Weight/Strength Training

Hey All,

My wife and I had our first baby 4 weeks ago today and as such I have no time to go climb.  Figured while I'm stuck at home I'll make use of our building's gym to maintain shape and maybe get stronger.  I'm a total noob to training so any help is greatly appreciated.  Here's my rough concept:

I'm aiming for 5 days a week Monday through Friday

Start each session with 20-30 mins of cardio (running, biking?) and stretching/warming up

Monday - Back, Biceps, Forearm/Finger (pulling strength)

Tuesday - Chest, Triceps, Shoulders (pushing/antagonist)

Weds - Legs, Abs, Forearm/Fingers?

Thurs - Back, Biceps, Forearm/Finger (pulling strength)

Fri - Chest, Triceps, Shoulders (pushing/antagonist)

I'm also debating alternating heavier weight with low reps and lower weight with high reps on the repeat days to focus more on strength and not so much on bulking up.  As I said I'm a total noob when it comes to this stuff.  Does this sound like a solid program?  Thank you all!

just some random thoughts:

- going from no (?) training to five days a week is a lot even with split routines

- if you're truly just starting out skip heavy and go light with emphasis on learning correct movement patterns

- not sure what you have available in terms of forearms/fingers, but it would be nice to throw in some hangboard

old5ten wrote:

just some random thoughts:

- going from no (?) training to five days a week is a lot even with split routines

- if you're truly just starting out skip heavy and go light with emphasis on learning correct movement patterns

- not sure what you have available in terms of forearms/fingers, but it would be nice to throw in some hangboard

Thanks for the reply.  Maybe 3 days is better to start?  I guess for better context I'm a 35-year-old male 5'9" 150lbs so im reasonably toned as is.  I've weight trained on and off in the past but never very seriously and never for more than like a month or two at a time.  So I do have some experience.  I've been more of a calisthenics and bodyweight training guy and plan to incorporate a lot of that as well and also resistance bands.  I'm not sure the exact terms for the equipment I have for fingers/forearm training but it's the devices you squeeze with your hands, the stick looking thing you hang a weight from and roll it up, and the elastic band you put your fingers in and open them (I believe is for antagonist training) and I also thought I'd throw in some reverse wrist curls.  I do have the metolious rock rings so I can throw in some pseudo hangboarding also.  But maybe as you said it's just better to stick to lower weight and higher reps for any weight exercises seeing as my goal is to build strength and maybe some more definition rather than to bulk.  I don't really want to gain anymore weight.  Thanks so much for the reply!

Jimmy, some more context would be helpful for us to give any advice or insight.

-Do you have access to a climbing gym? What does that gym have in it? (boards, hangboards, bouldering, rope routes, etc.)

-What is your reason for training/ What are you hoping to get out it? Are you hoping to have more focused session or are you wanting measurable gains?

-A little more climbing background/experience would be helpful. Are you a route climber or boulderer? Hadest grades climbed? Hardest flash or onsight? 

zach cook wrote:

Jimmy, some more context would be helpful for us to give any advice or insight.

-Do you have access to a climbing gym? What does that gym have in it? (boards, hangboards, bouldering, rope routes, etc.)

-What is your reason for training/ What are you hoping to get out it? Are you hoping to have more focused session or are you wanting measurable gains?

-A little more climbing background/experience would be helpful. Are you a route climber or boulderer? Hadest grades climbed? Hardest flash or onsight? 

Hey Zach!  Thanks for the response.  I did go to the climbing gym regularly before the baby and I will again eventually but I don't reqlly have enough time right now.  My kid is only 4 weeks old so he sleeps 2-3 hours and then is up for maybe 40 mins.  Since I'm stuck home and would like to remain active I thought this would be a good time to maybe build some strength.  So I'd say that's my goal, just to get stronger.  I suppose a focused session would be better than measurable gains (not really trying to add too much mass).  More of a route climber than a boulderer.  Been climbing for almost 4 years, usual flash grade is around 5.11a.  Hardest onsight is 5.11d.

You're getting good advice so far.  One adage is "no one ever went to the gym and accidentally got jacked".

Fears of "bulking up" and gaining muscle mass are way overblown.  It would take months and months of focused training to gain any weight, and you'd have to be eating like a fiend during that time as well.

3 days a week is PLENTY of time in the weight gym.  You really only need a few basic exercises.  One really basic but very effective schedule would be deadlifts, flat bench dumbell/barbell press, rows on one day.  The other day would be squats, weighted pullups, military shoulder press.  Alternate these days. You can do some ancillary stuff like core work an stretching in between sets. I do this schedule 2-3 days a week and it takes me about 70 minutes, including a little warmup and some stretching.

The latest thinking on weight training for maximum strength gains is summarized by the "3 to 5" mantra.  3 to 5 sets (like 2 warmup sets, 3 working sets), 3 to 5 reps, 3 to 5 minutes rest between sets.  You need to lift heavy enough that 5 reps is VERY HARD.  Of course if you're new you'll want to do a couple of months of buildup, but once you get that taken care of and get your form dialed, go heavy.  The idea is to recruit more muscle fibers and to stimulate growth, and you won't do that with high reps.

You can do hangboard work a few days a week as well, and that will certainly be enough to keep you strong or  maybe even make you stronger so that when you can go climibing again finger strength won't be an issue.

Cardio:  obviously the sky is the limit.  Run, ride bikes, etc as much as time and energy allow.  The rowing machine is incredible, and 20 minutes on it will feel like death if you're new to it.

Yeah, lift 2-3 days and do some easy cardio the other days. Typically people who want to bulk use a program like you described because they tax that day's muscle group to failure and then give it a week to recover. If you're more interested in functional strength, then some Verkoshansky (spelling?) style strength is what's used by most athletes training for a sport. Think twice a week, same exercises each day, ~4 arm exercises and ~4 leg exercises, multi-joint like squats or pullups, 8-12 reps, alternate them and go through the whole series 2-4 times. Do that for 8 weeks. Then pick a couple arm exercises and a couple leg exercises that you want to target and do 4-6 sets of 3-5 reps with 3 minutes rest between and heavy weight. Ideally, use a portable hangboard and superset some hangs in there. 

That all said, your optimism of how much time and energy you have with a new baby may be excessive. As a dad myself, I would just recommend doing some hangs, pullups, pushups as you feel like it. Listen to your body and take a nap instead if you need it. No one gets better at something by doing it in a super sleep deprived state.

Sam Bedell wrote:

Yeah, lift 2-3 days and do some easy cardio the other days. Typically people who want to bulk use a program like you described because they tax that day's muscle group to failure and then give it a week to recover. If you're more interested in functional strength, then some Verkoshansky (spelling?) style strength is what's used by most athletes training for a sport. Think twice a week, same exercises each day, ~4 arm exercises and ~4 leg exercises, multi-joint like squats or pullups, 8-12 reps, alternate them and go through the whole series 2-4 times. Do that for 8 weeks. Then pick a couple arm exercises and a couple leg exercises that you want to target and do 4-6 sets of 3-5 reps with 3 minutes rest between and heavy weight. Ideally, use a portable hangboard and superset some hangs in there. 

That all said, your optimism of how much time and energy you have with a new baby may be excessive. As a dad myself, I would just recommend doing some hangs, pullups, pushups as you feel like it. Listen to your body and take a nap instead if you need it. No one gets better at something by doing it in a super sleep deprived state.

Great advice!  Thank you.

evan freeman wrote:

You're getting good advice so far.  One adage is "no one ever went to the gym and accidentally got jacked".

Fears of "bulking up" and gaining muscle mass are way overblown.  It would take months and months of focused training to gain any weight, and you'd have to be eating like a fiend during that time as well.

3 days a week is PLENTY of time in the weight gym.  You really only need a few basic exercises.  One really basic but very effective schedule would be deadlifts, flat bench dumbell/barbell press, rows on one day.  The other day would be squats, weighted pullups, military shoulder press.  Alternate these days. You can do some ancillary stuff like core work an stretching in between sets. I do this schedule 2-3 days a week and it takes me about 70 minutes, including a little warmup and some stretching.

The latest thinking on weight training for maximum strength gains is summarized by the "3 to 5" mantra.  3 to 5 sets (like 2 warmup sets, 3 working sets), 3 to 5 reps, 3 to 5 minutes rest between sets.  You need to lift heavy enough that 5 reps is VERY HARD.  Of course if you're new you'll want to do a couple of months of buildup, but once you get that taken care of and get your form dialed, go heavy.  The idea is to recruit more muscle fibers and to stimulate growth, and you won't do that with high reps.

You can do hangboard work a few days a week as well, and that will certainly be enough to keep you strong or  maybe even make you stronger so that when you can go climibing again finger strength won't be an issue.

Cardio:  obviously the sky is the limit.  Run, ride bikes, etc as much as time and energy allow.  The rowing machine is incredible, and 20 minutes on it will feel like death if you're new to it.

great advice.

I'm not sure if this is where you're at mentally, but I remember having some mania after each of my kids were born that I translated into at-home training. One thing I'll add to the good advice above is to not discount your rest days. I was late in arriving at understanding this myself so learn from my wasted time: you can be fatigued locally where your muscles and connective tissues are tired, but you can also be fatigued systemically/neurologically even if the muscles are "fresh" locally. This means that you can't cycle through muscle groups forever with no full rest days, even if you are giving each individual muscle group sufficient rest. Every few days you have to take a full day off. Maybe stretching, but no cardio, no climbing, no weights. 

After some experimentation, I've learned that for me this means that I can work out two (if the workout is high intensity) or 3 (for moderate intensity) days in a row by being deliberate about what is trained when, but I never do a fourth day in a row, even if the muscles to be trained that day haven't been worked since last week. Even if each muscle only gets worked once every 5 days, you're other systems are working each day and they need rest for your to be getting proper stimulus, otherwise you're just accumulating fatigue without getting much stronger. This is double true for people in your situation where sleep is a precious resource. I'd encourage you to think of sleep as every bit as essential to strength building as are the working sets, and make sure to protect 1-3 (and 1 is debatably too few) days per week where you don't train at all. I'm not a exercise physiologist so large dose of sodium here, but this has certainly helped me get more from less especially now that I have a couple kids and I'm in my 40s.

Congrats on the kid, and nice work keeping the fire burning!