Weight Training - Beginners

Properly performed strength training can provide positive functional benefits and improvement in overall health and well-being. This includes increased bone, muscle, tendon and ligament strength, joint function, reduced potential for injury, increased bone density, a temporary increase in metabolism, improved cardiac function and elevated HDL (good) cholesterol.

Strength training mainly uses the technique of progressively increasing the force output of the muscle through small increases of weight, elastic tension or other resistance, but also uses a variety of exercises and types of equipment to target specific muscle groups. Strength training is primarily an anaerobic activity, but some trainers have adapted it to provide the benefits of aerobic exercise through circuit training.

Terminology & Principles

Strength - To manipulate the number of repetitions, sets, rest, tempo and resistance to cause a positive change in the level of force the body is able to apply to a mass/weight, by progressively overloading a group of muscles.

Endurance - To increase the stamina & capacity at which the body can operate at for a longer period of time. Many people think endurance is all about cardiovascular training, but by mixing cardio with a carefully selected programme of high reps, low weight, it can seriously increase your overall endurance not just aerobic endurance

Hypertrophy (Build Muscle) - To increase the size/volume of muscle tissue through the theory of progressively overloading the muscle and them repairing bigger and stronger.

Power - Strength x Speed, in other words performing a strong movement at speed. This is crucial for nearly all sports. To be powerful you need to be strong, but also have good co-ordination and balance to direct and control this power.

% of 1RM - This is the percentage of the weight you should be able to do for a single maximum lift.

Reps - The number of times you lift & lower a weight in a controlled manner.

Sets - The number completed repetitions without a break between them.
Speed per rep/Tempo - Time it takes to complete each rep. This can be varied to increase/decrease intensity

Rest - Time taken to recover at the end of each set, before proceeding onto the next set.

Training goal

Variable Strength Power Hypertrophy Endurance
(Build Muscle)

Load (% of 1RM) 80-90 45-55 60-80 40-60
Reps per set 1 to 5 1to 5 6 to 12 15 to 60
Sets per exercise 4 to 5 3 to 5 4 to 8 2 to 4
Rest between sets (mins) 2 to 6 2 to 6 3 to 5 1 to 2
Duration (seconds per set) 5 to 10 4 to 8 20 to 60 80 to 150
Speed per rep (% of max) 60 to 100 90 to 100 60 to 90 60 to 80
Training sessions per week 3 to 6 3 to 6 5 to 7 8 to 14

Table reproduced from Siff, 2003[9]

Basic All-Body Training Program

The most important part of starting a training program is to understand the basics and understand them well. The “good form” when performing the movement, this has 2 benefits, (1) Reduce the chance of injury (2) Maximise outcome from training.
Many of the weight exercises which are to performed can be learned using bodyweight, in order to build a base strength before proceeding on to lifting weights.

Here at YORK we're strong believers in being functionally strong. This means being able to move in natural patterns, with correct form and in a controlled manner.

We advise starting out your training journey with bodyweight and light dumbells, to learn the movement patterns and “feel” the body working.

Before each workout, thoroughly warm up the body with light cardio work such as jogging or cycling. Perform a complete body stretch, not bouncing the stretches or forcing them past comfort.

  
Exercise           Reps Sets Rest between sets
Press-ups           10         3 1m 30secs
Lunges Alternate Leg   10           3 1m 30secs
Crunches           15         3 1m 30secs
Bench Dips           10         3 1m 30secs
Step-Ups Alternate Leg 10         3 1m 30secs
Dumbell Bicep Curl    12         3 1m 30secs
Body Weight Squat     12         2 1m 45secs
Dumbell Shoulder Press   15            2 1m 45secs
Crunches             15         3 1m 30secs


The above program can be performed 3-4 times a week, but you shouldn't train if you're still sore from the previous training session. As you become accustomed to this training program you can begin to decrease the rest period between each set, before increase the number of repetitions to the next level up and increasing the weight on the dumbells being used.

Once you are happy that you can perform this basic workout with “good form” it is now time step up-to the next level.

Reference: http://www.yorkfitness.com/explore/training/?/Beginner-Training-Articles