Okay the first thing you have to do is figure out what you want to do...tone your muscles or go for purely for strength training. If you use this workout I will guarentee you that you will have results within 30 days be it toning or strength training. I have done a little of both I do toning every 3rd week just to keep in shape and the rest is always strength training. Anyway first of all I do go the the Y a lot (usually on a daily basis for 2-3 hours) I have been going to the Y for about 2 years now every day. Just so you guys know if you are just a beginner there is absolutely no need for working out every day of the week for beginners 3 days a week is enough npz.
The workout that I do for toning are called pyramid sets. I ALWAYS do 4 sets of these.
1. You will start out with 15 repetitions lifting 70% of your body weight. It is a proven fact that if you start out with a good warm-up in the long run you will be able to lift longer.
(side note)- Always wait a minimum of 30 sec's for the lactic acid to disperse but not more then 5 minutes, if you pass the 5 minute mark you will lose that pump that you feel when you start lifting.
2. Next you will do 10-12 reptitions at 70% again....all of your sets will be at 70%.
3. The next set will be 8-10 sets.
4. The last one will be a set of 5.
When you are toning you want to do this for every single body part that you are working out with. This workout is directly from arnold schawrzenneger's training method....of course his is much more complicated but this is how he tones his muscles for the most part.
If you are going for strength training what you want to do is do 4 sets also but this time it will be like this....
Set 1- 8 reps at the highest weight you can do 8 reps with
Set 2- repeat 1
Set 3- Repeat 1
Set 4- 5 reps increase weight by a 5 or 10lbs
Trust me this kind of low repetition high weight lifting will get your strength up asap.
Now now im gonna admit that I didn't do it alone....I will admit that I was foolish at the time back in high school when I used to take a lot more of the hardcore lifting supplements. I regularly took Celltech creatine which is about 3 times what normal servings are for any other creatine. I used Thermogenics to keep my weight in check like I also used a hemodilator. I will admit though that at least monthly I would record lifting 5 pounds more minimum each month and sometimes up to 10 lb's.
Actually I still use creatine and a hemodilator but much more stable ones. In case you want to go the way I went with those the by far best one's I have encountered is Cellmass creatine it is a creatine ethyl ester which is in my opinion much better then creatine monohydrate which you have to load in stages. I also use NO2 a hemodilator. I use both of them IMMEDIATLY following my workouts to relax my muscles for the next days lifting.
I almost forgot one big thing always always! do your each body part 2 times a week you will have 3 total days with different workouts and you will do those twice a week and then I normally use sunday as my R&R time.
Oh and for further reference if you really want to get in a good bodybuilding book for some more info the easily best book on the subject that I have encountered is Arnold schawrzennegers encyclopedia of body building.
I will even put my money where my mouth is, and donate 50 to the site per person that tries these routines and they dont work for them.