Are you going to the gym without seeing results? If so, it might be time for a change. We have all the top workout routines for men. All you have to do is find ones that work best for you.

Workout routines are what make or break your progress in your quest for lean muscle gains and fat loss. Improper training routines are ones that don’t contain proper exercises, loads, and volume. Without these key features in place, your workout is going to be worthless once you have bypassed the beginner’s body phase.

That’s where we come in to lend a helping hand. You are going to learn about the top workout routines for men that involve strength training, cardio, and even heavy lifting concepts. But, we do not advise you to pick only one.

Why?

They all provide different benefits and should be rotated into your training.

What Is The Beginner’s Body Phase?

When a man with an average build starts his fitness training that stage of training is called the beginner’s body phase. In this case, an average build would mean that body fat, such as love handles, is slightly present. This is when a guy has the potential for easy muscle gains.

Why?

A beginner has it easier for gains because their body has not gotten used to the resistance training.

Since this will be new to the body, muscle conversion will be significantly noticeable for three to six months. This does not mean you should expect large gains, but you can expect some changes such as seeing your biceps being separated from your triceps. This is even possible with a poor workout routine unless that routine is just off the charts bad on every level.

For example, teens and young adults can get away with improper squat form for years. Improper would mean things like rounding your back, breathing wrong and pushing off with the front of your feet. But as time progresses, your body begins to notice and signals of distress start to appear.

Workout routines are just the same. Doing random sets and reps with whatever weight you feel like picking up will not work anymore. That is why proper training programs make big differences in your progress.

Frequency, Volume And Load All Matter

These three factors make up a well-rounded training program. Frequency is the amount you train per week. It could also mean the amount you target a specific muscle region.

Volume is composed of sets and reps. Sets are the amount you perform the reps. The chosen volume is generally based off of your goals and load. Load is simply the amount of resistance (weight) used for each exercise.

Let’s look at an example to better understand this. Pretend your goal is muscle gains. Moderate resistance reps work great for this type of training. They usually focus on 8 to 12 reps for each set. When you do 8 to 12 reps, you are looking at doing three or four sets for optimal muscle gains. Very new lifters would start off at two sets then change after a month or so.

Frequency would depend on what type of workout you do and the 24-hour rest period. The general 24 hours of rest following a workout came about because this is the minimum amount of time it would take for protein synthesis to occur. This is when your muscle fibers recover, repair and then come back stronger to train again.

For example, a full body workout means you are targeting every major muscle region on your body. In this case, you need to rest the day after that full body workout before training again. The workout frequency for a person doing a full body workout would basically be three or four days a week. However, if you trained just your chest, then you could train any of your other muscle regions the next day.

There are many variables that go into this. That’s why each person has to have their own specific program geared for their own unique needs. The stuff just mentioned was just to give you an example of why training programs are designed in a specific way.

This is What A Strength Training Workout Routine Does For You

Want the most beneficial and possibly safest workout routine you can perform?

You’ve come to the right place. Strength training workouts is when you use resistance to strengthen your skeletal muscles (muscle, bone, joints, etc.). For the longest time, doctors and other medical staff always stated to just perform cardio to live a healthier life.

Things changed after they saw how much better a person’s body is after being put through strength training workout programs. The medical field even suggests that men in their senior years focus on light strength training to help prevent muscle loss and keep their bones denser. Of course, this is for those that have been medically cleared. Regardless, it shows how significant strength training is for men.

A strength-training workout may involve a heavy core lift in the beginning, but that is not always needed. The choice is up to you because using moderate resistance for every exercise is completely fine with training programs. Resistance could be just from your own bodyweight, but many people like to make use of cable machines, barbells, and dumbbells.

This is the type of workout program most people follow every week where they target one specific muscle region each day such as chest, legs, back and shoulders. If you want to gain lean muscle and definition, then you should definitely give this style of training a try.

This Is What A HIIT Workout Routine Does For You

HIIT stands for High-Intensity Interval Training. This workout routine has grown quite popular over the past decade. The reasons for its use are to burn fat and promote lean muscle gains, regardless of your body type. Surely those with more body fat will take longer to see muscle gains, but its popularity stems from the fact that you do not have to focus on either fat loss or lean gains.

One study looked at two groups. The first group performed HIIT cardio for 20 minutes, three times a week. The other group performed steady cardio (like running) for 30 minutes at a time, three days a week.

It was quite clear which one was more effective. The steady running group lost several pounds of overall weight. The problem with that result is that both fat and muscle were lost. The HIIT group lost around 3% body fat in three weeks, which is quite an achievement. This HIIT group also gained around two pounds of muscle mass. This means they weighed about the same as when they started, but their body had changed significantly.

HIIT usually involves a workout routine with five or six exercises (maybe more depending on athletic ability). Each exercise gets done for a specific amount of reps or timeframe. From there, you move on to immediately perform the next exercise. You make your way through each exercise and count that as one round. Take a 30 to 60-second break and then repeat the round three or four more times.

In essence, you are trying to deplete your body of its oxygen supply.

Why?

It encourages more fat loss as you recover. Exercises used should be a mix of resistance moves. This includes cardio, endurance and even isometric exercises in well-planned spots within the round.

This Is What A Powerlifting Workout Routine Can Do For You

Do you like to feel manly and want to move heavy weight?

Powerlifting has this reputation. The good news is that it is also a rewarding way to train and get into shape. The outcome is similar to strength training, it’s just that your goal with doing this type of training shouldn’t be to try to gain large amounts muscle mass. Remember to check out the difference between bodybuilding vs powerlifting.

For muscle mass gains, it’s better to go with strength training that has heavy core lifts at the start of the workout. For powerlifting, you are learning how to technically maneuver heavy resistance safely. If you become really great at this form of training, then you can always enter some competitions.

The end result is stronger muscles and bones. You will be performing exercises that require you to use your whole body to maneuver the weight. This includes the clean and press, overhead squat and conventional deadlift. Isolation exercises are okay to add in as well, but powerlifting training usually already wears you out before you can get to that point.

You should consider investing in a few items for safety and efficiency. Items to consider include such things as sleeves, chalk, wrist straps, flat shoes and a lifting belt. All of these will help you out greatly if you truly wish to pursue powerlifting.

This Is What An Endurance Workout Routine Can Do For You

An endurance workout routine is not just running and sprinting. You can actually perform this type of workout without running at all. In fact, endurance workouts that don’t include running can actually improve your overall best running times in spite of the fact you aren’t even running. Endurance is the ability to continue training without hitting muscle fatigue too soon.

This type of training is great to perform once or twice every two weeks with strength and powerlifting programs. An example would be trainers putting their clients through a series of circuit-like workouts that keeps their muscles under constant movement. It is somewhat similar to HIIT. However, you are doing other things as well such as speed drills and fast feet drills.

This series of workouts does not include running or sprinting at all, but you are still able to improve your long distance run time. This goes to show that training with different variables still assists with other outcomes.

Doing this type of training would surely drop your body fat percentage and encourage lean definition. Another way to look at this would be a workout that MMA fighters use. Think about it in those terms and you should have a good idea of what to expect from endurance training.

This Is What A Bodyweight Workout Routine Will Do For You

A bodyweight workout routine is actually becoming one of the most popular ways to get in shape. There’s no gym membership required for it. You don’t even need to use any equipment. You may have heard of this being called calisthenics. This simply means you are not using any external forces to cause resistance.

Bodyweight training suits a lot of people. It is quick, costs nothing and you can do it just about anywhere you want. The outcome is lean muscle gain, lots of core strength, muscle definition, and even fat loss. This sounds pretty good for something that requires no weights.

However, the reason everyone isn’t leaving the gym and doing only bodyweight training is because it takes a lot of willpower and patience to achieve your goals. Weights help you progress quicker and therefore should increase muscle growth faster if done properly.

Many often fail at this type of training.

Why?

For some reason we just like to be within a gym and in the zone. The biggest part to remember is you have to ensure you train. It is quite easy to get lazy some days because the couch is just so much more inviting. One solution for this is doing bodyweight training at the park instead of your home.

Conclusion

Do all of these workout routines!

The top workout routines for men come in a variety of different training styles and that’s a good thing because each style has its own strengths. So if you implement all of them into a two-month timeframe, it won’t take you too long to become a great athlete. Just give them a try and see which styles of training appeal to your goals.

By Brian Pankau, CPT