm work on your leg days. This allows you to make your upper and lower days about the same duration.

===============================
UPPER LOWER + ARMS SPLIT
===============================

ULxUxLx, ULxULxx

UL=Upper Lower Day

U=Upper Day

L=Lower Day

x=Rest Day

UPPER:
[horizontal press] 3x 6-10
[vertical pull] 3x 6-10
[horizontal row] 2x 6-10
[Vertical press] 2x 6-10
[lateral delt] 2x 10
[rear delt] 2x 10

LOWER:
[squat] 3x 6-10
[hip hinge] 3x 6-10
[biceps/curls] 2x 8-12
[triceps] 2x 8-12
[abs] 2x 30 seconds
[calves] 4x 12-15

Page 1

This split might look a bit unconventional to some of you. It is a push pull split. It looks like a PPL without the legs, until you realize the push and pull movements from the legs are placed in corresponding training days.

=========================
PUSH PULL SPLIT
=========================

PPxPPxx, PPxPxPx
PP = Push Pull Day

First P = Push Day

Last P = Pull Day

x = Rest Day

PUSH:
[horizontal press] 3x6-10
[squat] 3x6-10
[Vertical press] 2x6-10
[lateral delt] 2x10
[triceps] 2x8-12
[calves] 4x12-15

PULL:
[vertical pull] 3x6-10
[horizontal row] 2x6-10
[hip hinge] 3x6-10
[biceps] curl 2x8-12
[abs] 2x 30 seconds
[rear delt] 2x10

Everyone loves to do PPL since you get to train 6 times a week. Do note that it won't give you extra gains to any other split listed here. Sessions are a lot shorter to make sure you still recover at the end of the week.

Page 2

=========================
PPL split 5 to 6x a week
=========================

PPL,x,PPL,x PPL,PPL,x
PPL=Push Pull Leg Day

x=rest day

PUSH:
[horizontal press] 3x6-10
[Vertical press] 2x6-10
[lateral delt] 2x10
[triceps] 2x8-12

PULL:
[vertical pull] 3x6-10
[horizontal row] 2x6-10
[biceps] curl 2x8-12
[rear delt] 2x10

LEGS:
[squat] 3x6-10
[hip hinge] 3x6-10
[abs] 2x 30 seconds
[calves] 4x12-15

The following is a full body split. I'm a big fan of full body splits for beginners. The allow much faster progression since the frequency of of stimulation the muscles themselves can be very high. Sessions do become much harder since there is a lot of volume in a single day.

Page 3

=========================
Full Body 3x
=========================

1x2x3xx, 1x2x3x, 1xx2x3x etc.

1 = Day 1 Workout

2 = Day 2 Workout

3 = Day 3 Workout

x = Rest Days

DAY1
[squat] 3x
[horizontal press] 3x
[vertical pull] 3x
[biceps] 2x
[triceps] 2x
[calves] 2x12-15
[abs] 2x 30 seconds

DAY2:
[horizontal row] 4x
[Vertical press] 4x6
[hip hinge] 4x
[lateral delt] 4x
[rear delt] 2x
[abs] 2x 30 seconds

DAY3:
[squat] 3x
[horizontal press] 3x
[vertical pull] 3x
[biceps] 2x
[triceps] 2x
[hip hinge] 2x
[rear delt] 2x
[calves] 2x12-15

The following full body split looks a lot like the old school strength and bodybuilding programs. If you're familiar with Starting Strength or Stronglifts this might look like those programs with extra bodybuilding work at the end of the sessions.

Page 4

==========================
FULL BODY 3-4x
==========================

1x2x1xx2x1x2xx, 1x2x1x...

1 = Day 1 Workout

2 = Day 2 Workout

x = Rest Days

DAY1:
[vertical pull] 4x
[squat] 4x
[Vertical press] 3x
[biceps] 2x
[abs] 2x
[lateral delt] 2x

DAY2:
[horizontal press] 4x
[hip hinge] 4x
[horizontal row] 3x
[triceps] 2x
[calves] 2x
[rear delt] 2x

We can also mix up different training days. This is an Upper lower mixed with a PPL. This is a simple trick to workout 5x a week instead of 4 or 6.

Page 5

==========================
UL + PPL 5x
==========================

ULxPPxL
UL = Upper and Lower Workout

PP = Push and Pull Workout

L = Legs Workout

x = Rest Days

UPPER:
[horizontal press] 3x6-10
[vertical pull] 3x6-10
[horizontal row] 2x6-10
[Vertical press] 2x6-10
[lateral delt] 2x10
[rear delt] 2x10

LOWER:
[squat] 3x6-10
[hip hinge] 3x6-10
[biceps] curl 2x8-12
[triceps] 2x8-12
[abs] 2x 30 seconds
[calves] 4x12-15

PUSH:
[horizontal press] 3x6-10
[Vertical press] 2x6-10
[lateral delt] 2x10
[triceps] 2x8-12

PULL:
[vertical pull] 3x6-10
[horizontal row] 2x6-10
[biceps] curl 2x8-12
[rear delt] 2x10

LEGS:
[squat] 3x6-10
[hip hinge] 3x6-10
[abs] 2x 30 seconds
[calves] 4x12-15

Page 6

We can also have an upper lower split where we have more frequency on the upper sessions. Upper body movements tend to recover much faster than legs. This is one of my favorite ways to program an upper lower split.

============================
ULULU 5x a week
============================

ULULUxx, ULUxLUx, ULxULUx etc

UPPER1:
[horizontal press] 3x
[vertical pull] 3x
[biceps] 2x
[triceps] 2x

LOWER1:
[squat] 3x
[hip hinge] 3x
[calves] 2x
[abs] 2x

UPPER2:
[Vertical press] 4x
[horizontal row] 4x
[lateral delt] 4x
[rear delt] 4x

LOWER2:
[hip hinge] 3x
[squat] 3x
[calves] 2x
[abs] 2x

UPPER3:
[horizontal press] 3x
[vertical pull] 3x
[biceps] 2x
[triceps] 2x

Page 7

What exercises can you do?

There are a lot of exercises to pick for each movement pattern. The picture below should help you guide to what movements are generally going to be the better option. I would advise you do go to a gym since it can be fairly difficult to find a bodyweight alternative to all movement patterns.

What Rep Ranges should you train in?

A very generalized statement is that we should train between 8-12 reps for hypertrophy. If you do this for this program you will be perfectly fine. I made this big graph to represent a 4 dimensional view of how we rationalize rep ranges. Generally bigger and more stable lifts are better for lower reps, while higher reps are better for small lifts like lateral raises. The more stable and heavy the movement is the lower reps you can train in, and visa versa.

Should I train to failure on this program?

You can train to failure if you want. I would advise not to fail movements like squats and bench presses since they may be dangerous. If some exercises hurt your joints you may also want to train further away from failure on those movements. You will get very similar results from training to failure as training with a rep left in the tank. Keep in mind that you want to do extra sets to compensate for the fact that you train less intensely on those sets.

Example Programs

This is a very general full body program. It allows you to train muscles very frequently. You might train a muscle up to 4 times a week this way. For a beginner this is what I would generally recommend since they get the super compensation effect more often, which results in more growth.

==========================
FULL BODY 3-4x
==========================

1x2x1xx2x1x2xx, 1x2x1x...

DAY1:
chin ups 4xF
squat 4x 6-9
OHP 3x 6-9
Bicep curls 2x8-12
Planks 2x as long as possible
Lateral raises 2x8-12

DAY2:
Bench 4x6-9
Deadlifts 1-3x4-6 (1 to 3 sets)
Dumbell rows / barbell rows 3x8-12
Skullcrushers 3x8-12
Calve raises 2x10-15
Rear delt fly's 2x8-12

Push Legs splits are for sure my new favorite way to split up volume. It is perfect for powerlifters and strength athletes since you have a day for all of the main strength lifts. Here is a pretty low volume, pretty vanilla program most beginners (and some intermediates) should be able to make pretty good progress on. ==========================
PUSH LEGS
==========================

PLxPLxx, PLxPxLx

PUSH + ARMS 1

Bench Press 5x8
Jm presses 3x10
EZ curls 4x10
Lateral raises 4x10

LEGS + BACK 1

Lowbar Squats 4x10
RDL 3x10
Pull ups 5x10
crunches 4xF

PUSH + ARMS 2

OHP 5x8
Close grip bench 3x10
DB curls 4x10
Lateral raises 4x10

LEGS + BACK 2

Deadlifts 2x6
Highbar Squats 4x10
Barbell rows 5x10
crunches 4xF

For how long can you run this program?

Now that you understand the term linear progression we can talk about how long you can run this program. If you miss a new weight for 3 sessions in a row you need to change up your training. It is not impossible to still make progress on your current program but it will be a lot slower. I recommend that you look at intermediate programs for either bodybuilding or strength instead. As you get more advanced you need to take into account periodization methods like switching up volume, intensity, and exercise selection. You will also need to train with more overall volume than prescribed in this article. A program like this should work for about 4 months to a year.