Strength Training for Beginners, The Why & How!
But Coach, I don’t want to strength train and get bulky!
I hear this allllllll the time, and it makes my eyes roll so hard. Fact of the matter is, that you have to make a lot of effort to get bulky, its really hard to build big muscles.
In this post I want to tell you WHY YOU SHOULD BE STRENGTH TRAINING and cover all the basic concepts so you are comfortable and ready to dive in.
What is Strength Training:
Strength Training or Resistance training (also sometimes called weight training) is the use of external load on muscular contraction to build the strength, anaerobic endurance and size/density of skeletal muscles depending on preference.
This type of training is based on the principle that muscles of the body will work to overcome a resistance force when they are required to do so. And a prinsp that the body always seeks to adapt to the load we put on it.
When you do resistance training repeatedly and consistently, your body adapts to the load and your muscles, bones and tendons become stronger than they were before.
Why It is an essential part of a well rounded lifestyle:
No matter what you are training for, or not training for. If you want to live a long and happy life, free of limitations and restrictions. Then you should be strength training.
Any well-rounded fitness program for performance and/or longevity should include some form for strength training activities at least twice a week. This is proven to improve joint function, bone density, muscle, tendon and ligament strength.
Your fitness program should also include some aerobic exercise to improve your heart and lung fitness, this can be a mix of long and steady cardio training and High Intensity Training - depending on your goals. But getting your heartrate up a few times each week, for about 1 hour total, is proven to improve health overall.
And last but not least some elements that challenge your coordination, flexibility and balance, this is mostly to keep us young and agile on our feet. And to keep a certain “fun” and “play” element in our training. Chasing / Throwing a ball, standing on one leg, and smashing on the tennis court is guaranteed to keep us young at heart.
What are the basics I need to know about Strength Training?
The basic concepts of strength training are covered here, these can be used to vary your progressive resistance training program. Your body is an amazing machine, and will adapt to whatever load you put on it and eventually stop progressing if we don´t change the exercises, duration, weight or intensity. So it is important to use these basic concepts to make slight “surprises” to our bodies every six to eight weeks to maintain improvement.
We can play with:
sets
repetitions
tempo/speed of the movement
exercises undertaken
intensity (weights used)
frequency of sessions
rest between sets
rest between sessions
This means you do not need to be an expert to continue improving with your training, if you vary your resistance training program through the speed of your movement, number of repetitions/ sets performed and weights used, you will continue making strength gains even if you continue using the movements / exercises you are familiar and safe with.
Examples of resistance training
There are many ways you can strengthen your muscles, whether at home or the gym. If signing up for a gym is not in your budget or on your priority list, you can get great workouts done at home, with minimal equipment. (we learned this for sure in 2020)
You can check out here a guide on how to build a home gym, and I included a training program at the bottom for how you can get full 30 days of fitness at home with minimal equipment.
Fun fact, during early 2020, I took on many clients that were testing out training at home - many of those have NOT returned to a gym even though the gym´s in their country have been open for over a year. They just prefer training at home, saving money and time on transport.
But her are a few of the different types of resistance training that might be for you:
free weights – classic strength training tools such as dumbbells, barbells and kettlebells
medicine balls or sand bags – weighted balls or bags
weight machines – devices that have adjustable seats with handles attached either to weights or hydraulics
resistance bands – like giant rubber bands – these provide resistance when stretched. They are portable and can be adapted to most workouts. The bands provide continuous resistance throughout a movement
suspension equipment – a training tool that uses gravity and the user's body weight to complete various exercises
your own body weight – can be used for squats, push-ups and chin-ups. Using your own body weight is convenient, especially when travelling or at work.
Health benefits of resistance training
There are many health benefits to challenging your body, both physical and mental health benefits.
Besides from the most obvious fact, that you likely will look better naked, with less jiggly part, and a more firm feel to your arms and thighs. It turns out that one of the greatest predictor for improved “quality of life” in older ages is the size of your Quadriceps muscle (the front of the thigh).
Research shows that if you have strong legs, you are more likely to be walking up stairs to your upper floor bedroom (means you will not need to move into a nursing home until later), going to the bathroom yourself getting on and off the toilet (with a unassisted squat) and doing your groceries yourself, walking unassisted along the long aisles in the supermarket and carrying your groceries in.
More specifically resistance training helps you gain:
Improved muscle strength and tone – to protect your joints from injury.
Maintaining flexibility and balance - which can help you remain independent as you age.
Weight management and increased muscle-to-fat ratio – as you gain muscle, your body burns more kilojoules when at rest.
May help reduce or prevent cognitive decline in older people.
Greater stamina – as you grow stronger, you won’t get tired as easily.
Prevention or control of chronic conditions such as diabetes, heart disease, arthritis, back pain, depression and obesity.
Pain Management
Improved mobility and balance.
Improved posture.
Decreased risk of injury.
Increased bone density, strength and reduced risk of osteoporosis.
Improved sense of wellbeing – resistance training may boost your self-confidence, improve your body image and your mood.
Improved sleep and avoidance of insomnia.
Increased self-esteem.
Enhanced performance of everyday tasks.
Basic principles of resistance training
Here is a little list of bte basic principles, to help you get started, and sound like a boss when discussing this with your friends and trainer. At first, this strength training languages sounds intimidating but once you get the hang of these basic principles it gets friendlier. Here is what you need to know:
Program – your overall fitness program is composed of various exercise types such as aerobic training, flexibility training, strength training and balance exercises.
Weight – different weights or other types of resistance, for example a 3 kg hand weight or fixed weight, body weight or rubber band will be used for different exercises during your strength training session.
Exercise – a particular movement, for example a calf-raise, is designed to strengthen a particular muscle or group of muscles.
Repetitions or reps – refers to the number of times you continuously repeat each exercise in a set.
Sets – is a group of repetitions performed without resting, for example, two sets of squats by 15 reps would mean you do 15 squats then rest muscles before doing another 15 squats.
Tempo - is the speed that you perform the movement in, this can mean slow down, slow on the way up or slow on the way down and fast up. By changing the tempo you can make a very light weight feel very heavy and vice versa.
Rest – you need to rest between sets. Rest periods vary depending on the intensity of exercise being undertaken.
Variety – switching around your workout routine, such as regularly introducing new exercises, challenges your muscles and forces them to adapt and strengthen.
Progressive overload principle – to continue to gain benefits, strength training activities need to be done to the point where it’s hard for you to do another repetition. The aim is to use an appropriate weight or resistant force that will challenge you, while maintaining good technique. Also, regular adjustments to the training variables, such as frequency, duration, exercises for each muscle group, number of exercises for each muscle group, sets and repetitions, help to make sure you progress and improve.
Recovery – muscle needs time to repair and adapt after a workout. A good rule of thumb is to rest the muscle group for up to 48 hours before working the same muscle group again.
Ready to start?
I hope you have found enough proof that you NEED to start strength training after reading this.
And the knowledge to get started on your own, truth of the matter is almost NO MATTER what you do in the beginning, you will get stronger. The difficulty and more advanced knowledge is not required until little later, when you are stagnated with the inital progress.
If you need some help with getting started, feel free to check out my HOME programs or reach out for Remote / Online coaching.
I LOVE helping you get stronger and live a healthier, happier life!
Any further questions or concerns
drop me message below!
