Thread: Please critique this program

OK, I'm trying to make a basic beginner's program for a guy at work. He's 42 years old, thin, and in reasonably good shape, but he is starting to get a bad back.

He knows nothing about weightlifting and has asked me to go to the gym for a day and teach him what to do. I generally strength train for NHB fights, so I'm having difficulty making this sort of program, if you could give me a hand it would be great.

Day 1

sets reps rest

squat 3 8-10 90 sec
a) calf raises 3 8-10 1 min
b) leg curl 3 8-10 1 min

Bench 3 8-10 90 sec
shrugs 3 8-10 90 sec
E-z bar curl 3 8-10 90 sec

a) Pull ups 3 -2 (stop 2 before failure) 1 min
b)dips 3 -2 1 min
c) back extensions 3 -2 1 min
d) bicycle tucks 3 -2 1 min

Note; the a,b,c etc exercises are a superset


Day 2

a) Leg press 3 8-10 1 min
b) calf press 3 8-10 1 min

DB Press 3 8-10 90 sec
DB rows 3 8-10 90 sec
french press 3 8-10 90 sec
hammercurl 3 8-10 90 sec
arnold press 3 8-10 90 sec

a) full contact twist 3 8-10 1 min
b) good mornings 3 8-10 1 min


In addition to this workout, he has joined my grappling club and will be putting in 2 2hour classes per week of intense anaerobic grappling, as well as 2 1 hour sessions of kickboxing/heavybag work which is pretty much aerobic, I believe.

OK, flame away!

Thanks guys.

I was thinking it might be a little too much as well, also, I'm a huge believer in compound movements, but I'm worried they may be a little advanced for him to start with. In a couple of weeks I thought I'd show him how to do , cleans and deadlifts etc, and get rid of alot of the extra stuff......hmmmm maybe I'll see what his reaction is to all these exercises and if he's intimidated, I'll take a few out.

I'm suprised everyone seems to want to change the back extensions for deadlifts...isn't thier more chance of injury for a newbie on those?

I don't have access to a hack squat, I agree that squats might be a little advanced for him though.....How about having him do them on a smith machine with his legs in front of him, so the movement would be like he's sitting in a chair with the legs 90 degrees from his body?

Once again, thanks for taking the time guys, you're awesome!