There are many resources available promising to help us get stronger, jump higher, run faster or get bigger. Between the internet, social media and various books and publications promoting the newest, the easiest/hardest/smartest approaches you could be forgiven for being a little confused..
Sometimes less is more..
As with many things – less is often more. An understanding of the basic principles goes a long way toward creating success with weights. I’m not going to give you an in-depth analysis at a cellular level or delve too deeply into the bio-mechanics of human movement but instead help you understand the simplicity of pressing tin.
It amazes me how complicated training plans can be. I’ve created many involved plans to meet the requirements of a given sport, health or physique goal. There are benefits to be gained from very subtle changes to a training plan. Sometimes striving for the ‘secrets’ we overlook the basics – the building blocks. We also have a tendency to see a person – in real life or on a page or screen that looks the way we would like to look. They say they do this particular exercise on a box, on one leg, upside down and we dutifully accept that this is what got their great result. What we don’t see is the hundreds and perhaps thousands of hours, the recovery, the supplementation the genetics that contributed. We don’t see any of that. We only started at the gym last week..
So where do we start?
It all starts with you. It starts and ends with what you want – with yours dreams. So get real with what you want. Get specific then go out and get it!
Applying the popular KISS principle is a great starting point. Keep it Safe and Simple is my version. Safe because anything we do should contribute to the result we want but not cause or contribute to developing an injury. The following checklist contains some of the concepts Newbies may find useful in evaluating an exercise approach and we will touch on them briefly here:
- Train for the result you want
- Big movements get results
- Failure means failure to maintain form
- Recovery is where the gains happen
- Evaluate often. Refine the plan. Change the training to meet the revised result.
Train for the result you want – Your dreams – Your requirements – Only you can know what you really want – So get real!
Big movements get results – Big compound movements provide the foundation that a great physique rests on. Functional big movements. Squats, presses, rows – multiple muscles – big movements. There’s plenty of time to refine later. To get big – go big but go safe.
With weights we fail regularly to succeed
Failure means failure to maintain form. With weights we fail regularly to succeed.
Form is everything. Form ensures you are hitting the areas you want to develop and not risking injury. We press the weight until we cannot complete the full movement. It is not push the weight at all costs but rather push maintaining a strong, safe form and when we cannot do that – we stop! Knowing when to stop is at least as important as knowing how to push through. Injury is the enemy of progress – and it hurts!
Recovery is where the gains happen – We progressively overload the muscles during exercise and in between the sessions our body recovers and rebuilds in such a way that the exercise becomes easier. We add weight, or reps or duration to the reps, we overload and then we recover – over and over again! When we work we work hard and in-between we recover. There is a whole science to recovery. A Trainer can really help you with this but the principle is to give the body the rest and the nutrients to recover or to Supercompensate – to be better than it was before.
How Many Reps?
The number of reps per set is a primary consideration. Everything above 15 reps primarily endurance, everything below about 6 reps will improve force but not result in muscular size gains, the sweet spot is 8-12 reps providing the stimulus for size gains. A balanced routine will target all of these ranges but if your aim is to build mass and you have been following a more general plan up to this point check out the following routine. Deceptively simple, repeatable and effective.
4 big exercises covering the 4 primary compound movements.
- Chest Press (Olympic bench – Cable machine – Dumbell press)
- Seated Row (Seated cable row – Bent over Row)
- Shoulder Press (Cable – Military Press Bar – Seated Dumbell Press)
- Squat (Free Squat – 45 degree Leg Press)
8-12 reps, 4 sets, up to 2 mins between sets
For each exercise start with a weight that form can be maintained for 12 reps. Complete a set. Recover for up to 2mins – repeat. If all 4 sets can be completed to 12 reps increase the weight by a small amount for the next session. Don’t rush it unless you have been working heavily for a while (a month or more) After a few sessions you will reach a point where you achieve 12 on the first 1 or 2 sets, perhaps 10 on the 3rd and 8 on the 4th. Repeat these weights for subsequent sessions until you achieve 4 sets of 12 reps – then increase the weight again.
Cable machines, free weights – you can choose but try to stick to the same exercises for a 3 or 4 week period. This will make it easier to see and feel the changes. At the end of the 3 or 4 week working period it is time to evaluate the results, reassess the goal and consider how to improve any weak areas.
Once you have exhausted the gains you will make with this approach you might want to approach a trainer to identify deficiencies in form or suggest exercise alternatives to meet your specific requirements. More advanced techniques, supplementation, motivation, recovery strategies and a more personalized plan will yield faster and better results but this is a great place to start.
We are here to help. If you have questions on this or any other fitness and health related issue please reach out to us.
