Do you want to be STRONG and FIT or do you want to build a body with a certain look? I've worked out my whole life and recently discovered Crossfit and it's changed my whole outlook on training. Nothing will beat it for results vs. the time put in. It's the basis of many military, police and fire fitness programs. An amazing wealth of information and specific coaching at cross fit.com. If you have a crossfit gym nearby, even better.
I second the crossfit as I mentioned previously on this thread. And yes, he has plenty of crossfit gyms nearby. I hope he checks it out.
Nitro, If you're into the science of things and you like to maximize the efficiency of the work you are doing you might like to look at Hypertrophy Specific Training (HST). It's not about training to failure or spending hours in the gym at a time. The articles are here: http://www.hypertrophyspecific.com/articles.html This may help you to understand some of the "science" behind what makes your muscles grow and how to do that effectively. The forums are pretty good too: http://www.thinkmuscle.com/forum/index.php Yes, the website is also selling nutritional products but that came later. It's been around for years. Agree with the earlier poster that suggested concentrating on compound exercises initially. HST is great because you know exactly what you're going to be doing for the next 6 weeks. It follows a logical progression backed up by scientific studies and not based on gym-mythology. HST also stresses diet and nutrition. For general information on the different exercises, the muscle groups they work on and the techniques to do them I suggest: http://www.exrx.net/Lists/Directory.html There are quite a few mini-videos of exercises. For fat buring cardio, I like any kind of HIIT: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-intensity_interval_training Again, I like HIIT because of the efficiency; it maximizes the effect in a very limited amount of time (20 mins) By now you probably have information overload from all of the suggestions and recommendations. Good luck. You can achieve a lot in just 3 monhts.
I used to lift decades ago. Two contributions: You do isolation movements then use multiple group movements like benchs after the tricep or delt isolation movements to further hit that individual muscle you just hit with the assist of the group. And there are plateaus, surprise your body with something it hasn't done before either with diff. weight/rep or movement and come back around.
If you do isolation for, say, triceps before doing bench, then the weak link will be the triceps rather than the pecs which the bench is supposed to be principally addressing. I still think basic compound exercises are the best way to go.
One important thing I got to mention, is that we have to becareful what we eat even though we got a lot of muscles to burn the fat. This is because our veins, arteries, heart, and all other vital organs stay the same size no matter how big we grewed. So when you bulk up, make sure to eat a lot of healthy foods.
The idea, with this bench set, is to further hit the triceps after the isolation. Flys isolate pecs best. Vary weight and reps. If someone is going to be doing flys for years though they should be doing them inclined and declined as well as flat. I"ve seen pecs too well developed in the upper and lower and they're a large muscle which requires hitting them differently for shape. Another technique to hit a muscle beyond exhaustion is to have a helper lift the weight for you to lower it. The idea is after you can't press anymore you still have something left to lower the weight. It can be applied to any movement.
If you want to build a mass that is the way to do it. heavy weight, 6 reps, 1min between series till fail at 4 .
I think we'll have to remain in disagreement on isolation exercises. I think isolation work is generally overrated, and particularly so for weekend warriors who want to make the most of their time in the gym.
Question: If you do tricep first, wouldn't that make it harder to do the bench press afterward, since your tricep would already be too tired?