Comprehensive Guide to Weight Training for Beginners

[Crissco]

**Copy and paste but a necessity to everyone starting out*

Comprehensive Guide to Weight Training for Beginners
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Alright guys and gals, your ol buddy Squatch is trying to put something together here to help out beginning weight trainers, and to answer questions you may have about weight training in general, cardiovascular training, nutrition, and supplementation.

There is a lot of information out there, and theres even more misinformation that can lead a beginner, intermediate, and even sometimes an experienced trainer down the road of diminished gains. Im writing this to try and consolidate that information into an easy to use guide, and to counter the misinformation so you dont waste your time or money, and more importantly, so that you'll reap the benefits of busting your ass in the gym. So Lets get started.





What is Weight Training? Is it Beneficial for Me?

First off, what exactly is weight training, and what are the benefits of following a weight training regimen? By definition, weight training is the use of resistance provided by weight to develop the strength and size of skeletal muscle. The benefits of weight training are many, including greater muscular strength, increased endurance, enhanced bone density, increased metabolism, and improved cardiovascular fitness.

Weight training also provides functional benefits. Stronger muscles can improve posture, increase support for joints and connective tissue, and can also help to reduce the risk of injury from day to day activities. Weight training can provide a sense of well being, and can increase self esteem. Older individuals that begin weight training can prevent some of the loss of muscle that occurs as part of the natural aging process [1]. Weight training can also help reduce the risk of osteoporosis by increasing bone mineral density, and decreasing bone loss in young, postmenopausal, and postmenopausal women [2].





Common Myths About Weight Training

I have heard many myths about weight training over the course of my 15 years of training, and Id like to address a few of them in order to clear up some misconceptions before we go any further.

MYTH #1: Weight training is harmful to the growth of children and adolescencents.

Lets discuss this for a moment. For quite some time, it has been suggested that children and adolescents should not engage in weight training because it may result in damage to growth plates and can stunt growth. The growth plate is an area of concern because it is not fully strengthened in children. A growth plate fracture in a child could possibly result in a limb not reaching its full potential length.

In many recent studies involving qualified instruction and appropriately prescribed training regimens, there has been zero growth plate fractures reported. Research indicates that pre-pubescent weight training performed properly is safe and beneficial. The National Strength and Conditioning Association and American College of Sports Medicine have published statements pertaining to the positive effect of children and adolescent weight training.[3][4]

MYTH #2: Weight training leads to poor flexibility.

Ive heard many times that weight training leads to loss of flexibility. However, studies have shown that weight training incorporating a full range of motion has no detrimental effect on flexibility [5]. Regular exercise through full range of motion will improve the elasticity of skeletal muscle, and in fact, with proper stretching post workout, should very likely increase flexibility.

MYTH #3: Weight training will make you big and slow, i.e.Muscle bound

It is said that due to the increase of size in muscle, weight trainers become slow and uncoordinated. This is not the case, and in fact, is sometimes found to be the opposite. When an individual trains with weights, he or she increases muscular strength. The greater ones muscular strength, the greater the resistance the muscle will be able to overcome. Stronger muscles will allow the trainer to overcome the force of gravity and inertia more efficiently, equating to greater speed at the same or close to the same body weight.

MYTH # 4: Muscle turns to fat when you stop weight training.

When weight training, or taking part in any other form of exercise for that matter, the bodys caloric requirements are much higher than if the individual was sedentary. When a person stops weight training, caloric requirements decline, but appetite may stay static. This may lead to accumulation of body fat due to caloric intake exceeding caloric expenditure. In addition, muscle mass will be lost over time due to inactivity, which leads to an even greater reduction of metabolism. If the activity level changes, so must the caloric intake. Muscle does not turn to fat.

MYTH # 5: You can tone a certain area/spot reduce.

By definition, muscle tone is the continuous and passive partial contraction of a muscle. The common use of "toning" in regards to fitness and weight training is incorrect. It is not possible to "tone" a certain area. This infers that you can do specific exercises for a specific area, and see visible body fat reduction in that area. Unfortunately, it doesnt work that way. In order to decrease body fat, one must alter diet, implement an exercise program, or combine both.

MYTH # 6: Women shouldnt weight train or they will bulk up.

The male and female bodies differ in many ways. They also react to certain stimuli quite differently as well. In the instance of weight training, men find it relatively easy to gain muscle mass due to their bodys ability to synthesize testosterone in the gonads. Testosterone is an anabolic androgenic hormone which leads to increases in muscle mass, protein synthesis, lipolysis, and substrate utilization.

Women are able to synthesize testosterone in small quantities via the thecal cells of the ovaries and the placenta. However, the amount of testosterone synthesized in the female body pales in comparison to the amount produced in a mans body. As a result of the differences in sex hormones between men and women, women simply don't have the ability to gain large amounts of muscle mass without the addition of exogenous testosterone or similar substance (Anabolic-Androgenic Steroids).

These are the main myths that come to mind regarding weight training. I hope I have shed a little light into why they should be given no credence.

 

[Crissco]

The Human Body, a Brief Overview

In order to get the most out of weight training, it is important to understand a few things about our bodies. I will attempt to give you a brief overview of what you need to know.

The human body is made up several systems, which work synergistically to maintain life and homeostasis (The processes that maintain a constant internal body environment). These systems include:

The circulatory system: Consisting of the cardiovascular system (Heart, blood vessels, arteries, and capillaries which work to transport blood and nutrients), and the lymphatic system (Lymph fluid and lymph nodes, which helps the body protect against illness and disease).

The digestive system: Consisting of the digestive tract and organs that excrete fluids into the digestive tract. The digestive system is responsible for the breakdown of foods and the elimination of waste from our bodies.

The endocrine system: Consisting of the glands that release hormones and work with the nervous system to regulate metabolism

The integumentary system: Consisting of skin, hair, finger and toe nails, sweat glands, and sebaceous glands.

The muscular system: Consisting of skeletal muscle that helps us to move, the cardiac muscle of the heart, and the smooth muscle of our internal organs.

The nervous system: Consisting of the brain, spinal cord, and nerves, which help to regulate the other body systems.

The reproductive system: Consisting of the gonads and associated structures, which maintain sexual characteristics and are responsible for reproduction.

The skeletal system: Consisting of bones and cartilage, helps to support and protect the body.

For the purposes of this discussion, we are going to focus on the muscular system, and to be more specific, skeletal muscle. Skeletal muscle is the muscle found connected to bones via tendons, and is what is primarily used in weight training. These muscles are comprised mostly of protein and water. Skeletal muscles function to move the bones of the body by contraction, and are characterized as voluntary muscle.

The term œcontraction does not necessarily refer to the shortening of a muscle, it refers more specifically to the development of tension within a muscle. There are 4 types of contractions that effect skeletal muscle. When muscles shorten by overcoming resistance to a load, the contraction is said to be concentric, e.g. the upward movement of a barbell during a bicep curl. When muscles lengthen as they act to maintain tension, the contraction is termed eccentric, e.g. the downward movement of a barbell during a bicep curl. A contraction in which the muscle develops tension but does not shorten is termed isometric. A contraction in which the muscle shortens but retains constant tension is termed isotonic.

Skeletal muscle is divided primarily into two types of muscle fibers, fast-twitch, and slow-twitch.

Fast-twitch muscle fibers are primarily recruited when heavy workloads are moved by the muscles, e.g. weight training and intense anaerobic exercise (football, wrestling, sprinting). These fibers contract quickly giving short bursts of energy, and also fatigue quickly. Pain usually occurs due to lactic acid accumulation, a result of the muscle's own metabolism.

Slow-twitch muscle fibers are primarily recruited during less intense, repetitive contractions, e.g. long distance running, long distance swimming, and bicycling. These fibers are capable of sustaining longer durations of less intense activity.

I mentioned metabolism above in regards to lactic acid accumulation, lets discuss it for a moment. By definition, metabolism is the chemical processes occurring within a living cell or organism that are necessary for the maintenance of life. In metabolism some substances are broken down to yield energy for life-sustaining processes while other substances, necessary for life, are synthesized. Plainly stated, metabolism is the breaking down (catabolism) and building up (anabolism) of complex compounds in our body. Metabolism is a very important part of the muscle building process, which starts with weight training.

Okay, so now we have got some of the mumbo jumbo out of the way. What does it all mean to those of us that want to weight train?? Weight training leads to strength gains and hypertrophy (the increase in the size of muscle fibers) of skeletal muscle, primarily fast-twitch muscle fibers. Thats easy enough to understand, right? I thought so.





Goals

Weave discussed the benefits of weight training. Weave dispelled some of the more common myths associated with weight training. Weave discussed (briefly) the human body and how it reacts to weight training..now its time to start lifting some heavy-ass weights, right? Wrong! We are still missing a few steps in the process here, and boy, are they important. The first step we need to address is setting realistic and achievable goals for yourself.

Although it may not seem like much, goal planning is indeed an extremely important step in the weight training process. Without specific goals, how do we know what and how we should be training? As a trainer, the first thing I ask a client is what are your goals? What do you wish to achieve from our time together? The way we approach their weight training regimen is completely dependent on their goals, as it should be with you as well.

Okay, lets talk about your goal setting process. There are short term goals and long term goals. What are the differences between the two?

A short term goal is planning to lose 5 pounds in 4 weeks. A long term goal is planning to lose 50 pounds in a year. I prefer setting short term goals in order to achieve long term goals. You want to lose 50 pounds in a year? Set up short term goals in order to facilitate that. A short term goal of 4-5 pounds of body fat reduction each month would be a sensible approach that would help you to achieve your long term goal of 50 pounds within 1 year. See how that works? The same approach works for adding muscle mass. You want to add 15 pounds of true muscle mass in 1 year? Set up short term goals to facilitate your long term goal.

So, what are your goals? Write them down, short term AND long term. Organize it so that your short term goals help to meet your long term goals. Then, all that is left to do is start meeting the goals...and as you keep knocking down each specific short term goal, you're that much closer to that long term goal.



Program Development

Okay, you've thought about our goals, and you know what you want to do. So, how do you get there? This is where you consider program development.

Repetition Ranges

In discussing fast-twitch muscle fibers, we established that they are the primary movers when training with weights. So what repetition range works best? The answer to that question is, again, dependent on the goal of the weight trainer. To primarily induce strength gains, a repetition range of 1-6 works best. To primarily induce hypertrophy, a repetition range of 8-12 works best. To primarily induce gains in muscular endurance, a repetition range of 14-20 works best. These guidelines arent set in stone, but they are consistent with a majority of the population.

Does that mean that if you do 4 repetitions with a weight you could easily handle for 12 repetitions you will see strength gains? No, that is not the case at all. With these repetition ranges, you want to be challenged in order to meet the repetition guidelines. If you are training primarily for strength (1-6 repetitions), use a weight that allows you to do somewhere in the range of the prescribed repetitions. If your strength develops enough that you are able to do more than the set guidelines, increase the weight and your repetitions will be forced to decrease. That principle goes the same for the other rep ranges. Its all about progression .and youre going to hear that again before we are through.

Exercise Selection

Okay, here is where you pick up an issue of Flex or Muscle Mag International and use the routine Jay Cutler uses, because, hey ¦hes friggin huge and hes Mr. Olympia, right? Sorry guys and girls, not even close. Jay Cutler, Ronnie Coleman, and about any other big-ass dude (or chick, for you female trainers) you see in those magazines are the elite of the elite. They have been weight training for years, and most likely know their bodies inside and out. They know what works best for them, their nutrition is on-point, and having an elite level physique is their job.

So, what type of exercise selection should you as a beginner follow? Guess what, Im going to tell you. Compound movements, baby¦.they're bread and butter. By definition, a compound movement is an exercise that requires several muscle groups to work together in order to successfully move a weight, and generally involve movement of two or more joints. Squats, deadlifts, power cleans, leg presses, pull-ups, bench press, military press, barbell rows, dips, and stiff-leg deadlifts are all compound movements.

If youre a beginner, it really isnt necessary to be doing a lot of isolation movements for smaller body parts. The stimulation these smaller muscle groups receive from compound movements should be more than sufficient for gains in strength and/or hypertrophy.

 

[Crissco]

Before you start your weight training session, I'd encourage you to "warm up" your body with a 5-10 minute session on a treadmill or stationary bicycle at low to medium intensity. This increases blood flow, raises core temperature, and prepares your muscle and connective tissues for the weight training session at hand.

You've finished your full-body warm up, and it's time to start hoisting some weight. Id suggest a routine that works the body fully once or at maximum twice within a week, something that looks like this:

Workout 1:
Squats
Stiff Leg Deadlifts
Bench Press
Dips
Pull-ups

Rest

Rest

Rest

Workout 2:
Deadlifts
Leg Press
Barbell Rows
Military Press
Power Cleans

Rest

Rest
There is one other thing that should be discussed here before moving on. Prior to getting in there and giving it your all, you should do a few sets per exercise of lighter weight progressing into your working (heavy) sets. This will further "warm up" the intended muscle groups and connective tissues you are working, and will help to avoid injury.

It is also a good idea to incorporate stretching into your weight training routine. I suggest static stretching at the conclusion of your weight training for 30-60 seconds per stretch, making sure to stretch any muscle trained during the session.

This regimen is pretty simple, but quite effective. Use your goals to determine your rep ranges. and you should see gains pretty rapidly, especially if you haven't trained before. This type of routine should yield substantive gains for quite some time. As you become an intermediate trainer, you can break the body parts down into more specific splits, but at this point, its simply not necessary. Now we aren't quite finished yet, there are a few more factors to consider in order to get the most out of your weight training sessions.

 

[Crissco]

Bringing the Nutrition Together

With what we have just covered in mind, you would ideally look to have roughly a 50-30-20 carbohydrate-protein-fat ratio in order to promote hypertrophy and recuperate from weight training sessions. Lets use this in an example. A 26 year old male trainer stands 6ft and weighs 200 pounds. This trainer is looking to add muscle mass, without adding excessive body fat. We can determine using the link provided above that this trainers approximate BMR is 2061, and with 45 minutes intense exercise the approximate total caloric requirement is 2430.

Based on the rule of thumb using 1 gram of protein per pound of body weight, the trainer would attempt to ingest 200 grams of protein, for a total of 800 calories. With 800 calories making up roughly 30 percent of the daily caloric requirement, we can compute the total daily requirement to be approximately 2666 calories. 50 percent of which, roughly 1333 calories (333 grams), would come from carbohydrates and 20 percent of which, roughly 531 calories (59 grams), would come from fat. This ensures a caloric surplus of roughly 200 calories on training days, and roughly 600 calories on non training days.

These figures are not set in stone, but are guidelines. Everyone is different. Trial and error will allow you to fine tune this approach, and figure what works best for you as an individual.

Nutritional Timing

You've got an idea of what you need to eat, so logically, the next step is to figure out when to eat it. I suggest eating 4-6 smaller meals daily, as opposed to the breakfast, lunch, and dinner approach. Spreading your meals throughout the day allows for a steadier release of nutrients to fuel your body, inhibits spikes and crashes in blood glucose and insulin, helps reduce the feeling of hunger, and increases metabolism. As mentioned earlier, in addition to your meals, you should plan consumption of simple sugars and quickly absorbed protein immediately after weight training in order to facilitate an insulin response and aid in cellular transportation of nutrients to aid recuperation.

Synergism

Synergism is the action of two or more different effects acting together to create an effect greater than the sum the actions would produce independently.

For our purposes here, I refer to the synergistic effect of weight training, cardiovascular activity, and sound nutritional strategies in achieving healthy changes in body composition. There is no better or faster way to positively effect healthy changes in body composition than these three elements, what I like to refer to as The Holy Trinity in regards to fitness training. Even when looking to add muscle mass, cardiovascular activity is a powerful tool to ensure cardiovascular health, energy levels, and combat accumulation of body fat by excessive caloric consumption. Whether it be low intensity cardiovascular activity, or HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training), it should not be neglected. 2 or 3 30 minute sessions per week should yield strong benefits.

There is much discussion when to do cardio. Is it best in the morning? At night? During your lunch hour? When you do it doesnt matter nearly as much as just getting in there and doing it.

 

[Crissco]

Supplements

By definition, a nutritional supplement is an element added to correct a nutritional deficiency. A sensible approach to diet should eliminate the need of supplements for the beginning weight trainer, with the possible exception of protein and a multi-vitamin/multi-mineral supplement.

Whey protein is a fast digesting form of protein, containing high levels of essential, conditionally-essential, and non-essential amino acids. Whey protein can be found in powdered form, ready to drink products, and protein bars. As mentioned earlier, it is advisable to ingest whey protein immediately post workout along with a simple sugar source.

Casein protein is a slow digesting protein, also containing high levels of essential, conditionally-essential, and non-essential amino acids. Casein is also available in powdered form, ready to drink products, and protein bars. It is advisable to ingest casein protein late at night in order to supply slow digesting protein to the body during sleep.






Wrapping It Up

We have addressed goal making, program development, nutrition, synergism, and supplementation, is there anything left? Just a few more things, I promise.

Sleep

Many of us take sleep for granted. If you are a hard-charging, ass-kicking weight trainer and you want to reap the most from your sweat and effort, you better start taking it seriously. Adequate sleep is necessary to recuperate from hard training sessions, so make sure you are getting the sleep your body requires. Testosterone, growth hormone, and IGF-1 are also released during deep sleep [10][11]. High levels of these hormones are associated with anabolism and protein synthesis. A general guideline for quality sleep is 6-8 hours, but if you find yourself tired and/or fatigued throughout the day, you most likely aren’t getting adequate sleep and should attempt to correct the problem.

Water

Adequate hydration is a staple of life, regardless of whether you weight train or not. However, with bouts of high intensity exercise, the body needs water in greater amounts. A good rule of thumb to follow in regards to weight training and hydration is to attempt to ingest at least one gallon of water daily.







Thats it!!

Alright guys and gals, weave covered about everything a beginner needs to know in order to start a sensible weight training plan incorporating goal making, program development, and nutrition. Keep in mind, there are some things I didn't cover here. Words that you may hear in the gym like over-training. Advanced training principles like forced reps, rest-pause, drop sets, negatives and many others.

For you, as a beginner following the exercise and nutrition regimen outlined here and ensuring rest is just as much a priority as weight training, over-training should not be an issue. As your training evolves and progresses, you will want to consider some of the principles I mentioned, and don't worry....I'm planning on writing articles for intermediate and advanced trainers that incorporate these principles and others as well. For right now, follow the guidelines I've provided for you, and you'll progress nicely.

Before I go, Id like you to consider one more thing. Fitness is a lifestyle. If you dont make lifestyle changes, you likely won't succeed. Weight training, solid nutrition, focus, motivation, proper sleep rituals, these things are not always easy. If they were, we'd have a nation of athletes and athletic looking people, not a nation of increasingly obese men and women who are plagued with health problems of their own design. Stay on track, keep motivated, bust your ass when you're in the gym, relax when you're not, and plan to succeed!


I hope this helps you out, and that you achieve each and every goal you set for yourself.