Strength training 101

I wanted to write up something for people looking to work with weights. I’ve been an on-and-off gym visitor for years, but only in the past 10 months have I really taken it seriously and actually gained significant results. So this is what I have to say on the matter.

First of all, I’m talking about strength training. The act of becoming stronger through a specific form of training and nutrition. I’m not talking about going to the gym maybe once or twice a week. I’m not talking about bodybuilding. This is about getting really strong and, as a result thereof, becoming muscular, losing body fat and feeling a whole lot better about yourself.

Here are some facts on strength training:

• Your body is designed to work as a whole. Therefor, it is in your best interest to engage as much of your body as possible during each exercise. Targeting individual body parts is not going to get you very far and will only end up costing you more time because you end up having to do 5 different exercises when you could gain so much more from just squatting and deadlifting.

• The more muscle you target, the more you grow. Your chest and arms are among the smallest muscle groups in your body. If you focus all your energy on those, you will produce very little growth hormones. The only way to truly gain strength and mass is to work the hell out of your legs and back. Sorry but that’s just the way it is.

• You need to target your entire body evenly. If you focus your energy on, let’s say, your arms and chest more than any other bodypart, your body will resist growth in these areas to prevent muscular imbalance.

To sum it up. You need to train the hell out of your entire body or you won’t get very far with strength training. If all you want is a bigger chest and bigger arms and you think that only working those parts will get you there, you’re an idiot.

The best way to train as much muscle per workout, and to really progress in weight, is through compound exercises. Compounds involve at least two joints and often engage the entire body in some way. Examples of compounds include squats, deadlifts, overhead press, pull-ups, bench press, rows, etc.

In my next post, I’ll write up a basic beginners schedule.