How to set up a weightlifting workout for your needs. See how simple they can be.

Weightlifting workout design techniques you can use. Don't let setting up your workout over whelm you. How many exercises? Do you do 3 or 4 sets per exercise, 8 or 12 repetitions, etc? This page will give you a helpful procedure for designing your very own weightlifting workout.

Weightlifting workouts, simply put, are the group of exercises you do for your fitness or bodybuilding program. Don't let the idea of developing a weightlifting workout intimidate you. The basics are pretty simple. You need to decide how many different exercises to do, and how many sets and repetitions of each exercise to do. That's your weightlifting workout. If you are like most people, you have seen the bodybuilding magazines with all those huge guys and gals in the pictures. Their weightlifting workouts are not suitable for the average person. This website is designed for the average person looking to develop a weightlifting workout for general fitness, not that a competition lifter couldn't benefit from the information, but that will not be the focus of this site.

So let's get started. You need to determine your schedule first. See the page on weightlifting Schedules. Three days a week is usually easy for most people to handle, easy to organize, and easy to remember. It's the weightlifting schedule I prefer. It also makes deciding how many total exercises to do a little easier. So I will use that schedule as an example here.

I usually approach this backwards. Let's do a little math. A good rule of thumb for weightlifting workouts is to design a workout so you spend no more than one hour lifting. If you do more than that, it's easy to over train. If you limit your workouts to 60 minutes, and it takes about 2-3 minutes per set, you could potentially squeeze about 20-30 sets into a workout. That's provided you don't have to do too much weight changing between sets, and that you don't take a rest. This gives you a general guide for step 3; total sets.

Now for step 2; how many exercises to do. If you do 3 to 4 sets, that's 5-10 different exercises that you could do. Based on past experience, more than 6-8 is the maximum you will be able to squeeze into 60 minutes. If you use a machine to workout, you can move faster. If you have to change plate weights each time, you won't be able to do as much. Keep in mind, this is a fast, highly intense pace and may only be suitable after you get adjusted, but it will give you a place to start. You can always start with fewer sets initially, but now you at least have a general number to get you started.

Next, we look at how to divide up the exercises. The way most people divide them is according to muscle group, and logically, it's pretty sound. I would try to do at least 2 per muscle group, but in some cases that won't be enough. Then again, it depends on how you divide up the muscles. I will give you the list I use, and it is a pretty common division -- Chest, Back, Shoulders, Biceps, Triceps, Legs, and Abdominals. Professional bodybuilders who workout 5 or more times per week will use a completely different approach, so don't let those types of weightlifting workouts confuse you. They are not for the average person. Using the philosophy described here will also be a good way to help keep you from overtraining. For example, doing chest on Monday, then triceps on Tuesday, then shoulders on Wednesday will over train your triceps. Why? Because just about every chest and shoulder exercise also works the triceps muscles. And almost every back exercise also works the biceps. And some people might suggest something like 3 sets of the flat bench press, 3 sets of incline bench press, and 2 sets of flat bench dumbbell flys as an example of a chest weightlifting workout. This sounds good initially, but I think you will find it to be too many exercises overall.

So, you now have some general guidelines for your workout. 1) do 6-8 exercises each day, and 2) do 2 to 3 sets of each. The last bit of information you are wondering about is the repetitions per set, or how many times you lift the weight. Based on research and lots of studies, the accepted rule is 8 to 12 repetitions per set. Some people might go as high as 15 repetitions, but not usually. Beyond this, you start incorporating the wrong types of muscle fibers to lift the weight. Just start with a weight you can press with good form for 8 repetitions and then build up to 12. Once you get to 12, increase your weight in a small increment. You are now on your way to a decent weightlifting workout.