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The Question: It's easy to find workout regimens for beginners or advanced bodybuilders, but not so easy for intermediate bodybuilders. Maybe it's because people think that when they start bodybuilding they are beginners, then when they train for a while they are advanced. They skip the middle ground. What is the best intermediate bodybuilding workout? Be specific. What are the differences between a beginner, intermediate and advanced bodybuilding workout? How long is the transition from beginner to intermediate, then intermediate to advanced? Do you consider yourself a beginner, intermediate, or advanced bodybuilder? Show off your knowledge to the world! The Winners:
2nd place - $50 in store credit. To use your credit, e-mail Will @ will@bodybuilding.com for more info.
Bodybuilding has three levels: beginners, intermediates and advanced. The middle level has never been looked at much because people often refer to themselves as beginners or experienced bodybuilders. This makes it very tough for intermediate bodybuilders to find a routine that suits their own individual experience. The truth of the matter is that most people in the gym are actually beginners or intermediates. It is very important to understand where you stand in the bodybuilding levels because you must use a routine that maximizes muscle gains from your own experience level. For instance, if you are a newbie, don't do a 7 day split, those are for the experienced. Newbies should do a simple but extremely effective (for newbie only) 3 day full body routine. What if you are an intermediate? Well, keep reading.
3 day full body splits are meant to build muscle mass for beginners. 6-7 day isolation splits are meant to define muscle groups for the advanced. What about for the intermediates? Well, then we would have to concentrate on building muscle mass and defining the muscle groups. In order to do so, they must use this routine:
** Cardio should be done 3-4 times a week for 30 minutes on medium intensity if you are bulking. By using this routine, you are focusing on both building muscle mass and defining the muscles at the same time. You must combine both compound and isolation exercises into your workouts.
By doing 8-12 repetitions for each set, you will stimulate maximum hypertrophy. However, this is based on the average person. Every person responds to weightlifting differently, some better, some worse. Simply try this routine and then adjust it according to your own unique body type. Warm-up sets require at least 12 repetitions depending on the size of the muscle and the amount of weight you are using. It is very important to warm-up and stretch the muscle group that you will be targeting before you start your routine. Failure to warm-up and stretch properly before workouts can result in severe injury. Another good idea is to warm-up the secondary/stabilizing muscles as well. For example, if you are going to be doing heavy barbell bench, I recommend that you warm-up the triceps and shoulders before heavy benching.
To gain maximum muscle growth, you must keep the body guessing. Change up your workout regiment as well as the exercises. Follow this routine as your previous routine becomes stale and boring.
** Cardio should be done 3-4 times a week for 30 minutes on medium intensity if you are bulking.
After two-three months on this routine, switch back to the previous regiment to avoid repetition. If you do not switch routines every two or three months, not only will it be boring, you will start to hit plateaus. Your body will only grow so much with one workout regiment. After that, you will not gain any strength or size to your physique. To surpass this plateau, you need to switch up your workout regiment, switch up your exercises and add additional calories towards your diet.
A beginner's routine would typically be focused on building as much muscle mass as possible. An advanced bodybuilding routine would typically be focused on defining each muscle group for competition. An intermediate routine would typically be focused on both building muscle mass and defining each muscle groups. However, intermediate bodybuilders usually struggle with muscle imbalances due to lack of knowledge in the prior years. For example, most intermediate bodybuilders have a strong general chest, but weak upper chest. The reason is because they focused too much on flat benching when they were beginners. Therefore, they include additional sets of incline barbell/dumbbell bench on their chest days. Also, most intermediate bodybuilders train with dumbbells instead of barbells so they can balance out the biceps/chest/shoulder/traps/triceps/lats.
A beginner's workout often takes more time than those of an intermediate or advanced workout. The reason for that is because beginners do full body workouts, which obviously take more time than splits. However, an intermediate and advanced bodybuilder must spend more time in the gym weekly than a beginner bodybuilder. The reason for this is because the muscles of an intermediate or advanced bodybuilder recover quicker than those of a beginner. Their body is used to the constant intense stress of weightlifting and therefore will not respond as it once did before. That is why beginners take frequent off days so their bodies can get used to the stress. Another reason why they might recover quicker can be because they maintain stricter diets which provide plenty of proteins, amino acids and vitamins for them to quickly rebuild their muscles.
Unfortunately, the longer you weight lift, the slower your gains will be. Beginners get "newbie gains" when they first weight train. These gains will typically last about 2-3 months. Newbie gains include rapid muscle gains and a rapid increase in strength. If one consumes sufficient food/proteins and has enough active rest, then they can expect to gain at least 5-10 pounds of muscle per month in the "newbie gain" stage. The amount of muscle gained will vary among different body types. The muscle gained during this stage is permanent. For intermediates, they will start to notice slower muscle gain, even though they have a better understanding of the sport as they did before when they were newbie. Intermediates understand the importance of protein and amino acids and supplements in general. Advanced bodybuilders gain very little muscle mass because their body is used to the stress of bodybuilding. Therefore, these bodybuilders try different programs/routines and different exercises to try to stimulate the body in a different approach. Basically, enjoy your newbie gains because there are long difficult days ahead of you.
Beginners typically utilize bodybuilding accessories such as bodybuilding gloves. These accessories are meant to help them reduce the pain that weights can do to your hands.
Advanced bodybuilder typically utilizes other bodybuilding accessories like weighed chest dip belts. These accessories are meant to help them lift heavier for more muscle stimulation.
Intermediate bodybuilders utilize accessories such weight lifting straps and/or weightlifting belts. That is kind of the trend I see in my home gym. However, some bodybuilders simply don't use any bodybuilding accessories and have achieved tremendous success nonetheless.
Intensity does not necessarily translate to muscle growth. Workouts with tremendous intensity can actually slow down your muscle gains. The key to gain as much muscle mass as possible actually lies in the kitchen. Always follow the old adage,
"You build strength in the gym.
You build muscles in the kitchen." High intensity workouts can hinder your gains because your body will actually overtrain if you are a beginner or even an intermediate. Beginners should not try intense workouts such as supersets or drop sets. Simply stick to basic compound movements like bench, squats and deadlifts until you think you are ready to go to the next level. To avoid high intensity, try to stick with 2-3 minutes rest periods.
In my opinion, it takes lots of time and effort to move up a single level. A beginner would typically have 0-2 years of experience. An intermediate would typically have 2-6 years of experience. An advanced bodybuilder must have at least 6-10 years of experience. Anything after 10 years of experience would be considered professional. However, the speeds in which you increase levels are based on time primarily, but also how much knowledge you have of the sport of bodybuilding. You must also know how the body works and how supplements work. The more you research, the faster you will move up in the bodybuilding community.
Time is absolutely essential towards building muscles. If you have patience, you will go a long way in the bodybuilding community. However, time without knowledge is useless. Therefore, I suggest you join the forums on Bodybuilding.com if you haven't already. You can feel free to ask questions to many advanced bodybuilders and even to professional bodybuilders. Before you ask a question, make sure you do a search for it first. Most of the time, the question you are about to ask have been answered at least ten times on the forum already. You can also post your picture and ask other bodybuilders to critique your physique and tell you what your strengths and weaknesses are.
Ectomorph Endomorph Mesomorph Knowing your body type helps you approximate how long the transition between levels will be for your individual body type. Mesomorphs will quickly rise from the beginner stage and into the intermediate in about a year.
Endomorphs will rise from beginner to intermediate in about a year and a half while ectomorphs will do so in about 2 years. There is no changing or altering your genetic makeup, you can only blame or thank your parents.
"The Impossible:
What Nobody Can Do Until Somebody Does."
I consider myself to be an intermediate bodybuilder. I have been seriously working out for more than 2 years and I have joined the forums on Bodybuilding.com for one and a half years already. I read bodybuilding articles whenever I have free time and I have a tremendous passion for the sport. 2 years ago, I would not tolerate constructive criticism but now I have learned to love it. I gained over 30 pounds of lean muscle within 2 years. I know, that's really not impressive but I am a creatine non responding ectomorph. I only weighted 110lbs in the 11th grade and I weigh 140lbs now in college at the same body fat. I consumed 1.5 grams of protein per bodyweight and ate 6-8 medium sized meals a day totaling over 3500 calories. I kept a moderately strict diet because of my high metabolism and thus didn't gain much, if any, fat.
I experimented with different protein, creatine and nitric oxide products and found the most effective protein powder to be Optimum Nutrition 100% Whey, the most effective creatine to be Gaspari Nutrition Size ON and the most effective Nitric Oxide to be BSN NO-Xplode.
There are three major levels in bodybuilding and each respond better to different workout regiments. Therefore, it is very important to understand where you stand. If you are a beginner using an advanced bodybuilder's workout regiment, chances are that you won't gain much muscle or strength. If you are an advanced bodybuilder using a beginner's routine, you won't get the body that you wanted. Many people are actually intermediates thinking that they are advanced bodybuilders instead. Ultimately, they do not gain as much muscle as they could have if they were using the proper routine. Bodybuilding takes patience, determination and most importantly, knowledge. Now I'm not talking about being good in math, but understanding how the body works and bodybuilding can benefit the body. Good luck on your journey. Thank you for reading my article. I hope you have learned a thing or two about yourself. Keep reading more bodybuilding articles and you will turn pro in no time.
"Patience is waiting. Not passively waiting.
That is laziness. But to keep going when the going is hard and slow - that is patience."
It's easy to find workout regimens for beginners or advanced bodybuilders, but not so easy for intermediate bodybuilders. Maybe it's because people think that when they start bodybuilding they are beginners, then when they train for a while they are advanced. They skip the middle ground. This middle ground is key for making consistent gains. Beginners will often make what are called "newbie gains," because they are new to training and almost anything will work for building muscle. But as their bodies adapt, their progress begins to slow and they often resort to some advanced muscle building program that the pros follow. This path quickly leads to overtraining, plateaus, and a frustrated lifter. The key to avoiding such situations is to follow a solid intermediate workout program to make the transition from beginner to advanced as smooth as possible.
Before going on and describing the best intermediate bodybuilding workout, it is important to define what an intermediate trainee is. An intermediate lifter is someone that has been training consistently for at least 1 full year and has appreciable levels of strength and size. The average intermediate trainee will be pretty well built, Bench Press at least 200 lbs, Squat at least 300 lbs, and Deadlift at least 325 lbs. These numbers may vary by height and weight, but the average intermediate trainee will fall into this category.
The intermediate bodybuilding workout must be intense, of a higher volume than a typical beginner workout, and focus on increasing strength in major lifts such as the Bench Press, Squat, and Deadlift. Exercises should be mostly compound, with some isolation movements to complement the basic lifts. The only shock methods that really should or need to be implemented are supersets and occasional tri-sets for the abdominals. Again, these methods should be using sparingly, usually to stimulate muscle growth when progress is slowing down. Much too often trainees utilize as many shock methods as they can, which makes their workouts intense, but heeds progress. In the long run, it does not matter how many shock methods you used but how much more weight you are lifting than you were before. Kelly Baggett explained it best when he used this example: Take 2 identical people that both squat 300 lbs. One does 4 sets of squats, 4 sets of leg presses, 4 sets of leg extensions, and 4 sets of hack squats, and uses all the shock methods he possibly can - drop sets, supersets, etc. Kelly Baggett Articles: The other only does 4 sets of squats but makes sure to increase the weight every time he goes to the gym. After 2 years, the first one is still doing the same workout and squatting 300 lbs while the other is now squatting 500 lbs. It should be pretty obvious which one will have bigger legs at that point.
(Can be repeated with a one week rest week in between)
Monday - Lower Body:
Tuesday - Upper Body:
Thursday - Lower Body:
Friday - Upper Body:
Monday - Lower Body:
Tuesday - Upper Body:
Thursday - Lower Body:
Friday - Upper Body:
Monday - Lower Body:
Tuesday - Upper Body:
Thursday - Lower Body:
Friday - Upper Body:
Monday - Lower Body:
Tuesday - Upper Body:
Thursday - Lower Body:
Friday - Upper Body:
The differences between the typical beginner, intermediate, and advanced bodybuilding workouts revolve around a number of factors. These include: training frequency, training volume, compound vs. isolation exercises, and many more.
The transition from beginner to intermediate really depends on the bodybuilder's genetics and starting point. Someone with excellent genetics and a pretty good physique that begins weight training will quickly move through the beginner phase and into the intermediate phase, during which they will learn to train at higher volume and frequency to prepare for the advanced phases of training. On the other hand, someone who starts out as a scrawny beginner with very little muscle mass, and is forced to do everything right to gain even a small amount of muscle mass may take a year or even more to get into the intermediate phase. However, the average beginner will stay in that phase until gains begin to slow down, which takes about a year. After a year, the trainee will go into the intermediate phase. Most bodybuilders will stay in the intermediate phase for 1-3 years, depending on a variety of factors such as a genetics, dedication, and diet. During these years, the bodybuilder will see the greatest and most impressive changes in their body. Many will often begin competing towards the end of this phase. After the intermediate phase, the bodybuilder is ready for the rigors of advanced bodybuilding. Grueling workouts, hardcore diets, and supplement schedules are some of the things that await the bodybuilder. Barring injury, most will stay in this phase for the longest period of time. There will be early advanced, middle advanced, and elite advanced bodybuilders in this phase. Going from one to the other may take years and the keys to making constant progress are dedication and staying injury-free. Injury Prevention Articles:
I would definitely consider myself an intermediate bodybuilder. I have been lifting for about one and a half years now and can Bench Press more than 200 lbs (225 lbs), Squat a lot more than 300 lbs (425 lbs), and Deadlift much more than 325 lbs (500 lbs). My Body fat percentage has stayed in the 9-10% range even though I have bulked from 130 lbs to 210 lbs in the past 2 years. I should be nearing the advanced stage within a year.
I may stay within the intermediate guidelines for training for a longer amount of time, however, if my gains are not quite what I expect them to be. I plan on following the advanced guidelines when I reach a 315 lbs bench press, a 500 lbs parallel squat, a 550 lbs Deadlift, and a bodyweight of 230 lbs at 7% Body fat or less.
It's easy to find workout regimens for beginners or advanced bodybuilders, but not so easy for intermediate bodybuilders. Maybe it's because people think that when they start bodybuilding they are beginners, then when they train for a while they are advanced. They skip the middle ground.
For the beginner tying to pack on mass, full body workouts with low training frequency are best. An advanced bodybuilder will be quite the opposite, with varying training splits and a high workout frequency.
An intermediate trainee will be somewhere in between these two. Many bodybuilders overestimate their training level and go overboard with complicated splits and a new training technique every week. In actuality, most of these bodybuilders are not at an advanced level and do not need 5 day split routines with 6 exercises per body part. The best workout program for a intermediate bodybuilder will be a mixture of full body workouts to build overall mass, while allowing for some focus on a few body parts.
Many intermediate trainees can handle 3-5 workout sessions per week, depending on the specific parameters, as well as external recovery factors such as nutrition, sleep, and advanced recovery methods such as contrast showers.
The beginner lifter will be best off with full body workouts. The main reason for this is simply that a full body workout recruits more overall muscle fibers, and better stimulates the CNS into building new muscle. An advanced trainee usually needs to focus on specific parts to perfect his/her physique. This is where training splits come in. The best intermediate routine will involve a mixture of both full body workouts and splits to focus on a couple favorite, or lagging parts.
For compound movements, the intermediate trainee should aim to get 25-35 total repetitions, per muscle group. For most extra isolation work, an extra 15-20 total reps is generally sufficient. As far as total reps are concerned, 9 sets of 3 is equivalent to 3 sets of 9. However, doing more sets with fewer reps allows the use of heavier weights. Heavier weight means greater muscle fiber recruitment, which is always better. Complete the compound movements before doing an isolation exercise for that same muscle group. Once those are completed, isolation exercises can be used to target muscles that may need a bit more volume, such as the calves or triceps. Bench press would be done before skull crushers, Squats before leg extensions, etc. etc.
For the purpose of building muscle, the workouts should be done at a fairly quick pace. One to one-and-a half minutes of rest between compound sets should be plenty. For isolation sets, less time is usually needed. Take just enough time to recover between sets. As you advance, you should be able to slowly decrease the amount of resting time you need.
Lift with a cadence of 2/0/X. This means to take approximately 2 seconds to lower the weight, and no pause at the bottom. There is no need to be exact, just keep the weight under control while lowering it. For the concentric, or the lifting part, lift the weight as fast as possible while maintaining good form. A note on 'lifting slow' Some trainers will tell you to focus on lifting the weight slowly, in order to 'get a longer TUT', or time under tension, because it is necessary to stimulate the muscle. This is not a good idea for three reasons.
The CNS, which is linked directly to the brain, controls all muscle movement. The greater the mental interference, the greater your neural drive to the muscles will be decreased. This has been clearly demonstrated in studies.
You can easily demonstrate this to yourself, as well. Try to doing a set while focusing 100% on the lift. Next, try a set while counting up by 1's. Try it while counting by 4's or by 7's. You can even try it while counting down from 50. While counting out the time while lifting may not affect you as much as counting by 7's, this little test should still demonstrate the point that any counting is not in your best interest.
Training to complete failure is not a good idea for the purposes of this routine, and for a couple of reasons. Firstly, training to failure can cause you to burn out before you complete your workout. For ideal muscle growth, you need to reach that threshold of at least 25 repetitions. That can be quite difficult to do if you barely make it past set 2. Secondly, training to failure places unnecessary strain on the CNS. The CNS generally takes longer that the muscles to recover, which means that consistently training to failure will be more likely to cause over training. It also means that you will not be able to workout as frequently, as the nervous system will take longer to recover. For the purposes of building muscle, training to failure is not the best option. Lift heavy weights, but always keep an extra rep in the hole.
While building muscle mass, cardio to prevent excess fat gain is not necessary if one is meticulous in managing their calories and macronutrient ratios. However, most people, including myself, do not have the time or patience to do this well enough to prevent extra fat gain. If you are not one of these people, then cardio in addition to weight training can be useful for preventing too much fat gain.
Not every single workout need be done at maximal effort. On recovery workout days, use very light, but gradually increasing weights. Work at a fast pace. You can even alternate between 2 or 3 exercises to further decrease resting times. This workout should be moderately easy. A low intensity workout, usually done the day after a full body workout, can help to promote recovery. It can also help the nervous system to gradually adapt to a higher work capacity. This is important if you plan on eventually graduating to the advanced stage. Higher work capacity means more workouts without over training, which in turn equals better results.
Building the nervous system's capacity must be done gradually, or you will burn out. Think of someone sunbathing to get a tan. One would not lay out for 2 hours on the first time. Exposure time would gradually be increased as the skin darkened. You can gradually increase the intensity of your recovery workouts, over a period of several months or more. Eventually, you will be able to add another full workout to your week's schedule.
Warming up is very important. Do not neglect this part of the workout. Warming up increases blood flow to your muscles. Not only will you be able to lift more after warming up, your chances of being injured will be much less after a good warm-up. It is always better to spend extra time warming up, than not enough. Any cardio machine is a good tool to warm-up with, especially if you are going to work your lower body muscles. Dynamic movements, such as arm circles, trunk twists, and even bodyweight exercises like pushups or squats, are also great to do. Doing these movements with 5 or 10 lb dumbbells is also an excellent option.
These days will focus on either upper or lower body parts. As an intermediate bodybuilder, there are most likely a few body parts which you wish to place some extra emphasis on. Perhaps your hamstrings or calves are lagging. Or maybe your lats could use some extra size. These days are the time to work on that.
Day 1 - Full Body:
Day 2 - Recovery Workout (Optional, But Recommended)
Day 3 - Focus Day: 5 minutes of cardio/dynamic movement warm-up Select 2 or 3 muscle groups to focus on during this workout, i.e. lats and arms, or calves, abs and traps. The workout is meant to be flexible, so no specific exercises will be given. - For each muscle group, perform at least one compound movement, followed by one or two additional exercises. The additional exercises can be either compound or isolation. So if chest was a focus of this workout, you could do bench or dips followed by dumbbell flyes or cable crossovers. For lats, you might do pull-ups followed by lat pull downs and dumbbell pullovers. - Perform approximately 25-35 total repetitions for each exercise. Possible set/reps schemes would include 5x5, 3x10, 10x3, 6x5, etc, etc. Remember to work at a fairly quick pace. Day 4 - Recovery Workout (Optional, But Recommended)
Day 6 - Full Body:
Day 7 - Rest
A beginner's workout program will have a lower workout frequency, as their bodies have not adjusted to a higher work capacity. The workouts will ideally be full body workouts, with mostly compound movements. Only 1 or 2 exercise will be done for each main muscle group.
The intermediate's workout program will consist of slightly higher frequencies, as their bodies should have adapted to an increased workload. Full body workouts are still useful for adding overall size. Some emphasis is placed on certain muscle groups which may be lagging. At the intermediate level, the bodybuilder begins to see some more variation in set/rep parameters and exercise selection.
A truly advanced bodybuilder's workout will most likely be split into several parts. This is useful for allowing the bodybuilder to focus on very specific parts of his body in order to fine tune their physique. Perhaps they need to increase their shoulder size in proportion to their arms, or perhaps their traps need extra work to enhance their v-taper. A workout split allows for this.
The advanced trainee will usually workout much more often than a beginner, as their body's are able to handle a much higher frequency. Advanced bodybuilders will also use a wide variety of exercises, techniques, and parameters. At this level, it is harder to progress by constantly increasing the weight, so they must do so in other ways. As the nervous system adapts to one set of parameters, some type of consistent progression is necessary to make consistent gains. As an interesting note, workout splits seem to be synonymous with advanced training today. However, during the time of the classical bodybuilders, full body programs were much more common than isolated splits.
There is no exact time for this, as everyone will progress differently, based on their lifestyle, diet, training program, and body type. Most people will move into a beginner/intermediate stage after about 6 months of regular training. After an additional 6 months to a year, most bodybuilders will have reached the beginning of an intermediate level. I really do think that the transition from intermediate to advanced, is, by far the longest. Many intermediate levels bodybuilder tend to overestimate their level, and try to seek out more advanced programs. Many intermediates tend to slip away from the basic fundamentals as time goes by, without even realizing it. When their program stops working for them, they may think they need a more advanced program, when all they really need is to take a step back and review the core basics of their program. To reach an advanced level, a bodybuilder must have not only been working out for at least several years, but they must have reached a certain threshold in their neural and muscular adaptations. Someone may have been training for 8 years or so, and may have a great physique, but may very well still be at an intermediate level. You have reached an advanced level when you start to near your natural genetic limit, whatever that may be. The man who is 6'2", 235 lbs with 8% body fat may well be less advanced than the smaller bodybuilder.
I consider myself to be an intermediate bodybuilder. I will probably not compete in the future, so reaching my maximum genetic limit is not a top priority for me. Once I reach my ideal physique, I will maintain that level. That level will most likely be at a high-intermediate level of training.
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