Beginner Weight Training

Recently decide to get fit? Want to take up a strength or weight-lifting program, but don’t know where to start? Everyone has been in this position at least once before; you’re new at the gym, and you don’t know where to go or what to lift or how to use the machines. Well, help is here!

Whether your goal is strength, weight loss, lean muscle mass gain or overall fitness this article will help you figure things out and get you started.

Mistakes you should always avoid:

1. Using too much weight, too soon; always start lower than your expected ability and work your way up that first workout. If your form suffers, you are swinging the weight, or using momentum, this indicates you may be using too much weight. Greater momentum increases the potential for injury and reduces the effectiveness to the muscle group being targeted.
2. Not using enough weight; always play it safe, but if you can perform 30 reps with a certain weight, it’s likely time to increase it a bit. Tip: Increase the weight no more than about 5% at a time.
3. Moving through repetitions too quickly, going too fast; there is nothing gained by lifting weights ‘fast’ some of the perks of lifting weight in a slow and controlled manner, include more total muscle tension and force produced, more muscle fiber activation both slow and fast twitch fibers,      and less tissue trauma. Remember, a joint is only as strong as the muscles that cross it; if you haven’t lifted in a long time, or ever, be careful      what you ask of your joints.
4. Not resting long enough, or resting far too long; both can be a workout killer. Tip: The recommended rest period is between 30-90 seconds, for overall fitness.

BEGINNER WEIGHT/STRENGTH TRAINING WORKOUT

Guidelines:

This workout is designed for overall health and fitness gains of a healthy, adult individual who has never lifted weights before, or who is very inexperienced at it.

You may note that majority of the exercises are compound movements, because compound movements apart from focusing on the main muscle work on many other muscles. Thus, building a well-proportioned aesthetic body.

The Schedule

The first thing you need to know about this program is what weight training split and weekly schedule it will use.

Here we are talking about the 3 day full body split, which is by far the most highly proven and often recommended workout schedule for beginners with any goal.

Week 1

1. 1.     Monday: Workout A
2. 2.     Tuesday: off
3. 3.     Wednesday: Workout B
4. 4.     Thursday: off
5. 5.     Friday: Workout A
6. 6.     Saturday: off
7. 7.     Sunday: off

Week 2

1. Monday: Workout B
2. Tuesday: off
3. Wednesday: Workout A
4. Thursday: off
5. Friday: Workout B
6. Saturday: off
7. Sunday: off

See, even though there are 3 workout days per week, there’s just 2 actual workout. Having said that, here are the workouts…

Workout A

1. 1.     Squats
   3 sets of 8-10 reps.
   2 minutes rest between sets.
2. 2.     Bench Press
   3 sets of 8-10 reps.
   2 minutes rest between sets.
3. 3.     Rows
   3 sets of 8-10 reps.
   2 minutes rest between sets.

Workout B

1. 1.     Deadlifts
   3 sets of 8-10 reps.
   2 minutes rest between sets.
2. 2.     Pull-Ups (or Lat Pull-Downs)
   3 sets of 8-10 reps.
   2 minutes rest between sets.
3. 3.     Overhead Shoulder Press
   3 sets of 8-10 reps.
   2 minutes rest between sets.

It is typically recommended that all beginners spend their first few weeks on a weight training workout routine focusing primarily on learning proper form. Once those few weeks are up and you feel like your form is what it needs to be on every exercise, it’s then time to focus on consistent progression while keeping that perfect form intact.