subject: 9 Weight Training Must-dos For Beginners [print this page] Done properly, weight lifting is the best exercise for all three goals. Wanna lose fat while you sleep? The more muscle you have the more calories your body burns at rest. Wanna look good in a t-shirt and shorts? Build some curves by adding muscle. Looking for extra power in your favorite sport? Strength training with weights helps almost every sport.
But if youre just starting out (or if youve been just toying around at the gym and need to get your butt into a serious routine), you need to remember these 9 things.
1. Dont Read The Muscle Mags
Ok. Youre fired up like a George Forman Grill, and ready to become Arnold Junior. So where do most guys like you turn for advice? The muscle mags. But 50% of the muscle mags are pure ads. And another 30% are ads disguised as articles. And another 15% is either flat out bad advice or advice inappropriate for beginners. That leaves 5% of goodness. And the sad truth: as a beginner, you wont know the difference. Skip the magazines and go for a serious book (see below).
2. Only Full Body, Compound Exercises For Your First 3 Months (No Curls!)
I know you want to do curls. Its ok to admit it. Guys think big biceps are the sign of a real man. Stop. If you cant do 15 chin-ups, you have no business doing curls. What you want to do exclusively for the first 3 months are compound movements. Compound movements are those that involve more than one joint (and thus, recruit more than one muscle group). Why? Youll burn more fat, youll get stronger, and youll build muscle more evenly throughout your body. Plus, you wont look like a ninny standing there doing curls for your full workout while your chicken legs squawk at all the serious lifters in the gym. Most guys think the big guys at the gym will laugh if they do too little weight. What the serious lifters really laugh at are men who think curls are going to do them much good.
3. Pick Somebodys Program And Stick To It
This article is too short to give you specific routines. There are so many good programs out there that follow these principles. But only get one! As a beginner, just about anything is going to work. Pick it, and stick to it for at least 6 weeks before changing it (probably more like 10 to 12 weeks). If you dont know where to start, get FullBodyAttack.
4. Incline Your bench
If Ive gotten you to skip the curls, the next male impulse is to run to the bench press. Good news for you benching is a compound movement! But Im going to suggest doing an incline bench I typically go for a 35 to 40 degree incline. This will work the upper part of your chest a little better and also bring in some shoulders (front deltoids). But use about 10% lighter weight than your flat bench.
5. Squat All The Way
Yes, you have to do legs. Big time. They are the biggest muscles in the body. And yet many guys seem to avoid working their legs. Plus the guys who do squat, most of them only do half squats they dont go down! Despite what your mom may have told you, its totally fine to squat past the 90 degree bend in your knees. Theres not much muscular advantage to go past the 80 degree point, but if you stop at a 120 or even 100 degree bend, you are losing a great opportunity to increase muscle and strength.
6. Deadlift As If Your Life Depended On It
Deadlifts are a power exercise where you lift the barbell of the floor. Beginners tend to avoid it because they are afraid of getting hurt or looking silly. And to be sure, done poorly, a deadlift can wreak havoc on your back. But you need to add this to your routine right from the start. Learn the proper form (see the next point) first. And then be ready for the most exhausting exercise of your life, because deadlifts put your metabolism into hyperdrive. Youll thank me for it later. I accept cash.
7. Practice Movements With Bodyweight/Light Weights Until You Are Doing Them Right
As a beginner, you might want to hit the weights hard on day 1 to prove yourself and start seeing results. Hold on. Get the proper form down first. I dont care if you are embarrassed because you are bench pressing a broom stick start out super light. This is important. Its much harder to unlearn bad form later than it is to learn proper form to start with. For many exercises (like squats), start out with just your own bodyweight. But be careful of youtube I have done scans of weight training videos online and most of them are horrible just because they are lifting a lot of weight doesnt mean they are doing it right.
8. Progressive Overload
At every workout, you want to advance in something. Maybe its a little more weight on your lunges. Maybe its one more rep on each set of pull-ups. Maybe its one extra set of bent-over rows. This is called progression and youll never progress if you just keep doing the same weights, reps, and sets every week.
9. Go 3x Per Week, Full Body
As a beginner, you want to do full-body workouts three times a week. Note that full body means you do legs, back, chest, etc. all on the same day. Everything. After a couple months or so, you can consider split routines. But not yet.
