Setting up your weight lifting routineNow that you've identified your goals, it's time to develop a plan. This plan will act as your blueprint and will guide you in your weight lifting routine. The first step is to design a program that meets your goals and objectives. If you haven't decided on some goals and objectives, I stongly suggest you sit down and ask yourself why you want to train with weights. It's very important that you identify your goals. There are several steps involved in designing your weight lifting routine. These steps are outlined as follows: - Choosing your exercises Let's take a look at each of these variables. Choosing your exercises When choosing exercises for your weight lifting routine, you should concern yourself with the major muscle groups in your body such as the legs, shoulders, chest, calves, back, buttocks, arms, and abdominals. I suggest you choose 10 to 14 exercises that will effectively train the major muscles. Deciding on the order of your exercises You should train the major muscles of the body first. Your weight lifting routine should begin with exercises using the largest muscles and move to those using smaller muscle groups. Determining the amount of repetitions, sets and weight Weight lifting exercises consists of repetitions and sets. One repetition consists of a series of muscle contractions with a weight or movement such as one push up. A series of repetitions is called a set. For example, 10 repetitions of push ups is considered one set. The number of sets performed will depend on your current level of fitness and goals. Beginners can only tolerate a couple of sets per body part. Anymore than one or two sets for a beginner is certainly not recommended as this can be counterproductive. If you are a beginner to weight training, I suggest you design your weight lifting routine using light weight and higher repetitions. A set is the completion of a series of repetitions. Beginners should perform one to two sets per exercise for the first couple of months of a weight lifting routine. This should be sufficient to stimulate increases in strength. The important thing to remember is that you want to establish correct form and technique. Deciding on a repetition range to use in your weight lifting routine will depend on your goals. Do you want to build explosive strength, power, and muscle? Perhaps you want to train for speed, strength and a well defined body? Or perhaps you need stamina, and endurance. These points will help you in deciding what repetition range is best for you and your weight lifting routine:
3 to 5 repetitions
•Intensity levels are high
8 to 12 repetitions
•Intensity levels are moderate to high
15 to 26 repetitions
•Intensity levels are moderate to light
26 to 45 repetitions
•Intensity levels are light
You will want to use a weight that will enable you to do all sets somewhere between the minimum and maximum number of repetitions before reaching muscle failure (the inability to complete a repetition). In other words, you will want to use a weight that stimulates the targeted muscle. Don't use a weight that's so light that it becomes ineffective and don't use a weight so heavy that you can't lift it. To determine the correct amount of weight, you will need to do some experimenting. If you are a complete beginner, select the lightest weight and work up. Do not start heavy. Always work light and work upwards. Beginners should limit the repetition range to 12 to 15. Intermediates and advanced trainers should be using the 8 to 12 repetition range. Rest periods between sets Rest periods between sets will depend on your training goals. If you are a beginner, take as much resting time necessary to fully recover from your sets without feeling dizzy or nauseated. It will take some time for your body to adjust to a new weight lifting routine. It will take anywhere from 2 to 4 weeks for your body to adjust to the new weight lifting routine. Generally, for compound movements such as squats or barbell bent rows, you want to make sure you are completely recovered before attempting the next set. Try and aim for a one minute rest between sets. Rest periods between workouts It is very important that you get the proper amount of rest in order to allow your body to grow. The amount of rest necessary will depend on your age, genetics, and current state of health. If you are a beginner, you generally need anywhere from two to three days rest. Depending on your intensity levels, you may need more. Just remember that your body should never be sore before you go into a workout. If your body is sore, take another day off. Your goal is to go into a workout feeling good, strong, and energized. Now that you have an idea of how to set up your routine, let's go over some of the basic principles in your weight lifting routine. Intensity ranges Why? Your body is designed to respond and adapt to stess. By forcing your muscles to do extra work and they will adapt to the new stress by growing stronger. Intensity ranges from high to low. As you increase the intensity of a workout, you are forcing your muscles to work harder. This produces more muscle strength and growth. High intensity training means to train with heavier workloads using low repetitions for a weight lifting routine. Low to medium intensity training means to train with lower workloads using higher repetition ranges for your fitness purposes. You will need to determine your intensity levels that will correspond to your weight lifting routine. I feel you have to "challenge" your body on a consistent basis in order to stimulate more growth. For example, if you do a biceps curl with a 15 pound dumbbell for 8 consecutive workouts, you won't get as much improvements as if you had increased the weight to 20 pounds dumbbells after the fouth workout. By using the 20 pound dumbbells after the fourth workout, you increase the intensity of the exercise. Beginners to weight lifting will not use all out intensity. Over time, as you improve your form, technique and gain a better understanding of your mind body connection, you will increase the intensity of your exercises. Progressive resistance
Two of the most common mistakes people make in their weight lifting routine is to:
1) Increasing the amount of weight too quickly
2) Not increasing the amount of weight to stimulate further improvements
As you begin your weight lifting routine, don’t let your excitement and enthusiasm get the better of you. If you are not ready to increase the amount of weight, don’t try and force it. Increasing the weight before you are ready for it will lead to poor form. Poor form leads to injuries. Trust me, you don’t want injuries.
Avoid adding weight if you cannot perform the necessary repetitions in the proper form. Use weight that allows you to perform the exercise in proper form and in your target repetition range.
For example, If you set a target repetition range for 12 and you cannot complete 3, chances are that your are using too heavy a workload and you will have to lighten the load.
Determining your target workload for your weight lifting routine will take some trial and error. The following notes will help you determine when to increase your weight:
•Performing 12 repetitions in good form using the same workload
•Performing all of your sets for 12 repetitions in good form using the same workload
If for example, you can perform 2 sets of 12 repetitions in good form, you might want to increase the weight. Another option is to increase the number of sets to 3 sets of 12 repetitions if building endurance and stamina is your goal.
Weight increments If you can perform at least 12 repetitions in good form with relative ease, you might want to increase the weight. Increase the weight by 5% to 10% of your current workload. For example, if you’re current workload is 100 pounds and you can perform 2 sets of 12 repetitions using good form, take 5% to 10% of 100 pounds and add it on to your exercise in your weight lifting routine. In this case, 105 to 110 pounds. With this new workload, your repetition range will decrease but strive to get the range back up to 12. Repeat this process of evaluation on a weekly basis using a training log. Training time How much time should you spend weight lifting? This will depend on your goals and weight lifting routine. Beginners should spend anywhere from 20 minutes to 45 minutes in the gym. Intermediate and advanced trainers should spend anywhere from 30 minutes to 60 minutes training. There is no hard and fast rule as to how much time you spend training. The important point to remember is deciding how much time is needed to get the job done. Remember to cut the chit chat and focus completely on the weight lifting routine and exercises. Range of motion Every exercise should be done using a full range of motion. By using a full range of motion, you force your muscles to contract fully and improve flexibility. Exercise speed Every exercise must be done at a controlled speed. If you raise and lower the weight slowly and controlled, your muscles will be effectively stimulated throughout the movement. Try and aim for 2 seconds on the lifting phase and 4 seconds on the lowering phase. Do not jerk or swing the weight. Once you feel the weight getting away from you, lighten the load by 15% to 20%. Breathing It is very important that you breath correctly when doing your weight lifting exercises. Keep these basic rules of breathing in mind when performing your weight lifting exercises:
1) Never hold your breath during the repetition
2) Breath in when your muscles are elongating and breath out when they are contracting
3) Try and keep your mouth open while performing your weight lifting exercises. By breathing through your mouth you equalize the pressure in your chest. Warming up and cooling down Try and get into the habit of warming up before your weight lifting sessions. Warming up can consist of an aerobic activity such as riding the stationary bike, stair climber, elliptical trainer, or any other multitude of aerobic activities. Follow this up with a period of stretching. I usually ride the stationary bike for about 5 to 10 minutes before all workouts. This gets my body warmed up and helps with the knee joints before a heavy leg day. A proper warm up improves the power of the working muscle. Warming up decreases the chances of injuries to the muscles and the supportive connective tissues involved in the activity. The increase in temperature and blood flow to these muscles and supporting tissues is beneficial if you are doing explosive movements or working with heavier weights. A warm up session should be a least 5 minutes long and should raise your core body temperature. Always include warm up exercises in your weight lifting routine. It's also a good idea to lightly cool down with an exercise such riding a stationary bike. This way you bring your body back down from the stress of weight lifting. Try lightly riding a stationary bike for 5 minutes after your weight lifting session. Stretching Stretching is very important. I recommend that you get into the habit of stretching once or twice a day, before, during and after your weight lifting sessions and on non training days. Stretching improves flexibility and if the muscles become tight and inflexible, blood flow is impaired, thus reducing muscle contraction. When stretching, make sure that you start slowly and hold for 5 to 15 seconds while maintaining good breathing. Do not force yourself into stretching positions. It will take some time for you to develop good stretching techniques so be patient. Be sure to include stretching in your weight lifting routine. Muscle soreness There are several theories as to what causes muscle soreness but for weight lifters and strength trainers, it's something we have to live with. Muscle soreness usually persists for about 2 to 3 days after your workout and is caused by microtears to the muscle. Usually this damage occurs during the beginning of a weight lifting program when the muscles are not accustomed to the stress of weight training. Muscle soreness can also occur by increasing the amount of intensity to your program or by introducing new exercises. It's imperative that you get the proper amounts of rest to allow your body to recover from your workouts. Rembember that your body should never be sore when you train. If your muscles are still sore going into a workout, take another day off to let your muscles recover. Proper workout clothing You should wear comfortable, loose fitting clothing that allows you to move comfortably. For a complete discussion click here Keeping a training and meal log It is very important that you write everything down. By keeping track of your progress you are keeping yourself honest and motivated. A weight lifting log and diet log can help you get better results. You can look back at the end of each week and figure out if you were on target with your goals. A weight lifting log and diet log will show whether your goals are realistic and gives you insight into your exercise and eating patterns. You won't have to wonder what works, because you'll have a full description of everything you've done to reach your goals. This will be your blue print for your fitness success. Alright, let's start your designing your program. But before we do that, you will need to decide what kind of equipment you need to use. Let's go over some of your options here.
|
