Confusion in Training

I love some of the modern conveniences in this day and age, especially text messaging. I hate talking on the phone, and texting is right up my alley. And the internet has its pluses and minuses. Pluses are the plethora of info available about training, and minuses include the plethora of info about training. When Im doing a consult, folks are plenty confused on what program to choice, and a beginner SHOULD be confused. Which one is right? I had to experiment on my own, and it took me years to figure stuff out. I trained like Arnold, Mentzer, Platz, Kaz, Kirk, Coan, all of them. I think instead of focusing on the differences, the smarter way to do it is to focus on their similiarities, mainly being the fact that ALL of them, even Mentzer, included the basic lifts- the squat, the bench, the deadlift, the press. All of them were strong in those lifts- Arnold had a big deadlift, Franco also, Platz had an out of this world squat etc. All did different rep ranges, but most of them, especially early on, did 5-10 reps per set. Most did 6-20 sets per bodypart(Arnold on the high end, Mentzer on the low end). Twenty sets is too much in my opinion, 6-10 is about right,and I'm talking about powerlifting and bodybuilding. Most trained 3-5 days a week, and all used a split system of training, even the powerlifters, meaning that when they deadlifted, they also did back assistance, just like the bodybuilding crowd. So there you have it- basic, fundamental lifts with heavy weights, 5-10 reps per set, 3-5 days a week and a split routine. Following those basic rules should cut out some confusion. Next time, Ill talk about going to faliure and the pros and cons involved in that type of training.