In this 3-part series, we’ll be creating a simplified, beginner-friendly training plan that gets you stronger and helps you look good naked by building muscle.
If you missed part 1 – go read that first HERE
In part 1, we decided how often we’ll be training, which days we’ll be going to the gym, which exercises we are doing, and how to group them to save time.
Now that we have the plan outlined, we will be figuring out how many sets and reps to do, and how much weight we should be using.
This is where the fun begins.
There’s no way to know for sure how much weight you should be using without going to the gym.
So take your plan with you to the weight room and let’s figure this out.
How many sets to do
Like we talked about previously, you’ve literally never been as sensitive to training as you are right now.
- You will grow from everything.
- You will get sore from anything.
So for this first two weeks, you’ll be doing just one set of each exercise.
We’ll progress from there, but that’s a great place to start for now – it will make you stronger, help you build muscle, give us our bearings for your weights, and do it all without destroying you.
Choosing reps
Again – we’re keeping things simple here.
You want to build muscle and strength.
You can get a ton of both of those things right now by training in the 5-15 rep range.
You’ll make a ridiculous amount of progress, and won’t be limited by your work capacity, or ability to stick to a hard set after 15 reps.
Heavy enough for it to count, but light enough for it to be manageable.
Picking weights
Now that we know we want to do a set of 5-15 reps on all our exercises this week, we need to figure out the right weights that you should be using for that.
It’s about choosing the appropriate weights that have you training near failure for 5-15 reps.
That means you’ll be training hard (taking sets close to the point where you could not do another rep).
If you pick weights that are too light, you won’t build any muscle or get stronger.
There’s nothing magic about lifting your arm up and down 15 times – it’s not a ‘cheat code’ that you input in order to build more muscle.
If you pick weights that are too heavy, your technique will degrade, and your risk of injury goes up.
The reality is that high-quality ‘working sets’ done in the 5-15 rep range are highly effective at building muscle and strength, while minimizing risk of injury and bad technique.
Working sets
A working set is a set that challenges you for the target rep range you’ve outlined.
You’ll know you’re doing a challenging set when the weights start to slow down, despite you pushing as hard as you can.
Here’s a video of me doing a working set on the leg press, for reference.
- You might start to shake slightly as you’re pushing against the weight.
- You might feel a burning or ‘pumped’ sensation in the muscle you’re training.
- You might feel like you would have to abandon your good technique in order to do another rep.
That’s when you end the set and put the weights down.
The only way to end up at that point between 5-15 reps is to pick the right weights.
But that won’t be something you can guess.
So let’s figure it out.
Warm up sets
The most efficient way to warm up for lifting weights is to do a few sets of the exercise you’re about to do with a very light weight.
Warming up for squats = doing a few lights sets of squats.
Warming up for squats ≠ doing a bunch of band exercises and stretching.
Warm up sets give you a chance to practice the movement, ensure the equipment is properly set up, and prepare you to push yourself harder during the set.
How to do warm up sets
Start with the lowest weight you can select on the machine.
Or a very light set of dumbbells.
Or just a bodyweight version of the squat without the barbell.
Do a set of 10 reps to get the feel for it.
If that was super easy, add some weight in a small increment.
Do another set of 5-10.
Again, if it was very easy, add some weight, and repeat.
Take a little breather if you need to before you do a weight that you think might be your ‘working weight’. (the weight you use for a working set)
Eventually, you’ll find a weight where you do a set of 5-15 reps and have to end the set because you’re not strong enough to keep doing more reps with that weight.
So here’s how it might look for Frodo to find his squat weight on Monday.
Bodyweight squats x 10
45 lb bar x 5 reps
60 lb bar x 5 reps
75 lb bar x 11 reps
He ended the set because it was getting so challenging that he felt he couldn’t do another good rep.
At this point, you’d pull out your phone or notebook, and make a note of your performance, then move on to the next exercise.
Monday
Barbell Squat 75lb x 11
Congratulations!
You just did your first working set.
Legs feel like jello yet?
Technique
It’s easy to keep adding weight to the bar and doing squats if you’re constantly changing your criteria for what a good squat is.
If you keep squatting higher and higher… or using less control with the weights… are you really improving your performance?
No.
You’re just increasing your likelihood of getting injured, and stroking your ego.
So here’s a couple rules of thumb for your technique on ALL your exercises going forward.
1// Go as deep as you can comfortably
Lower yourself all the way down into the squat position, as deep as you can (and feels good).
These ‘deeper’ ranges of motion is where muscle grows best.
And when you ensure that you go all the way down, it limits the amount of weight you need to use for your working sets. It’s also great for helping you be more flexible.
More muscle with less weight? Sign me up.
2// Use control
I want you to lower your weights under control – something like 2 to 4 seconds on the way down.
That controlled lowering of the weights stimulates muscle growth just as much (and probably more) than the actual lifting of the weights.
This also standardizes your exercises, so you know you’re comparing apples to apples, and actually getting stronger – instead of just squatting half as low as you did before.
Again, this is going to limit the amount of weight you need to use… because you’re not swinging the weights, and you’re actually going all the way down.
So if you find yourself using 50% of the weight you normally use for bicep curls, that’s fine.
I bet you’ll feel twice as much work in your biceps.
At this point, you should have gone through all of your exercises and done 1 working set for each of them.
Your logbook should look something like this by the end of the first week:
Monday
A
Barbell Squat – 75lb x 11
Push Ups – bodyweight x 7
B
Dumbbell Row – 35lb x 15
Hamstring Curl Machine – 25 lb x 12
C
Dumbbell Split Squat – 10lb x 11
Dumbbell Lateral Raise – 10lb x 12
Dumbbell Bicep Curl- 15lb x 10
Dumbbell Skullcrusher – 10lb x 10
Thursday
A
Lat Pull Down – 25lb x 10
Walking Lunge – 20lb x 7
Dumbbell Bench Press – 45 lb x 8
B
Stiff Leg Deadlift – 75lb x 10
Leg Extension – 20lb x 12
C
Cable Pushdown – 20lb x 8
Cable Curl – 30lb x 10
Cable Upright Row – 20lb x 10
Your first week, done
One good hard set of everything, and your weights selected.
I encourage you to be detailed and hands on with your plan, you can keep notes along the way.
Since you’re going to be repeating this workout next week, it’s great to keep track of how things are going.
Barbell Squat – 75lb x 11 (felt hard)
Push Ups – bodyweight x 7 (felt easy)
And that will set you up for success in week 2 of your program.
In the next part of this series we’ll talk about how to progress your workouts, adding weight, reps, and sets to keep you getting stronger and more muscular for a LONG time.
Outside of never planning their workouts in the first place, this is the part that most guys get wrong.
You won’t want to miss this one.
Stay tuned for part 3 – Making Progress.
Keep up the great work.
– Matteo
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