Jim Stoppani's 12-Week Beginner-To-Advanced Bodybuilding Plan

Stop training like an idiot! "Dumbbell" should describe your weights, not you. Let the smartest man in bodybuilding take you from beginner to advanced in just 12 weeks!

But let's be fair... Maybe you've never lifted anything heavier than your coffee mug. Maybe you once lifted regularly, but of late, your trips to the gym have become as infrequent as a day of sobriety for Charlie Sheen.

In either case, we have good news, in the form of the perfect 12-week plan for going from beginner to advanced. Personal trainers are gonna hate us for this one; it might even put a few of them out of business. You, on the other hand, are going to love us.

But enough about us; this is about you, only bigger, stronger, better. No, three months from now, Jay Cutler and Dexter Jackson won't quake in their flip-flops when you shed your sweats. But your physique will be vastly improved and ready to handle even more advanced training techniques.

How can anyone run the rack that fast? This beginner-to-advanced program is all about progression -- of the exercises you perform, in the number of sets you complete per workout, in the amount of weight you hoist, and most important, in your training split. A training split refers to the way in which muscle groups are divided for training purposes. For example, some pro bodybuilders train only one major muscle group each workout. That's it.

So on Monday, they might train chest; on Tuesday, back; on Wednesday, legs; on Thursday, shoulders; and on Friday, arms; with abs thrown in on one or two of those days for good measure. This would be considered a five-day training split.

Splits come in all sorts of variations, but specific splits are better at certain points in your training evolution. The pro bodybuilder's example above isn't right for a beginner; it's not the best way to gain size and strength at that point.

The key is adjusting your training split as you advance. We've done some of the heavy lifting, by telling you what to do and when to do it. The rest is up to you.

The Smart Man's 12-Week Program

About The Author:

Dr. Jim Stoppani received his doctorate in exercise physiology with a minor in biochemistry from the University of Connecticut. Following graduation, he served as a postdoctoral research fellow in the prestigious John B. Pierce Laboratory and Department of Cellular and Molecular Physiology at Yale University School of Medicine, where he investigated the effects of exercise and diet on gene regulation in muscle tissue. He was awarded the Gatorade Beginning Investigator in Exercise Science Award in 2002 by the American Physiological Society for his groundbreaking research.

Currently, he serves as senior science editor for Muscle & Fitness, Muscle & Fitness Hers and Flex magazines, is the host of the popular online training and nutrition video series Muscle & Fitness Raw!, as seen at MuscleAndFitness.com and runs his own fitness website JimStoppani.com. He has written thousands of articles on exercise, nutrition and health and is author of Encyclopedia of Muscle & Strength (Human Kinetics, 2006), co-author of the New York Times Bestseller, LL Cool J's Platinum 360 Diet and Lifestyle (Rodale, 2010), co-author of the book Stronger Arms & Upper Body (Human Kinetics, 2008), and co-author of the chapter "Nutritional Needs of Strength/Power Athletes" in the textbook Essentials of Sports Nutrition and Supplements (Humana Press, 2008).

Jim is the creator of the Platinum 360 Diet as found in the book, LL Cool J's Platinum 360 Diet and Lifestyle (Rodale, 2010) and creator of the diet program found in the book, Mario Lopez's Knockout Fitness (Rodale, 2008). Dr. Stoppani has been the personal nutrition and health consultant for numerous celebrity clients, such as LL Cool J, Dr. Dre, Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, and Mario Lopez, and has appeared on the NBC television show Extra as an 'Extra LifeChanger' and as a science expert on the Spike television shows Jesse James is a Dead Man and MANswers.