For strength training? I'd reccomend high intensity training, yeah, sure, knock it, but it works for A LOT of people. Just do the most productive lifts, those will make up 90% of your strength. Don't worry about the other 10% unless you're a body builder, competitive lifter, or professional athlete. You don't need it. Too many people stress over the last bit of their workout, when what really matters is the meat of it. High intensity training is your best bet to get strong as fast as possible. But keep in mind, if you want to start pushin' around 250 pounds before summer, and you've never taken weight training serious before, you're a lot late. Getting strong takes time, and dedication. Stick with it, and you'll get stronger.
Since I don't know you, or your body, I have no idea how well, if at all you'll respond to high intensity training, but I recommend HIT because like I said, it works for A LOT of people. The first thing to remember about HIT is WARM UP SETS. If you're pushing around 95% of your one rep max to fail before you do some warm up sets, you're asking for injury.
Now, there's all this ******** surrounding weight training, about getting strong fast. I don't know what "get strong fast" means, I really don't. To me, getting strong fast, is adding another 200 pounds to the bar in your first year. If you're pushin' 100 pounds on the bench press, you're not going to be pushin' 250 in two months. No way, no how, doesn't happen. You need to get on a routine that works, stick with it, and stick to a proper diet. There's also a lot of ******** around "proper diet". If you're serious about weight training, a strict diet is a given, but if you're a casual lifter, you can get by watching what you eat, and getting a lot of protein in your body. I mean A LOT. Like, at least 1.5 grams of protein a day times how much you weigh (like if you weigh 200, 300 grams of protein). That's AT LEAST. Ideally you'd get 2 grams times how much you weigh. Proper protein intake, and diet can do a lot for your gains. If you eat fast food cookies cake potato chips or any of that **** on a regular basis, stop, or don't even bother lifting.
Let me stress this; I DON'T KNOW YOUR BODY AT ALL! I have no idea what you can and can't do in terms of strength training, all I can do is point you in a direction, and you'll have to fine tune it from there. Hell, I'm only going to point you in the HIT direction, because LOTS AND LOTS of people will respond to it. High volume routines only work for about 10% of the population, if that. I'm just going to give you some guidelines, and an example of a high intensity, low volume routine so, here it goes;
Like I said, warm up sets. Figure it out yourself. Is your one rep max on the bench press 200 pounds? Then warm up with something like 100x8, 130x6, 170x4, then a work set of 190 to fail. These numbers are all interchangable, just use common sense. Don't do a warm up set of 180x1, then jump into a set of 190 to fail, and don't burn yourself out doing warm up sets. You should get the idea for warm up sets. Now, lifts to do. Don't hit the machines, get into free weights. Free weights aren't on a static line, and help your muscle memory. Get a barbell, and some weight. The most productive lifts, in my opinion are; Squat, deadlift, barbell row, calf raise, shoulder press, behind neck barbell press, triceps extension, weighted sit ups, weighted crunches, dips, and the benchpress. Everyone does curls for some reason, too. So, I'd do those too. Hell, I do curls for some reason. Everyone does them.
A good routine, in my opinion, would look like this;
Day one, legs; Squat, deadlift, barbell row, calf raise, abs.
Day two, upper body; Shoulder press, behind neck press, bench press, curl, abs.
Yeah yeah, I said abs on both days. Abdominal muscles recover fast enough so that you can work them out every other day, if not more.
Do two or three warm up sets, then a work set with 90-95% of your on rep max to fail. Figure out the reps and weight on the warm up sets for yourself. Some people can go 60% x 8, 70% x 6, 85% x 4, then do their work set to fail fine. Other people go 50% x 6, 65% x 4, then 80% x 3, then their work set. Just get the work sets in if you're going to lift to fail.
Now, do that two days a week (Tues Fri, Mon Thurs, etc), or alternate it Mon Weds Fri, or every other day. Whichever you want.
It takes trial and error to find a routine that's best suited to your body, and hell, what I wrote most likely won't be the best choice for you, the odds of it being the best are just so, so, so so so so very small. It's just an example. Everyone's body is different, and responds to different things. You have to find what works for you. Or, pay a trainer to find it for you. If you want to go the trainer route, shoot me a PM, and I'll shoot you a link for a guy who works with his clients online. He's cheap, and offers a full refund if his routine doesn't get you any results within three months.
Take weight training slow and steady, don't run into the gym and start throwin' around more weight than your body can handle whenever you feel like it. You'll never make any gains like that.
