A few questions on exercise routines.

[Flabbergasped?]

I've searched the forum and I'm about ready to start hardcore lifting for 2007. A few questions though:

1) I'll pretty much be only performing bench press, deadlift, and squats, along with push-ups, situps, pull-ups thrown in. Should I set specific days for each workout, or should I just do all of them everytime I hit the gym? For example, should my workout schedule look like:

Monday: Bench Press
Wednesday: Deadlift
Friday: Squats

or do all three exercises each of the three days? I always hear people discussing having "chest days" or "leg days", but does that only apply when doing several exercises for a body part?

2) In Diesel's guide and others, 10 sets on a body part a week is acceptable. My plan is sets of 3x5 every other day (i'm doing the MWF full-body workout at the moment) for each exercise. Is that reasonable? It means I'll be spending about 45 min every other day at the gym! Is it really that short?

3) What's the right procedure for warm-up/cooldown sets? I'm really lost about these. Usually, I just do the exercise at 70% or so of my work weight for 1x10, then jump into the full-blown exercise. Is this right?

4) I also have no experience in squats and deads. I do bench press, but I've been doing leg press and rows for my legs and back respectively. For squats, are your thighs supposed to go below parallel?

Thanks in advance. I'm really physically weak, so it's about time I got started on this. I'm 16, 170 lbs, 6' 1'', and I maxed at 125 a few weeks ago =(

 

[wolf116]

Search: The Idiot's Guide To Growth.

I would do squats on the smith thing at first if you don't have a spotter. Get someone to check your techneak.

45mins is a long workout.

 

[Throttle]

Monday: Bench Press
Wednesday: Deadlift
Friday: Squats

switch it around so that you have at least 2 full days of rest between deads & squats. also, at most gyms the benches are busiest on monday, so you might just switch mon & wed.

2) In Diesel's guide and others, 10 sets on a body part a week is acceptable. My plan is sets of 3x5 every other day (i'm doing the MWF full-body workout at the moment) for each exercise. Is that reasonable? It means I'll be spending about 45 min every other day at the gym! Is it really that short?

you can even do as few as 2x5 for the big compound lifts IF you warm up properly, see below. 1 hr is a very reasonable amount of time to be in the gym 3 times a week. see the idiot's guide for an excellent routine based on the big 3.

3) What's the right procedure for warm-up/cooldown sets? I'm really lost about these. Usually, I just do the exercise at 70% or so of my work weight for 1x10, then jump into the full-blown exercise. Is this right?

most lifters warm up way too little. see http://www.ironaddicts.com/Warm-ups.html

4) I also have no experience in squats and deads. I do bench press, but I've been doing leg press and rows for my legs and back respectively. For squats, are your thighs supposed to go below parallel?

a number of lifters here advocate going below parallel. if you have no experience with these lifts, find someone with more experience to watch to make sure the form is right (in particular, your lower back needs to be a natural "neutral" position throughout both lifts).

make sure you're doing some weighted ab work 2 times a week. squats & deads will use your core much more than leg presses or rows.

 

[cuzza]

Search: The Idiot's Guide To Growth.

I would do squats on the smith thing at first if you don't have a spotter. Get someone to check your techneak.

45mins is a long workout.

I agree with the search.
I strongly disagree with the Smith machine - Do not use it.
45 minutes is an average workout time really.