Lifting: The only workout guide you’ll ever need

The number 1 rule in the Red Pill after Rule Zero is to lift. We tell guys to lift because it has the lowest barrier to entry - other than reading up on the material - for them to take action. It’s so insanely simple that all you need are three things: 

1. A gym membership (any popular commercial gym would do)

2. A good program (one that covers all the major muscle groups, either in one training session or over a week, and implements progressive overload), and

3. A consistent approach

The difficulty for guys lies in staying consistent. It's why I cannot stress this enough when I say:

Trust the plan

Lack of consistency is the reason I say goals are stupid. Guys either get so motivated that they go too hard, too fast, too soon and injure themselves; or they step on the bathroom scale every day for a week, see no changes and quit the whole thing, whining about how the program/diet doesn't work. 

Whether you want to lose weight, gain muscle, or grow stronger, all these things will happen eventually as long as you consistently go to the gym and have reasonable expectations.

For the results, I recommend not getting excited for at least 6 months. Instead, focus on going to the gym and doing the workouts as intended. Keep that up and the results are going to come. Think compound effect.

As far as frequency is concerned, it’s about answering the question, "how often do I need to go to the gym?". My answer is simple - as many times as you can guarantee to go per week.

You want to go to the gym six times a week straight away because "that’s the best way to do it!", only to find out that work, family and life get in the way. 

Curb your enthusiasm. Ask yourself how often you can actually carve out an hour of the day to spend on yourself. Stronglifts 5x5 requires you to work out three times a week. I believe this is the bare minimum, but if your life doesn't allow you to work out at least that often, you can follow that template twice a week.

How To Pick A Program.