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Published on: Wednesday 31st August 2011

Resistance Training Basics for Beginners

Spenborough personal trainer Rob Smith shares some tips and advice on resistance training 

Introduction

For almost ten years I have been training and working in gyms and I have had countless queries from people wanting to know how to train to gain size or become lean.  In simple terms it comes down to getting the following three pieces of the jigsaw; lifestyle, nutritional intake and training, in the right place and ensure that each of those pieces are helping you progress towards your desired goal.      

It is beyond the scope of this article to cover all of those areas; however below you will find some basic information on resistance training as a starting point.  Although the title states this is for beginners even those of you who have been training for years will be able to gain some insight from reading this, so don’t let the title discourage you.

Current State of Play

The majority of people in gyms will be following a training programme of some description.  Maybe it’s from a mainstream muscle and fitness magazine or via the internet where you can find hundreds of training articles, photos and videos of training programs. 

All this information is great and you can find some amazing articles, however you will consistently find conflicting views which leave people unsure of what they should or shouldn’t be doing. 

Bodybuilding magazines are awash with training programmes supposedly used by professional bodybuilders; however the training they prescribe has no real-life variability for the majority of people.

You have to fit your training around other commitments such as work and family life rather than the other way round as professionals can.  This type of training programme will equal hours in the gym per training session, no real gains in size or strength and will ultimately lead to overtraining and the potential of injury.  To use a phase from a friend of mine ‘You need to start training smarter to get stronger’. 

The Way Forward

As a starting point resistance training usually involves some form of weight lifting, either fixed-weight machines or free weights, however this can also include resistance bands, medicine balls and bodyweight exercises for example, which tend to be grossly over-looked by the majority of people. 

The key is to train the major muscles of the body, so the chest, shoulders, back (upper and lower), abdominal, hips and legs through compound or multi-joint exercises as they will involve more than one muscle group working at a time. Once this foundation is developed training can then be progressed to focus on more specialised areas and muscle isolation. 

Keep in mind that the programme example in this article might not be suitable to everyone and starting with compound exercises, especially load-bearing exercises, requires the co-ordinated use of several muscle groups which have to be ‘activated’ in a certain order for the exercise to be performed safely and correctly. 

At the Start

Static posture alignment and movement screening should precede beginning the programme as part of a health assessment.  This will highlight issues relating to reduced range of motion in joints or instability, which can lead to postural distortion patterns or muscle imbalances. These imbalances if present can be corrected but if not addressed they could lead to injury.  If this is the case starting with isolation non-load bearing exercises to correct these imbalances would have to be used prior to performing any compound movements.       

Before you start the programme, it is important that you complete a warm up prior to lifting any weights.  A low intensity cardiovascular activity such as a cross trainer or rower would be ideal as it would involve both the upper and lower body as well as serve to increase your body temperature, heart rate and blood flow to all working muscles as well as mobilise the joints.  This should last between 5-10 minutes in total and then be followed by performing some warm-up sets prior to each of the exercises, building the resistance up slowly to reach your actual working set resistance.  For example, if you are going to be lifting 40kgs as your work resistance, complete one warm up set at 10kgs, second at 20kg and the third at 35kg each for 5 repetitions.   

Training Programme Example

Below is an example to help give you some idea as to what a programme should look like.  Perform this for a period of 2 months before looking to alter any of the exercises unless you have difficultly performing one or more of them.

What to do

The above programme should be followed 2-3 days per week with a least 48 hours rest between training sessions.  Perform the above workout as a whole body routine if you are new to training, however if you have been training for a while ‘split’ the programme into all the pushing exercises in one session and all the pulling exercises into the next. 

If you did this you would need to train 4 days per week, hitting each of the push/pull sessions twice a week. So for example, all the pushing exercises would be performed on Monday and Thursday and all the pulling exercises on Tuesday and Friday.  Each session would then be shorter in duration than a whole body session which depending on your daily schedule might be easier to accommodate. 

The first training session will be performed at the lowest set and repetition numbers for each exercise and on the second workout the higher number will be used.  For example on the bench press if you are training with the split system, on Monday you would perform 1 set of 10 repetitions and on Thursday you would complete 2 sets of 12 repetitions.  The resistance selected will remain the same for each of the workouts for the first week.  If you complete the required number of repetitions for any exercise on both workouts, increase the resistance for the following week by the smallest increment available. 

Considerations

Whenever you begin a training programme it’s important that you select a resistance that is manageable for the exercise you are performing.  Chose a resistance that is comfortable so you’re not struggling to finish the set and focus more on learning the correct technique for each exercise rather than ‘chase the weight’.  If you follow this system your body will adapt faster and will provide consistent strength gains while the risk of overtraining is less likely to occur.

Before you Go

If you start to implement and follow this advice, over time you will start to see improvements in strength and size if the other pieces of the jigsaw are in place.  It takes between 6-8 weeks for a training effect to take place so the key to remember if to take your time, don’t 'chase the weight’, and let your body adapt.   

To get in touch with Rob you can email him at RSPersonaltraining@yahoo.co.uk