What is a good weight lifting routine to follow everyday?

Question

What exercises should I do? Should I focus on free weights or weight machines? I want to gain strength and build muscle? Should I do cardio to and for how long and how intense?

Answer 1

this is a good circuit:

http://www.menshealth.com/cda/article.do...

machines tend to be better in my opinion. if you wanna build muscle cardio isn't the best thing to do, but it does burn fat. do cardio for 30 minutes at a moderate intensity. to build muscle eat plenty of lean meats and whey protein powder does wonders!

Answer 2

If you want to build muscle, your going to have to use weight resistance exercise like weight lifting.

Weight lifting requires the use of weight bearing equipment such as barbells and dumbbells (free weights), and machines that use cables and pulleys to help lift the weight. You can also use body weight bearing exercises such as chip ups and dips in your weight lifting routine.

If you are just starting out, I suggest you use a combination of machine and free weight exercises in your weight lifting routine. This will give your body the time it needs to adjust to the different levels of stress that weight lifting places on your body.

As you progress in your weight lifting routine, I suggest you add more free weight exercises. Free weights and compound movements such as squats, bench press, shoulder press, and bent over barbell rows apply a lot of stress on the supporting muscles.

These exercises are often called multi jointed exercises because they employ not only the targeted muscle but the supporting muscles as well. By using free weights and compound movements in your weight lifting routine, you will challenge your body to work harder and therefore make better muscle gains. Adding more free weight exercises will increase the intensity of your weight lifting routine.  

Answer 3

There are many different books and programs out there, I have tried a few myself, but there is one that I have totally fallen in love with. It's called the 7 minute muscle program, I found it surfing the net one day, at first I was sceptical since it does cost some money, but I found that the results are well worth it, and of course there is a money back guarantee if it doesn't work for you. All in all I have spent more money on protein shakes/bars in one month than I have on this program. I have been on this for two months now and I have lost weight, and toned my muscles too. Anyways I have rambled long enough here, try this site, www.7minmuscle.com

Answer 4

First of all, you don't want to lift weights everyday.  You should have at least 1-2 days of rest between training a particular muscle group to avoid being counterproductive.  Free weights are better overall, as they involve stabilizing muscles.  However, machines can be a better place to start, since they force you to have good form, assuming you've made sure to put the machine on the correct settings, and this can help you to avoid injuring yourself with bad form.  It's standard to attempt to do 8-12 reps on each exercise.  If you can do more or less than this, you should adjust the weight accordingly.  Lower reps at higher weights are better for building strength and larger muscles, while higher reps at lower weights are better for building muscular endurance.  You also shouldn't stop while you could still easily do more reps.  I prefer to do two sets of each exercise, but 1-3 is standard, depending on how much time you have for it.  You should do cardio, as well.  The a very standard cardio pattern is 5 minutes of warm-up at low intensity, 20-25 minutes at higher or alternating intensities, and 5 minutes of cool down.  The cool down is the most important, as you feel much better afterwards when you include a cooldown.  Also, doing some cardio before lifting weights can be a nice way of warming up, and I've found that even five minutes of low intensity cardio after weight training prevents me from having sore muscles the next day.  Also, if you're just beginning, you should only do one set of each exercise on the first day or few days and work your way up to 30 minutes of cardio.

Also, you can build muscle while doing cardio.  You may not build it as quickly, but being unable to build muscle while losing body fat is only a problem when you have very low body fat.

Answer 5

First off stay with mostly free weight exercises, they mimic the body's range of motion better than machines.  Of course doing some machine exercises is fine, but make sure the majority of your routine is with free weights (it has been proven in many studies that free weights ulitize more muscle fibers than machines), and dont listen to some of those retarded personal traininers or weekend gym goers that say otherwise.  If u want to gain strength and muscle then keep cardio to a minimum or

do not do it at all.  I never do cardio when im trying to put on as much muscle and strength as possible.  Also, do not workout everyday, it seems that ur a beginner so u should lift 3-4 times a week.  Even the most advanced do not workout everyday b/c this puts u at risk for injury and overtraining.

Here is a good beginning routine (also i do not know what kind of equipment that is available to u, i am just assuming that ur lifting in a normal gym with basic equipment):

monday - legs

squat; 2-3 sets; 10-15 reps

leg press; 2-3 sets; 10-15 reps

lying leg curl; 2-3 sets; 10-15 reps

standing or seated leg curl; 2-3 sets; 10-15 reps

standing calf raise; 2-3 sets; 15-20 reps

seated calf raise; 2-3 sets; 15-20 reps

tuesday - chest and biceps

DB or barbell bench press - 2-3 sets; 10-15 reps

DB or barbell incline press - 2-3 sets; 10-15 reps

DB or barbell decline press- 2-3 sets; 10-15 reps

standing or seated alternating DB curl; 2-3 sets; 10-15 reps

barbell curl; 2-3 sets; 10-15 reps

preecher curl; 2-3 sets; 10-15 reps

(change up between DB and bar from week to week, do all bar one week and all DB the next or mix them up in the workout)

Dont worry about flyes at this point, u need to build up ur chest b4 u do any flyes, but if u want to do them then thats fine, just make sure they r at the end of ur workout.

Wednesday - rest

Thursday - back and triceps

pullups; 2-3 sets; 10-15 reps

bent over barbell row; 2-3 sets; 10-15 reps

seated machine row; 2-3 sets; 10-15 reps

pushdowns (use any attachment)- 2-3 sets; 10-15 reps

2 arm overhead DB extension; 2-3 sets; 10-15 reps

DB kickbacks; 2-3 sets; 10-15 reps

Friday - shoulders and traps

DB press; 2-3 sets; 10-15 reps

DB side laterals; 2-3 sets; 10-15 reps

DB rear lateral; 2-3 sets; 10-15 reps

DB shrugs; 2-3 sets; 10-15 reps

Saturday - rest

Sunday - rest

This is a very basic routine that will allow u to gain strength and muscle.  If u were an intermediate or advanced lifter it would be for muscular hypertrophy (increase muscle size), but beginning lifters gain size and strength in this rep range.  U will notice that for the first 4-6 weeks u will be gaining strength but very little muscle, this is because ur nervous system is increasing its efficancy which accounts for the increase in strength with little muscle hypertrophy.  Dont worry, the muscle size will start after 4-6 weeks.  Make sure u use very good form, as a accredited personal training or exercise specialist to run  u through these exercises and show u proper form.  U can also google them and find pics and videos of someone showing u good form.  This is very important because bad form WILL lead to injury down the road.  Also, u do not have to go on these days, pick 4 days outta the week and go then, just make sure u get 3 days of rest during the week.  I just picked these days b/c this is what the average person is comfortable doing.  For the first 2 weeks do not go to muscle failure, just pick a lighter weight that allows u to perform the reps i stated without having to push urself to the limits.  It is also good to pyramid ur reps, Example; if ur doing 3 sets...do 15 reps on set 1, 12 reps on set 2, and 10 reps on set 3.  After 2 or 3 weeks (when ur used to the weights and have good form, u can go to muscle failure and increase the weights as they get easier).  Also, if u do not have a good nutrition plan, this program is a waste of ur time b/c u will not gain good strength and muscle.  If u need a good nutrition program email me and if u have ne other questions feel free to email me.

good luck and train hard

Answer 6

Free weights are much better for beginners in general. Cardio is catabolic, so some people don't do it at all when trying to gain weight/muscle. Try to just eat a lot and lift.  

Answer 7

Firstly you must learn how to perform an exercise correctly.

It is generally believed that free weights are the best way to learn

an exercise correctly and use machines to tone your body when it

is already built. Note that when you use machines it takes away

certain weight and not all the weight is applied on your muscle.

Cardio : It is helpful to burn fat. But note that if you do cardio, you cannot build muscle.

So if you would like to build muscle, you would need to stop cardio.

Perform cardio for 10 mins as a warm up to start weight lifting exercise.

Muscle : It is generally advised that one must not exercise the same

muscle group more than once in a week. So that the muscle exercised recuperates during that time. For eg: biceps/tri-ceps/shoulders must be exercised only twice a week.

After 8-10 weeks once your muscles start showing up, you can then use machines extensively.