When you’re just starting out, it’s critical that you have a clear goal that you are working towards. (like building (x) lbs of muscle mass, or losing (x) lbs of fat) Too many people think that they can just haphazardly wander around in the gym and still see decent results, but it just doesn’t work that way.

Here’s what I would recommend for a beginner who wants to build muscle mass and increase muscular strength with an emphasis on adding bulk to their shoulders. I would recommend performing between 3 and 4 workouts per week. Each of these workouts should target different body parts, that way you can train all of the major muscle groups on your body within any given week.

In the beginning, I would keep things consistent and simple and focus on performing 3 sets of 8 – 12 repetitions per body part. Focus on training no more than 2 body parts per workout. I like to organize my workouts like this: Chest and Back, Biceps and Triceps, Legs, Shoulders and Traps, but there really is no wrong way to go about it. Make sure that you train each of your body parts only 1 time each week so that you can allow each of your muscle groups enough time to fully recover between workouts. In the beginning phase of your workouts (4 – 6 weeks), I would keep the exercises for each of your workouts consistent. It’s going to take some time to develop a decent amount of muscular strength before you will want to mix up exercises and workouts too much. It’s also important that you make sure and incorporate heavy barbell squats into your leg workouts if you really want to gain muscle mass.

As far as the arm workout is concerned, you will only need to perform a total of 1 arm workout each week. I would perform a similar arm workout 1 time each week for 4 – 6 weeks and then start mixing things up a bit as your body begins to adapt.

I hope that answers your questions. If there is anything else that I can help you out with, please don’t hesitate to ask!