TLDR: What you need to know

• No matter where you are starting, your goal is always to improve your strength on the core lifts you are focusing on. Usually, this will be bench, squat, deadlift, and chin-ups.
• Rule 1 is your must challenge yourself every single workout. To do this, you must avoid F-arounditis.
• Rule 2 is you can't get injured
• The balance between rule 1 and rule 2 is the art of getting stronger, and varies depending on your current strength level.

Ray's Take

Whenever anyone starts working with us, one of the first questions we ask is "What is your goal?"

100% the time the answer includes looking better, living longer, or feeling more youthful. To achieve any of those things at any age, you must start strength training. Here is an article on why.

I'd go as far as saying, if i know your weight, and your current numbers for bench, squat, deadlift, and how many chin-ups you can do, I have a very good idea of what you look like (without ever having to see you).

In other words, your relative strength (amount of weight you can move vs your body weight) determines how you look.

So let's list out the goals at each level starting with beginners and ending at elite. Then I'll give my simple plan that lets you advance the entire way.

Beginners

Goal: Learn the proper technique at light weights.

Learning the right technique for bench (with bar), squat (with bar), deadlift (with bar) and chin-ups is essential, as if you do not have the right technique, you WILL get injured. My recommendation to learn:

• 1) Watch videos on how to do the lifts, which should include things to keep in mind.
• 2) Go to the gym and try doing the exercises yourself with a light weight (just the bar works for most people) and video it. (Yes video it. Do not worry about others watching or judging you. This feeling is in your own head, and in any case who cares what other people think).
• 3) Watch the video and see what doesn't look right. Members on the Ray Wu MD program can send the video to one of our coaches for feedback.
• 4) Add weight so you can very comfortably do 8 reps of that lift (this will feel light).
• 5) Video it.
• For chin-ups, use a chin-up assist method if you can't do a body weight chin-up. If you can, there is minimal risk to injury so just do as many chin-ups as you can (chin-up grip and pull-up are both fine).

For those that do not want want to do the core lifts, I would recommend that you reconsider. There really should be a good reason why you cannot (usually injury related, or no access to equipment).

Alternate exercises:
- Chest press (dumbbell)
- Incline chest press (dumbbell)
- Chest fly (machine)
- Chest press (machine)
- Shoulder press (dumbbell)
- Single handed or double handed rows (dumbbell)
- Lat pull down (machine)
- Seated row (machine)
- Squats (dumbbell)
- Lunges (dumbbells)
- Thruster (dumbbells)
- Can replace all of the above with Kettlebells

All of the above are compound exercises that can be effective, if you make consistent progress on weight and reps.

Simple workout plan

After you have learned the correct technique, I recommend a very simple program to start, such as the following to improve your strength, methodically:
- work upper body (bench press) 2x a week
- work legs/back (squat and dead lift) 2x a week or 1x per week each per exercise
- do chin-ups up to every time you work out
- have rest days at least 2 days a week

This means you would have a schedule such as the following:
- Monday: Bench and chin-ups
- Tuesday: Squat
- Wednesday: Rest
- Thursday: Bench and chin-ups
- Friday: Deadlift
- Saturday: Rest
- Sunday: Rest
NOTE: You can do cardio or VO2 max training on rest days if you would like

If you can only go to the gym two days a week, then this works
- Day 1: Bench, squat, and chin-ups
- Day 2: Bench, deadlift, and chin-ups

You can mix and match however you'd like. You can also add in any alternate exercises from above.

For your workout days, make sure you warm up properly. This means starting with a very light amount of weight, and doing 5-10 reps for 3 sets. These are called warm-up sets.

After you are warmed up, you are ready for "work-sets." As a beginner, my recommendation is to start with a weight that you are very confident you can do 10-12 reps. Then do 5 sets of 8 reps. The key here is to start lighter than you think, bc we are going to increase that weight by 5 lbs every time you have a chest day, and 10 lbs every time you do squats or deadlifts.

NOTE - it is super important to write down your workouts, and methodically progress (read this on why)

Intermediate level metrics

Reaching an intermediate level should be a fairly straight-forward path with the simple workout routine above.

Strength Goals: Intermediate
Bench press: body weight x 1.2
Chin-ups or pull-ups: body weight x 1.2 or 8 reps with body weight.
Squat: body weight x 1.6
Deadlift: body weight x 2

For clarity, this means that if you are 150 lbs, you should be able to bench 150x1.2 = 180 lbs. Also of note, you do not have to do a one rep max. You can use a calculator such as this

To set expectations, this could take two years of consistent training and there shouldn't be a big injury risk if your technique is solid.

Advanced level metrics

The method to reach these levels is the exact same as before, but it will be slower progress, taking 5-10 years.

Bench press: body weight x 1.5
Chin-ups or pull-ups: body weight x 1.5 or 15 reps with body weight.
Squat: body weight x 2
Deadlift: body weight x 2.5

A 185-lb male that has been training consistently for 5-10 years should therefore be expected to:

Bench press 275-280 lbs.
Do a chin-up with 90-95 lbs hanging from his waist.
Squat 370 lbs.
Deadlift 460-465 lbs.

This is a serious accomplishment, and once reaching these levels, progress will be quite slow.

I really can't bench, squat, and deadlift

When people say this, my first question is why not?

Unacceptable answers include:
- I don't want to get bulky (even for women)
- I don't want to have big muscles
- I don't want to get injured
- I don't like it

Trust me, you won't get bulky from this and you won't get big muscles unless you are on steroids or eat a TON. Not getting injured is a legitimate concern, but that just means we need to start light and learn the right technique which is 100% doable. If you just don't want to do it, then most likely you suffer from F-arounditis and don't want to face that reality.

Acceptable answers typically include legitimate injuries. In this case, we would work with you to make a program that follows the same principles as the above simple workout, but that your body can tolerate.

For example, if you break your leg or tear your achilles tendon, you clearly will not be able to bench or squat for a long time. In this case, we would add exercises such as:
- Incline chest press
- Shoulder press
- Rows
- Other compound exercises from above that do not rely on lower body strength or stability.

It's important to note that the same principles hold. You must write down your workouts, and you must challenge yourself to improve without getting injured.

Conclusion

By far the best way to gain strength and muscle is by focusing on core lifts, and increasing the weight methodically over a long period of time.

If you cannot do bench, squat, dead, or chins, we have provided alternate compound exercises.

There are too many benefits of increasing strength (look better, live longer, stronger bones, etc, etc). It's never too late to start!