Beginners

Let's clear some stuff up; Most of the posts on this blog are not, in any way, geared towards beginners. What I post is basically aimed at intermediate to advanced lifters. If you struggle to squat 1.5 times bodyweight or can't bench bodyweight, this blog isn't for you. Stop reading it if you're impressionable.

I have some experience with rank beginners. My girlfriend became interested in serious strength training in the last 8 months or so. (By 'serious' I mean interested in acquiring strength, not just doing basic barbell lifts with light weight just to say you 'lift'.)

Hitherto training my girlfriend, I had no experience with starting someone from scratch. I knew what to do, but theory and practice are 2 different things.

I had her squat, press and deadlift with pullups mixed in.
The squat and press were for 5 sets of 3. I know that seems backward when compared to most beginner routines, but my reasoning is sound-- why induce fatigue when one's goal is strength? Sets of 5 aren't necessarily cardio or anything, but form is more easily maintained with lower rep sets. Also, heavier weights can be used. The emphasis is strength, so form is maintained and heavy weights (relatively speaking) are used-- win-win. Her sessions are not about conditioning and "feeling the burn," so form is pretty important. Coupled with the fact that she's under comparatively heavy loads, the importance of ingraining proper positions during the lift increases considerably.

I had her up the weight by 5 pounds when 5 reps on the last set were achieved.
Deadlifts were for singles. Again, this may seem odd, but it has worked really well. Each rep is 'fresh' and usually very good. Her DL session would look like this:

55-65% of work weight for either 3 singles or a set of 3 (depends on how proficient the lifter is with deadlifting.)

65%-70% for 3 singles.

75%-80% for 3 singles.

Work weight for 5 singles. Note: the last single weight is usually added, resulting in a PR, but if the lifter is very tired, or struggles with the 4th single, either the last is skipped entirely or the weight is kept and repeated next week, with the aim of adding weight to the 5th single.

She has been working on the same few lifts for months, and the results are good.

This brings me to the two most important part of this post: consistency and adaptation.

The biggest mistake a beginner can make is doing what others are doing. Reread that very carefully if you're new to lifting or teaching someone that is. With the preponderance of misinformation on the Internet, the worst thing a beginner can do is imitate what accomplished lifters are doing.

Why this eludes so many is truly beyond me.
Stephen Hawking didn't completely skip every grade and start being a fucking genius one day. Lance Armstrong didn't get good at winning bike races by casually entering the Tour de France one weekend with his Huffy. Arnold Schwarzenegger didn't start bodybuilding with a routine consisting of 65 different movements 7 days a week.

Accept the fact that you're a beginner and build a base. Let the adaptation process run it's course. It's ridiculous when someone new to lifting tries to tackle an advanced program with zero base of fitness under them. Doing quarter-squats with 185 and cheat curls with 25 pound dumbbells isn't going to do shit for you.

Go ahead, copy the Bulgarian system and max out every day. Or copy the routine of an advanced bodybuilder that has them lifting 7 days a week. I mean, there's no reason you can't do it... they just have years (and sometimes decades) more experience under the bar building their base of fitness.
 The more you do, the more your gains will soar!!!!11!

Obviously no base of fitness was established... Arnie just started doing curls and DB flies one day and stepped on stage.

Obviously the above paragraph and photo caption were sarcasm, but people actually think like that. So, how should a rank beginner set up a program?

Start with a few core lifts (some kind of push, pull and squat) and work them once or twice a week. Now, that means different things for different people. My girlfriend is still progressing on the overhead press, squat and deadlift routine, doing a session containing the squat and overhead press on one day and the deadlift only on another (because the lift is so taxing.)
Progress is pretty steady with her, so why change it? If your pull movement is lighter, (something like rows or pullups comes to mind) then throw it in on your squat and OH press day. This comes out to 1-2 days of actual lifting. Absolutely shocking you actually have to start somewhere to get anywhere. Radical concept, really.

Your reps can vary depending on your goal but make sure you have some sort of progressions scheme. I like the 'add 2 reps before you progress' system for beginners because it builds confidence and makes upping weight less intimidating.

If progress is being made, stick with what you're doing--don't change it. Reread the last sentence.

When progress stops (on most, if not all lifts) for 4-8 weeks, reassess what you're doing. If you need a form fix, do it and continue. If progress hasn't been made then you may need to add a day. Continue indefinitely.
This process takes years. Most people don't think that way because of how fast everything happens these days, but that's the way it is.

Constantly changing lifts and programs is a great way to fucking suck.
Adaptation is what you want, but if you're forcing your body to try and ingrain a new lifting pattern every 2 weeks, how far do you think you'll get? That's like switching majors every year and expecting a degree. Master a few lifts. Adaptation is adding weight to the bar (or gaining mass, depending on your goals [obviously I have a strength bias.])

So, if you're just starting out, get with (and stay with) a fucking program and prepare to spend the next few years building your base.