A Proper Way for Strength Training

Training for strength gains. Strength training is not the same as hypertrophy. Hypertrophy is the increase in cell size that comes from volume, and strength is about your fast-twitch fibers getting stronger and moving more weight. A study in Current Sports Medicine Reports shows that strength training may improve cardiovascular health, lower blood pressure, and ease back pain. That sounds great, but what is the best way to start training your strength? Let me explain something. You apply external stress to the body (bodyweight, barbells, resistance bands), and your body tries to adapt to the external stress. As your muscle fibers get used, your body signals that these muscles need more to adjust to the external stress. Your body then repairs and strengthens the fibers essentially (this is why nutrition is essential, protein and BCAA's). You are ready to work out again (after a day or two of the fibers recovering).

First, we need to design our workout split. We can train by muscle groups, lifts, or movement types. If you want strength, then your workouts should revolve around a variation of the big three lifts (deadlift, back squat, and bench press). These are compound movements meaning they engage more than one joint and many muscles. So let us set up a nice beginner workout routine. Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday Bench press Rest Deadlift Rest Squat Enjoy your weekend. Also, feel free to substitute front squats for back squats, use a safety bar, or maybe a trap bar for deadlifts. Use what feels good to you while putting you through the motion. The biggest thing is applying stress to the body mechanics (horizontal press, a hip hinge, and a squat).

Now we need to pick some accessory exercises. We will get more strength gains from doing multi-joint exercises. For example, a chest fly on the cable machine works the chest, and we could use dips and work the chest, shoulders, and triceps. Not to say we can't use single-joint movements. Let us pick three exercises to add to our days. Monday Wednesday Friday Barbell bench press Deadlift Squat Dips Barbell Row Leg press Military press Chin up/pull up Sumo Deadlift Push ups. Barbell Curl Lunge

It is recommended to add a core workout into your workouts after. You can also have a core day on Saturday or another rest day. If you add it to your three prime workouts, pick one exercise. If you are doing it on a rest day, pick 2 or 3 exercises. Here are some examples -Planks -Russian Twists -Ab rollout/walkout -Flutter Kicks - Sit up -Leg Raises - Crunches -Mountain Climbers - Reverse crunches -V ups - side planks Typically if you are looking to get stronger, you will perform 4-6 reps per set with 3-4 sets. The weight is heavy enough that you stimulate a strong muscular response, but we keep the weight light enough to reduce the risk of injury and maintain proper form. Hit a few more reps on your accessory lifts to help promote more volume and growth. Shoot for 6-8 reps. Another fact to mention is that you will allow yourself to rest between sets with strength training. Take a couple of minutes. We want our energy restored from our ATP-PC systems, and this system requires more than 3 minutes of rest for the majority to recover.

Growing the amount of weight you lift requires you to implement a mode of progression. An easy method is to overload your reps progressively. So for our first workout, we start with four reps. Next week we will do five reps, six, and seven reps. After the four weeks are done, we will add a small weight increment to our lift and restart at four reps. This same theme is used for your accessory lifts. It does sound like a small gain but let's say you squat 200lbs for seven reps with four sets. That is 1400lbs of work done per set and 5600lbs of work done total. Squatting 205lbs for seven reps with four sets is 1435lbs per set and 5740 lbs of work done. That's 140lbs more work done with your legs. If we added 5 pounds onto our squat every month and started at 200lbs in January, we would be doing 260lbs next year while maintaining a reasonably mild workout routine.

If you do not have access to weights, that is ok! We can easily use body movement exercises. Push ups Superman poses Body squats incline/decline push ups Planks (low and high variation) lunges Dips Bridges Bow hops Generally speaking, body movement exercise does not stress the nervous system like weights do, meaning we can add more volume to them. You are welcome to focus on getting more and more reps.

Make sure you are getting enough protein and carbohydrates to repair and fuel your body. Check out my blog on macro nutrition if you need help figuring out how much to eat.