Beginners Routine

[sdmedic]

It has been 2 yrs since I have been to the gym. I want to start again. I was on a 4 day a week routine (trying to put some mass on), what routine should I start out with for the next couple of weeks? Should I go back right away with a 4 day split?

Second question, it felt like doing one body part a week just wasn't enough. Did all you guys and all the big bodybuilders start out initially with one body part a week or two body parts a week?

[muscle_n_blood]

After that long a layoff I'd start wth a full body workout 2 x a week for the first few weeks. One or two simple, basic compound moves (bench, squat, military press, for example) per bodypart. After you get past the initial soreness you can look at a split. After you get in the groove again, you can up the volume and intensity. Then you will have to see how frequently you can work each bodypart. It depends on how intensely you work each muscle and your own ability to recover. Once a week is common for intermediate to advanced  lifters, but that's taking into consideration a very intense workout. Don't try to get too strong too fast. That often leads to injury which will just slow you down and get you frustrated.
I started out in about 1967... back then a standard beginner program consisted of 3 sets, 10 reps of one excercise per bodypart, full body workouts 3 x a week. We made gains on this, but we were kids, recovered easily, and didn't understand truly intense training.