Basics of weightlifting
There are few basic things I would suggest that you read first before thinking about starting any weightlifting.
First lets talk a little about the different set types and what they aim for:
Strength
If it is strength and power you are after then yous should consider about doing short sets of 3 – 5 repetitions. In between the sets there is a longer rest period, about 3 minutes.
Bigger muscles
When you want to get more shape to your muscles, 8 – 15 repetitions is the way to go. Rest period between sets is about 60 – 90 seconds. Also remember the old saying: “Bigger weights, bigger muscles”. If you do correct motions with big weights you’ll grow your muscles for sure.
Lean muscles and muscle endurance
If you are after a leaner appearance or muscle endurance, then the 12 – 20 repetition sets are for you with relatively light weights. The rest period between sets only about 30 seconds.
Exercising muscles
For what you aim for dictates how you should exercise. You might be after a maximum strength, for more muscle mass, perhaps you would like to get faster and powerful muscles or just more muscle endurance. If you can say what is the main purpose of your exercising, you are either looking for bigger muscles or you are exercising some certain sport which needs some special strength and muscle attributes. I’ll try to go through some general well known muscle exercise principles, which are aimed more for the not so seasoned exerciser. The main purpose is to get more strength and firmer body. This is a start for every novice, after some time you’ll have enough knowledge to start to emphasize more on aspects you would like focus more.
General basics of weight exercising
First thing you should always do when you go exercising is to do a proper warm-up. Use exercise bike, treadmill or which ever machine your gym has and you like to use. Do a 5 -10 minute warm up. But how do you know are you warmed up yet? Since it is not desirable to wear you out before you even start exercising, a good thumb rule for me has always been that when I’m starting to break a slight sweat it is enough, or your muscles just feel a bit more “loose” and ready for action. You’ll know when you are ready. Still, do not overdo the warm-up, you can return to the treadmill after the exercise if you want to burn fat.
When you do your exercises the correct motion of the movements are crucial, this way you will avoid injuries. The movements themselves should should last same time to both directions, push and pull motions should be equal time. So concentrate that you are always doing CONTROLLED motions, it is important for the muscle stimulus and important for keeping you healthy! For example, bench press, if the lift takes 2 seconds make sure that the lowering of the bar takes two seconds as well!
As for the order of the exercises; always start with the exercises that workout big muscle groups and the go for the more specific exercises. Also, do those exercises first that include multiple joints before those exercises that include only one joint. For example, a deadlift workouts a great number of your muscles from back to legs and a leg extensions only certain leg muscle. It is much wiser to do the deadlift first and then do leg extensions. Also abdominal exercises should be left as the last thing you do in your exercising session. Why should you exercise like this then? The most important thing in my mind is safety, usually exercises that involve many different muscle groups are done with big weights and include a risk of injury if the movement is done wrong. When you haven’t already weared out those smaller muscle groups, your muscles are readier for a hard workout with bigger weights and you’ll find it easier to do correct, controlled and safe movements on those exercises that do require co-operation of multiple muscle groups.
After the workout remember to do a light cool down exercise. This means stretching. Some say that you should do light exercising as you workout different muscle groups, but the important thing is to do a good stretching session after the workout. This prevents muscle soreness and helps your muscles to recuperate.
How long to see any effects of weightlifting
Some studies have shown that the fastest improvements in muscle strength and growth are during the first 4 months of your weightlifting exercising. This doesn’t mean that after 4 months you are Arnold Schwarzenegger or that there is no reason to go on after that, it just means that about at that time how you exercise becomes more important and results cannot be seen as quickly. Still, with correct exercising you will continue to keep on getting results. For muscle strength it doesn’t take more than a couple of weeks and you will notice difference.
How often do you need to exercise to get results?
Some say that 2 – 3 times a week of weightlifting is enough for beginners and 4 – 5 times for more advanced. This depends much on how much you have time in your schedule for exercising and where your goals are. Obviously, the more you exercise the faster and better results you get. How you exercise affects also, if you do all body parts at one exercise session then I’d say 3 times a week is enough for most of us. You can add a 4th time if you like. More than 4 times a week usually means that you exercise certain muscle groups on certain days. For beginners and intermediates I would suggest of starting out with the whole body workouts and 3 times a week has been enough for me to gain relatively rapid muscle growth for some time.
How much do you need to exercise to get visible results? For muscle growth I would say a rule of thumb that 2 times a week is enough for keeping up certain level of muscle mass and for some, if you exericise HARD, enough to get a slow muscle growth. 3 times a week usually starts to be enough to get a decent muscle growth and more than enough keep your current level. Remember, if you exercise hard you’ll get results, but if you just “go” to gym 3 times a week and do nothing there, just a bit this and that and don’t get even a slight sweat, you will never get results. You need to push yourself to limits at times!
You have found yourself to the gym, what then?
You should have some sort of an exercise plan at your hand when you are at the gym. A good workout plan includes about 9 – 10 different exercises. The aim is to get your body’s all different big muscle groups to get a workout. You may put an emphasize on certain areas like your butt, chest or abs, but I would recommend those exercises to be in addition to those 9 – 10 basic exercises. In short, don’t do five different deadlifts and two different biceps exercises. Choose first exercises for the bigger muscle groups and then fill the rest of the exercises with more precise exercises for the forearms, butt, biceps etc.
In basic exercise plan you should do 8 – 15 repetitions and three sets for one exercise. The resistance should be selected so that the last repetitions of your chest feel really hard. The very first workout session should be about finding the limits for yourself. Start with 15 repetition sets for first few weeks and at some point try out doing 10 repetition sets. Always add more weights if some exercise starts to feel too easy. In between sets keep a 1 – 2 minutes break. An ideal time for one exercising session is one hour.
Other exercising things to consider
To keep your exercising more interesting you should not only do weightlifting but to do also different exercises. Especially, if you are after a good looking body and want to get rid of some excess fat around the body different aerobic activities will support these goals. For example running, ball games and different sports are excellent way to get fat burning and better health. Also, once in a while keep a week of from exercising at the gym, perhaps every 10 weeks make the 11th week a week off from gym exercising. Remember to get enough rest and to eat healthy! These are just a few things to help you to keep yourself motivated for exercising in general.