 | from Paige Waehner
Congratulations! You've reached the end of the Beginner's Guide to Strength Training. This week, we'll wrap things up by going over what we've learned, but with a focus on how to actually implement each aspect of a strength training program for beginning exercisers. I've also included a new, total body workout for beginners that was created using the guidelines, principles and exercises we've covered throughout the course. You did a great job and I hope you enjoyed the Beginner's Guide to Strength Training.
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| The Basics for Beginners |
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| | The Basics for Beginners |
| At the beginning of the course, we covered the basic principles of strength training. Below is a brief summary of each principle along with instructions for applying those principles to your own workouts: - Overload: Lift more weight than your body can handle to grow stronger. If you're a beginner, any weight you lift will be more than your body is used to, so you'll make progress even if you stick with moderate weights.
- Progression: To challenge yourself, you should change your workouts on a regular basis. For beginners, add 1 or 2 reps each workout (or each week) until you reach the upper rep range (usually about 16). After that, increase resistance by 5 to 10% each week.
- Specificity: Make your workouts match your goals. For beginners, focus on building a strong foundation and being consistent with workouts.
- Rest: Your muscles need rest in order to get stronger. For beginners, give yourself at least one day of rest between strength workouts - more if you experience soreness.
We also covered some common myths about strength training. Below, is a brief summary of those myths and a refresher for what you've learned over the past few weeks: - Specific exercises cannot reduce fat over certain parts of the body
- Using lighter weights and high reps will build endurance, but won't necessarily make the body lean and toned - that comes with losing body fat
- Cardio exercise isn't the only activity you should do for losing fat - strength training can help build muscle and burn more calories overall
- Muscle soreness is not a good way to track progress. Post-workout soreness is normal at first, but you should not be sore after every workout
- Lifting weights will not cause women to bulk up, because they don't have the hormones necessary to build large muscles
- You're never too old to lift weights
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| Implementing the Guidelines |
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| | Implementing the Guidelines |
| Remember the guidelines we covered back in week two? No? Well, you're in luck because I've very briefly covered each of those guidelines but, again, focusing on how beginners can implement them when creating a workout: - Choose 8-10 exercises, focusing on compound movements. The following list covers the previous examples of exercises for each muscle group and we'll also use the next section to focus more on choosing exercises for your workouts:
- Choose a type of resistance, such as free weights or machines, based on what you have available and what you're comfortable with. Many beginners find machines are the easiest to use.
- Keep your workouts to an hour or less
- Start with one set of 8-12 reps of each exercise, using enough weight that your muscles feel comfortably fatigued (you don't need to lift to failure to get results as a beginner)
- Start with about 2-3 total body workouts each week, with at least one day of rest in between.
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| Your Muscle Groups |
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| | Your Muscle Groups |
| You spent a lot of time going over each muscle group and this section provides a short summary of each muscle we covered, the exercises highlighted as well as the quizzes you've taken. - Chest: Muscles: Pectoralis major and pectoralis minor. Exercises: pushups, chest press, chest fly. Quiz: How Muscles Work.
- Back: Muscles: latissimus dorsi, trapezius, rhomboids, levator scapulae and erector spinae. Exercises: shoulder shrugs, seated high row, dumbbell rows, pullover, seated row, and back extensions. Quiz: Your Back Muscles.
- Shoulders: Muscles: anterior, lateral and posterior deltoids, subscapularis, suraspinatus, infraspinatus and teres minor. Exercises: front raises, overhead presses, reverse flies, external rotation and internal rotation.
- Biceps: Muscles: biceps brachii. Exercises: biceps curls. Quiz: Shoulders and Biceps.
- Triceps: Muscles: triceps brachii. Exercises: dips, kickbacks, and extensions. Quiz: Triceps.
- Abs: Muscles: rectus abdominis, internal obliques, external obliques, transverse abdominis. Exercises: crunches on the ball, bicycles, reverse crunches and plank. Quiz: Abs.
- Hips, Thighs and Glutes: Muscles: gluteus maximus, medius and minimus, hamstrings (biceps femoris, semitendinosus, semimembranosus), gastrocnemius, soleus and the quadriceps (rectus femoris, vastus lateralis, intermedius and medialis). Exercises: squats, lunges, deadlifts and calf raises. Quiz: Lower body.
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| Setting Up Your First Workout |
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| | Setting Up Your First Workout |
| With all the tools you have, it's time to set up your own workout and get started on your own journey towards strength and fitness. You can use what you've learned throughout the course to set up your own program, or you can choose from the workouts and resources below: - Total Body Strength for Beginners: This basic workout requires almost no equipment and is perfect for people who have never lifted weights or have taken a long break from exercise.
- Basic Beginner Strength: This workout was specifically created from the exercises shown throughout this e-course, so these moves should look very familiar.
- Beginner Strength 2: This total body workout is more advanced than the other workouts listed, requiring more equipment, heavier weights and more challenging exercises. This is a great choice if you're ready to move up.
- Workout Center: My Workout Center lists all of the workouts available at my site including strength training, cardio, flexibility and specialty workouts.
- Workout Finder: My Workout Finder will help you find more workouts that fit your fitness level and goals.
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| Paige Waehner About.com Guide to Exercise http://exercise.about.com www.About.com About.com is part of The New York Times Company |
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