Basic Guidelines for Beginning Resistance Training – Part 2

Safety first! Stay within your limits. At the beginning level, start slowly and increase weight gradually. The first month of weight training should focus on light (as in not heavy) lifting exercises. Lifting light weights allows for two very important things:

-It allows you to perfect your technique (and technique is everything, remember?). If you can’t do it right with a light weight, if will only get worse (read: less effective and more dangerous!) with a heavier weight. If you can’t maintain proper technique reduce the weight and continue, or stop and rest.

-Starting out with minimal resistance allows your tendons, ligaments and joints to adequately adapt to more intense workloads. Don’t underestimate the importance of allowing time for connective tissue to adjust to your new workload.

Safety first (again)! Remember to warm up prior to resistance training. Warm muscles and connective tissue are less susceptible to injury.

Start with 2 resistance training sessions per week separated by at least 48 hours. Research shows that initially one set of 8-12 repetitions for each major muscle group twice a week is adequate to improve muscular strength and endurance.

Train the larger muscle groups first. This minimizes fatigue and maximizes the amount of resistance used during each exercise.
Upper body – Back, chest, shoulders, triceps, biceps, forearms
Lower body – Gluts, quadriceps, hamstrings, calves

Do your abdominal/core exercises last. You need your core muscles at their peak strength during your workout as they stabilize your body while you are doing other exercises. Leaving the core exercises until last prevents you from fatiguing them earlier in the workout, ensuring that they are there to support you during the workout.

Pay attention to what you are doing. Unlike aerobic exercise where you can tune out, watch TV, or talk with a friend, resistance training requires your undivided attention. Understand which exercise uses what muscle(s). Mentally focus on those specific muscles as you perform your exercises. Visualize the muscle contracting with each repetition. Feel the muscle gradually fatiguing as you move through your set.

Maintain proper technique and form throughout exercise (did I say this already?). Most beginners don’t like looking at themselves in a mirror while working out (okay, some do), but a mirror is an invaluable tool as you are learning proper technique. You may not be able to “feel” if your body is doing an exercise correctly, but you will be able to “see” if you are.

Remember to breathe! Holding your breath while lifting weights can be very dangerous.  Develop proper breathing patterns right from the start.

Weight training is dynamic. Muscles adapt very quickly to the load that we expect of them. The basic tenet with resistance training is “progressive overload”. After the first month or two of beginning a resistance training program, it is important to challenge yourself. There are many ways to progressively overload your muscles – increasing the number of repetitions, incrementally increasing the resistance, or varying the exercises. This also keeps your workout interesting.

My desire it to give you some guidelines to make resistance training more effective for you. However, written guidelines can only get you so far. Proper instruction will help insure your safety and success in your resistance training program.  When beginning any exercise program, it is advisable to check with your health care professional first.

“Those who think they have not time for bodily exercise will sooner of later have to find time for illness.” -Edward Stanley

Carpe diem.

Jess