This is something that bothered me for years; I know I want to get big, I know I want to be strong but where do I begin? There are so many training programmes out there and everyone sells their own as being the best, so where do I begin? Do I start with some basic 5x5 training blocks? But why stop there, why not look at german volume training? But with that much volume why not look at the conjugate style of training? But that's too difficult, what about a bro split? But is that enough frequency, what about push, pull, legs? - This is the eternal loop that every educated trainee has faced at one point or another.
The most important thing for anyone to start with is the want to be better than they were yesterday. In fact, I don't even like the term programme because it suggests a short time. The truth about any successful fitness journey is to find the baseline that you can do day in, day out, week in, week out, year in, year out and still maintain a an above average basis for health, strength and endurance.
There is no one size fits all answer for the question of where do I begin but I think, you need to first look at your life and see the commitments you have; from there, do you have time to go to a gym or do you need to look to do something at home - be mindful, home workouts can be great but they are always the first workouts to get pushed aside because, "I can just do it tomorrow before I go to work". The truth is, if you miss it first time round, you're never really likely to do it. If you can, get yourself to a gym, from there, what are your goals? Is it to to get shredded, is it to be an absolute gorilla of a man and be stronger than everyone, it is to keep some good above average size and strength? I can't answer this but you can.
If you've done the above, you've identified what time you can commit to your fitness goal and what your fitness goal is. Well done. Now, if you can only gym twice a week, a bro split isn't for you - an upper and lower split or two full body workouts would be best for you. I personally follow a 4 on, 1 off split but I'm lucky, I can do that. There were times in my life when I quit the gym to focus on home workouts and that just wasn't for me, then again, when I was really young, I could go to the gym 7 days a week because I had no responsibilities and free time (not that I recommend this for most). My personal advice is, the more frequent you do a workout, the less radical and intense your workouts needs to be. If you're hitting the gym once or twice a week and each muscle group once per week, you likely will need to get close to vomiting with each set to maximise your time spent there. If you're hitting the gym like me, you're likely able to train each muscle group twice per week and stimulation along with a good effort will be enough to continuously see a return on your gym investment.
Everyone talks a good talk about training but nobody speaks much sense about recovery. Take recovery as seriously as you do training. If you're fit or young, your recovery will likely be a lot better than someone who is old and unfit. I hate cardio but I still do it. If I didn't I couldn't eat as much as I like to. Cardio doesn't have to be an hour long run up that hill that nobody goes near when its summer or ice. Cardio can be a light jog for 10 mins before or after your weights or it can be anything that gets your heart rate going and breathing a little heavy. If you have kids, do something with them, kicking the ball or racing them will be good fun for them but small challenges for you.
Fitness is the best companion for extending and bettering your life and hopefully the above has shown it doesn't need to be a mathematical formula for successfully identifying how to best incorporate it. If the above fails, reread this article and ask yourself the same questions once or twice, then write it down. Then look back at it again ask yourself the same questions. Keep doing this and you too can set yourself up for success.
Keep lifting and keep strong!