Are you ready to get stronger but don’t know where to start? Have you tried to build muscle and strength before and just got frustrated or had success but feel like you lost your gains. Strength Training 101 can help you find a solution to these problems. In this blog post, we will provide you the essentials for strength training. You will gain all the knowledge and tools necessary to build strength, improve your overall health, and reclaim your athletic abilities.
Welcome to the World of Strength Training it Should Be For Everyone
Strength training is more than just trying to make your body look good. But if that is your primary motivation to strength train, you won’t be disappointed. If you want long and lasting success with strength training, then you should focus on doing it to feel good. That is Pro Tip # 1 “Strength Train to Feel Good.”
Consider the Other Benefits of Strength Training
My friends, the benefits of strength training are nothing short of amazing. First off, strength training helps you build lean muscle mass, of course. So why is that important, you ask? Well, that can be pretty complex, but let’s try to keep it simple.
First off the more muscle you have the faster your metabolism, which means you burn more calories even at rest. Next, the more skeletal muscle you have the better your hormones will be regulated and the more energy your will have. So, if you’re looking to have increased energy and shed those pounds, strength training is your new best friend.
Strength Training can also helps improve your bone density, making you less prone to injuries. Additionally, you will see many mental benefits as swell, some of which comes from better hormone regulation. Strength training can boosts your self-confidence and improves your mood, helping you tackle life’s challenges with a smile. So, my friends, don’t underestimate the power of strength training. It’s the key to a stronger, leaner, and happier you.
Where Do You Begin
Are you ready to embark on an exciting journey to build strength, improve your health, and enhance your athletic performance? Then you need to find and stick to a program. Pro Tip #2 “Follow A Strength Training Program“
When I say stick to a program, I don’t mean for life. This is not a marriage. Actually, doing the same program for an extended period of time usually more than 8-12 weeks will start to be detrimental to your goals.
If you are a beginner or you haven’t lifted in a while then I would recommend doing Occam’s Protocol. Also if you have been lifting three or more times a week and you haven’t seen gains in a while, you are likely overtraining. If that is you the you should try Occam’s Protocol for a four week cycle, lifting no more than twice a week.
Occam’s Protocol
Is a program based on being the most efficient and effective strength training workout.
Get Enough Rest and Do Not Overtrain
You may be surprised that most people in the gym are overtraining. This is because you read Arnold Schwarzenegger “Guide to Modern Bodybuilding“, a workout in Muscle and Strength, or a program on the internet that has a 4 or 5 day split that a professional bodybuilder uses and think it will work for you.
Unfortunately, all those professionals are using anabolic steroids. So if you want to train that hard and see results you will need some pharmaceutical help. I am not promoting using any drugs to improve your fitness. Actually the opposite, I believe in strength training as a life long habit to improve and maintain a healthy body and mind.
In order to have a healthy mind and body you need to get enough rest. I am not talking about rest between sets, I am talking about the hours and days of not training where your body is building muscles. Strength training is causes stress on you muscles and you body uses this stress signal to build your muscles back bigger and stronger. So, Pro Tip #3 “Rest and Recover”
What To Do On Non-Training Days
If you are wondering what to do when you are not lifting, especially when you are use to lifting and working out 3 or more times a week, “Do Yoga“. Yoga and rowing are my preferred non strength training workout in doors. Other things I enjoy are outdoor walks and hikes. If you need some intense calorie burning exercise then you should do a High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT).
Three Important Things On Non Strength Training Exercise
First, doing extended cardio will be counter productive to your goals for strength training. So unless you are only strength training to fuel your love of running, riding bikes, swimming or another endurance sport you should not do endurance cardio when building strength. There are many books and studies on this topic alone, just know that you will be sending mixed signals to your body by doing these and it will hinder your goals for both.
Second, you don’t need to burn calories from hard workouts to lose weight. But if you feel like you must, you should do HIIT workouts. Although, you don’t need to do HIIT workouts, and if you do, you should do it so that your rest cycle is larger than you excursion cycle by two to one at least.
Third, you should know that walking or doing a low intensity workout similar to walking will likely provide you greater benefits in the long run and you will likely enjoy it more. For pure calories burned running wins. Running burns about 600 active calories an hour depending on your size, where a similar person burns 300 calories per hour walking. But if you run a lot your are telling your body to adapt to this stress to become a better runner. Compare which body type you prefer.
Choose Your Ideal Body Type – Endurance or Strength
How to Speed Up Recovery
The top Six things that will speed up recovery are hydration, low intensity exercise, stretching, massage, heat and cold cycling and sleep. Why I like Yoga is that is gives you two of these, both low intensity exercise and stretching. The low intensity exercise will get blood flowing to these areas and so will heat and cold cycling as well as massage. Drinking enough water helps your body flush all the byproducts from exercise and promote muscle growth.
The thing that can feel the best is a good massage. You don’t need to spend a lot of money on getting a massage, instead use a high density foam roller, a trigger point massager or a hard ball like a lacrosse ball and a wall to roll those muscle knots out. Foam rolling can be used to prime your muscles before working out and to help you recover faster post workout. This is Pro Tip #4 “Use a Foam Roller“.
Make Sure You Have Enough Fuel To Build Muscle
If you were going to build a house, you would make sure you had the right materials. You would have enough concrete, wood, steel and glass. So why do so many people start a strength training program an don’t adapt their diet to provide their body with enough material. When it comes to building muscle the material you need the most is protein. This is Pro Tip #5 “Eat The Right Amount of Protein“.
Getting enough protein is important, but so is not consuming to much. Protein makes you full and focusing on getting enough protein will help you from over eating. Although you can get to much protein and not enough carbohydrates and fat. So when you are trying to build muscle 0.8-1.2 grams per pound of lean body mass and when you are trying to maintain your muscle 0.6 grams per pound of lean body mass should be your goal.
Need help figuring out how much protein this is for you. Use this calculator:
Body Fat % and Lean Body Mass Calculator
You Have Everything You Need To Get Strong
Embrace the Journey of Strength Training and follow these five simple Pro Tips and you will excel.
- Strength Train to Feel Good
- Follow a Strength Training Program
- Rest and Recover
- Use a Foam Roller
- Eat the Right Amount of Protein
Congratulations on completing this strength training 101 guide! If you have been strength training for a while and you feel stuck, then the fix is likely in one of the above Pro Tips. Now, it’s time to embrace the journey ahead and unlock your full potential. If you don’t think that Occam’s Protocol is right for you checkout our other strength training programs. Here.
References: Strength Training for the Prevention and Treatment of Chronic Disease | Dietary Protein and Muscle Mass: Translating Science to Application and Health Benefit | Effect of resistance exercise volume and complexity on EMG, strength, and regional body composition | Strength and Power Development in the Long-Term Athletic Development of Young Rugby Union Players: Methodological and Practical Applications
