Training for beginners

Part 1

We live in a strange society. On the one hand, the idea of being lean and muscular has never been as desirable as it is today. It wasn't long ago that a muscular man or woman was considered some kind of freak, but now this kind of body development has become an ideal. We admire our idols from actors to athletes for their hard, defined and muscular bodies.

On the other hand, society has never been more out of shape. Obesity and all its associated health problems are rampant and you don't have to look far to see this.

So it probably shouldn't surprise us that more and more people are turning to training with weights, diets and nutritional supplements to improve the way they look and feel. Physical training can be very rewarding when done correctly, which is especially true when combined with proper nutrition and an optimal supplement protocol. It's rewarding because it can drastically change the way you look, the way others perceive you and the way you see yourself. Believe me, I speak from experience here.

I used to be quite a chubby guy. Sure, I was strong, but I made the Michelin Man look slim. I'm not ashamed to admit that between 1994 and 2001, I went on just three dates where I didn't even get close to first base.

But that was then.

In 2001, something happened that changed my life. I went through a complete metamorphosis through hard training, proper nutrition and precise supplementation that took me from a flabby 110 kilos to a hard and muscular 93 kilos with an 8% body fat percentage.

It was then that I noticed a strange phenomenon: women actually wanted to have something to do with me.

And not just one or two. We're talking about tons of women here. In the supermarket, at the swimming pool, in bars, everywhere. Without really meaning to (well, maybe a little), I had turned into a chick magnet. I call this a strange phenomenon, because apart from my new body development, I was still exactly the same person as before.

My professional life as a trainer also changed. Whereas I used to struggle to have two or three clients a week, I now had to turn people away because I was so fully booked. The change in my appearance had completely changed my life in every way.

Yes, the right combination of training, nutrition and supplementation can be extremely effective. Sadly, however, most people who want to enter the wonderful world of training with weights have no idea where to start. They don't even know the terminology, let alone the methods. In desperation, they might hire a personal trainer, but I'm sorry to tell you that most "trainers" out there aren't worth a penny.

What's a beginner to do then?

For starters, read this series of articles. It consists of three sections and presents the basic information that all beginners to iron sports need to know. Section I deals with the training aspect and sections II and III will deal with nutrition and supplementation. If you are just taking your first steps in this wonderful world of body transformation, this series of articles will help save you months, if not years, of wasted time and frustration.

Without wasting another minute, let's start with what matters.

A little dictionary of weight training terms

Nothing screams "beginner" louder than not knowing the jargon of weight training. To be fair, I should mention that I've met numerous supposedly advanced individuals who were also confused about the correct terminology. Here's a collection of the key terms you'll need in your pursuit of muscle, so you have no excuse for not knowing what you're talking about.

Repetitions

A repetition is the action of performing a complete movement of an exercise once. If we use the bench press as an example, then a complete movement means lowering the weight to the chest from an extended-arm position and then moving the weight back to the starting position.

Each repetition usually involves two separate phases:

The concentric phase

The first phase is the phase during which you actively move the weight upwards and during which the muscles involved contract or shorten. This phase is referred to as the concentric or positive phase of the movement.

The eccentric phase

The second phase is the phase during which you resist the weight and move it back to the starting position of the concentric phase. This is the phase during which the muscles involved lengthen and is referred to as the eccentric or negative phase of the movement.

At this point it should be noted that for most exercises you will be stronger during the eccentric phase than during the concentric phase.

Some people think of the concentric phase as lifting the bar and the eccentric phase as lowering the bar, but this is not always the case, as a look at the lat pulldown movement shows. In this exercise, you move the bar down during the concentric phase.

Just remember the following:

• Concentric phase = the muscles contract
• Eccentric phase = the muscles lengthen

Set

A set is the execution of a series of repetitions without significant rest between repetitions. For example, if you perform a set of 10 repetitions in the bench press, this means that you lower the bar ten times in succession and then push it back up again. As soon as you have completed all repetitions of a set, you put the weight back on the rack.

When you write down a training program, you write down the number of sets of repetitions together - first the sets and then the repetitions. For example, 3 x 10 means that you do 3 sets of 10 repetitions. Take a break between sets.

Repetition range

You will not always see a precise number of repetitions in a training program. More often, a repetition range is given instead. This is a range, usually 2 to 4 repetitions, in which the training effect is almost the same.

A repetition range allows you more leeway. Let's say a program specifies 10 repetitions, but you can only do 7 repetitions. Do you consider this set a failure or do you count it? What if after 10 repetitions you have the feeling that you could do one or two more repetitions? Do you stop at 10 repetitions or do you keep going? Rather than having to worry about this, I prefer to specify a repetition range rather than a specific number of repetitions. Which repetition range to use depends on the type of gains you are looking for (single repetitions, i.e. sets of 1 repetition, are a special case here):

• 2-3: Strength with small mass gains
• 4-5: Strength and mass gains, but more strength than mass
• 6-8: Strength and mass gains, to almost the same extent
• 9-12: Force and mass gains, but more mass than force
• 13-15: Mass gains and a few gains in muscle endurance
• 16-20: Gains in muscle endurance and a few gains in mass

Rest intervals

This point is quite straightforward: the rest intervals refer to the time you rest between sets of an exercise or between different exercises.

Tempo

Tempo, also known as 'repetition speed', refers to the way in which an exercise is performed. Some coaches go into great detail about the tempo of an exercise, while others don't talk about tempo at all. Here are some examples of how training tempo can be specified:

Ultra precise

In this method, each repetition is divided into four phases. There are the two that we have already described (eccentric and concentric), but also two other phases that describe the time for the transition between the two main phases of the movement. These four phases are each assigned a number that indicates the length of this phase in seconds.

1. The first number in the series is always the length (in seconds) of the eccentric phase (which does not necessarily represent the first part of the movement).
2. The second number describes the time for the transition from eccentric to concentric phase.
3. The third number indicates the length of the concentric phase of the movement.
4. The fourth number represents the time between the end of the concentric phase and the beginning of the eccentric phase of the next repetition.

Let's look at a 3-0-2-1 tempo for Scott curls. You perform the eccentric phase in three seconds (3). When you reach the lowest point of the movement, you do not pause (0) but immediately move on to the concentric phase, during which you move the bar upwards within 2 seconds. At the top of the movement, consciously tense the muscles hard for a second before lowering the weight again.

Remember that the numbers do not necessarily describe the order in which the phases of the movement are performed.

Very precise

This method is only slightly less precise than "ultra" precise and uses only three numbers instead of four. It only specifies the eccentric phase (first number), the concentric phase (third number) and the transition between eccentric and concentric phase (second number). The time between repetitions is not specified.

Precise

In the third method, not even the transition phase is specified, but only the length of the eccentric phase (first number) and concentric phase (second number). For example, 3-1 means that you perform the eccentric phase of the repetition in 3 seconds and the concentric phase in one second.

Note: In the first three methods of quantifying tempo, you will sometimes see an 'x' instead of a number. This means "eXplosive" or "as fast as you can."

Qualitative

This approach, used by many coaches, does not include a specific number of seconds for each phase. Instead, a qualitative description is used for each phase, e.g:

• "Lower the weight slowly and in a controlled manner, consciously tensing the muscles."
• "Control the weight on the way down and move it up explosively."
• Perform both phases of the movement slowly and concentrate on keeping your muscles under tension."

Not specified

And then there's this approach used by some trainers who say nothing at all about tempo.

Which approach is best? That depends entirely on the situation: each of these methods has its advantages and disadvantages,

The first two methods (ultra and very precise) are useful for someone who fakes or uses poor form. If you have a habit of bouncing the bar off your chest in order to move a few more pounds on the bench press, then following strict tempo guidelines will help you break this habit. For most others, however, these precise methods often reduce the quality of the set. If you focus entirely on counting the seconds, you won't be able to concentrate on the movement and develop maximum strength.

As a rule of thumb, the more experienced you become, the more you should move to a qualitative indication of tempo.

Supersets

This is one of the first intensity methods that beginners learn when they start training seriously with weights. This doesn't necessarily mean it's the best intensity method, just the most popular. Unfortunately, most people use supersets in a wrong way, combining exercises together without thinking about the logic behind the exercise pairing. But we're getting too far ahead of ourselves. First, let's talk about what supersets actually are.

A superset is performing two exercises back-to-back without resting between the exercises (you do rest after the second exercise though). There are different types of supersets.

Pre-fatigue

This refers to a pairing of two exercises for the same muscle group. The first exercise is an isolation exercise (exercises where the target muscle does most of the work alone) and the second exercise is a multi-joint exercise. An example of a superset with pre-fatigue for the chest would be performing a set of flying movements with dumbbells immediately followed by a set of bench presses. The underlying logic here is that the target muscle does not work alone in a multi-joint exercise and therefore may not be fully stimulated at the end of the set.

By pre-fatiguing the target muscle, we increase the likelihood that it will be fully stimulated. For beginners, pre-fatigue is also a good way to learn to feel the target muscle during a multi-joint exercise. For example, many people find it difficult to feel their chest muscles working during the bench press. After pre-fatiguing the chest with an isolation exercise, you will feel the pecs more during the bench press, which will help teach you how to focus on that muscle. The downside of this method is that you won't be able to use as much weight as usual on the multi-joint exercise, which is also the more effective mass building exercise of the two.

Post-fatigue

This approach is quite similar to the pre-fatigue approach, but the order of the exercises is reversed. You start with the multi-joint exercise and then perform the isolation exercise. This allows you to fully stimulate the target muscle and does not affect the amount of weight you can use in the basic exercise.

Supersets with basic exercises

This is the type of superset I like the least and rarely use. It consists of a pairing of two multi-joint exercises for the same muscle group (e.g. bench press and dips). The problem with this approach is that it doesn't help you focus on the target muscle group.

In the case of bench presses and dips, if your triceps are stronger than your pecs, they will do most of the work in both exercises and your chest may still not be maximally stimulated at the end of the superset. The only advantage of supersets with basic exercises is that you can train more than one part of the muscle in the same set. However, this can be better achieved with isolation exercises.

Supersets with isolation exercises

This refers to a pairing of two isolation exercises for the same muscle group. The purpose of this approach is to focus on multiple parts of the muscle during a set. This is where it gets a little tricky: for this technique to work, you need to choose exercises that work different parts of the target muscle. If you choose two exercises that target the same area, you won't be able to reap the full benefits of this technique.

Antagonistic supersets

In this method, you pair two exercises for opposite (antagonistic) muscles. As with other supersets, you do not pause between the first and second exercise. This approach allows you to combine these muscles:

• Chest and back
• Biceps and triceps
• Quadriceps and hamstrings
• Lateral/front shoulder muscles and rear shoulder muscles
• Abdominals and lower back

Triple sets

This technique is similar to supersets, but instead of two exercises, you perform three exercises in succession without rest. This is obviously a very demanding method that should not be abused, especially for beginners and/or people with a low work capacity.

As with supersets, there are several alternatives for triple sets. Here are some of them:

Pre- and post-fatigue

In this method, you start with an isolation exercise, followed by a multi-joint exercise and then another isolation exercise. An example for the chest could look like this:

A1. Flying movements with dumbbells: 8-10 repetitions
A2. Bench press on reverse incline bench: 6-8 repetitions
A3. Crossover cable pull-ups: 10-12 repetitions

Holistic triple sets

This approach was first popularized by Dr. Fred Hatfield in the late 1980s. It involves performing a multi-joint exercise with heavy weight and a low repetition count, followed by a support exercise in a medium repetition range (8 to 12 repetitions), after which an isolation exercise with a high repetition count (between 20 and 40 repetitions) is finally performed. An example of this could look like this:

A1. Bench press 4-6 repetitions
A2. Dumbbell incline bench press 8-10 repetitions
A3. Crossover cable pull-ups 30 repetitions

Other examples would include triple sets of three isolation exercises that train three different parts of a muscle or use different movement patterns/angles.

Advanced sets

Descending sets are part of a category of training methods known as "advanced sets". Advanced sets mean that after you reach a point where you can't move the weight another time using proper technique, you find a way to do more work. This is usually achieved by reducing the weight (descending sets) or taking a short break before performing further repetitions (rest/pause or cluster sets).

When you perform an exercise as a descending set, you are basically completing a set number of repetitions with a given weight. At the end of the "first" set, you reduce the weight slightly and then immediately perform further repetitions with the reduced weight.

Here is an example: You are able to perform 6 repetitions of dumbbell bench presses with 50 pound dumbbells. After 6 repetitions, you reduce the weight to 40 pounds of dumbbells and perform 3 to 4 more repetitions.

You can also perform double descending sets or even triple descending sets where you reduce the weight twice or three times. However, I would like to reiterate that this is a very strenuous method that should not be abused.

Rest/pause sets

Rest/pause sets are similar to descending sets in that you continue to perform repetitions even after reaching the point of muscle failure. With this method, however, you do not reduce the weight, but instead pause for 7 to 12 seconds before continuing the set with the same weight. So you could perform 8 repetitions with 100 kilos on the bench press, put the weight down, pause for 10 seconds and then perform 2 to 3 more repetitions.

Cluster sets

Cluster sets are similar to rest/pause sets, but with cluster sets you pause for 7 to 17 seconds between each repetition. A cluster set consisting of 5 repetitions would look like this:

1 repetition, 10 second rest, 1 repetition, 10 second rest, 1 repetition, 10 second rest, 1 repetition, 10 second rest, 1 repetition, end of set.

Since you pause after each repetition, you can obviously use a lot more weight than when performing regular sets with the same number of repetitions.

Burns

Burns are partial repetitions (half repetitions) performed at the end of a regular set. For example, you could perform 10 full repetitions of dumbbell curls and perform 5 to 6 partial repetitions over the top half of the range of motion at the end of the set.

Muscle failure

Muscle failure is the point at which you can no longer perform another repetition with a given weight in good form. In other words, you reach the point of muscle failure when you are no longer able to perform another repetition without the help of a training partner or by bending or using poor form.

Muscle failure can occur due to a variety of factors, including complete fatigue of the muscle fibers (rare), accumulation of metabolic products (lactate, hydrogen ions) in the muscle that makes hard contractions impossible, and exhaustion of the nervous system (which makes muscle fiber recruitment more difficult).

Intensity

There is a lot of misunderstanding about the term intensity in relation to training. In the field of weight training, intensity does not refer to a subjective value, but to an objective variable: the amount of weight you use compared to your capacity.

The heavier the weight compared to what you can move, the higher the intensity of an exercise. For example, if you are able to perform a maximum of one repetition on the bench press with 100 kilos (your maximum weight for one repetition or 1 RM weight), then performing 5 repetitions with 85 kilos (85%) is more intense than performing a set of 10 repetitions with 70 kilos (70%), even if the latter may feel more painful and harder.

Volume

Volume refers to the total amount of work you do during a training session. Technically, volume is the number of repetitions times the weight used times the number of sets. For example, if you perform 5 sets of 10 repetitions with 100 kilos of an exercise, then your volume is 5,000 kilos.

In bodybuilding circles, volume usually refers to the number of sets per muscle group. Less than 6 sets per muscle group is referred to as low volume, 6 to 9 sets as moderate volume, 10 to 16 sets as average volume, 17 to 20 sets as high volume and over 20 sets as very high volume.

This is obviously not an all-encompassing glossary of terms or techniques used in strength training, but it will allow you to understand the basics and should help you on your way.

Put your money where your mouth is!

Even a 1000 kilometer journey starts with a single step and if you follow these nine steps, your journey will be much smoother:

1. set realistic goals

Beginners need to realize how important it is to set realistic goals. Some people actually think that after a few months of training they will look like Arnold Schwarzenegger. If their gains then fall far short of their expectations, they often stop training altogether.

Muscle building is a slow process. Even though a beginner can build muscle faster than an advanced strength athlete, they will rarely be able to build more than 2 to 3 pounds of solid muscle mass per month. When you start training, it's realistic to expect muscle gains of 15 to 20 pounds (which is a lot) during your first year of training, but that's only if you do everything right. So don't panic and stop training (and don't resort to steroids) just because you don't gain 20 pounds of muscle in 8 weeks.

2. there is no magic program

The key to progress is the amount of effort you put into your training program and progression. Hard work and the drive to progress in some way with every single training session is the real secret to muscle growth and strength gains - not some innovative program.

3. progression

This goes back to the principle of effort. The real secret to building muscle and strength is progression. You need to continually challenge your body and find ways to progressively ask more of it. If you do the same thing over and over again, you won't look any different in a month, a year or ten years from now. Progression is the name of the game - not the program design, training pace or other small details. Find a way to progress and you will build strength and muscle.

There is more than one way to achieve progression. What we are looking for are ways to make our bodies work harder. That's progression and that's what will lead to growth. Here are a few ways to make your body work harder:

Increase the load

You can challenge your body by increasing the weight on the bar and doing the same number of reps per set. For example, if you did 10 reps of 100 kilos on the bench press last week and this week you're putting 102.5 kilos on the bar, you're forcing your body to work harder.

Obviously, this method of progression has its limits: You can't increase the weight on the bar every week and expect your body to adapt to this. You would increase your bench press weight by over 100 kilos every year if you could put 2.5 kilos more on the bar every week. Unfortunately, this is not possible.

Increase the number of repetitions

Another way to make your body work harder is to perform more repetitions per set with the same weight. For example, if you did 10 repetitions with 100 kilos last week and this week you do 12 repetitions with the same weight, then you have achieved progression. However, just as with the previous method, you cannot perform more repetitions every week.

Increase the training density

You can also achieve progression by increasing the amount of work you complete within a given unit of time. This refers to reducing the rest intervals between sets while using the same weight (or at least without reducing the weight too much). By reducing the rest periods, your body is forced to work harder and recruit more muscle fibers due to the phenomenon of cumulative fatigue.

Increase the training volume

This is probably the easiest progression method. If you want your body to do more work, then train more! This means doing extra sets for each muscle group. For example, you could do 9 work sets for one muscle group during one week and increase the number of sets to 12 in week 2 and 14 in week three. Although this can work, it should not be abused as it can lead to overtraining. Most exercisers should not perform more than 12 total sets per muscle group for 90% of the time.

Use intensity techniques

The occasional use of methods such as descending sets, rest/pause sets, contrasting tempo, isodynamic contrasts, supersets and compound sets is another way to make your body work harder. Again, this method should not be abused as it places an enormous strain on the muscular and nervous system.

Use more demanding exercises

If you are used to doing all your training on machines, switch to free weights. You will force your body to work harder because you have to stabilize the weight. If you only use isolation exercises and start incorporating multi-joint exercises into your program, you will make your body work harder due to the intermuscular coordination factor.

Produce more tension in the target muscle group

It's one thing to move the weight and another thing to move it correctly to build muscle mass. As I often say, when you train to build muscle, you're not just moving the weight, you're contracting your muscles against resistance. You can improve the quality of your sets and therefore make your body work harder by trying to contract the target muscle as hard as possible for the entire duration of each repetition.

Increase the time under tension by lowering the weight in a controlled manner

I'm not a big fan of precise tempo recommendations as I feel they can detract from training concentration. However, I also recognize that more hypertrophy can be stimulated by keeping a muscle under constant tension for a longer period of time. The best way to achieve this without using less weight is to lower the weight more slowly and continue to focus on tensing the muscles as hard as possible all the time.

Increase the average weight used in an exercise

This method is quite similar to the first method, although increasing the weight here refers to moving more weight on average on an exercise rather than increasing the weight on your maximum set. For example, let's say you perform 4 sets of 10 reps on the bench press:

Week 1:

Set 1: 200 pounds x 10 (2000 pounds)
Set 2: 210 pounds x 10 (2100 pounds)
Set 3: 220 pounds x 10 (2200 pounds)
Set 4: 225 pounds x 10 (2250 pounds)
Total weight moved = 8550 pounds
Average weight per set = 2137 pounds
Average weight per repetition = 213.7 pounds (214 pounds)

Week 2:

Set 1: 210 pounds x 10 (2100 pounds)
Set 2: 215 pounds x 10 (2150 pounds)
Set 3: 225 pounds x 10 (2250 pounds)
Set 4: 225 pounds x 10 (2250 pounds)
Total weight moved = 8750 pounds
Average weight per set = 2187 pounds
Average weight per repetition = 218.7 pounds (219 pounds)

As you can see, even though the max weight was the same for both workouts, you moved an average of 5 pounds more during week 2. That's progression!

These are just a few ways to achieve progression. You don't have to use all of these methods at once, but knowing that each of these methods is a progression will allow you to continually challenge your body. Can't move more weight today? No problem, use one of the other eight methods.

Progression is the key. Find a way to increase each week and you're sure to grow.

By Christian Thibaudeau

Source: https://www.t-nation.com/training/training-for-newbies-1