If you don’t want a specific strength or hypertrophy routine and prefer a mixed strength routine that mixes the best of both worlds, you should try the 5-Day PHAT Workout.

The PHAT is a routine frequency 2 5 days. The idea is to build our base with exercises worked in ranges of strength, and hypertrophy accessories, it is also a routine with a frequency of two, so we must work all parts of our body 2 times a week.

This routine was created by legendary powerlifter and professional bodybuilder Layne Norton as well as a nutrition doctor. According to Layne, each work of a specific quality involves the use of a certain number of muscle fibers, so when strength and hypertrophy work together, this number of muscle fibers subjected to effort and fatigue is greater.

Guidelines:

1. Weekly Division of the Routine:

Monday: Torso Strength
Tuesday: Leg Strength
Wednesday: Active Rest
Thursday: Shoulders and Back Hypertrophy
Friday: Legs Hypertrophy
Saturday: Chest and Arms Hypertrophy

Although in general this routine is designed to go to the gym five days, if for some reason one week you can only go three days, you can do four days of this routine and start the following week with the training that was missing.

What is active rest? It consists of resting from our PHAT routine, but continuing to be active by doing some moderate activity with a moderate pace and duration. Examples of active rest: yoga or stretching session, 45-60 minute walk, foam roller routine, riding a bike… there are options for all tastes.

2. Rest between sets:

This routine has a great weight of multi-joint exercises to lower repetitions, so in order to maintain performance you have to have long rests between series. The rests are variable according to our sensations or you are afraid to rest 4 minutes if you feel fatigued before your last series of Deadlift, but if you feel fresh go for the next concentrated series.

3. Effort:

Given the predominance of multi-joint exercises, we do not recommend training near failure if we want to maintain performance and technique throughout our sets. As a general rule in compound exercises we recommend training with a weight that allows us to do 2 or 3 more repetitions. In the more analytical exercises we recommend training with a weight that allows us to do 1 or 2 more repetitions.

If we are beginners we can apply a linear weight progression and almost every week we will be able to lift more weight than the previous one, but if we are already intermediate we recommend other types of more complex progressions that we will talk about later.

4. Warm up and stretch:

The warm-up will be the same every day, it is VERY IMPORTANT to never skip the warm-up and stretching before doing the dumbbell plank at home if we want to continue progressing without injury.

5. When should I change the PHAT routine?

Many people wonder how long we can do this PHAT routine and still get results, the answer is simple until you drop! If you like training this way, it fits your lifestyle and you keep making progress, there is no reason to change this routine for another. If our objectives change or we want another distribution of days, we can opt for another type of routine such as torso-leg (4 days), divided routine (5 days) or fullbody (6 days).

Our recommendation is that if you are a beginner you stay with this table exercises with dumbbells at home for at least 12 weeks.

6. And the diet?

To make truly significant progress in the gym, diet is just as important as training if not more. Avoid processed foods, eat a reasonable amount of protein for your weight and training level, and calculate a caloric deficit/surplus based on your goals. Read our article if you want to have a Perfect Body.

The PHat routine 5 days

With our PHAT routine and the complementary information you can already get fit at home forgetting about the complications of a gym routine with dumbbells. Don’t forget to record your progress and upload it to Fitenium!

The 4-day PHUL Powerbuilding Routine is a routine whose acronym stands for Power Hypertrophy Upper Lower, which indicates that it combines torso and leg sessions in which strength training and others hypertrophy play a leading role.

The PHUL is a 4 day powerbuilding routine. The idea is to build our base with exercises worked in ranges of strength, and hypertrophy accessories, it is also a routine with a frequency of two, so we must work all parts of our body 2 times a week.

The basic principles of this routine is to train basics every day in which we will progress, and then we will use accessory powerlifting exercises with which we will correct imbalances and improve our posture and other defects.

Guidelines:

1. Weekly Division of the Routine:

Monday: Torso Strength
Tuesday: Leg Strength
Wednesday: Active Rest
Thursday: Torso Hypertrophy
Friday: Legs Hypertrophy

Although in general this powerlifting training is designed to go to the gym four days, if for some reason you can only go three days a week, you can do four days of this routine and start the following week with the training that was missing.

What is active rest? It consists of resting from our PHAT powerbuilding routine, but continuing to be active by doing some moderate activity with a moderate pace and duration. Examples of active rest: yoga or stretching session, 45-60 minute walk, foam roller routine, riding a bike… there are options for all tastes.

2. Rest between sets:

This routine has a great weight of multi-joint exercises to lower repetitions, so in order to maintain performance you have to have long rests between series. The rests are variable according to our sensations or you are afraid to rest 4 minutes if you feel fatigued before your last series of Deadlift, but if you feel fresh go for the next concentrated series.

3. Effort:

Given the predominance of multi-joint exercises, we do not recommend training near failure if we want to maintain performance and technique throughout our sets. As a general rule in compound exercises we recommend training with a weight that allows us to do 2 or 3 more repetitions. In the more analytical exercises we recommend training with a weight that allows us to do 1 or 2 more repetitions.

If we are beginners we can apply a linear weight progression and almost every week we will be able to lift more weight than the previous one, but if we are already intermediate we recommend other types of more complex progressions that we will talk about later.

4. Warm up and stretch:

The warm-up will be the same every day, it is VERY IMPORTANT to never skip the warm-up and stretching before doing the dumbbell plank at home if we want to continue progressing without injury.

5. When should I change the POWERbuilding PHUL routine?

Many people wonder how long we can do this PHUL powerbuilding routine and still get results, the answer is simple until you get tired! If you like training this way, it fits your lifestyle and you keep making progress, there is no reason to change this routine for another. If our objectives change or we want another distribution of days, we can opt for another type of routine such as torso-leg (4 days), divided routine (5 days) or fullbody (6 days).

Our recommendation is that if you are a beginner you stay with this table exercises with dumbbells at home for at least 12 weeks.

6. And the diet?

To make truly significant progress in the gym, diet is just as important as training if not more. Avoid processed foods, eat a reasonable amount of protein for your weight and training level, and calculate a caloric deficit/surplus based on your goals. Read our article if you want to have a Perfect Body.

The PHUL powerbuilding routine 4 days

With our PHUL routine and the complementary information, you can now do your powerbuilding training and progress both in aesthetics and in strength.. Don’t forget to record your progress and upload it to Fitenium!

There are people who say that you cannot train with little equipment at home, but that is not true. With just a pair of dumbbells you can do this dumbbell routine at home that will allow you to stay in shape without leaving home

This table exercises with dumbbells at home is full body and you can do it as many times as you want throughout the week, however we believe that it is best to leave a day of rest between training and training.

There are many variables to progress in hypertrophy or strength: volume, intensity, density, rest, so let’s not make the mistake of thinking that this routine with dumbbells at home falls short because you only train three times a week. It’s the best way to lay a solid foundation to then opt for other training options that are more suited to our goals.

Guidelines:

1. Weekly Division of the Routine:

Monday: Dumbbell workout at home
Tuesday: Leg
Wednesday: Dumbbell workout at home
Thursday: Torso
Friday: Dumbbell workout at home

Although in general this routine is designed to go to the gym four days, if for some reason one week you can only go three days, you can do three days of this routine and start the following week with the training that was missing. An example would be like this.

What is active rest? It consists of taking a break from our exercise routine to do at home with dumbbells, but continuing to be active by doing some moderate activity with a moderate pace and duration. Examples of active rest: yoga or stretching session, 45-60 minute walk, foam roller routine, riding a bike… there are options for all tastes.

2. Rest between sets:

This routine has a great weight of multi-joint exercises to lower repetitions, so in order to maintain performance you have to have long rests between series. The rests are variable according to our sensations or you are afraid to rest 4 minutes if you feel fatigued before your last series of Deadlift, but if you feel fresh go for the next concentrated series.

3. Effort:

Given the predominance of multi-joint exercises, we do not recommend training near failure if we want to maintain performance and technique throughout our sets. As a general rule in compound exercises we recommend training with a weight that allows us to do 2 or 3 more repetitions. In the more analytical exercises we recommend training with a weight that allows us to do 1 or 2 more repetitions.

If we are beginners we can apply a linear weight progression and almost every week we will be able to lift more weight than the previous one, but if we are already intermediate we recommend other types of more complex progressions that we will talk about later.

4. Warm up and stretch:

The warm-up will be the same every day, it is VERY IMPORTANT to never skip the warm-up and stretching before doing the dumbbell plank at home if we want to continue progressing without injury.

5. When should I change my dumbbell routine at home?

Many people wonder how long we can do this dumbbell routine at home and still get results, the answer is simple until you drop out! If you like training this way, it fits your lifestyle and you keep making progress, there is no reason to change this routine for another. If our objectives change or we want another distribution of days, we can opt for another type of routine such as torso-leg (4 days), pull-push (4 days), divided routine (5 days) or push-legs (6 days).

Our recommendation is that if you are a beginner you stay with this table exercises with dumbbells at home for at least 12 weeks.

6. And the diet?

To make truly significant progress in the gym, diet is just as important as training if not more. Avoid processed foods, eat a reasonable amount of protein for your weight and training level, and calculate a caloric deficit/surplus based on your goals. Read our article if you want to have a Perfect Body.

Dumbbell workout at home

With our routine with dumbbells at home and the complementary information you can already get fit at home forgetting about the complications of a gym routine with dumbbells. Don’t forget to record your progress and upload it to Fitenium!

If you don’t already know Fitenium is a free, mobile, video-based social network for athletes who train strength or bodyweight exercises. At Fitenium users can follow their performance, compete and get discounts in nutrition and sports equipment stores. Download it here.

Hello Fiteniers, today we are going to talk about another of the most popular training schemes and the best results. It’s usually a natural step when a 3-day Fullbody routine falls short on training days and you want to hit the gym more. The 4-day Torso-Leg routine continues to have a base of multi-joint exercises, but ending each session with one or two isolated exercises to end the session.

In this case, we recommend this 4-day Torso-Leg routine for intermediate athletes. If you are a beginner, we believe that it is better that you start your journey in the gym for a few months with the 3 day fullbody routine a few months, and if you are advanced, although this routine is valid, we believe that there are other more interesting options such as Pull-Push-Legs.

Guidelines:

1. Weekly Division of the Routine:

Access the Fitenium app where you can train this routine for free.

Monday: Torso 1 Workout
Tuesday: Leg 1 Workout
Wednesday: Active Rest
Thursday: Torso 2 Workout
Friday: Leg 2 Workout

Although in general this routine is designed to go to the gym four days, if for some reason one week you can only go three days, you can do three days of this routine and start the following week with the training that was missing. An example would be like this.

What is active rest? It consists of resting from our usual 3-day routine, but continuing to be active by doing some moderate activity with a moderate pace and duration. Examples of active rest: yoga or stretching session, 45-60 minute walk, foam roller routine, riding a bike… there are options for all tastes.

2. Rest between sets:

In multi-joint exercises such as Squats, Deadlifts or Bench Press, we recommend taking long breaks of 3-4 minutes without any problem, since by recruiting a lot of muscle, our CNS needs a little more time to recover. For isolation exercises, short rests of 60-90 seconds are enough to go for another set.

3. Effort:

Given the predominance of multi-joint exercises, we do not recommend training near failure if we want to maintain performance and technique throughout our sets. As a general rule in compound exercises we recommend training with a weight that allows us to do 2 or 3 more repetitions. In the more analytical exercises we recommend training with a weight that allows us to do 1 or 2 more repetitions.

If we are beginners we can apply a linear weight progression and almost every week we will be able to lift more weight than the previous one, but if we are already intermediate we recommend other types of more complex progressions that we will talk about later.

4. Warm up and stretch:

The warm-up will be the same every day, it is VERY IMPORTANT never to skip the warm-up and stretching if we want to continue progressing without injuries.

5. Substitutions:

We highly recommend doing our 3-day routine with the scheduled exercises, but if for whatever reason you can’t do any of the exercises, you can substitute them as follows.

• Squat: Press + 15 reps of lower back extension (i.e. if you have 3×8 of Squat, replace it with 3×8 of press and 3×15 of lower back extension).
• Deadlift: Hip Thrust `+ 15 repetitions of lumbar extension.
• Romanian Deadlift: Nordic Curl.
• Stride: Unilateral Hip Thrust with Dumbbell.
• Hip Thrust: Hip Thrust on a quadriceps extension machine.
• Calf Raise standing machine: Calf Raise with dumbbell.
• Femoral Curl: Femoral Curl with Dumbbell (between the feet).
• Quadriceps Extension: You can eliminate them.
• Barbell Bench Press: Dumbbell Bench Press.
• Incline Dumbbell Press: Incline Barbell Press.
• Military Press: Standing Military Press with Dumbbells.
• Pulley Openings: Dumbbell Openings or Pec Deck.
• Funds: Bench Press Declined Dumbbells.
• Supine Pulley Pulldown: Biceps Pull Ups.
• T-Bar Row: Dumbbell Bench Row.

6. Progression

Once we are intermediate, the linear progression is no longer realistic for us in this 4 day Upper-Leg routine.

In this routine, we recommend an undulating progression that works as follows:

• Let’s take as an example an exercise from our 4-day Torso-Leg routine that has 3 series for 6-8 repetitions.
• We load a weight that allows us to do 6 repetitions.
• We do the series of 6 repetitions until with the increase in our strength, we can do 8 repetitions with the same weight.
• Once we can do 3 sets of 8 repetitions, we increase the weight (1-2.5kg disc in isolated exercises and 5kg in compound exercises).
• With this new weight we start again doing 6 repetitions. If we fail we return to the previous weight.

7. And the diet?

To make truly significant progress in the gym, diet is just as important as training if not more. Avoid processed foods, eat a reasonable amount of protein for your weight and training level, and calculate a caloric deficit/surplus based on your goals. Read our article if you want to have a Body 10.

The 4-day Torso-Leg Routine

Access the Fitenium app where you can train this routine for free.

Day 1 – Heavy Torso

Day 2 – Heavy Leg

Day 3 – Light Torso

Day 4 – Light Leg

If you want to go to the gym more days and spin more finely in each workout, this 4-day Torso-Leg routine is a perfect option to continue progressing once we are no longer newbies.

Don’t forget to record your progress and upload it to Fitenium!

If you don’t already know Fitenium is a free, mobile, video-based social network for athletes who train strength or bodyweight exercises. At Fitenium users can follow their performance, compete and get discounts in nutrition and sports equipment stores. Download it here.

Hello Fiteniers, after our review of some of the most effective routines to progress in the gym, such as 3 day fullbody routine and the routine Torso Leg 4 days, today we are going to talk about the division par excellence that was missing among the most common that we can find in any gym. We’re talking about the 5-Day Split Workout, which is probably the most popular workout of all.

All workouts have their pros and cons, and split workouts have always been criticized for focusing on pumps and making it harder to recover from massacring a muscle, but if you’re an advanced user you might

Guidelines:

1. Weekly Division of the Routine:

It is very simple, working from Monday to Friday with a specific order to be able to recover correctly.

Monday: Chest – Triceps
Tuesday: Front leg – Abdomen
Wednesday: Back – Biceps
Thursday: Rear leg – Abdomen
Friday: Shoulder – Arms

What is active rest? It consists of resting from our usual 3-day routine, but continuing to be active by doing some moderate activity with a moderate pace and duration. Examples of active rest: yoga or stretching session, 45-60 minute walk, foam roller routine, riding a bike… there are options for all tastes.

2. Rest between sets:

In multi-joint exercises such as Squats, Deadlifts or Bench Press, we recommend taking long breaks of 3-4 minutes without any problem, since by recruiting a lot of muscle, our CNS needs a little more time to recover. For isolation exercises, short rests of 60-90 seconds are enough to go for another set.

3. Effort:

Being a 5-day split routine, there isn’t as much weight of multi-joint exercises, however we don’t recommend training near failure if we want to maintain performance and technique throughout our sets. As a general rule in compound exercises we recommend training with a weight that allows us to do 2 or 3 more repetitions. In the more analytical exercises we recommend training with a weight that allows us to do 1 or 2 more repetitions.

If we are beginners we can apply a linear weight progression and almost every week we will be able to lift more weight than the previous one, but if we are already intermediate we recommend other types of more complex progressions that we will talk about later.

4. Warm up and stretch:

The warm-up will be the same every day, it is VERY IMPORTANT never to skip the warm-up and stretching if we want to continue progressing without injuries.

5. Substitutions:

We highly recommend doing our 3-day routine with the scheduled exercises, but if for whatever reason you can’t do any of the exercises, you can substitute them as follows.

• Squat: Press + 15 reps of lower back extension (i.e. if you have 3×8 of Squat, replace it with 3×8 of press and 3×15 of lower back extension).
• Deadlift: Hip Thrust `+ 15 repetitions of lumbar extension.
• Romanian Deadlift: Nordic Curl.
• Romanian Deadlift: Nordic Curl.
• Hip Thrust: Hip Thrust on a quadriceps extension machine.
• Calf Raise standing machine: Calf Raise with dumbbell.
• Femoral Curl: Femoral Curl with Dumbbell (between the feet).
• Quadriceps Extension: You can eliminate them.
• Barbell Bench Press: Dumbbell Bench Press.
• Incline Dumbbell Press: Incline Barbell Press.
• Incline Dumbbell Press: Incline Barbell Press.
• Pulley Openings: Dumbbell Openings or Pec Deck.
• Funds: Bench Press Declined Dumbbells.
• Funds: Bench Press Declined Dumbbells.
• T-Bar Row: Dumbbell Bench Row.

6. Progression

Once we are intermediate, the linear progression is no longer realistic for us in this 5-day split routine.

In this routine, we recommend an undulating progression that works as follows:

• Let’s take as an example an exercise from our 4-day Torso-Leg routine that has 3 series for 6-8 repetitions.
• We load a weight that allows us to do 6 repetitions.
• We do the series of 6 repetitions until with the increase in our strength, we can do 8 repetitions with the same weight.
• Once we can do 3 sets of 8 repetitions, we increase the weight (1-2.5kg disc in isolated exercises and 5kg in compound exercises).
• With this new weight we start again doing 6 repetitions. If we fail we return to the previous weight.

7. And the diet?

To make truly significant progress in the gym, diet is just as important as training if not more. Avoid processed foods, eat a reasonable amount of protein for your weight and training level, and calculate a caloric deficit/surplus based on your goals. Read our article if you want to have a Body 10.

The 5-Day Split Workout

Day 1 – Chest and Triceps

Day 2 – Leg (front predominance) and Abdomen

Day 3 – Back Biceps

Day 4 – Leg (posterior predominance) and Abdomen

Day 5 – Shoulders and arms

We are sure that many will like this divided 5-day routine since it allows you to train from Monday to Friday in an effective way leaving the temple congested, which motivates many people and there is nothing wrong with it.

Don’t forget to record your progress in Fitenium

The 4-day Superseries Routine is a routine that has two main advantages: it helps to burn fat since caloric expenditure is very high, and it allows you to do complete workouts in a fairly short time.

This super series training is executed by doing two exercises in a row without resting between them, resting every time we finish both series. An example of a chest superset would be doing 5 reps of the bench press, then doing 12 reps of the cable fly and rest. Some supersets for the leg could be doing 5 repetitions of the deadlift and without resting, doing 10 repetitions of the barbell lunge.

The basic principles of this routine is to train basics every day in which we will progress, and then we will use accessory powerlifting exercises with which we will correct imbalances and improve our posture and other defects.

Guidelines:

1. Weekly Division of the Routine:

Monday: Torso Strength
Tuesday: Leg Strength
Wednesday: Active Rest
Thursday: Torso Hypertrophy
Friday: Legs Hypertrophy

Although in general this powerlifting training is designed to go to the gym four days, if for some reason you can only go three days a week, you can do four days of this routine and start the following week with the training that was missing.

What is active rest? It consists of resting from our PHAT powerbuilding routine, but continuing to be active by doing some moderate activity with a moderate pace and duration. Examples of active rest: yoga or stretching session, 45-60 minute walk, foam roller routine, riding a bike… there are options for all tastes.

2. Rest between sets:

This routine has a great weight of multi-joint exercises to lower repetitions, so in order to maintain performance you have to have long rests between series. The rests are variable according to our sensations or you are afraid to rest 4 minutes if you feel fatigued before your last series of Deadlift, but if you feel fresh go for the next concentrated series.

3. Effort:

Given the predominance of multi-joint exercises, we do not recommend training near failure if we want to maintain performance and technique throughout our sets. As a general rule in compound exercises we recommend training with a weight that allows us to do 2 or 3 more repetitions. In the more analytical exercises we recommend training with a weight that allows us to do 1 or 2 more repetitions.

If we are beginners we can apply a linear weight progression and almost every week we will be able to lift more weight than the previous one, but if we are already intermediate we recommend other types of more complex progressions that we will talk about later.

4. Warm up and stretch:

The warm-up will be the same every day for our superset routine, it is VERY IMPORTANT to never skip the warm-up and stretching before doing the dumbbell exercises at home if we want to continue progressing without injuries.

5. When should I change the Superset routine?

Many people wonder how long we can do this Superset routine and still get results, the answer is simple until you get tired! If you like training this way, it fits your lifestyle and you keep making progress, there is no reason to change this routine for another. If our objectives change or we want another distribution of days, we can opt for another type of routine such as torso-leg (4 days), divided routine (5 days) or fullbody (6 days).

Our recommendation is that if you are a beginner you stay with this table exercises with dumbbells at home for at least 12 weeks.

6. And the diet?

To make truly significant progress in the gym, diet is just as important as training if not more. Avoid processed foods, eat a reasonable amount of protein for your weight and training level, and calculate a caloric deficit/surplus based on your goals. Read our article if you want to have a Perfect Body .

The Superset Routine 4 days

Day 1: Chest Biceps

Day 2: Leg

Day 3: shoulder

day 4: back triceps

With our Superseries routine and the complementary information, you can now get the most out of your workouts when you don’t have time. Don’t forget to record your progress and upload it to Fitenium!

If you don’t already know Fitenium is a free, mobile, video-based social network for athletes who train strength or bodyweight exercises. At Fitenium users can follow their performance, compete and get discounts in nutrition and sports equipment stores. Download it here.

Much has been written about how people should train when they are in the gym, what type of workouts they should do, whether they need to follow a particular sequence of exercises, and how often they should change their routines.

The truth is, if you can’t fix all (or most) of these problems, you may not be able to reach your goals, get injured, or worse yet, be unable to move right out of the gym. In any case, these tips apply equally whether you’re training at the gym or at home.

The importance of well-structured routines, especially for beginners.

Properly organizing your routines and choosing the exercises and especially the order in which you perform them is one of the most important parts of your training. And if you are a beginner and you are starting in the gym, it is even more important because the possibility of abandonment grows if you do not see the achievement and progress in the goals that you set for yourself.

Published on Unplash by Penguinuhh

In general, the best way to compose an exercise routine is to start with an articulated exercise (the exercise that has the most muscle mass in the movement) and end with an analytical or isolated movement. In particular, it is important that only one muscle is predominantly worked, for example, the biceps curl.

Basic conditioning routine: What to do in the first weeks?

Many times it is the case that you have never received training or have not played sports for a long time (several years) and you want to develop a healthier lifestyle habit. What should you do?

The best way to start in the first few weeks (speaking a minimum of 6-8 weeks) is to condition your entire body and choose a routine that is designed to get you used to exercising. These types of routines are often widely used to adapt beginners to the world of gyms, or for those who are injured and begin to readapt to physical exercise.

In these first few weeks, we work with a lighter weight that gradually increases as the muscles adjust to their training demands, avoiding terrible stiffness as much as possible.

Published on Unplash by Tyler Nix

Importance of learning techniques

As beginners, we find ourselves with exercises that we don’t know how to perform. For this reason, it is important to properly learn the technique of the exercise you will be performing before starting a training session and adding volume and intensity. To prevent injuries or frustrations that impede our progress or force us to stop directly because of our injuries.

Know the basic exercises

Among the exercises with which we can work are the groups known as “basic”. They are the basis of any training and are associated with the increase in muscle mass and the improvement of strength for the trained muscle groups.

bench press

When we talk about working the pectoral muscles, the bench press is a star movement, along with push-ups. In addition, it is an exercise that also affects our shoulders (especially the front one) and triceps.

dominated

Classic exercise and should not be missing in any routine due to the large number of muscles it contains, whenever possible. Pull-ups are probably the exercise with the most muscle movement. Control the movement of your legs to avoid swaying.

Published on Unplash by Sven Mieke

However, pull-ups are not easy to do correctly, and their progression is usually slower than any other exercise, which is why it is equally loved and hated by people who are focused on training. ..

press militar

This exercise can be done with both barbells and dumbbells and can be a very interesting shoulder workout. In addition, it also uses the core muscles to avoid swaying and straining the back when doing it with the bar and the foot.

Barbell/Dumbbell Row

A great exercise to gain strength and density in the back, which allows a great transfer of benefits when performing pull-ups.

squats

One of the most commented in relation to the star movements and techniques when talking about the work of the lower part of the body: try to do deep squats.

Combining strength and cardio in the gym

The word HIIT should be remembered for the combination of strength training and cardio training in the gym. HIIT-type training has the great advantage that you can combine strength training and cardiovascular training in the same workout, significantly reducing the time required for your routine.

However, if you are a beginner, do not get lost in this type of training. You can get injured if you are not used to intense training. As you gradually introduce it into your routine, you will see the benefits of these “express workouts”.

If you don’t already know Fitenium is a free, mobile, video-based social network for athletes who train strength or bodyweight exercises. At Fitenium users can follow their performance, compete and get discounts in nutrition and sports equipment stores. Download it here.

Choosing the first routine when you arrive at the gym or when you start training is not easy, but it can impact your future performance and will save you from losing a lot of time, fatigue and even motivation. It is the most important decision when you start.

Next, we will try to shed some light on the most basic question when we first go to the gym: what routine should we do? Do you want to define or create a volume? Do you need to change your routine?

What should you do if you are new to the gym?

The short and quick answer is that if you are new to the gym, the first training program you should do is a basic conditioning program to work and prepare muscles and joints. This general conditioning training program should be basic to the whole body and last 10-12 weeks. After this, you need to weigh the different training programs out there and decide which direction to take.

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strength routine

The strength routine is based on moving heavy weights and performing several iterations for each set. As a rule, we will work with a load of 75% to 90% of 1 RM (maximum repetition), so we will describe a series made up of 3 to 6 repetitions.

hypertrophy routine

The hypertrophy routine is a routine used to increase muscle mass and consists of 6-12 repetitions, so the weight used is significantly higher than that used in the strength routine. In this case, the load will be in the range of 60-70% of 1RM.

definition routine

In general, the definition routine has more repetitions than a normal routine. In this case, series of 12 to 15 repetitions, even reaching 18 repetitions per series.

As these are series of high repetitions, we must proportionally reduce the weight moved, so in this case the loads will oscillate between 40-60% of our 1RM.

Volume or definition?

If you’re new to the gym, the usual answer is none. If you’re starting your gym workout for the first time, or if you’re starting to train after an extended period of time, it’s a good idea to get into a general conditioning routine. This is usually an adaptation period of at least 8 weeks (2 months). After this period, it’s time to check your form and future goals, so ask yourself when you get there.

Published on Unplash by Krists Šidlovskis

At the end of this adaptation period, which is mandatory for beginners, unless you are overweight or obese where you need to continue losing weight, start with a volume phase to gain muscle mass. Otherwise you can destroy muscle mass in the definition phase and not achieve optimal results.

However, it should be noted that the diet is more important than the routine to follow. Without a proper diet, it is impossible for our routine to work. In addition, energy is lost if it does not receive the adequate quantity and quality of nutrients, we will not achieve our objectives either.

Volume phase: routine + diet

As we have previously commented, for a volume phase, our routine will be made up of series of between six and twelve repetitions (around 60-75% of our 1RM the weight used).

For the volume phase to work, it is necessary to adjust the food and follow a high-calorie diet. Care should be taken not to increase calories too much, especially in those cases that accumulate excess fat. Therefore, it is recommended that the increase in the amount of calories consumed by our diet be 10-15%.

Published on Unplash by Joe Ciciarelli

Definition phase: routine + diet

You have now finished the volume phase and want to run the definition phase. How can you do it correctly?

The first step is to adjust your diet. As with the bulking phase, caloric intake must be coordinated with training. In this case, the same, but in reverse, that is, a hypocaloric diet. To do this, you need to reduce your calorie intake by no more than 10-15%. Otherwise, you will lose a significant amount of energy and your routine will not work properly.

And for the routines, as we’ve seen before, these are routines that have a higher number of repetitions than volume routines. For this type of routine, the series consists of 12 to 15 repetitions. The definition routine uses 40-60% by weight of 1RM.

Do you need to change your training routine frequently?

This is a question whose answer is a bit complicated. First of all you tell yourself that you don’t have to change your routine as usual, because if you do, your body never adapts to the stimulus of doing the routine.

When you start a routine, your body receives external stimuli and tries to adapt to them. This phase of adaptation to the routine usually lasts from 6 to 12 weeks (that is, from a month and a half to three months).

As with most people, if we make routine changes every eight weeks or less, we don’t have enough time for our bodies to adjust to the stimuli they receive from our daily lives. Therefore, it is likely that if we change the routine before 8 weeks, the routine will not have an effect. However, that doesn’t mean you always have to change your routine after that time.

From time to time, simply changing training sessions can give amazing results: higher reps and reduced sets, changes in training intensity, changes in running angle or grip type for a particular exercise… As you experiment, You don’t have to change the whole routine.

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Speaking of routines that deductively share the same purpose, muscle hypertrophy, but the truth is that the specific purpose, personal needs or other types of factors such as the combination of weight training with other sports disciplines must be considered. Then, depending on whether you choose the right routine for the body or the core, you will have certain benefits.

When setting goals, first find out what each of the routines we suspect is based on, the main differences between them, and what benefits each routine offers us, depending on what you are looking for. Therefore, today we analyze the torso and the entire leg. When and how to apply each one.

Basic concepts of the full body routine

What it does: A full body workout exercises all muscle groups in every workout. That works on both the torso and the legs. In this type of routine, multi-joint movements are always used. These involve various joints and all synergistic muscle work.

For example, when we move our chest, the triceps and shoulders work at the same time. Another example is the squat, where we are constantly moving more muscles at the same time.

Frequency and rest: When we talk about full body or fullbody, we are talking about a routine in which each muscle group is trained three times a week. When performing a full body routine, it is recommended that you rest one day between workouts to ensure optimal recovery of your muscles and central nervous system (CNS).

Review an example of a classic full body routine.

Bases of a torso-leg routine

What it does: As its name suggests, the Upper Leg workout trains the upper body and legs separately each session. The most notable difference with the total body routine is that, as we have seen, this session does not train all muscle groups in the same workout.

Frequency and rest: In this case, use the rest space once the torso-leg cycle has finished. You can still rest your torso on Monday, Tuesday legs and Wednesday (the cycle has already been completed) In this routine, working in separate groups in each session does not mean synergies You can train in sessions so you don’t have to rest after each training day.

The core routine is moderate, with each muscle group working twice a week. Remember that with the fullbody routine you work your entire body three times a week. This means a training frequency of 3, compared to the frequency of 2 for Torso-Leg training.

Training pattern: two weekly sessions are carried out for the torso and two for the lower body. One of those sessions is for heavier work and another for lighter work.

On hard training days, increase the load to make it more intense, but on light session days, drop the weight (maintain a constant load), but increase the work by increasing the repetition.

Review an example of a classic Torso-Leg routine.

This definition routine is suitable when you are in a late definition phase, when we cannot tolerate a lot of workload and it is interesting to include a little cardiovascular work to maintain a caloric deficit and continue progressing.

To do this, this muscle definition routine is divided into three blocks. The first is a superset with a basic exercise and its antagonist, to then do two blocks in a triset. In this way we managed to train quickly and gain some time to do cardio.

At this point, most likely you will not be able to progress in loads so focus on maintaining strength and you will have the next phase of volume (in which we hope you do not fall for these myths)

Guidelines:

1. Weekly Division of the Routine:

Monday: Torso
Tuesday: Leg
Wednesday: Active Rest
Thursday: Torso
Friday: Legs

Although in general this gym definition routine is designed to go to the gym four days, if for some reason you can only go three days a week, you can do four days of this routine and start the following week with the training that was missing.

What is active rest? It consists of resting from our PHAT powerbuilding routine, but continuing to be active by doing some moderate activity with a moderate pace and duration. Examples of active rest: yoga or stretching session, 45-60 minute walk, foam roller routine, riding a bike… there are options for all tastes.

2. Rest between sets:

This routine has a great weight of multi-joint exercises to lower repetitions, so in order to maintain performance you have to have long rests between series. The rests are variable according to our sensations or you are afraid to rest 4 minutes if you feel fatigued before your last series of Deadlift, but if you feel fresh go for the next concentrated series.

3. Effort:

Given the predominance of multi-joint exercises, we do not recommend training near failure if we want to maintain performance and technique throughout our sets. As a general rule in compound exercises we recommend training with a weight that allows us to do 2 or 3 more repetitions. In the more analytical exercises we recommend training with a weight that allows us to do 1 or 2 more repetitions.

If we are beginners we can apply a linear weight progression and almost every week we will be able to lift more weight than the previous one, but if we are already intermediate we recommend other types of more complex progressions that we will talk about later.

4. Warm up and stretch:

The warm-up will be the same every day for our muscle definition routine, it is VERY IMPORTANT never to skip the warm-up and stretching before doing the dumbbell exercises at home if we want to continue progressing without injuries.

5. When should I change the definition routine?

Many people wonder how long we can do this gym definition routine and continue to get results, the answer is simple until you finish your definition! If you like training this way, it fits your lifestyle and you keep making progress, there is no reason to change this routine for another. If our goals change or we want another distribution of days, we can opt for another type of routine such as the super series routine or a dumbbell routine if you train at home.

Our recommendation is that if you are a beginner, stick with this gym definition routine for the duration of the final phase of your definition.

6. And the diet?

To make truly significant progress in the gym, diet is just as important as training if not more. Avoid processed foods, eat a reasonable amount of protein for your weight and training level, and calculate a caloric deficit to accompany your cutting routine. With this cutting routine we only reduce the volume a bit to cram in a little more cardio and expend some extra calories, but if you don’t have a fat loss diet to go along with it you won’t get results.

The Definition Routine

Day 1: Torso

Day 2: Leg

Day 3: torso

day 4: Leg

With our definition gym routine and the complementary information you can now get the most out of the muscle definition phase. Don’t forget to record your progress and upload it to Fitenium!