Currently doing Push Pull Leg routine with 5 exercises each day.
Pull: Lat Pulldown, Seated Cable Rows, T Bar Rows, Biceps Curls (Cable) and Cable Crunches
Push: Push Ups, Chestpress (machine), Butterfly (machine), Shoulder Press with Dumbbells, Knee Raises (body weight), Triceps Push Down (Cable)
Legs: Leg Press, Leg Extensions (Machine), Leg Curls (Machine), Crunches (body weight), 30 minute stepper low intensity
Is this okay?
Exercise selection for beginners isn’t all the complicated, you just need to cover your bases.
✅ Vertical pulling (Lat Pulldown)
✅ Horizontal pulling (Cable rows)
✅ Pressing (Chest press)
✅ Quad focused leg exercise (Leg Press)
❌ Hinge movement. You cover your hamstrings with leg curls, which is fine, but you’re may be missing out on glutes depending on your leg press style.
Extra spice:
✅ Biceps (Biceps curls)
✅ Triceps (Triceps pushdown)
✅ Abs (Crunches)
❌ Lateral shoulders
While you don’t need the big compound lifts if you don’t like them, you should consider including a hinge movement (RDL, deadlifts, good morning) in your exercise selection. It’s a fundamental human movement pattern.
All in all it’s a fine selection, but if you’re a beginner, why not pick an exercise program? What you’ve provided isn’t an exercise program, it’s just a selection of exercises. A proper program would included reps and sets, and a method for progression.
With that said, you can’t really go wrong with an exercise program for general health. Just doing something is infinitely better than doing nothing, good luck on your journey 🙂
I do 4 Sets of 10 in all exercises… once I can eadily do 15 I increase weight a bit
So I have a similar routine (push, pull, leg/ab), but different workouts and set/rep combination
One of the cool things about the present is we no longer have to guess which exercises are most effective at stimulating muscle development.
By using a technique called Electromyography (EMG), which measures the electrical activity of muscles during exercise, we have a good proxy for how much of the muscle is being used.
Edit: so originally I had some data here that I had from I saved in my notes from years ago to refer back to, back when EMG analysis was new and articles about it not common.
Now that’s not the case, and I can’t find that specific source, so deleting that, but ultimately I think my point of using EMG analysis of best exercises to target your muscle groups as opposed to just guessing still stands, and you can review the many articles online to determine which are best for yourself.
Can you source (links) where you took those numbers and all that info?
deleted by creator
Or you could provide the sources, as it is the right thing to do. Many people will see your comment, does everyone really need to search for “emg best exercises” and go through the trouble of finding the right links when you could just link the ones you used?
Lets normalize asking for source. I am not calling you out, I am just interested in knowing more about it and knowing from where you took the info.
It all depends on your goals. Are you looking to do a bodybuilding program? Those exercises are all good but lack compound movements which should be the core of your program if you are able.
How much training have you done? Are you just starting out?
Just starting out.
I want to do pull ups but I can’t do them yet and my gym doesn’t have assist machine. So I think general fitness first and in 10 weeks I’d like to start doing pull ups with assisted bands instead of lat pull downs
If just general fitness is what you’re going for then a solid program like starting strength is great to build a base and then go on from there. This is a more advanced program that is focused more on muscle size and you need to have a good mind/body connection to get the most out of it. Building a base first would help a lot.
For pull ups, what I did to go from 0-1 was doing a lot of negatives. So I’d jump up to the top position and hold it and then I’d slowly let myself down as controlled as possible. That worked for me better than lat pull downs.
Think I can integrate that into my current pull day?
Should I do those first or Lat Pulldowns?
I don’t see why not. I would do them after the lat pull downs.
Okay, but if I want to get better at pull ups, maybe other way around?
Can I do 1 week with lat pulldowns first and the next week the negatives first?
I was thinking of doing 3 pull ups and fill the rest of the sit with 7 negative pull ups for 3 total sets and then move on to lat pulldowns.
The next week start with lat pulldowns and only do negative pull ups?
Personally, I think you’re making things too complicated at this point. If you are just starting out you don’t need to add periodization. That’s for when you are really pushing heavy weights or doing things you cannot recover from quickly.
I’d probably try to focus on the larger compound lifts, if your gym has the equipment to allow it.
By doing Squats, Deadlifts, Bench Press and Press, you will get more mileage out of each exercise.
It all depends on your goals, of course, but this is aligned with my goals - strength, maintaining health as I age, becoming faster on my bike, and looking good.
Here’s a resource that has been useful for me: https://thefitness.wiki/
Hi, it depends on your goals. Do you practice for aesthetics (bodybuilding) ? Strength ? Fitness ? Improving sport performance ?
Just aesthetics and general fitness
5 exercises is amply sufficient. For aesthetics, frequency is more important than quantity : it’s better to have 2 exercises 2 times per week than 5 exercises 1 time per week (if your sets stay close to muscular failure of course).
Yeah I am doing Push Pull Leg Day, each of them twice a week.
So all of my exercises have 10 reps. The first two exercises 4 sets and the others ones currently 3 sets ( I am too exhausted for more) only abs I do 5 sets of 15
So for example Pull day: 4x10 Lat Pulldowns 4x10 Cable rows (seated) close grip 4x10 T Bar rows wide grip 5x15 Cable Crunches 3x10 Dumbbells curls
For Push Day: 4x10 Bench Press 4x10 Cable Flys 3x10 Shoulder Press (seated, dumbbells) 3x10 Triceps Pushdowns (cable) 5x15 Leg raises
Monday and Thursday are my Chest, Shoulder, Triceps Tuesday and Friday my Back, Lats, Biceps Wednesday and Saturday my Leg days.
It’s perfectly fine if you are beginner/intermediate. Remember to stay close to muscular failure (if your exercises form is safe), keep a progressive overload and take rest days/deload weeks. Don’t hesitate to do some variations in your training : more or less volume, more or less intensity…
