Look on the cover of any magazine and you'll find a star with an insanely ripped body, those well defined biceps and six pack abs sing to the visual senses of most. Even the women's sport toned arms, legs and mid sections are to die for. So what can a mere mortal do to achieve such a god like physique? We know that getting started with strength training can be confusing--what exercises should you do? How many sets and reps? How much weight? The routine you choose will be based on your fitness goals as well as the equipment you have available and the time you have for workouts. Well we are here to help.
The Basics
If you're setting up your own programme, you'll need to know some basic strength training principles. These principles will teach you how to make sure you're using enough weight, determine your sets and reps and ensure you're always progressing in your workouts.
1. Overload:
To build muscle, you need to use more resistance than your muscles are used to. You should be lifting enough weight that you can ONLY complete the desired number of reps. You should be able to finish your last rep with difficulty but also with good form.
2. Progression.
To avoid plateaus (or adaptation), you need to increase your intensity regularly. You can do this by increasing the amount of weight lifted, changing your sets/reps, changing the exercises and changing the type of resistance. You can make these changes on a weekly or monthly basis.
3. Specificity.
This principle means you should train for your goal. That means, if you want to increase your strength, your programme should be designed around that goal. To lose weight, choose a variety of rep ranges to target different muscle fibres.
4. Rest and Recovery.
Rest days are just as important as workout days. It is during these rest periods that your muscles grow and change, so make sure you're not working the same muscle groups two days in a row. Before you get started on setting up your routine, keep a few key points in mind: Always warm up, lift and lower your weights slowly - don't use momentum to lift the weight. If you have to swing to get the weight up, chances are you're using too much weight, breathe and stand up straight! Your first step in setting up a routine is to choose exercises to target all of your muscle groups. You can hire a personal trainer or try home workout videos for guidance. For beginners, you want to choose about 8-10 exercises, which comes out to about one exercise per muscle group.
The list below offers some examples:
Chest: bench press, pushups, pec deck machine
Back: one-armed row, back extensions, lat pulldowns
Shoulders: overhead, press, lateral raise, front raise
Biceps: bicep curls, concentration curls
Triceps: tricep etensions, dips
Quadriceps: Squats, lunges and leg press machines
Hamstrings: deadlifts, lunges, leg curl machine
Abs: crunches, oblique twists, pelvic tilts
Sequence of Exer cises
Make sure you choose at least one exercise for each major muscle group.
How Many Reps/Sets To Do
What about the number of sets and repetitions you should do? Your decision should be based on your goals. The American College of Sports Medicine recommends 8-12 reps for muscular strength and 10-15 reps for muscular endurance. They also recommend at least one set of each exercise to fatigue although you'll find that most people perform about 2-3 sets of each exercise. In general:
For fat loss: 1-3 sets of 10-12 reps using enough weight that you can ONLY complete the desired reps.
To gain muscle: 3+ sets of 6-8 reps to fatigue. For beginners, give yourself several weeks of conditioning before going to this level. You may need a spotter for many exercises.
For health and endurance: 1-3 sets of 12-16 reps using enough weight that you can ONLY complete the desired reps.
