Overwhelmed by routine options

[jacob1122]

I'm 34/m. Have some experience in the gym from my younger days, but right now I'm scrawny. I have a home gym with a squat rack, barbell, plates, and fixed bench. I've been eyeing a set of adjustable dumbbells but haven't pulled the trigger yet.

I've been following the r/fitness Basic Beginner Routine for about two months. It's been going well although I wasn't focused too much on progression (yet). Now I'm looking at more comprehensive routines, but honestly it's overwhelming. So many acronyms and equations and calculations. Plus, many of the recommended routines are 4+ years old with broken links to reddit posts and/or Google Sheets which makes it hard to parse and sort through.

I had stumbled across the Ivysaur program which seemed simple enough, but then saw a bunch of debate about push vs pull and volume of certain lifts compared toSL5x5. Then I started looking around the r/fitness wiki, and saw other options which either present themselves as some sort of "framework" or incorporate many lifts which I can't achieve with my basic setup.

I'm not experienced enough to have preferences or knowledge on what I need/want to do. Is there anything basic and dumbed-down enough were I can just follow a spreadsheet and add weight on a predefined schedule? I'm not looking to turn into a powerlifter and boast about my max lifts. Just looking to add some mass and look good.

 

[kaiti]

@jacob1122 I should make a flow chart to help people choose programs. How many of you would find that useful?

 

[dawn16]

@jacob1122 If you're looking to move on from the basic beginner routine, the wiki suggests GZCLP as the next step forward. So I'd start there.

 

[dawn16]

@jacob1122 There are a million options

The best one for you will be one that gets you to your goals.

Start with goals. Be specific. Then work on that.

 

[ladypearl]

@jacob1122 I used the Stronglifts app for awhile. It's not free, but it's basic. You can add and subtract workouts, I think edit the splits, and it keeps track of how long you rest. It's pretty straight forward, but I haven't used any other apps and there may be some good free one's out there.

 

[marktoo]

@jacob1122 This looks like an interesting workout. Thank u for sharing.

 

[dch]

@jacob1122 Get the Boostcamp app, is the official app for many of the programs on the wiki. On there you will also find other good programs, not on the wiki.

 

[paolapanda]

@jacob1122 This site has free workouts that includes a form video for each exercise. They're very easy to understand. I really like how it's laid out and not everything is in code.
I hope you find something you'll enjoy.