Bar rollouts or a regular ab roller would also be a good thing to do.
Watch your shoulders. If it hurts so much it may be that you are holding the bar wrong during squats.
I would think about taking out the middle squat ("wednesday") and putting in a single leg variant of some kind. Maybe static split squats to start with. This will be of great benefit and allow some recovery, help train the hips and cut down the chance of injury. Also reduce some of the total stress to make it easier to handle the workload.
If you're doing the A-B-A format...I say don't. It's stupid to set it up so that the stress changes form week to week. Deadlifts are going to be the most draining. Deadlifting twice some weeks is just going to result in bad mojo. Just go A-B-C...
If I had my druthers, I'd want you to not even start the program right now but instead give yourself a honeymoon period with the lifts. The things a true beginner is going to get stronger pretty much no matter what. Just a few weeks of learning the movements, honing in the movement patterns, etc., will produce noticeable improvements in "strength". To say nothing of improvements in recruitment.
I would start out with what is called a "static split squat". So that is like being in the lunge position except you remain stationary..no lunge of any kind. That is still a very good exercise and allows you some time to work on balance, range of motion, etc..
Then from there there are options for progression. You can static and elevate the back leg a bit..working up to a "bulgarian split squat". Or you can go to reverse lunges then onto dynamic lunges. You don't have to do the same one the whole time. You can switch as you become more proficient and as you stop making progress. The good thing is that you can increase the difficulty without necessarily increasing the load. Step ups are also a great option for later on.
Heck, these changes are nothing. I would do something quite different if I were training a novice depending on the person.
BTW, it's important, I think, to think of the warmup stuff as MOBILITY rather than flexibility. There will be some flexibiltiy stuff in it but the emphasis in on movement and the range of motion of the joints.
I just added a video. If you start with that basic movement (that is good form, btw) you can go on to elevate the back leg, OR the front leg..or alternate it if you like. You can progressively elevate the back leg until you end up with what Wolf posted..a bulgarian. And then there are more dynamic movements like dynamic (forward lunges, reverse lunges (a bit easier at first), walking lunges..
You can change the way you load them. From dumbells to barbell on back to front grip barbell.
In the video, he's using a fairly long stride length which will be a little more hams and glutes (good). Closer stride length will increase quad contribution a bit more. He is pushing off the heel (good). Only go as long and low as you can control the weight, whether bodyweight or added weight. Don't let the load "pull" you down lower that that range of motion where you are in control. Add range of motion as you go and work on mobility separately as well.
As you see it's really the same exercise except with the back leg on the floor. That upright torso you see in the vid is crucial.
Well I meant an workout A then workout B then workout C instead of A then B then A then B. But you'd prob want to alternate the presses like Pity already said so it's not exacatly ABC. Or do pushups which can be progressed as well and are a very valuable alternative.
I would do...
A
Squat
Press/Bench Press
Row/Chinup
B
Deadlift
Split Squat, etc..
Push ups (pushups can be progressed)
Light Face Pulls (optional)
C
Squat (or Front Squat)
Press/Bench Press (whichever isn't done on A)
Rows/Chinups (whichever isn't done on A)
Core stuff sprinkled in throughout the week.
Assistance stuff to be added later on as needed.
On the press this is exactly why I advocated a honeymoon period with the lifts. As your are trying to get your form down and practicing getting under the weight you are also busy counting reps and sets. Sure it's lowish volume but the truth is you actually could have gotten better at doing them by, for instance doing only 2 or 3 reps at a time, if not less, resting, doing it again. Basically not letting a lot of fatigue creep in so you can really hone in the movement. A great option after practicing that way would be to take a much lighter weight and doing some slightly higher reps after you feel confident. To sort of grease in the movement. You do that a couple of times and you won't be saying things like "I'm having trouble getting under the bar" WHILE you're in the midst of a programming environment where you're trying to load the bar every workout. And to boot..you'd probably start the workout with heavier weights. Because you WILL get better this way. On the pullups you are good. It's normal for the reps to go down. If you want to take longer rest periods by all means go ahead and do so. You may get more reps per set that way and since the weight is being held constant, then right now pulling that weight MORE times is going to count for a lot. You could always progressively shorten the rest periods later on if you wanted to. When it comes to something that you are simply trying to get your reps up on, with the weight not changing then going to failure is a good way to go. You don't have to go to failure on every set but at least the last one. That's something that failure is good for, for the most part, increasing reps although it doesn't always have a big impact in terms of absolute strength and power. Just going to failure on the pullups won't be a problem for you. This is since you already are able to do a good bit. If you could only do one or so total pullups it would be a whole different ballgame but you are obviously already good at them. Good start on the training, Doug. Well I went into it a bit before. By no means am I saying take a break! I don't want to get into this long explanation of all this cuz i know you don't want to read all that right now but I'll try to put it in a different way and I will compare my view to the "starting strength" view so that it's clear what I'm saying, even if you choose not to take my advice. Lot's of time people like to use a concept but they refuse to take that concept to it's furthest extent. Because they are too busy making comprimises to "satisfiy" everyone. So here is the kind of thing Rip and others will say, but notice that they treat all these statements as isolated in a way. 1. When you're learning a lift, heavy and correct are mutually exclusive. So Rip says that. You need to 'start light', basically. 2 Beginners will get stonger at first pretty much right off the bat no matter what they do. This is a period in resistance training that is known as "general adaptation". Rip says this too. 3. You must use a weight that is heavy enought to require proper form while not being so heavy you can't do it properly. Rip and others say that also. 4. Such and such reps and sets are best for a beginner as they will cause the "fastest possilbe" strength gain while ensuring recovery between workouts. Rip says that. First notice that for any given individual there are some innate contradictions in all that. Heavy, and fatigued (even a bit fatigued) can equal to the same thing. In other words it is true that you can't learn a lift with a weight that is too heavy. But for many, using a weight that is "heavy enough" and then forcing them into a prescribed route of sets and reps is doing the SAME THING. To learn a lift you DO NOT emphasive volume PERIOD. You emphasize QUALITY. The more times you do it well, the faster you will get better at it. While you are learning the lift, if you chose the same weight but instead of emphasing 3x5, you did something like sets of 2, 3, 1, 1,2,3, 2, 2 or whatever felt right with the rest you need to maintain quality....your going to end up lifting that weight with more quality volume as opposed to just volume and you also may just be lifting that weight more times. Now the total workload may not be that different between what you did this time and what you would have done using my advice. BUT you could have concentrated more on getting under the bar. More rest would have facilitated more recovery therefore you could have practiced the lift MORE and still recovered. So on and so forth. Then when you have to start really counting the reps and sets and trying to load the bar every workout you at least feel like you have your form down. Although form is always something you have to work on and tweak. Is this making sense? I understand it goes again't many things that you've read. I know, I know that rip says learning these lifts is a ten minute thing, lol. Well, learning the verbal cues is a ten minute minute thing. Where all these people are who became bench and squat masters in ten minutes...I don't know . I'm STILL working on perfecting little things. So let me be clear. I am not talking about doing less. At least as much if not more. Just spreading out the reps more and allowing more rest in between. This will actually allow those beginning neural improvments to happen quicker.
